| The Problem With Recording
Schools
By Brandon
Drury
I remember about 5 years ago. I bitten by the recording studio
bug. Before I knew it, I had maxed out a few credit cards and taken
out a large loan to pay for enough recording gear to record a full
band. I was excited about recording bands. I knew nothing, but I
certainly wanted to learn. I saw a few ads in beginner recording
magazines for these immaculate looking studios combined with classrooms.
I thought these guys would transform me into a recording genius.
I quickly enrolled into one of the best recording schools in the
country. I was excited. They even turned me on to Tape Op magazine,
which I am very thankful for. I thought I was going to go into the
recording school as an idiot and walk out recording Aerosmith. Somewhere
in there I got to thinking. How many recording engineers are there?
Since the school has hundreds and hundreds of graduates every year
and there are other recording schools all over the country, how
could all of these engineers be recording Aerosmith. More than likely,
there are only one or two engineers working with Aerosmith. There
are probably two more working for Metallica and two more working
for Van Halen and that pretty much wraps up the mega big boys. That's
right. There are six mega big boys. There are more all stars in
professional baseball than there are top recording engineers.
So what are these schools really selling you? They may be teaching
you how to work a console and they may teach you a few engineering
tips too, but where are the jobs? Many of the big studios are hurting.
This means there are less and less big time recording jobs available.
So where are the thousands of 20 year old kids who owe $15,000 in
student loans going to find jobs in the audio industry? Most of
them will not be working in recording studios. The sad part is most
of them are going to have trouble finding a decent paying job at
all. Graduating from “tech school” doesn't usually look the best
on a resume. You may be able to run a Neve console, but the only
job that needs that is an audio engineer and those jobs are getting
harder and harder to find.
I'm not saying that you shouldn't go to recording school. Honestly,
I'd love to attend a recording school. That would be great. Unfortunately,
there is reality and recording schools don't make much sense in
mine. Maybe you will be next guy to go to recording school and then
end up with a few grammy awards sitting on the mantle.
If a person is really serious about learning how to record, there
is no better time than 2 minutes ago. You are late. Get on it. All
it takes is a computer from 3 years ago, a recording soundcard,
and a few microphones. (Okay, there are some other things needed,
but I'm trying to make this look easy). The hard part comes not
from buying the gear or even figuring out how to work it. The hard
part comes from figuring out how to make a killer record that actually
sounds good. That one is still a mystery to me. The experience you
could gain by jumping face first into recording bands could be just
as good as learning the old school way. I'm guessing that both have
their flaws.
In the end, some of us were just meant to be in audio. We'll find
a way. If recording school is the way for you, by all means, go
for it. I have to say that I'm glad that I pumped my tuition money
into fancy microphones and preamps. My studio stays busy and I'm
learning as I go. Life could be worse.
Are you serious about audio
recording?
Check out recordingreview.com
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Brandon_Drury
|
