Is College Necessary for a Career in Audio Engineering

Today I am going to address a very common topic I get here at Studio 11 almost on a daily basis. Is it worth it or not to go to an audio school to become a recording and mixing engineer. With so many young people discovering the passion for music engineering and production, the natural course of action for them is to want to work on music full time, as a job.

Just like many professions, it is believed that a degree is needed not only for the knowledge and experience, but for the resume as well. The idea of going to school to learn how to use mixing consoles, outboard gear, and microphones are very alluring. So if you have played around with these questions on your future profession, let me give you a few quick thoughts on the subject.

You Don’t Need A Degree For Sound Engineering

I will go ahead and just get straight to the point. You really don’t need a degree from a university or trade school to earn a living recording, mixing, or producing music. As a matter of fact, it wouldn’t surprise me if most of the top audio engineers out there did not go to school for engineering. Some might not have gone at all or, like myself, dropped out when they realized a degree wasn’t needed to obtain a good job as an engineer.

Audio engineering and production is an artform, not just a field of study. The most common and effective form of training for a young aspiring engineer is an internship where he or she works with a master audio engineer or producer in a professional studio environment. As an intern, your job is to watch and learn the master engineer’s every trick and move so you can eventually assist his sessions properly. This is how its always been done. What really matters most in the audio engineering business is experience and connections. Let me say that again, experience and connections.

Pretty much you can go to any studio around the world today, obtain an unpaid internship, and begin the long and hard process of becoming an engineer. Yes it is true you’ll probably run a lot of errands and sweep a lot of floors, but the compromise is that you might be able to assist the engineer in a session, do some editing for him, cable patching, microphone setup, so on and so forth. It’s how most of us began our careers as audio engineers. I just like many others before me didn’t need any kind of degree to begin the process.

After reading this blog, if you think I am against school, you should know I went to college for a year and a half to learn audio engineering. It was a five-year program, so with the little bit I did learn in that short time, it was definitely an invaluable experience. The beginning of the program focused more so on the physics of acoustics, music theory, and conceptual understanding. I will say, I probably wouldn’t have been taught these things in my internship, so I am glad I got a chance to learn the stuff in school. So, if you have the money to get accepted into an audio program at a major university or trade school, you should go!

On the other side of the fence though, if don’t have the money, its hard to justify the possibility of going into large debt for a degree in audio engineering. The messed up thing that no one tells you, even with that fancy degree, you still have to pay your ‘dues’ and get an internship at a studio somewhere. That internship is the same kind of internship you could have gotten even if you didn’t go to school. Chances are you’ll probably be the smartest and most experienced intern at the studio though, which means you might get more opportunities to sit in and assist on sessions.

Now whether or not you go to school, you don’t necessarily have to work your way up through the ranks to become an engineer. You can open up your own studio any time, all you need is a good source of capital to purchase some gear. So, after my internship had ended, I decided to open up my own little space out of my apartment in Chicago. It was small, the neighbors yelled at me everyday because of the noise, but I recorded, edited, and mixed many songs and albums for many bands and artists of all types. I learned a great deal, met lots of great people, and most importantly, made money.

So you see, there isn’t really much stopping you from starting a career as a recording or mix engineer. The biggest hurdle is building a client base. A good way to go about this is to do some free work to build up client portfolio, put it up on a website and promote your services. Then little by little, start charging for your work.

So at the end of it all, education really is a great thing. I am so thankful for all that I learned from my professors during my time at school. But looking back on it all, it was something that I didn’t need to do to get where I am at today. I learned 99% of everything I know about audio engineering by watching other engineers and producers work, and also through experience. So I guess what I am saying, is if I could do it, then you could do it. All that it takes is a lot of patience and a lot of passion. Pretty simple things compared to becoming a doctor or a lawyer.