so what's a good college 2 go 2 that teaches music production

[x-squizet]

dude if you want to produce for the industry you don't need college, but like me i want to be a recording engineer so thats what i am going to school for, i feel it will help me with my production and learn some shit.

I am going to this college www.mtsu.edu has one of the best recording arts program in the country. but if you just want to produce, cop a few books, go to some seminars, if you can't play the keys good, say take some lessons, and just grind like hell man.

 

[changalang]

Don't go to the University of Hartford for Audio Engineering, I'm going there taking this stupid major and I ended up having a 1.7 GPA and 10 credits cuz I don't know how to read music notes and I don't know how to connect electrical things together! Audio Engineering is probably the worst major I could have picked so think about it before you choose it. A lot of electrical computer connecting wires and shit si gonna be involved and its confusing as fuck!!!

 

[SuB ConScience]

x-squiset- i'd like to talk with you about the school out there... ya got an instant messenger? i'm on AIM-Synikal Guru. I'm not just about producing beats....i'm into the whole recording process... hit me up- thx bro

 

[classic]

yea ive noticed this my self, I see alot of beatmakers try and go to school for audio engineering etc..recording etc...thinking its gonna make thme a better producer, they end up wasting their fucking time, cats end up with crazy debt and a degree that really isent worth anything. For the cost of some of these recording schools, ur better off going to a real college and coming away wit a degree that can earn u some cheese to support some production..

My 2 cents

 

[SuB ConScience]

i guess i'm just an information junkie and wanna now everything about everything when it comes to production, recording, audio...etc.

 

[x-squizet]

always make sure you got a back up, i will minor in computer science, just in case audio engineering goes sour i always got that back up in computer science.

sub conscience my aim is lilxsquizet

 

[Hypnotist]

hypnotist- aside from the career as an audio engineer....how was the quality of the education? i'm not sure if i'd go into this as my only livelihood, but as a part time job/hobby, is the experience good for something of that nature? where'd you go to school?

I went to the Art Institute of New England. The quality of education there was rated better than Berklee's audio production at the time. Really learned a lot, but some cats just didn't really gain anything from it. I picked the hell outta the teachers' brains tho, got a 3.8 accumulative GPA, tutored all subjects, etc.

I would recommend it to someone who REALLY wants to understand audio. They've changed the program since I've been there; some people complain about it's structure. You'll have to talk to someone who goes there now. I wouldn't recommend the 4-year program tho, as it's mostly only general studies added, like Calculus, etc.

 

[SuB ConScience]

alright cool, thx guys hey xsquizet, for whatever reason my aim is not allowing me to add you as a buddy (using that new beta triton version so that might be the prob) but if ya get a chance, hit me up on my (aim: synikal guru)... i'd like to hear about your school and thoughts on the recording program.

 

[Elementree]

FULL SAIL- Orlando Florida

This college hooks you up with a phatty music production job after your degree, alot of producers have grad. from there. they also have alot of other entertainment degrees

 

[SuB ConScience]

thx for the heads up... you know anyone personally who has gone there?

 

[classic]

Dj swival on this site, he is workin for a studio here in manhattan, hit him up

 

[BlackSox]

I remember last summer i was heart set on going to full sail. Now, I'm not dogging on it, but from what I have found in months of research are some downsides in going:

-It's like $60,000-$65,000 (don't remember exactly) for a year. Remember, that's plus about $1000 a month for an apartment in Orlando. Maybe $650-700 if you split with a roomate. Might not sound like much to some of you, but rent for my 2bdr is $300-330.

-I called various studios in major cities. I looked on the back of Neptune's albums, Lil Wayne albums, Slim Thug, etc. I looked up their numbers online and called them. (NY, LA, ATL, Houston, VA, etc) EVERY ONE OF THEM SAID that I DO NOT need to go to Full Sail to pull a job there. They said I would be just as likely if I went to a cheaper school. One mentioned the Conservatory, another Video Symphony. One in NYC told me that different studios there are closing almost daily and how sad a story it is. All these capable prospective employees and no where to work.

-I know of two people working at Gutiar Center with degrees from there. Waiting for there big break.

I'm sure they're internship program is great, but I can't see myself in debt for the next 40 years unless I'm driving an Italian Supercar.

I would say, go to a cheaper school, learn everything you can from books and hands on with hardware and software, and take the job you want with your knowlege.


-Sam






P.S. If you get successful or famous, remember me. Hit me up I go some hot tracks lol.

 

[Hypnotist]

thx for the heads up... you know anyone personally who has gone there?

I worked with three people at professional recording studios who went to Full Sail. One was an internship, of which he couldn't land a job afterwards because their human resources department didn't have any leads for him.

It's who you know that will land you a job, and WHAT you know that will keep you there. You'll always have to intern somewhere, or intern at the studio you want to work then move up. The shape of the industry is horrible right now in terms of world-class recording studios. I lost my job in April, just as the biggest studio in NYC, Hit Factory, went out of business. Every solid lead I had at that point went sour because they all got hit with resumes from Hit Factory employees, with more experience than I had. (Sony, Right Track, Avatar, Sound on Sound, and a whole bunch of others).

So anyway, if you're trying to land a job, then just learn as much as you can on your own, then go to a smaller scale school to compensate for what you didn't learn. They'll usually hire based on experience first, education second, but internships are a must. I could write a book about do's and don'ts, but I gots to gets to sleeps.

Hypno

 

[SuB ConScience]

i'll check him out classic, thx .....blacksox, do you mean the conservatory of recording arts and science in Tempe, arizona? Any idea why all these studios are closing? probably because everyone is doin the home studio bit now. good for you for calling those people up and finding that out. Did they have anything elst to say, like what does one really need to prepare for and all? like mandatory pro tools experience?? thx bro, peace Sub~Con

i was looking at the conservatory in arizona but couldn't find the tuition cost....anyone know? also, what kind of income do you think is possibly within the recording biz...meaning audio engineering, producing, etc. ( i know this is very vague question but thought i'd ask anyways)

 

[Hypnotist]

i was looking at the conservatory in arizona but couldn't find the tuition cost....anyone know? also, what kind of income do you think is possibly within the recording biz...meaning audio engineering, producing, etc. ( i know this is very vague question but thought i'd ask anyways)

Put it this way:

Not nearly enough to start with to pay off your college loans.

I started at Soundtrack NY at minimum wage. Guess how much min wage is in NYC. Done guessing? It's Five Fucking Fifteen an hour. It was in 2004 when I started, anyway. Now it should be up to $7.15, after they passed a law because people couldn't afford to live.

This is how they set it up at Soundtrack: You made your pay as a general assistant (fluffy term for "paid intern") then got bumped up (sometimes) as an assistant engineer, after a few years working there, then if you ever got to engineer, you were paid double your rate as an assistant. The closest I got to doing what I went there to do was a few weeks working with Joan Jett and another time with this guy Lee Ryan, who's enormous in the UK.

My roommate works there still. He has 6 movie credits from working at the Film & Television building, and he still doesn't make 10/hour and he's been there nearly 2 years. That's just how shitty our industry is right now.

And yes, I'm bitter about it all.

 

[BlackSox]

I don't remember why they said that, or how to land a job. It was last summer, and it's pretty much what hypnotist said about getting a job. I remember one guy said EVERYONE starts on the bottom. You gotta put in your years because everyone else did.
The conservatory is something around $15,000/ year.

 

[SuB ConScience]

alright cool , thx for the insight...didn't realize it was so shitty out there...

 

[Bobby Ffitch]

word... i was looking into it... but i figure that making beats will take me as far as i can get with it, but the possibility of making a living at it or of getting a job in the industry is pretty slim. i decided to just go to school for something else, which happens to be my passion for journalism, and make beats everyday on the side, and see what happens.

might do a sae program after college though, idk

 

[BlackSox]

I think of it like this:
Producing probably won't be able to support me month after month, year after year, as a career.
Working in a studio will.
So I work in a studio, and every once in awhile I get an artist that I like, but has weak beats. I slip a few beats to him for a few hundred, and make some extra money off beats. If the beats get me somewhere, badass. If not, I still have a steady flow of cash from the studio job.

But nowadays i wanna work with film music editing.

 

[Hypnotist]

Yea BlackSox, I hear you.

To implement our passion into our living is probably our biggest challenge. It's always gonna be "that chick on the side", until something huge happens. This can be helped by getting more than one foot in the door. If you're always around it, then chances of it happening are greater than if you just did it for a hobby. So if you went to school for it, work at a studio, try to sell your music to music libraries, managers, artists, record people for money, edit commercials and jingles, work on live sound at venues, clubs, bars, and just network with people every day, then it's more possible to find your true nitch.