Is the Audio Engineering Field Dead?

[treezee]

The same thing is gonna happen to IT workers 10 years from now. Everyone and their mama getting certs, and it makes the skill worthless on the pay scale.

 

[ItWasWritten]

I just finished school ...went in Hollywood .


I agree with what is being said here ....you do not need to go to shool for this ...what u need is hands on experience and a mentor or mentors.


There is always going to need for an engineer ...the cool thing about it is you can do movies ....TV....recordings...mixing...anything that has to do with audio u can do ....


Honestly the school was cool but mostly the people I met is what I will treasure most....me and my classmates got some investors and will be opening our own sh1t by the end of the year ...

 

[be back in a bit]

Like other people said, connections and interning is most important. The school is still useful, but its really only a means to get you an internship and meet people. If you have local studios in your city, try to find out either directly or indirectly if there's a particular school they tend to hire from. I know in Toronto, Revolution Recording and Noble Street Studios tend to hire their students from OIART.

But yeah, it is not an easy field and there is only room for people who work hard. You'll be interning for a while, soaking in as much info as you can. You might not even be paid the first couple of months. Your goal from there is to become a runner (setting up recording room, booth, running cables etc.), then assistant engineer and then maybe engineer. I say maybe because a studio only needs so many engineers. A position may open up, a position may not. It's a tough path, though very possible. But like all fields with limited demand and lots of candidates, there's really only room for the best and hardest workers.

That said, don't take the "best" part too seriously. You don't have to know everything. When you finish school, you'll have the basics but you really won't know shyt. Most studios will know this and be cool about it because like every job, you learn 90% of the job on the job. Just have a good attitude, take initiative and with a little bit of luck you'll do good.

 

[SoulController]

no, this guy does everyone from Bieber to 2 Chainz and has 2 locations. Future uses him for most releases including the Beast Mode tape

http://www.gsmastering.com/

 

[TLR Is Mental Poison]

I remember bout 10 years ago (after realizing what an audio engineer was) i was thinking hard about going to school to learn. Read up on it and i what i came away was that unless your BIGTIME and got experience and a portfolio to match that most have a 2nd job. That dream faded away quickly. Nowadays i cant imagine there really being that much of a demand for audio engineers on the music side since everybody and they mama makin music in their basements and easily uploading them to Youtube. I see ads and commercials for audio schools and wonder how well audio engineers are eating in 2015. Anybody got the inside scoop on that field?

Audio engineering is the difference between a flat ass FL beat and actual professional music.

When it comes to multi million dollar music, soundtracks, production etc the audio engineer is invaluable, not cause of the technology but because of the knowledge of the fundamental principles of manipulating/enhancing sound.

 

[GoldenGlove]

Any job in the music industry is going to be highly competitive and hard to get.

I used to make beats and it's very similar. No way in hell would I pay to go to audio engineering school tho. The industry doesn't value degrees. I'd try to network myself into being an apprentice of someone already doing it and learn that way to get a foot in the door if I wanted to go that route.

or get lucky and befriend an up and coming rapper or producer before they blow up.

But wouldn't the experience you get from school whether it's a lil 2 year program or an Associates help you "network" into being an apprentice to an engineer at a studio though? My brother does music (producing and rapping) and I tried to tell him he should get into the engineering aspect as well so he could benefit off of the industry in more ways than just his own music. I don't think anybody from the street can hit up an engineer at a studio asking for an internship or apprenticeship without some kind of validation that they're working on something.

 

[be back in a bit]

But wouldn't the experience you get from school whether it's a lil 2 year program or an Associates help you "network" into being an apprentice to an engineer at a studio though? My brother does music (producing and rapping) and I tried to tell him he should get into the engineering aspect as well so he could benefit off of the industry in more ways than just his own music. I don't think anybody from the street can hit up an engineer at a studio asking for an internship or apprenticeship without some kind of validation that they're working on something.

Having gone to a school can be an edge. Studios already have students coming at them every year asking to intern, and they can't give all those guys a shot. So they're even less likely to give someone who has no education in music or audio engineering a shot unless that person has a killer resume or has made a bit of a name for himself locally with music.

 

[str8up]

I'm still planning on going for audio engineering, don't really care about the degree/job just want to learn more for my own shyt

My friend did and his shyt be sounding right, he helps me with what he can but can only teach yourself so much

 

[PRVLG Sound Studios]

5 Star Thread.

 

[COQWAVE]

my boy got a degree in audio engineering and hasnt made a dime from it i dont think

hes done about 0 networking or internships

 

[str8up]

my boy got a degree in audio engineering and hasnt made a dime from it i dont think

hes done about 0 networking or internships

damn that sucks