Recording Schools Worth It?

SoundsLikeRecords · Post by **SoundsLikeRecords** » Fri Dec 12, 2003 10:55 pm

Hey everyone,

I am currently considering entering a recording school, and I'm wondering if anyone has anyone feelings pro or con, or towards a particular school, etc. I have interned in a studio before, I do some recording at home, stuff like that, but its time to pick either college or something else. Any advice you can give would be great.

Shawn

thunderboy · Post by **thunderboy** » Fri Dec 12, 2003 11:34 pm

STAY AWAY FROM FULL SAIL!

I got a "resume" from a FS grad today, as a matter of fact. It was high comedy.

Check out THIS THREAD for the dirt on Full Sail, as well as some info on schools to check out and opinions as to why you should or should not go to any of them in the first place.
Good Luck! Welcome to the board!

jt

thesearchforlight · Post by **thesearchforlight** » Fri Dec 12, 2003 11:41 pm

I just graduated from a school here in MD and it was the best thing ever. It was exactly what i was looking for, and I learned almost everything I wanted to. The only thing I wish I could change would be to have more hands on experience, but I think that's tough for some schools to set up, to find bands to let students record them. We didn't have much actual recording time, but the hands on expereince was outstanding.

ctmsound · Post by **ctmsound** » Sat Dec 13, 2003 12:55 am

Yeah, don't waste 30 grand on a certificate "specialty" program. If you're gonna go to school, go and get the Bachelors Degree.

Oh yeah, check out Middle State Tennessee University. Their recording program is top notch!

Wally Heider · Post by **Wally Heider** » Sat Dec 13, 2003 7:16 am

i went to full sail. i learned more when i got out and started working

jpschust · Post by **jpschust** » Sat Dec 13, 2003 7:20 am

don't forget the indiana university program, you are recording with one of the best music schools in the nation and they have a great bachelor's degree option.

jspartz · Post by **jspartz** » Sat Dec 13, 2003 7:48 am

I went to a two year tech school ten years ago. It was a good thing for me. It taught me the fundamentals and it was 60 percent based in electronics. You will never regret getting some background in electronics. It can develop into a wide range of career paths based on your interests. Nothing against a four year school (my day job is tech support at one). It all depends on what you really want to learn and what you really want to do with your life. Wow, Twisted Sister just popped in my head. Scary.

Jason

wing · Post by **wing** » Sat Dec 13, 2003 7:49 am

in pretty much all cases you have to start at the bottom (intern = answering phones, making coffee, cleaning bathrooms), a college education barely matters. you learn from the job more than anything. so a lot of people would agree that one of the best ways to spend your money would be on gear and learn from it. it may seem hardcore, but in a lot of ways it's the best way to really learn.

that's not to say recording school is a bad thing-- for some, that really is the better way. plus if your parents are paying, it'd probably be a lot easier to convince your parents to pay for a school than to pay for your gear shopping list. heheheh...

shoemakesmusic · Post by **shoemakesmusic** » Sat Dec 13, 2003 8:45 am

I went to a school in Dallas and like Pxl said, I think it is good for some people and not for others. I didn't know anything so it was a great place for me to start, plus it got me a job as an engineer at a local studio.

My particular school was great because you could spend all day up there in the studios doing pretty much what ever you wanted. There were numerous times where I was the only one sitting in front of an SSL just working on whatever.

@?,*???&? · Post by **@?,*???&?** » Sat Dec 13, 2003 9:54 am

Nope. Save your money.

At Master Control Recording, we avoided people from Recording Schools as they would have no practical experience. Mundane hours spent as a runner usually sort out those who are serious about working in the studio environment.

Get a job as a runner at a high profile studio (which you will have to do anyway with or without the recording school certificate) and if you have aptitude to figure out what's going on, then you'll succeed as an assistant engineer or engineer later.

penrithmatt · Post by **penrithmatt** » Sat Dec 13, 2003 10:54 am

yeah,what jeff said......

we get resumes from people just out of school,with stuff like "would make a great engineer".......well.theory is one thing,but practical knowledge is another.and i don't think you can learn how to behave,the whole psychological aspect of making records,froma classroom situation.
i dunno.i didn't go,and i don't think i would be any better off if i had.i'd have had a later start and more debt.
and yeah,everybody who get's their first studio job is gonna be running to the shop and cleaning the studio,degree or not.
it just seems to me that,from the five or six kids that i've met out of various schools they leave under the impression that they are gonna walk into any studio and take the big chair up the front right off the bat.i've worked in house at about five studios and i can tell you for a fact that no studio manager that i have ever worked for,and that's both in th Uk and US, is gonna take someone fresh out of school and hand them an engineer position straight out.you'll be lucky if they let you dust the console.
i'm not trying to paint a bleak picture.i started out right from highschool,with no experience,but i did toy with the idea of college.if you're gonna get a degree do something with electronics.as mentioned above it gives you more options if something doesn't work out.
cheers
matthew
www.allairestudios.com

jpschust · Post by **jpschust** » Sat Dec 13, 2003 11:05 am

just a little something to remember- not all schools are created equal. if i were in the position to be hiring id have no problem glancing at what school they went to but id be more inclined to see what they had done besides school while there. were they working on their own stuff? if so, let's hear some. for someone who has all school and no experience on their own or even interning for someone else it is just a red flag.

for example, as much as full sail gets ragged on here, and often deservedly so, occasionally some really good people come out of there. school is all a matter of what you put in you get out.

zarcharius · Post by **zarcharius** » Sat Dec 13, 2003 12:16 pm

I'm in my last year at SUNY Fredonia for recording and I gotta say that it was the best decision I could've made. Our program is set up so that everyone in here takes music lessons from the school of music faculty, we take the music theory we take physics and acoustics and electronics and all of that stuff and also have our own studio time in which to figure out the gear, do assignments and record bands. It's a great program with equal emphasis on technical stuff and artistic nuances, and I would highly reccomend it.

meblumen · Post by **meblumen** » Sat Dec 13, 2003 1:00 pm

jpschust wrote:don't forget the indiana university program, you are recording with one of the best music schools in the nation and they have a great bachelor's degree option.

I second what jpschust said. Not only does Indiana University have a wonderful music school but its a damn good university so if you aren't sure you want to pursue sound engineering you can always change majors and get a degree in something else. In general a four year university affords you more options and oppertunities to pursue whatever you want, explore different academic and non-academic pursuits and get a great overall experience, plus going to school always makes the parents happy.

mpedrummer · Post by **mpedrummer** » Sat Dec 13, 2003 2:06 pm

It's a toss-up, really.

I just got my Bachelor's from Berklee in Music Production and Engineering. I would not trade the past 4 years of my life for anything. I learned in a hands-on environment, got to USE equipment, and engineer/produce/run my own sessions in the studios. As a junior and senior, I was spending 40+ hours per week on my own in the SSL studios. This is mainly because I didn't sleep much.

The problem I find now, though, is people like Jeff R, etc, who see "recording school" on the resume and automatically write me off as a jackass who doesn't know anything, without even giving me a chance. I see their point, too...I've met people from Full Sail, and they wouldn't know an SSL if they were sitting on it. However, the generalization that ALL recording schools suck...sucks.

Anyway, get a Bachelor's Degree, no matter what you do. Regardless of how the recording thing works out for you, there's far more opportunities in life if you have a Bachelor's, and the funny thing is, a lot of the time it doesn't matter what the degree is actually for.

Berklee basically uses a trial by fire method...you spend two semesters on basics, the principles behind WHY it gets louder when you move that little knob, etc, and then they're like "SURPRISE! You have to produce a session now!" It's amazing the lessons you learn...such as the fact that a producer is more like a kindergarten teacher than anything else. Even at school, there's egos and assholes, schedules and conflicts, promises and lies, and yet you still have a deadline. If the guitarist didn't show up for your 2am session, tough shit. You better find another one fast, cause if you don't finish the project, you fail.

I chose Berklee because it actually focuses on production as well as engineering. Full Sail, etc, gives you more of a "push that button" approach, where "why" doesn't matter. There are listening analysis classes, production analysis classes, engineering classes, mixing classes, tech classes, production classes, video production classes, mastering classes, jingle classes...it's really not an experience that can be replicated elsewhere.

Plus, the effect of getting 4000 musicians in the same general location....being surrounded by people who genuinely care about what you're doing, who are passionate and dedicated about music and recording...it's incredible. One of the most disheartening experiences in my life was this job I'm working now...not in audio, but it's just amazing to me how many people just don't care about what they do. I can't imagine that.

I suppose to an extent, though, that recording is not 'what I do', but rather "who I am".

Whether you go to a recording school or not, there's always going to be assholes that judge you. You're always going to find the jackass engineer who feels that because your job title says "assistant" in it, you are a person worthy of contempt and abuse. It really bothers me sometimes, the stories I hear from my friends, who are working for FREE, who are just being taken advantage of and abused by the studios they work for. This is really a fucked up industry...you don't see computer programmers working for free for several months for insane hours...

I dunno, maybe I'm bitter.

Jeff, I know you've been burnt by idiots from recording schools. But if you made the same generalization about blacks, "That black guy was an idiot, therefore all blacks are stupid", you'd be label a racist. You'd be sued for discrimination against a group of people.

I'll shut up now...apparently this thread hit a nerve tonight...

MPEDrummer

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