Should You Go To Audio School?

The Pros, Cons, & Alternatives To A Formal Education In Sound Engineering

A decision to pursue higher education is a tough call to make for anyone and should be taken seriously. I certainly did not consider all of the factors when I made my choice. As an aspiring musician, I saw my name in lights, rubbing elbows with celebrities while stacking paper. Getting a college degree in audio engineering was going to put me on the fast track to stardom. Of course reality presented a much different story, filled with lessons in hard work and developing thick skin. My education did have its pros and cons:

Pros

• Networking – The primary benefit of going to audio school was the networking. I made important connections but also made a few lifelong friends. Among those friends was a student who was running his own record label at the time who ended up funding one of my rap group’s projects. I met various graphic designers to do my album artwork, web design and photo shoots. Another colleague of mine landed a job with Avid, and hooked me up with a beefed up version of Pro Tools which was even labeled as the “Remshot” edition. I was a very quiet guy so I was fortunate to meet such a great group of people. I highly recommend focusing on personal development to maximize your opportunities whether it’s in the form of reading self help books or making efforts to step out of your comfort zone. There was a student at the school that I knew nothing about. I wasn’t even sure if he was an audio or a visual arts student. All I knew is that this guy always smiled and always said hello to everybody. That guy had a job waiting for him at Pixar upon graduating.
• Brutally honest feedback from instructors and peers –  When I shared music with other students at audio school, it was the first time in my short career that individuals openly criticized my music. I previously shared my work with friends and family, people who did not have much experience with music production. Either they were too afraid to say that my music sucked or I was insecure and close minded to feedback. Probably a combination of all of the above. However, leveling up to future music professionals, meant that I had to step my listening game up. The criticism was a breath of fresh air. As I beginner, I was dumbfounded by the huge difference in quality between my beats versus those of the pros. When fellow students would give me hints on what was whack about my beats, it was like finding out that Bruce Willis was dead in the 6th Sense for the first time over and over again. Hooked on the countless epiphanies, I would offer people rides to the BART train station in order to get a chance to play my music for them. One classmate critiqued my overuse of the lo pass filter in all of my sounds. Another mentioned that I need to put more emphasis in my raps. Again personal development of a thick skin is a necessity. I had to learn to not be oversensitive because being butt hurt all the time stunts your growth.
• Exploring a multitude of potential career opportunities – At my particular school the curriculum opens up with a video production class that includes a mix of visual art and audio students. This was my first hands on experience with video production. The class consisted of one group project of creating a short film. Our final product was just ok but that small experience eventually evolved into a full time video editing job for me today. Live sound was another course that was outside of my interests but the skills I acquired turned into a part time AV job to make a little extra money while having free access to expensive audiovisual gear. The “over/under” cable wrapping method that I learned in live sound class was a quick way to gain the respect of fellow AV techs. It’s kind of like flashing sick handles on the basketball court or showing off nifty shuffling tricks at the poker table to show everyone that you mean business. Finally, another class that had me venture out of my music making comfort zone was Video Game Audio. I’m not into video games but I know that if there are videos of people playing video games going viral on YouTube, then it is a huge industry. Sound design is fun and it is an overlooked aspect of production. Great visuals can be ruined with bad audio. Try watching Star Wars without sound. It won’t have as great impact. The variety in curriculum helped me and others discover alternate career paths. Not all of us would end up becoming Pharell’s and it was good for many of us to discover back up plans.
• Hands on experience with expensive gear – I maximized my studio booking time which was limited to 8 hours per month but booked late night sessions so I can use empty studios in the early AM. I ended up with 40+ hours a month in million dollar studios utilizing every piece of holy grail gear I could get my hands on. I tried all the Neumann mics, SSL compressors, the actual harware versions of the LA-2A compressor and the Manley Massive Passive EQ. Getting my hands on all of the gear helped me make more informed decisions on what kind of gear to buy and what software emulations to use. If you are a musician or creating projects take advantage of getting in the lab.
• Role models for instructors – I used to give a talk at UCSC to prospective students where the gist was basically to choose a college with individuals who will inspire you. Many of the instructors have worked or work in the industry. These individuals have great stories to tell and will provide useful feedback.

Cons

• Debt – college is ridiculously expensive, learned about credit scores the hard way. This goes back to the importance of personal development. But then again, what young aspiring musician isn’t irrational to a certain extent. If you are able to pay your tuition as you go, more power to you. Although, if I had the money at the time, I would likely have spent it on other items.
• Highly competitive market, especially if you are an artist – Most don’t get that dream job or make it big. Those individuals get gobbled up by hotel AV companies with rigid grooming codes and suffocating work schedules (yes, I’m talking about myself). A while ago I decided to get a part time AV gig to pay for my defaulted loans. At the time I was renting a commercial space for my recording studio and life was good until it got shut down by the cops (I’ll save the details of that story for another post). So I regrettably took a full time job doing hotel AV and hated life. Nearly all of my co-workers were fresh out of audio school, DJ’s, or musicians. We all moped around the hotel in a self loathing death spiral. One co-worker and good friend actually ended up getting a job as a sound designer for a reputable video game production company. So there is hope and hotel AV is not the end. Finishing up an audio degree does not guarantee a job in the industry either. Making a living requires creativity in marketing yourself and an entrepreneurial spirit.
• Overthinking – You learn all of these new techniques, programs and gear so you begin to second guess all of your abilities. I got caught up in the music business side of things and decided that my bread and butter “sampling” was not going to cut it anymore due to its legalities. So I abandoned what I was good at and attempted to work with musicians to record my own samples. Little did I know that I was too insignificant and irrelevant in my young career for any of that legal stuff to matter. I was able to work with talented musicians and even learn how to play a few instruments myself but I strayed away from what defined my sound and what made me great. 
• Most of the information is online and free – However, the flip side to this is that you don’t know what you don’t know. For example, my first couple of years making music, I did not understand why my songs were not as loud as the CD’s I was buying. I assumed there was some magic involved and I ended up buying gear that would end up collecting dust. I would later learned that songs required mastering and it involved a limiter at the end of the process. Nowadays, every single technique is a YouTube search away.
• Time is better spent on mastering your craft – At the end of the day, practice is what gets you to where you need to be. For myself, because I excelled in nearly every class, I felt like I can do everything from live sound, to video production, to mixing, to rapping, to producing. I bounced around from project to project when I should have given more thought to which one thing do I see myself doing long term. Remember Kanye’s Spaceship, “Lock yourself in a room / Doin’ five beats a day for three summers / That’s a different world like Cree summers / I deserve to do these numbers” Try putting up numbers like that when you have to write papers and study for exams while holding down a job.
• Lack of real world experience – When it comes to the job market or getting paid good money for your services, nothing replaces good old fashioned real world experience. Most places I work and currently work, employees don’t have 4 year degrees let alone specialized trade school audio engineering degrees. Most people get hired off of their experience. Potential clients will check your credits. How does it look when your resume or bio only lists school projects?

Alternatives:

• Youtube: Literally type anything you are curious about or want to learn.
• Online classes (instead of entire degree): https://ask.audio/academy?nleloc=course/1660/producing-hip-hop
• Practice Practice Practice – Pick one thing and find a way to work on it 5 to 8 hours a day.
• Find a job that gives you the freedom to work on audio. Bonus points if the job provides benefits such as gear. One of my past part time AV gigs was sitting in an office and waiting for people to pick up their rentals. You can take a guess on what I did during my down time. If you come to my home studio, please ignore the labels on all of the cables, power strips, and adapters.
• Find a mentor –  Find an individual who has been doing what you want to do and ask questions. If you are lucky enough to find a mentor, you will be able to skip some of the mistakes they made early in their careers just by listening to their blueprints for success.
• Follow a mentor on Social Media: Some of my favorites to follow via Instagram and YouTube are illmind and DJ Pain1. Both produce heat and are willing to share their knowledge of the craft and the business. They set a good example of giving back to the producer community with they effort they put forth.
• Intern at a studio – When I got out of school I interned at 17 Hertz Studios and learned a whole lot just from watching the engineers and doing grunt work. Some of the work you have to do might be tedious such as editing 8 hours of an audio book or organizing and backing up 4 years of recording sessions but it helps you build toughness and an appreciation for working in the music industry. Plus if you kick ass at being an intern, the studio might offer you a job.
• Jump into the deep end head first – When I first started making beats and recording, I didn’t take any classes and there was no YouTube. At that point in my life I wasn’t into reading books either. I just bought the software and the mic and dove right in. Through trial and error (and a few broken chairs due to frustration) I put out independent albums with my rap group. I recall walking over to the local music equipment shop and asking the clerk tons of questions such as “how am I supposed to hear the music when I record?” and “How do I record a record player into the PC?”   I learned how to make music by hitting roadblocks and making mistakes. If you do decide to go to school, make sure you have an end goal in mind and break down its pathway to make sure school fits into YOUR plan.

Lists of reputable audio schools:

• Berklee College of Music https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJOhWKL_6FU
• LA Recording School
• Art Institute
• SAE Institute
• Full Sail