Should You Go To School for Audio Engineering? (in 2023)

🎛 The question anyone who starts to pursue Audio Engineering on a serious level, is this…

🤔 “Should I go to school for Audio Engineering?”

👉🏼 If this is where you’re currently at on your journey, you are exactly who I’ve created this video for!

🚀 There’s 3 scenarios to consider and I’ll give you my take on each, along with my personal recommendation in 2022!

⏰ Time Stamps:
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[itstarelle]

i did, learned a lot more when I got out of school tho. they gave me the basics and guidance that i needed but the debt ain’t worth it. The internet is the #1 tool we have at our fingertips

[therearenoruleshere]

I’m glad I went, it introduced me to many other paths in entertainment besides music… I got my bachelor’s on campus and my masters online at the same school. I promise you all there are so much things I’ve learned in college that you will not find on the internet… 👍🏽

[Prod.tankdabant]

I go to CRAS in Arizona it’s a 9month program and they 100% give u a internship at the end of the school year💯 only about 20k… learn the ssl origin, api legacy plus, and the 4000 u get great insight from industry engineers ..it’s great

[indesideratu]

Pretty much full time in one of the biggest studios in AZ rn. Went to CRAS would say it’s worth it even though we have YouTube. Going through the classes and learning teaches you what to actually take and pull from when learning online on your own. School was only 9 months around 26k comes with MacBook, mic, interface, headphones & hardrive. I did learn way more just being on the spot in the studio but the background helped out so much!

[dulla]

i did the thing you suggested at the end, studying online and studying specific sounds of engineers, and honestly just this year after over half a decade, i now can hear the different settingg on compressors attack and release times which before i would just dial in randomly without hearing cause it was hard to notice, and also 1db of eq changed are now very apparent, and it took me 7 years of mixing, producing, writing my own music almost everyother day, the school helped give me topics to study

[jonathankanda]

I am a sound engineer for my church it started out just turning on the mic's and guitars to learning more and gain more and more interested in it everyday I feel like I want to persue it more but maybe for fun as i.m already in college.

[jakestoneshow]

Don’t waste your time in audio school. If you wanna go to school, get a business degree.

You can learn the ways of audio by paying so many other folks, to teach you one on one or not contributing to channels such as this one !!


Thank you for this video

[CaraHillVoiceoverArtist]

Great video! I am in between choices 2 and 3 right now. I want to keep my training very specific to voice over so I can dial in on making my audio better. I am older, though, and have already been through school, so I guess I am more interested in the no fluff or extras approach at this point. Thank you so much for the video! Fabulous perspective! 🙂

[Fatalis]

as you said the most important stuff is the connections u get there, I wasn't at an audio school but I know a lot of people going to SAE here in Germany and they where like they didn't learn anything special there. BUT u have access to superior gear like an SSL Console and mics and stuff like that (wich can be a huge game changer if u can test everything in and out before u buy it) and u can actually take ur own songs recorded at home and polish them there :D. And to take the SAE as example u learn a lot of other stuff that aint music wich some people aren't really interested in. I mean if ur 100% only into music but have to learn month of video cutting or stuff like that u know.. good thing here in Germany is with some tricks u can get those engineer school shit for free. My thoughts on this, its cool to go there but if u are really interested in music and keep learning / watching videos / reading books / being active in forums & other communities u are good to go. maybe search ur self a mentor and thats it. cool channel keep it up brah

[gadielhernandez]

I think it all depends on where u go, I decided to change major to getting an Associates in music Technology in RCC, barely started taking those courses and I really have a good feeling about this, the professor is someone who's been involved with big companies such as AVID (they created softwares such as Sibelius and Protools which is what recording studios use now n days) over in this program they have professors who have had these backgrounds and experiences, they will even take students to these gigs (mostly for a LIVE audience) and teach them the ropes, some students will get good jobs, disney, morongo...ect

[FOHguy]

It was a different time back then, but here's my story. In 1978 I dropped out of college (psych major) and was living under a bridge. Ran into an old friend who needed a runner for a show. Liked it and started working for the promoter as a runner and stagehand in non union venues. Met people and got a gig with a local sound company. Learned the ropes and started doing sound at a local club 5-6 nights a week at $100 a night. Went out on my first tour in 1982. (Backline). Fast forward to today, still going strong. One reason I brought this up is in talking to people over the years, I'm always amazed at how many of us accidentally fell into this career.

[Codycreek]

I’m in a situation where I can get school paid for but having done many schools in life I know they fluff up a lot of material and I’m not looking to waste time doing things that aren’t important in the long run. I’m leaning towards getting a certification that way I can learn the nuts and bolts to get my feet wet then continue to learn with online paid courses.

[rayid]

Audio school is just glorified physics along with how to track and record in a studio IMO. I can learn how to use most boards, all types of dynamics processors, and get a general workflow from my own research through books and masterclasses. Fifty thousand dollars could buy me a studio for twelve thousand dollars, and I can rent it out for experience with working alongside artists. The only benefit to an audio university for most these days is a focused intensive fast track to the big rig setups in todays world.

I enrolled in another faculty in my university mainly for job security, but the passion for audio and music is gonna lead me to places that audio engineering school isn’t going to help majorly with. I won’t be able to ever get a job at a major studio without a degree, but most audio engineers with one these days aren’t able to either😅

Some stores also allow people to rent out studio equipment to try out, so I have access to those rentals to see if I like the sound and utility of the gear before a purchase. With proper research it’ll be so simple narrowing down what I actually need. Plus there are many staples to a studio that I noticed after a few years which I know I need to acquire to be competitive as a engineer.

A big part of audio engineering is the physics and musical theory of sound. Luckily most universities offer courses on those subjects to all students, so in my case I can just take those courses as electives, and take the knowledge from there into my own learning online. And there’s so much material online that once anyone has been learning for a while, they’re able to tell what is useful information and what isn’t.

Overall, the audio engineering academia is starting to lose prospect to those looking to work as production and mix engineers. It’s more a place to learn for tracking engineers, mastering engineers or even academic scholars of audio physics. The access to the resources of a university today would only benefit these positions.

Sorry for the long paragraph, it helps me to write out stuff like this to plan. Thank you for your videos, they’re a huge help and I really am thankful for them!

[diiegopc]

The questions we choose to ask ourselves are very important

[prod.vernacular]

I attended a trade school for sound design & Engineering, 1-year program. Honestly, I had obviously learned many things, but how much I had to learn from knowing almost nothing in 1 whole year was completely overwhelming. I think everything I learned you can easily access on the internet, being in Facebook sound engineering groups, which helped me a lot, YouTube videos, and so on.

[danielfarmer]

18 going to community college for free to get a transfer degree in recording arts/live audio. I have an internship at Northern Californias most promminint audio/visual backlining companies, and a gig stage handing and shadowing at a big music venue in my town. Hopefully, i have enough outlets to get me somewhere. I am also hoping to start a studio.

[richardpress]

130, 000 dollars for an audio degree? You can get an audio associates degree from Point Blank / Middlesex University in the UK online for around 10k us dollars. That's insane you guys in the states pay so much. And that UK associates is offered in the US as well now!

[midwestent.]

I'm even more indecisive now after watching this video 😭

[ICANTHEARHER]

The last one does sound good. I thought about doing a course in college without actually doing a 2-4 year period but I ultimately just want a mentor

[vladborisov]

Hey, have been a trained audio engineer for 11 years. Have not been to audio schools. Have done a few courses. Was curious if it was worth it. I specialize in live performances as well as post-production. Thank you for the video!