The Problem With Recording Schools
It seams that every recording magazine has a glorious picture of
some billion dollar recording studio filled with the best gear
and huge recording console. This seams to get a lot of kids
excited. Does this show what the music industry truly is and
does it give kids the wrong impression?
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.