SAE Institute

Lampdog wrote:

kingrome_1 wrote:but its always good to have some kinda schooling to fall back on

Something to fall back on would be a college degree, not a certificate, imo.

I've got a friend who did the course a year ago. He now works there as a supervisor and has also picked up other work from the course. Another job he has now is in a big studio with loads of valve gear. He's also had a lot of work doing live sound engineering.

The thing is, he was keen. If you do one of these courses you need to be 100% committed and show the training staff how keen you are. My friend said only those who are dedicated get offered the jobs.

Redundant.

vizionary wrote:truthfully..don't even THINK of going there, is true studios dont care wether you went to school for it or not..if you really want to pursue some sort of training..your best bet is either NYU program or Queens borough community college..they both give you degrees not crappy "certificates"

i agree that you DON'T need to go to school to get a job as an engineer, but SAE-LA gives diplomas not certificates

i TOO was thinking about going there, but from talking to many friends (who ARE engineers in studios) i realized that you really don't need to go to school for that ish, you just need to somehow get into a studio and work your way up....

i am in final year at high school now and was considering going to SAE in byron bay australia, but its $30 000... for the cost i could do
- a bachleor of business at university and
- set up a dank home studio
then
- take electives in electronic music production and audio engineering while doing business fulltime (3 years)

that way i learn the same concepts and skills as i would at SAE but get a degree in business and dont force my self to do uni again/waste $30 000 if at the end of SAE it turns out to be shit and or industry is too hard to earn money in or whatever....

SAE just didnt seem logical after 6 monthes of talking to professional studio owners, university lecturers, forum people, career advisers, etc...

SAE, Full Sail or Berkley would be the best choices all for different reasons.

I just finished my diploma in audio engineering at SAE.
If you dont know ANYTHING about audio then do it, but the money you spend on it you can build up your own home studio and learn from there.
BUT sae does let you know about tons of jobs availble that you normally wouldnt hear about if you werent enrolled.
also as flimsy as it seems if your going for a job people do prefer a " a certificate" rather than "worked in a few studios"
but either most studios keep it in the family and/or circle of friends or even solo so they dont normally hire people that often to "teach the ropes to"

i was just looking at SAE in New York.. i hear alot of good things about this school but 20,000$ for the 9 month program?? .. hopefully it will pay off.

Get a real degree.

OvaDoSe wrote:i agree that you DON'T need to go to school to get a job as an engineer, but SAE-LA gives diplomas not certificates

i TOO was thinking about going there, but from talking to many friends (who ARE engineers in studios) i realized that you really don't need to go to school for that ish, you just need to somehow get into a studio and work your way up....

good luck getting a job in a real studio without some sort of audio schooling. this aint the old days where you could just walk in and intern

put yourself in a studio manager's position. who would you hire...the kid fresh off the street who knows nothing, or the kid who has been to school and at least thinks he knows something about a recording studio?

any decent studio nowadays requires some type of audio education to even get your foot in the door.

if you wanna work in your bedroom on Pro Tools LE and call yourself an "engineer" then don't go to school. but if you want a job at the Hit Factory they're going to sit you down and say "route an oscillator through this SSL 9000J and into Pro Tools" before you get hired as an intern.

rickrock305 wrote:

OvaDoSe wrote:i agree that you DON'T need to go to school to get a job as an engineer, but SAE-LA gives diplomas not certificates

i TOO was thinking about going there, but from talking to many friends (who ARE engineers in studios) i realized that you really don't need to go to school for that ish, you just need to somehow get into a studio and work your way up....

if you wanna work in your bedroom on Pro Tools LE and call yourself an "engineer" then don't go to school. but if you want a job at the Hit Factory they're going to sit you down and say "route an oscillator through this SSL 9000J and into Pro Tools" before you get hired as an intern.

exactly.

Apprenticeship in professional recording studios is rare nowadays. If you do get that opportunity, you're one lucky guy.

There's always an advantage when you get to jump right in to the professional commercial studio. There's nothing like learning from experience.

However, if you're dead set in a professional career as a Audio Engineer, you'll have to figure out how you foresee yourself as one in the future. In essence, Audio Engineering can be a highly technical profession that deals with acoustics, electricals, large format digital & analog consoles, etc. If you're gonna go that route, you might no go anywhere with your home-based digital audio workstation.

So I don't see anything wrong with attending a school to learn Music Production & Engineering. Other than the education, an additional advantage is the networking opportunities you'll get when you're in one.

Other than the 9-month, 2-year programs of SAE, you might want to check out other audio engineering program that not only focus on the technical aspects but also the musical side of it.

Berklee College of Music (Boston, MA)
Clive Davis Dept. of Recording Music (NYC) - more for contemporary, urban music production
Peabody Conservatory (MD) - more on classical recording. they're the first US school to offer the renowned Tonmeister (Audio master) program, originally from Germany

There are more schools out there. It's up to you decide which will fit best to your ideal career path.

The amount of people enrolled in those programs versus the amount of ACTUAL jobs in that field are lopsided. If you have the money you can attend simple as that.

Theres a program here in my city but they only select 8 PEOPLE per semester. Those people are guaranteed jobs after the schooling, but its a bizatch to get in. You have to apply, 5 interviews, etc all to make sure you wont bail if your selected half way through the program

The running joke with many of these recording schools listed in this thread are that they are the fast track to becoming a Guitar Center manager. The sad humor is more than 1/2 the people I know who went to an audio school are mangers (or lower) at Guitar Center.

Honestly, I wouldn't take this path unless this is your calling. For everyone who said it can't hurt, they arn't cheap. Throw oppertunity cost on top and it can be a very expensive mistake if you don't go anywhere with it. Out of 10 or so people I know who have gone to various schools, none of them work in a studio, nor have been able to even get the oppertunity to even intern, much less work in a real studio. Out of these people, only one person knows one other person (on an actual personal level) who was able to enter into a career. I have never heard of that from any other type of school, technical or academic. I read the same as what people I know tell me so I don't think my circle is an isolated deal.


For the love of god, please do not go to school to improve your own skills for your own work that goes down in your own home studio. You can learn enough with practice, some books, and the internet which is more or less free. You most likely won't be able to afford much when you get out until you do work, when you could have gone another route for the same or less and get a good paying job. I know this wasn't brought up in the question but enough people do it that it is worth bringing up.