audio engineers

[cranstonjdc]

Can you make a living off audio engineering? Is it worth getting a degree in?

[herbie d]

My statement will stir the pot, and I know it's a form of profiling but.... The best sound guys I have used are regular Joe's. Self taught guys who are just into it. They tend to listen with their ears. Edumacated guys tend to listen with their eyes, and think too much.

The regular Joe watches and listens to the band with a dumb grin on his face, adjusts accordingly, and gets into it. The Educated Guy has his head hung over the mixer, misses half of whats going on on stage and never seems to be satisfied with the outcome.

If you can be an educated Regular Joe, you could go far IMHO. I'll still take the regular Joe anytime.

[saktr-iyko]

you have to be careful, as 90% of audio engineers are failed musicians

[ermghoti II]

 

Can you make a living off audio engineering? Is it worth getting a degree in?

 

 

It's a slightly better choice than Plate Mail Maintenance Technician, but not as good as Abacus Tuner.

[daddymack]

forget the degree, as it will really be worthless. Learn the craft, get some software...plus, the term 'engineer' is applied to this profession mainly by the members of this profession...

[cranstonjdc]

What about more like studio matenance and pa instalation, eqing rooms stuff like that?

[kpfluger]

I work with all audio engineers, and I go to school with them-- and to be honest, if you love it and are really into it-- there's no difference. Some people learn better teaching themselves, some learn better at school. About half of the guys I work with have a degree, the other half are just as well off in the field, they just spend a few years working their way up the chain from simple backline tech to full-fledged engineer. Either way, you have to want to spend the time to get to that point.

 

I would say as far as PA installation and eq'ing rooms goes, a degree in acoustics would certainly help, but it's harder to teach yourself acoustics, as there is a lot of physics involved, but if you're into that sort of thing, go for it-- there are plenty of schools that teach both engineering and physics.

[Synonym Music]

 

Can you make a living off audio engineering?

 

Yes.

 

Is it worth getting a degree in?

 

No.

 

I find very little exception to either of these.

[The Byre]

 

Can you make a living off audio engineering? Is it worth getting a degree in?

 

 

Well, some 15,000 'Music Tech' graduates (or something very similar) are pushed out onto the streets in the US and over 2,000 in the UK, so the chances are extremely thin indeed.

 

A degree in electrical engineering will open all sorts of doors for you in the music industry (and of course elsewhere) but we really do not need any more fader pushers and like the man said, all the really good ones came in from left-field.

[Synonym Music]

 

Well, some 15,000 'Music Tech' graduates (or something very similar) are pushed out onto the streets in the US and over 2,000 in the UK, so the chances are extremely thin indeed. A degree in electrical engineering will open all sorts of doors for you in the music industry (and of course elsewhere) but we really do not need any more fader pushers and like the man said, all the really good ones came in from left-field.

 

That they do. I came from a technical theatre background originally (I wouldn't mind going back to it, either).

 

But the chances are much thinner if you want people to hand you a job and you're mediocre. People say the competition's high and that's generally true, but it may easier to push into less crowded markets. I love mixing - more than recording - and the competition in this town is not always that steep. Plus? I can do it cheaper, faster, better, with more hands-on time with the mix and more communication with the client. I want them to point out everything they don't like, and then I want to fix most if not all of it. I also send revisions throughout the process if there's a lot of tracks and a lot of problems that need to be fixed, just so they aren't surprised at the end with the direction I was going in (though I never veer away from theirs).

 

I can't find 5 people who would do that here. They don't have the time, or they don't like the concept, or they only work on analog and nothing else. It really doesn't matter - those are all excuses.

 

So... Niches do exist.

[behindthescene]

Hey I'm a student going to Fullsail, I don't think having the degree is so bad. I mean they do show you a lot of useful things and how to avoid making stupid mistakes. I am bustin my butt trying to volunteer and a few venues but the education behind is really helping. I know I don't have too much credit to be able to say that but, it's something.

[Inazone]

My band's vocalist graduated from MusicTech (name has changed since then) in Minnesota a few years back. He was fortunate enough to land an internship at a very nice studio that hired him on shortly after as an engineer. He and a former classmate had intended to open their own studio eventually, but both quickly found that in a large city with lots of existing studios, it's tough to make any money without a strong reputation. Eventually, even the studio he was working at wasn't bringing in enough clients to keep him on full-time, so he decided to go back to school for something else to pay the bills.

 

The benefit for us as a band is that he is handling the recording of our current album, and really knows Pro Tools well after a few years of training and studio experience. But for him personally, it hasn't worked out as a career.

[Special J]

You can certainly make a living off of it. I'm living proof. I did not go to school for it. You can basically go and work for a company, starting at the bottom, and get paid to learn the trade, or you can go to school for 4 years and pay to learn the theory of the trade and then go work for a company, start at the bottom anyway and have to learn all the really useful stuff you didn't learn at school. Full Sail is one of the few useful institutions (we've hired a couple of their grads), but IME you'll still have a lot to learn when you get out. I'd agree that an electrical engineering degree will get you a lot further and give you more options.

[Poker99]

 

you have to be careful, as 90% of audio engineers are failed musicians

 

 

What's wrong with that?

[Synonym Music]

 

What's wrong with that?

 

Nothing. There are a lot of great musicians who are horrible engineers, too. Engineering is.. Well it is definitely an extension of music, but it's also an entirely different artform than performance or writing. They are not linked and learned by default.

[behindthescene]

O I def know there is sill a lot to learn, I'm not that cocky lol. Unfortunately some of the people that graduate from the school think that but the instructors do tell the students that you will not in any way know everything when you graduate. I take that advice to heart. When some of the instructors have toured with big names and they tell you that you better listen. There is so much information and it changes everyday, besides so one wants to work with a jerk.

[behindthescene]

*no one want to work with a jerk...can't spell

[johnbegone]

I graduated with a four year music degree from a small school a year ago with an emphasis on engineering. To be honest, I didn't learn anything about engineering during that time. I did learn a whole lot of other valuable things through business classes, performance training, and music theory. I interned for awhile, and worked this summer doing live sound before I realized I hated both of those things. There aren't a whole lot of great opportunities out there, kind of have to get lucky.

 

I am working at an audio-visual company now, and I'm recording/producing out of my home studio. It's a good life so far. I still plan on turning the production stuff into a full time job, but gotta get some stuff out there first, and I have to make money in the meantime.

 

Anyway, I would recommend getting a business or a music degree if you're already a good engineer. If you're not already a good engineer, it's probably not in the cards for you.

[Synonym Music]

 

I graduated with a four year music degree from a small school a year ago with an emphasis on engineering. To be honest, I didn't learn anything about engineering during that time. I did learn a whole lot of other valuable things through business classes, performance training, and music theory. I interned for awhile, and worked this summer doing live sound before I realized I hated both of those things. There aren't a whole lot of great opportunities out there, kind of have to get lucky.

 

Not necessarily. Carve out a niche for yourself and some of the competition will fall away. You could almost say it's a parallel to the new music scene; "There's no good music out there" - but there is. You just have to dig.

 

The same goes for engineering.

[MusicGuy101]

I graduated from an audio engineering school and it was (in a way) the worst investment I made. I learned a lot of things but if I was self-disciplined and knew what i know now, the smarter thing to do was to read books, buy equipement, experiment and practice on my own instead of sharing lab time with other students, and worse case, hire a private teacher a few times to get the basics down. I would have been way ahead financially and have equipement of my own.

 

I think whether you say you have a degree or not, people want to hear what you can do. With so much available digitally, you can learn anything you want off the net. Buy your equipement, keep getting better at what you do, always record, and eventually (if you have an ear) you'll be good at it and understand how to use all the tools you need. Get a great sounding demo that you did from A-Z and tell people you can bring that sound to their project. You'll be a lot further ahead than taking all the classes you want with no physical (or audio) portfolio they can sample of your work.

 

Personally, I'd hire someone with a great sounding audio portfolio and no degree than someone in school for 20 years for audio engineering.

[Synonym Music]

 

I graduated from an audio engineering school and it was (in a way) the worst investment I made. I learned a lot of things but if I was self-disciplined and knew what i know now, the smarter thing to do was to read books, buy equipement, experiment and practice on my own instead of sharing lab time with other students, and worse case, hire a private teacher a few times to get the basics down. I would have been way ahead financially and have equipement of my own. I think whether you say you have a degree or not, people want to hear what you can do. With so much available digitally, you can learn anything you want off the net. Buy your equipement, keep getting better at what you do, always record, and eventually (if you have an ear) you'll be good at it and understand how to use all the tools you need. Get a great sounding demo that you did from A-Z and tell people you can bring that sound to their project. You'll be a lot further ahead than taking all the classes you want with no physical (or audio) portfolio they can sample of your work. Personally, I'd hire someone with a great sounding audio portfolio and no degree than someone in school for 20 years for audio engineering.

 

Well, saying you have a degree hardly gets you into anything these days. It's part of a checklist of requirements for some careers, but not a foot in the door.

 

You're correct in that results are a big part of making it, though, especially in music. People wouldn't hire me without saying "Let's hear it" first - then they have to like it, then they have to be able to afford it. No amount of people skills in the world (short of giving blowjobs?) will ever hide the fact that you don't sound as good as your competition. So... Sound great first. I don't believe in the saying "It's all people skills" because those people are going to cut through the bull{censored} eventually. Then you have to actually deliver a great product. It's where a boatload of AEs fail.

 

The most difficult thing for me was (and to some extent still is) finding clients, because work periods can be very erratic when you're working off commission. There is no steady paycheck every two weeks - but that's part of doing something you love, and realizing that it probably has far more earning potential in the long run anyway. I didn't have the benefit of playing in a band and forging those connections, so I had to rely on creating new ones.. (And perhaps getting into the scene a bit more, but I still run away from {censored}ty music real fast).