first week of school for studio engineering and production

[iamallthings]

only thee days in, and i've learned more than i've taught myself about sound and the studio in the past year.

ten months to go, and i finally feel like i'm where i'm supposed to be in life.

[Skang]

just out of curiosity what school? I don't know of many places that offer those types of courses and I'm kind of interested in em except that most supposedly only teach pro tools ;P

[Gurnumsbug]

Yeah man I would love to know! I've been wanting to find some places that give quality lessons and teachings now that I finished high school:)

[Pedro Sánchez]

Was the other way round for me, I learned more in a year from self study using the internet, books and magazines than I did in 3 years of audio engineering. I suppose it is down to ones self discipline and how you filter information though.

[flatfaced]

Was the other way round for me, I learned more in a year from self study using the internet, books and magazines than I did in 3 years of audio engineering. I suppose it is down to ones self discipline and how you filter information though.

^^
and your DAW should be opened all the time while you're reading...
The school wont make your bassline and also the internet nor nothing...You have to reread all the things that you have often - everytime you do so there will be that small piece that you've missed tha last time...But the only way to discover that you are missing something is experimenting.

its like a chain

[iamallthings]

just out of curiosity what school? I don't know of many places that offer those types of courses and I'm kind of interested in em except that most supposedly only teach pro tools ;P

The Conservatory of Recording Arts
2300 E Broadway Rd.
Tempe, AZ 85233
( http://audiorecordingschool.com )

yeah, love it or hate it, digidesign has a monopoly on the studio engineering schools world-wide, more or less. the way i see it, it doesn't really matter what platform the school teaches, the fundamental principles will apply no matter what environment you end up working in once you're out there.

the school i am attending stood out to me for a few reasons, one of the biggest being that they are one of the only, if not the only pro audio schools still teaching how to use reel-to-reel. they teach the pro-tools stuff, but they also cover logic, reason and whatever secondary platforms are in demand at the time (right now: melodyne/autotune, waves, neotek, smaart all of which the conservatory offers certification courses in.) and as far as protools is concerned, for any student maintaining a b average or higher, they will pay to put you through as many levels of protools certification as you can knock out while you're attending, so in an ocean of "pro tools-trained engineer" mediocrity, at least you can put yourself at the top of the pile with that on your resume, whether you use it or not.

as one of the "longstanding little guys" in pro audio schools, conservatory has a well-established rep with the most traditional and reputable studios in every state of the US, and are well known for getting talented and driven students into the best internships. their walls are literally plastered with platinums with alumni and staff on credits, and they only hire the best to teach. on my second day of orientation, i got 8 hours of OSX training from robert brock, who wrote the apple manual on logic pro studio, not to mention that he'll be teaching some of the the logic classes later in the program, which is awesome.

tl-dr; i shopped around, i'm confident i've made the right decision for myself (even if the music industry is on the verge of collapse.)

[iamallthings]

Was the other way round for me, I learned more in a year from self study using the internet, books and magazines than I did in 3 years of audio engineering. I suppose it is down to ones self discipline and how you filter information though.

don't get me wrong. i know people that didn't go to school, who have taught themselves and taken in far less about it all than i have done for myself.

but over the past few years, there have been a few fundamental principles that have just managed to elude me, or i was not able to wrap my head around for whatever reason, and those things built up and held me back. in the few classes i've attended this week, those barriers are being systematically annihilated by the most intense and passionate audio pros i've ever met, and it's like a burden is being lifted and i'm getting my inspiration to create back.

also, i've been so obsessed with this shit that i've literally lived in hermitage for the past few years, with absolutely no one on my level that i could relate to about this stuff, and so far all of the people i go to school with, students or faculty, seem to have traveled the same road i have, and suddenly i'm surrounded by people who "get" that part of me, or whatever.

it's just nice to finally be in the company of like-minded people who all respect each other on the basis of their mutual passion for music and sound.

[legend4ry]

I actually had the opposite experience to you when I went to production school... I only learned how to use cubase - the rest I pretty much knew.. i learned terminology and how to explain what I do better but didn't go further than that.

A lot of the people on the course were at totally different levels as well so it was a bit difficult.

Though, it could of just been a bad course.

[RandoRando]

OP what do you mean by the music industry is about to collapse

[stevemac]

^^
and your DAW should be opened all the time while you're reading...

Fuck yes, I don't know how much time I've spent reading without having my DAW open, what a retard. You make 100% more progress by trying things out as you hear/read/learn about them.

[flatfaced]

and do you know what is the main problem for most of the new producers - they're opening the phorum twice and more as much than their DAWs - searching for the biggest secret that will lift thum up to the top of infront...

its a good practice when you have questions to try them first..only questions of high quality will remain.

IMO

[codymackaz]

The Conservatory of Recording Arts
2300 E Broadway Rd.
Tempe, AZ 85233
( http://audiorecordingschool.com )

I start in October, I'm glad you're enjoying it. It's assuring to know it's a good school.

[jrisreal]

The Conservatory of Recording Arts
2300 E Broadway Rd.
Tempe, AZ 85233
( http://audiorecordingschool.com )

I start in October, I'm glad you're enjoying it. It's assuring to know it's a good school.

wow! AZ, what a coincidence!!!

[amidoinitrite]

I'm going for AE.. I've learnt more on my own from the internet and practicing than school.
But.. next year I get to book the studio for free so I'll be all over that. School is good for contacts, hands on w/ professional help, "free" stuff, and a degree.. maybe a few licenses!

Can't say many people can teach you things you can't learn for free on the internet.
Obviously with a professional there you can get your questions answered on the spot, troubleshooting figured out asap and be shown in person how to do things.
but.. thats really nothing forums and youtube can't do!

[Fbac]

=) glad your learning and finding it engaging, like the other posters i had the opposite experience (i thought) ,, after 3 years i thought id learned nothing new, everything i had was from self teachings before hand...

... what i did get out of it was inspiration from my lectureres (to think big!) and being introduced to the more programming side of music making, pd/reaktor. If it wasnt for that i wouldnt have started leaning the codings and possible doors wouldnt be open to me as they are now. .....but i still do think everynow and then that i could have not gone and i would have spent more time making music and would have a slightly better crappy job, enabling me to spend more time music making. .. .... =] oh well.

[iamallthings]

seven months later, and i'm done with classes. all i can say is "whoa". i've learned so much about wave theory and production methodology it's bonkers. got some good time in with live band recording too, which i was lacking.

now it's time for me to pick a studio at which to intern. i'm looking at LA, as i'd like to work in post production. any experiences or recommendations?

[Cubicle]

Just read this thread. Following a course aswell here in Belgium.

Learned a shitload about compression, limiting and even song structure and I'm only 2 months in.

[AxeD]

I'm probably starting AE sometime next year. Know a teacher at the school and I think I can learn a lot.
Plus: gets you a bachelor degree in engineering, which isn't bad either

[Skrew]

I was planning on going to college for this. But I thought I'd rather teach myself through books and experience and get a Bachelor in Marketing. Then I would be Bi-Winning!

[AJGR]

I actually had the opposite experience to you when I went to production school... I only learned how to use cubase - the rest I pretty much knew.. i learned terminology and how to explain what I do better but didn't go further than that.

A lot of the people on the course were at totally different levels as well so it was a bit difficult.

Though, it could of just been a bad course.

considering pro tools is the industry standard (find me a commercial studio that hasn't got pro tools) then it's possible it wasn't the best course. it just makes things a bit harder if you get a job at a studio and find a mac with pro tool and logic as a secondary DAW. now if you want to make music in a home studio or little dance studio, knowledge of cubase can be very useful.