By engineer
Sat Feb 11, 2006 4:38 pm
I just graduated from IAR a few months ago. I'm already a full fledged engineer at a major recording studio (I was interning and assisting BEFORE I went to school). I would tell you you're better off just spending the 13k you'd spend at school on a proffessional grade protools rig. Or even better, just save the 13k to live in the city for a year or two and get an internship somewhere. You will learn twenty times as much being in a real recording studio than being at IAR.
Degrees in engineering usually work against you when trying to get low-level studio work, most engineers don't go to school and established guys will look down on you for not doing the same. Also, after being in school for a year, once you're put into a position where you're treated as if you know nothing it's difficult for young engineers to stay interested.
And finally, IAR is only what you make of it. I had 5 close friends I made while I was there and I'm the only one making any kind of bread. One has been interning at a studio for over a year and another makes 10 an hour working at some **** studio in Albany. The rest don't even work in the music industry and have gone on wishing they never spent the money.
IAR is a money making facility that will only your money and let you breeze through the courses until the 9 months is up and they have all your dough. I don't think they really care about being credible because to be honest with you, they aren't at all. I knew more about Protools (industry standard software) than any of the teachers there. On a sad note I was the one fixing the Protools rig in the Recording Workshop. One of the teachers had engineered a few sessions at the studio I work at and recognized my abilities so he put me on to the task.
That's the worst part of IAR is the staff. Half the dudes just graduated from some university for recording engineering and haven't even had real industry jobs. The rest are 65+, can't hear anymore, aren't hip to any current trends in music (IE hate hip-hop) and don't know half the things you need to know to make it in the modern recording business.
TRUST ME DON'T WASTE YOUR MONEY TO BE TAUGHT BY AMATUERS AND AGING DINOSAURS! REMEMBER I ACTUALLY WENT THERE!
Degrees in engineering usually work against you when trying to get low-level studio work, most engineers don't go to school and established guys will look down on you for not doing the same. Also, after being in school for a year, once you're put into a position where you're treated as if you know nothing it's difficult for young engineers to stay interested.
And finally, IAR is only what you make of it. I had 5 close friends I made while I was there and I'm the only one making any kind of bread. One has been interning at a studio for over a year and another makes 10 an hour working at some **** studio in Albany. The rest don't even work in the music industry and have gone on wishing they never spent the money.
IAR is a money making facility that will only your money and let you breeze through the courses until the 9 months is up and they have all your dough. I don't think they really care about being credible because to be honest with you, they aren't at all. I knew more about Protools (industry standard software) than any of the teachers there. On a sad note I was the one fixing the Protools rig in the Recording Workshop. One of the teachers had engineered a few sessions at the studio I work at and recognized my abilities so he put me on to the task.
That's the worst part of IAR is the staff. Half the dudes just graduated from some university for recording engineering and haven't even had real industry jobs. The rest are 65+, can't hear anymore, aren't hip to any current trends in music (IE hate hip-hop) and don't know half the things you need to know to make it in the modern recording business.
TRUST ME DON'T WASTE YOUR MONEY TO BE TAUGHT BY AMATUERS AND AGING DINOSAURS! REMEMBER I ACTUALLY WENT THERE!
. It's been a year and half and the program sucks the work book sucks and their customer service sucks. It took them six months to place me and what they did for me with a little confindince I could of done for my self. Get a phone book and do the reserch and set up your own interves with local studios for internships. SAVE YOUR MONEY.... if you want to be a producer inverst in song beat making gear...... if you want to be an enginer invest in some recordering gear.
