Sound College

[kidfromkibbly]

Has anyone here gone through a sound engineering college? I'd like some opinions on the merits of attending one in terms of working in the industry afterwards.

[Monika.mhz]

Going to school (like fullsail for example), helps you get gigs and jobs as much as A+ certification helps you get a tech job.

I used to work for a sound/lighting company and every now and then we'd get some kid who went to fullsail who wanted to intern with us. The owner (who was always on the ground floor doing the work with the rest of us) would usually laugh when they said "i went to fullsail" and say 'great, do you know how to roll a cable?'

I'd recommend interning with a sound/lighting company or studio. That's where you'll learn the real world stuff.

God...I can't count how much coffee and tea I've made for major recording artists over the years. lol

[Monika.mhz]

Oh oh...but that is NOT to knock the kind of 'learning' you get there. You certainly learn a lot and a lot of valuable information. But only go if you're trying to supplement information. Don't expect to leave and be considered an expert in the industry though.

[mpetersen3]

Can't say regarding sound engineering, but my brother is a film producer and was thinking of going to fullsail, but instead went to a community college for 2 years, and worked his ass off to start his own film production company, and has had a lot of success, and probably has learned as much just by making film production his life and breath. He also has been quite successful fyi, not to knock it also, but I think that you can learn as much as they could teach you if you are passionate and spend your spare time educating yourself in it. You might look at what books their core classes use. In fact you can probably find the class websites and the books and then go through their material yourself. In their favor they have some badass facilities and having like minded individuals around you works wonders for accelerating learning (like a live in forum).
(Hope I haven't sounded like an egotistical braggart)

[Damien1138]

I went to school for theater and picked up sound design as my tech trade. It helps alot if you go to a program that heavily relies on audio support. The best ones to hit up are conservatories that do musicals with live orchestras. if you thought mixing 2-4 channels was tough, try a 15 piece orchestra, choir mics, 3-6 soloists, and firing samples all at the same time. It definitely helps to have instructors there to guide you through the weeds as the task is pretty daunting. I also pick up random gigs here and there as FoH mixer for some extra cash. it's pretty good cash also. IATSE pay on the west coast for a FoH mixer is 30-55 an hour, not to mention design fees and overtime, so ya. hit me up if you want some recommendations on schools