Music Production @ Uni

whineo · Post by **whineo** » Fri Sep 14, 2007 3:20 pm

Anyone on here doing (or has done) some form of Music Production Uni/College Course.

Was/Is it worth it?

I have always considered it - but after my last stint at Uni I realised that it was a massive waste of money.

auan · Post by **auan** » Fri Sep 14, 2007 3:25 pm

Got a degree (BSc) in Audio Engineering from Glasgow Caledonian. Wouldn't exactly recommend it, I work in a factory.

chunkie · Post by **chunkie** » Fri Sep 14, 2007 3:30 pm

got a mate who did a course at SAE

learnt loads of pro tools stuff - but then first thing he did when he finished was spend a grand on a pro tools interface!

he learnt about midi routing and principles of mixing eg eq, fx, mastering etc

made him very technically efficient but in terms of production didnt really take him further -- and problem being you learn how to mix in a plush studio on pro tools, adam monitors and sony eq's, then come home to your bedroom and reason/fruity loops/ live etc.... so you've got the principles but not the tools to implement them in your own environment necessarily!

i think the practicalities of eq and mixing are useful but depends how far you've got on your own really!

i did a couple of courses alongside my degree at uni on midi and sampling (hardware akai biznizz) and it was useful in terms of me sorting my own set-up and getting down to generating the sounds in my head.

think the courses can be useful but worth inspecting the prospectus/modules os you dont end up with some muppet giving it the 'this is what a waveform looks like'
(like the driving instrcutor who takes 25 quid off you for an hour of telling how his cake baking tray is like a steering wheel, turn left, wheels go left.....)

auan · Post by **auan** » Fri Sep 14, 2007 4:02 pm

Almost all of them are gonna be from the ground up, ie "this is what a waveform looks like" shit. And they'll lie to you

I spent 4 years at college/uni for it and never once even saw a compressor, or a sampler, and that was (allegedly) the best college and the ONLY uni in Scotland to offer it at the time.

Honestly mate you'd learn more from here, places like DOA, hell even Wikipedia.

climate · Post by **climate** » Fri Sep 14, 2007 4:24 pm

i'm at bath spa uni and i've learnt a fair bit so far. its good to have the free time to make tunes as well.

nospin · Post by **nospin** » Fri Sep 14, 2007 4:43 pm

i was in a program here at a local community college... it happened to be a very good program, with excellent teachers and equipment, for a decent price... compared to the same program at other schools in the area.

research the programs in your area and try to read up on the professors and stuff... i've heard some of the more expensive schools are not always worth it.
i was also told by an engineer in a studio, that if he recieves a resume for an internship and he sees that somebody wasted all that money on a school that isnt worth it, he wonders whats wrong with them and is likely to not hire them. go figure

even if you dont go for the full degree, you can probably find some interesting and helpful courses to take. also in my experience the 1st couple of quarters were not very hands on and seemed to discourage some people... but it was worth it to stick with it.

whineo · Post by **whineo** » Fri Sep 14, 2007 5:06 pm

NoSpin wrote: even if you dont go for the full degree, you can probably find some interesting and helpful courses to take.

No way I would ever spend money to go to uni or college again. its been 7 years since I finished my course and my £9000 debt seems to get bigger by the day.

But i will always wonder what more I could be learning @ music prod college.

Auan wrote:Honestly mate you'd learn more from here, places like DOA, hell even Wikipedia

auan · Post by **auan** » Fri Sep 14, 2007 6:48 pm

Should have said, you learn more by DOING it for yourself.

__________ · Post by **__________** » Fri Sep 14, 2007 8:59 pm

i'm considering going to do music tech in bristol, but i'm finding it hard to decide either way.

climate · Post by **climate** » Sat Sep 15, 2007 10:58 am

£10 Bag wrote:i'm considering going to do music tech in bristol, but i'm finding it hard to decide either way.

Let me help you out there. Do you enjoy computer programming languages like c++ ect?. Hows your physics and maths? are you prepared to not actually make any music as part of the course?. The CMT course at bristol is a bit of a joke, theres not much creative or musical about it? it needs a new course title its very misleading.

auan · Post by **auan** » Sat Sep 15, 2007 1:24 pm

climate wrote:Do you enjoy computer programming languages like c++ ect?. Hows your physics and maths? are you prepared to not actually make any music as part of the course?. The CMT course at bristol is a bit of a joke, theres not much creative or musical about it? it needs a new course title its very misleading.

Sounds pretty much standard. Swap C++ for Delphi (Visual Pascal language, completely useless for pretty much everything outside academia) and take out all the physics. Yep, even all the acoustical physics, you get none of that from Glasgow Caley.

Had a thought though, look into doing an HND on the subject, rather than a degree. The qualification ain't exactly worth anything, but the knowledge you'll gain is far more to the point than the full uni course. Stow College is worth a look north of the border, can't comment on English courses.

roqqert · Post by **roqqert** » Sat Sep 15, 2007 2:34 pm

I do DJ/Producer college in the netherlands on a school called : Rock Academy. Dont be fooled by the name cause you learn lots of the musicworld. We've got skillsband, skillscommunity, music history, music theory, music practice.

Skillsband : the teachers will form a group/band. I as a producer got fucked up with some rappers. ive to make a show for the school and ill get a mark with my group. if its high they give me a gig at a local huge place thingie. (sorry for my bad english) youll get 3 or 4 months for that. Youve to work quick and efficient and fix a cool show.

Skillscommunity : youll get lessons of your own discipline. Mine is DJ/producer. We've to make 6 tracks in half a year and try to immigrate all the lessons we've got from the teacher. we get lessons with all kinda stuff. In the first year youll get lots of mixdown lessons. Only that kinda stuff and rly it helps. Learned some rly good shit now. You also get personal lesson for like an hour. Same thing only the teacher is more concentrated on you and your tracks. If youre with all the others ( my discipline counts 5 students) youll get normal lessons about compressors, eq's, limiters, workflow etc.

you also get ableton lessons and how to perform good as possible on live stage!!!

music theory : youll get ALL the information bout the theory of music. notes etc. everything. so thats the hardest thing on school. youve to learn notes, interfalls, toneschemes, rythms etc.

music practice : all about the music world and the things around it. Labels etc. that kinda stuff. How to sell records by yourself and how to make good promotion and how to get gigs quickly and good. How to come on the radio etc.

music bussniss : all bout the money hahahahaha...

so thats my college.... its for dutch ppl but you can also do it in english. We got some foreignpeople on school.

oh yeah youve to do 2 auditions if you wanna try it. first send a demo with your stuff and youll get criticism back with a folder with your scores.
2nd audition youve to come to the school, do a hearingtest ( do you've musical hearing yes or no and which level you got that ? ) and you've to spin a set with your own tracks. 50 ppl did there job. 5 came in as students.. im 1 of them yeeey !

if you wanna know more bout it : http://www.rockacademie.nl/ you can change the language cause its a dutch site on default

i think my college is quite usefull. the teachers will help you with your goal and if you wanna get to the top of something theyll help you.. its possible but its also possible it wont work. You can end up like a good producer/engineer/commercial tune maker/teacher/manager/lots more

crud · Post by **crud** » Sat Sep 15, 2007 4:49 pm

i'm doing a BSc music degree at city uni in london, its a really good course i reckon. there's nothing on programming choons but they do loads of stuff about composing and programming electroacoustic music, which is like sound/noise art, really pretentious academic stuff.. but they get you to use technology to create mad textures, and theres modules on sound recording and production which i havent done yet, and then all the instrumental composing/ performing, world music, history, jazz, popular, film music stuff etc so you kind of got everything you need to be able to produce electronic music away from school. you need grade 7 on an instrument or to audition, but if you can maybe itd be better for you than learning about technology in a scientific way. i think theres electroacoustic stuff at a couple of other unis as well. i dont think there are any courses on programming electronic music as such, or id be on that instead..

steveydubz · Post by **steveydubz** » Sat Sep 15, 2007 6:30 pm

any 1 done the course at point blank? been to the studio and did a reason course that was all good! im think of doing a longer course there

auan · Post by **auan** » Sat Sep 15, 2007 6:56 pm

See Point Blank is a private ting and you don't get a student loan for it. And it costs an arm and a leg. Last I heard SAE were bringing in organ donation as a finance option.

I did have a mate who dropped out of uni and went to SAE (they do have a 'dance music production' diploma worth checking out) and I never kept up with him but I did hear vague reports of him working for a studio now.

skavoovie_blind9 · Post by **skavoovie_blind9** » Sun Sep 16, 2007 12:12 am

Yeah I'm currently doing a Bsc in music production at Huddersfield uni. Going back in a couple of weeks for my second year, it's all good.

I get a years wrk experience in some studio's in my year after this wich should be good.

Not sure exactly what I want to do career wise but I do know that I definetly want a career that's music related so I reckon this is the best route for me.

steveydubz · Post by **steveydubz** » Sun Sep 16, 2007 12:10 pm

nuh u can get a loan for the pointblank courses! its a career development loan

daft cunt · Post by **daft cunt** » Sun Sep 16, 2007 2:18 pm

The 2 descriptions by Chunkie & Roqqert suggests these schools might be fun - if you're comfortable with money or you don't mind 5 years of payback - but unnecessary considering all the knowledge provided by the people you meet, the web and the books.
I mean:

Skillsband : I got fucked up with some rappers
alright, this can be fun. Tell them 140 bpm is the new standard for hip-hop beats and get the stnuc make some grime.

Skillscommunity : youll get lessons of your own discipline. Mine is DJ/producer
mine is Dubstep producer, I take lessons @ Dubstepforum

We've to make 6 tracks in half a year
do you really need someone to ask for it?

music theory : well this makes sense for sure but private lessons are cheaper.

music practice : all about the music world and the things around it. Labels etc. that kinda stuff. How to sell records by yourself and how to make good promotion and how to get gigs quickly and good. How to come on the radio etc.
if it's what you want to do, meet labels people.

music bussniss : all bout the money
it's good to have an overview but do you really need it?

You can end up like a good producer/engineer/commercial tune maker/teacher/manager/lots more
which also means you end-up with a diploma of "good producer/engineer/commercial tune maker/teacher/manager" which might means nothing to your potential employer.

As a last point, you'll certainly be asked to start paying back short after your school which might lead you to go with shit handworks that'll take you away from what you've learnt and paid for.

Erf... just my 2 cents.

ozols man · Post by **ozols man** » Sun Sep 16, 2007 4:36 pm

im doing a music related course starting this year after one false start. all i can say is id rather do something music related then some "respectable" bullshit that id otherwise hate. even if u leave in alot of debt u still have a wicked time in uni, meet lots of people you may never otherwise meet (who might even have a profound effect on ur music career), it postpones having to work for the man and uni in its self is a good path to independance anyway. u mix with loads of randoms, look after urself and learn alot of things which u probably wouldnt learn when ur living with ur mum working at tescos instead

roqqert · Post by **roqqert** » Sun Sep 16, 2007 8:18 pm

daft tnuc...

on the school you already much more quicker in touch with bigger labels. Ill tell ya if i do everything they ask me on the first year of my own discipline ill learn how to mixdown much better and even get close to mastering. ofcourse you can do it your way... only that takes more years then education..... its how funny how you compare it but you've to know its not the full story.

Skillsband : I got fucked up with some rappers
alright, this can be fun. Tell them 140 bpm is the new standard for hip-hop beats and get the stnuc make some grime.
you cant say to rappers : GO MAKE SOME GRIME... if they dont like grime... say thats not rly an option

Skillscommunity : youll get lessons of your own discipline. Mine is DJ/producer
mine is Dubstep producer, I take lessons @ Dubstepforum
with this youll get much more then just dubstep. You walk through all kinda genres so you wont stick on 1 vibe what could happen to you if you only learn from the people of dubstepforum

We've to make 6 tracks in half a year
do you really need someone to ask for it?
6 tracks with topnotch mixdowns/masterings

music theory : well this makes sense for sure but private lessons are cheaper.
the music theory is almost private lessons only now youll get lots more hours of it

music practice : all about the music world and the things around it. Labels etc. that kinda stuff. How to sell records by yourself and how to make good promotion and how to get gigs quickly and good. How to come on the radio etc.
if it's what you want to do, meet labels people.
With my school will get contact with labels much faster. My own school has even his own label.

music bussniss : all bout the money
it's good to have an overview but do you really need it?
If you wanna live with your music yes.. or youll get fucked up by others who steal your money

i dont wanna say youre wrong.. but this is just a much more quicker way... when im done, i'm probably 21 and on the good road of music productions and hopefully a good career as an artist

Music Production @ Uni

Music Production @ Uni

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