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Dj Equipment and Samples  » The Problem With Recording Schools

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

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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.

About the author:

Brandon Drury's home

recording studio has been booked solid for years.