Category: Confessions of an Audio Engineer

Some people join a gym but never end up going
Some people start a book but only read the first chapter
Some people buy a guitar but never learn how to play a single chord
Some people create an artist Instagram account but never release any music

Let’s say you’re going on vacation to Spain, so you want to learn how to speak Spanish, but after one lesson, you decide it would be easier to just hire a translator. Sure, you solved the problem of not being able to speak the native language while on vacation, but you’re also succumbing to your tendency not to finish things.

Giving up on something you set out to do when it stops being fun or relevant saves time and frustration, but it also reinforces an extremely detrimental habit. I’ve never been good at finishing things. I don’t think I completed a single self-motivated project until I was well into my adult years. And at age 30, it’s still something that I struggle with.

I decided to change when I realized that not completing projects was taking a drastic toll on my self-esteem, confidence, and, ultimately, my happiness. That may sound dramatic, but it’s true. It was almost like I was living a lie, and my brain knew it.

I knew I could actually do the things I wanted to, but I still didn’t have much of anything to show for it. Time and time again, I would set out to do something and be unable to mark it complete and share it with the world. At the time, it was hard to correlate my unhappiness and feelings of self-worth to my ability to complete projects, but looking back now, it’s blatantly obvious.

I realized that finalizing and sharing my music was the part that scared me the most. I was afraid. I was afraid of marking something complete because then I would have to answer to my own work. I could and would be held accountable for the result, which my perfectionism was never going to be happy with. If I was going to wait until I was 100% happy with something, I was going to be waiting a very long time. But sharing what we create with others is the whole reason the majority of us make things. We create to inspire, invoke emotion, entertain and teach and that doesn’t work without an audience.

My whole life, I was coming up with excuses as to why I didn’t finish things, and since these were mostly personal endeavors, there were no immediate consequences. The consequence eventually caught up and arrived in the form of my inner turmoil. My soul couldn’t stand being a phony anymore. My brain subconsciously was trying to protect my ego at the cost of my happiness. If I don’t finish something, it can never be judged, and if it can never be judged, then I’ll never have to answer to the true quality of my work. If people can’t judge my work, I can continue pretending I’m better than I really am. 

The truth is talent has nothing to do with any of it. I was being held back by an extremely detrimental habit. It took a deliberate change in my mindset and a newfound dedication to self-discipline to snap out of it and begin to realize my potential.

Unfortunately, there’s no quick, easy way to break a bad habit. It’s a long, drawn-out, and uncomfortable process that requires taking a lot of small steps. I was going to have to do the one thing I was most afraid of, declare my projects complete and send them out into the world. The main thing I needed to work on was changing my mindset. I needed to stop judging the quality. My goal needed to change from completing a great song to completing a song.

One trick I’ve started to adopt that’s extremely helpful is giving myself smaller checkpoints to reach. According to PsychologyToday.com, “It’s possible to manipulate your dopamine levels by setting small goals and then accomplishing them” Keeping a list of small things that you need to do that will lead you towards completing whatever you’re working on will make you feel good when you go to cross them off. This keeps me motivated with daily tasks.

For instance, if you want to be an artist but can’t finish a song. Start small. Give yourself a task of completing a 10-30 second piece of music with no vocals. Make a list of the instruments you want to include, then give yourself a reasonable time limit. When the time limit is up, stop. Mark it complete and share it with the internet or even just a friend. Pretend you’re being commissioned by a client, and you have a deadline that can’t be missed. In the real world, deadlines are a very real thing, and it’s extremely rare you’ll ever have an unlimited amount of time to work on something. So why give yourself that kind of freedom when working on your own projects? This was my problem. I was giving myself an unlimited amount of time to work on things, so I was using it! A lot of us work better with restrictions. Leaving tasks open-ended and giving ourselves too many choices can lead to being less productive. If you’re struggling to finish your songs, try giving yourself fewer options. Leaving projects open-ended makes things feel daunting and difficult to complete.

Start treating projects like they are jobs. Be a professional. Professionals don’t need motivation or inspiration. They show up to work and do their job. Start treating your projects, whatever that is, whether it’s writing a book, starting a youtube channel, or learning a language, like you’re a professional and it’s your job. You’re not always going to be motivated to work on something.

Whenever you first start something you enjoy, it’s fun and exciting, but that feeling doesn’t last, it will fade away, and you’ll realize there’s hard work to be done. Projects aren’t always going to seem fun, exciting, or even relevant. You might not get an immediate reward, and it might be difficult, annoying, or strenuous, but there’s a reason you started them.

Embrace failure. Focus on completing your art rather than judging the quality.

“Art is never finished, only abandoned”

– Leonardo da Vinci

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I love talking about audio and music. I love having discussions with other people that enjoy the same things that I do. This is why I found myself frequenting not only forums, message boards, and Facebook groups but also live events and other places where people who enjoy recording audio and making music gather. Since I was a kid, I was always looking for a way to join a community while not actually having to join a community. When I started playing the bass in the 6th grade, I joined a bass guitar message board where I could talk to other bassists about ways to improve. Later, when I got into competitive paintball and poker, I did the same thing. By joining these communities, I was cued into a network of people that were all interested in the same thing. It became a vital way for me to find people with similar interests who are also looking to grow. Message boards and similar communities are also a great place to educate yourself as they are great resources for information and staying current on industry trends.

Now, with all good can come bad, and there can be a lot of bad when you get a lot of nerds together online. This is why I enjoy Facebook groups more than message boards. Facebook is less anonymous than some of the other communities which hold users accountable (to an extent). Anonymity can bring out the worst in people.

Some of you that follow me on social media may know that I like to create and post a lot of memes that are designed to be funny and poke fun at certain aspects of audio, music, or production. Some people get confused with statements about audio engineering or music production beliefs and philosophies.

I recently posted a meme where I depicted a Fairchild 670, the Waves plugin version of the same compressor– the Puigchild 670 and a stock photo of people in a crowd with the words “Who would win?” at the top. Almost immediately, comments began flooding in, arguing one side or the other.

That meme is meant to be a joke. It’s intended to be funny, but I’ve found that people online seem to take things too seriously and love to take any opportunity to argue something they believe is 100% right. If you’re one of those people, let me save you some time and aggravation. It’s not worth it, and you’re not always right, even if you always think you are. Why are you trying to change strangers’ opinions on the internet?

It doesn’t make any sense to me. I understand having a proper debate about something that may be controversial, but there’s no right or wrong in these scenarios. If you like analog gear, great, use it. If you like plugins, great, use them. Why is anyone trying to prove that one is better than the other?

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I’m just as likely to be reading this type of article as I am to be writing it. I’ve struggled with getting rid of bad habits my entire life. I wish I could tell you I’m the hardest working engineer in the biz, but unfortunately, that’s not the case.  I’m always looking for ways to work harder and smarter. That doesn’t mean I’m lazy or don’t work hard, but there’s always room for improvement. It all comes down to discipline. You can lose weight, quit smoking, and get better at basketball if you can improve your self-discipline and are smart about your approach.

To give yourself the best chance of getting rid of a bad habit, it’s important to understand your tendencies and adjust to them accordingly. It’s hard not to feel like I’m the pot calling the kettle back, considering I’ve been “waiting” to start going to the gym for the last five years. But that’s not to say I haven’t improved in other areas or displayed self-discipline in other aspects of my life (humble brag; I just celebrated my first anniversary of not smoking cigarettes).

I started writing the “confessions of an audio engineer” series because I wanted to write about issues I am currently struggling with or have struggled with in the past. Even if admitting some of these things may be embarrassing and writing them out may be difficult, putting my thoughts on paper helps me be self-reflective and gives me a sort of third-party perspective. Ultimately, writing my thoughts down helps me better decipher what they mean and how I can fix them.

Lately, I’ve been disappointed that I haven’t been writing as much music as I’d like. I haven’t finished a song in years. I work on other people’s music, and I enjoy it, but like most audio engineers, I got into this field because I enjoy creating music. I want to start finishing more songs, and I want to begin cultivating better habits when it comes to writing and practicing music, and this is where the idea for this article stems from. I hope it helps you as much as it helped me.

Figure out what you want to change

The first step to fixing habits is figuring out what you want to fix. I think it’s hard for many people to step back and unbiasedly look at themselves and figure out what they would like to change about themselves.  It’s important to focus on what you can change and stop worrying about what you can’t.

The majority of people go through life without stopping to figure out how they can improve themselves on a more significant level. People have egos, some feel they are better off thinking that everything they are doing is fantastic and that the way they feel or how they think is always right. The best advice I can give myself and others is to remember to stay humble, nothing is written in stone. It’s okay to have an opinion; it’s not okay to be ignorant. Be open to changing yourself, your mind, the way you think, and the way you live.

Make a list

The best way to figure out what you want to change is by making a list. Write out what you like about yourself. Then, write down what you don’t like about yourself. Now look at the list of what you don’t like about yourself and try to figure out the best course of action to go about fixing it. For instance, in terms of life, if you’re trying to get in better shape, put down a few different ways you can work towards doing that. So using this example, you could say, go to the gym twice a week for 30 min or walk 10,000 steps a day.  Make sure that the task is achievable and not overwhelming. It’s important to keep the goal reasonable, or you’ll be more inclined to procrastinate or talk yourself out of doing it. And also, make sure that you’re taking into account some of your tendencies. Now, this is the problematic part, and some will be better at this the others. If I hate running on a treadmill or going to the gym, then I should try to walk in the park or find exercises I can do at home. If I know I’m not a morning person, then I should schedule my exercise in the afternoon. If you know exercising isn’t easy for you, start slow, start with your diet.

Find out and get rid of temptations and other distractions

Are you constantly going on Facebook? Staring at your phone?

Turn off the wifi! Put your phone in airplane mode! Mitigate your distractions by recognizing what they are before you even start working!

It’s common to find your attention drifting. If you see this happening, you should immediately recognize it and cognitively redirect your attention back to what you should focus on. I know, easier said than done, the good thing is if you keep at it, you’ll get better over time.

Schedule a time

Set aside a specific time to do a task. Make sure that it is written down on a calendar. Writing it down and putting it on your calendar helps hold yourself responsible. As I mentioned before, it’s easy to procrastinate, and it’s easy to give yourself excuses not to do something. My biggest problem is when the time comes to do something, I tell myself I’ll have time to do it tomorrow or tomorrow’s a better day anyway, and I find a way to convince myself it’s okay not to do something. I’ll talk myself out of doing something that at one point was important enough to put down on a to-do list but

You can’t wait for the motivation or inspiration to start doing something. You have to show up every day and get to work. James Clear, who is a Behavior Science Expert, says, “The work of top creatives isn’t dependent upon motivation or inspiration, but rather it follows a consistent pattern and routine. It’s the mastering of daily habits that lead to creative success, not some mythical spark of genius.”

If you know you have trouble holding yourself accountable when it comes to completing a task, schedule a time to do it. If you don’t do the task at the time specified, you failed. Once you start fulfilling these obligations you put down on your calendar, you’ll begin to enjoy the feeling of getting shit done. Small wins add up to big gains.

Don’t give yourself a choice

There’s no excuse for not giving all your effort. If you find yourself always thinking of ways to get out of doing something, realize this is an unfortunate trick your brain is playing on you. If you say you’re going to do something, you have to do it!

A technique I like to use is to think of myself as an optimized robot. If I was the perfectly programmed music making robot, what would I do? How would I spend my time? This allows me to take a step back and look at the situation from the outside. Robots don’t have a choice. If you schedule a robot to do something at a specific time, they do it. To sum everything up, be cool, and be a robot.

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How to survive as a working audio engineer
[Even more] Things I wish I learned sooner about audio engineering
The “your mixes sound bad in the car” phenomenon

We’ve all had embarrassing moments in the studio. From an intern to lead engineers, everyone royally messes up sessions in significant ways, from recording over that perfect take to dropping a microphone worth more than a car. There are so many different ways to make mistakes while recording that I’m surprised I don’t mess up more often.

We’ve all had embarrassing moments in the studio. From an intern to lead engineers, everyone royally messes up sessions in significant ways, from recording over that perfect take to dropping a microphone worth more than a car. There are so many different ways to make mistakes while recording that I’m surprised I don’t mess up more often.

I’ve had my fair share of accidents, way more than I’d like to admit, but for the sake of the enjoyment of others, I will.

Although a studio environment does not have to be stressful, it can be, and a lot of times, it is. If there is a big session or high profile client, there’s a lot of pressure on the engineer to make sure the session not only flows well but is executed perfectly, both artistically and technically.

There used to be a time when the engineer didn’t have to worry about running the tape machine or setting up the microphones. This freedom allowed the engineer to focus on the more essential things like the sound. Well, not anymore. Today, engineers do everything, from managing the studio to cleaning the bathrooms. We do it all. I enjoy this aspect of it, I like doing a lot and not having to rely on others to move microphones around, but it also leaves more room for error.

I hate messing up. Like really hate it. I still cringe while thinking about some of the things I’ve done over the years. Hell, thinking about hugging the wrong dad when I was three still sends shivers down my 30 year old spine. I’m not sure if anything is worse than when I was about a year into my internship and was asked to run a session of my own.

We have a very informal internship policy at Sabella Studios; we welcome anyone that wants to learn and is willing to lend a helping hand and rarely turn people away unless they are a distraction. It was my third year of college, and I had been hanging around the studio and helping for some time. I had been asked to be the lead engineer on smaller sessions such as short piano/vocal sessions or rap/hip hop vocal sessions. These were sessions that were more straightforward and hard to mess up. Or it should have been…

At this point in my career, I’d probably only run a session on my own a few times before, but I was asked to record a rapper who just needed to book 2 hours. Simple enough, I thought. I got everything ready, set up the microphone, set up headphones, created a new Pro Tools session, set the preamp, checked to make sure I was getting signal, and patched in a compressor and an EQ. I was all set for when the client arrived, and when he did, we greeted each other and had him settle in the live room. I had him begin running through a warm up take so he could practice and so I could get sounds.

The problem was everything sounded way too echoey, but I didn’t have any reverb turned on yet. Maybe I had something patched in I wasn’t supposed to, or maybe the compressor was crushing it or not set correctly, or maybe there was a bad cable. After frantically searching for the source of the problem for the next three and a half minutes while the artist ran through the song, I still couldn’t figure it out. After finishing that pass, my client motioned to me that he was ready, and I gave him the okay to give it another run through, which would give me another three and a half minutes to try and figure out what the hell the problem was.

The artist was now about to finish his second pass, and I still couldn’t figure out why it sounded like the microphone was 50 feet away from his mouth when I could see he was singing not even 6 inches from the capsule.

Just as the client finished and said: “That take was perfect!” I realized what I had done wrong when I noticed the microphone’s Neumann logo plate was on the side facing the control room. I had the microphone facing the wrong way.

I learned a few valuable lessons that day. The first was that on large diaphragm condenser microphones, companies would usually put their logo on the front pointed on axis. If you don’t see the logo, it’s probably pointed the wrong way. The second thing I learned was to be humble. If you had told me 5 minutes before I had done it that I should make sure the microphone was pointed in the correct direction, I would have said. You’re crazy. I knew everything already! Well, that day, I got fed a big ol’ slice of humble pie.

Even while I run sessions and consider myself experienced, problems happen all the time. The difference is I don’t panic and have become very good at troubleshooting an issue as it arises. Troubleshooting is a part of working in audio, and if you want to do this, you should get used to it. I always try to think about problems and how to fix them analytically. I’m much better now, but back then, if one thing went wrong, I would be sent into a downward spiral of anxiety and fear, and it was tough to regain my composure.

What mistakes have you made? What did you learn from them? Comment on Facebook, Instagram or send us an email using our contact page.

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Recording and mixing are two forms of artistic expression. Like drawing or painting, there’s a lot more to being proficient than just having natural talent. Innate talent will only get you so far, while hard work and practice will get you further. A combination of both is when true genius happens. But there’s a reason there are so few geniuses. It’s rare that someone possesses both the talent and dedication to become great at something. The vast majority of us have mediocre talent and an average work ethic. For a lot of people that are naturally talented at something, they will try something out and discover they’re good at it, but their lack of work ethic stifles their progression into the next level of proficiency. Their natural talent made it easy to get started, but when they reach the top of their talent limits and don’t keep up with the practice, their progress diminishes.

I’m speaking from experience: my perfectionism and desire to be great is what ended up holding me back. I’ve touched on this in “Things I wish I learned sooner about audio engineering,” but there was a big part of me that was subconsciously steering away from making music for fear of being bad or creating something that I would not be proud of. I’m very opinionated and have strong feelings towards everything from fine art, music, and food to even things I don’t care about, like interior design or architecture… you name it, I have an opinion about it.

Now, this harsh opinionated mindset works well when trying to figure out which EQ or compressor I want to use for certain specific scenarios, but it holds me back when I’m judging my work. It turns out I even have a strong opinion about myself! In the back of my head, I always feel that everything I do can be better. None of my work is ever finished.

Da Vinci said, “Art is never finished, only abandoned.”

If you’re one of these people that has trouble finishing a project, a song, a mix, or an arrangement, well, welcome to the club. This is a common occurrence with artists of all types, and it’s so common that Leonardo Da Vinci spoke about it over 500 years ago.

A consummate professional knows when to abandon his work. He knows when to move on and when not to let his emotions get to him when he has a project that has a deadline and needs to go out. You have to get the work done and move on. It’s the only way to get better. I had to learn that I’m not going to magically turn each one of my productions into an amazing song every time. I’m certainly not going to make that happen by slicing the drums up a million times and spending hours tuning the vocals. That kind of stuff doesn’t matter when it comes to the bigger picture. You learn from each mix and every tracking session, but no single thing is going to make or break a mix or production. There’s not a single technique that’s going to take your skills to the next level. Everything is made up of small wins; small things eventually accumulate and add up to something much bigger.

I also used to wait for inspiration to motivate me to start working. I would wait for my brain to magically tell me to go make music. I don’t think anyone is constantly inspired. Inspiration comes and goes. Spurts of inspiration happen, but it’s rare. I need to push myself to start working. A real professional is someone that’s going to hone their abilities whether they feel inspired or not. You can’t wait for the perfect moment or the perfect setup, or the perfect piece of gear to start working on a mix or project. You just have to show up. Showing up and starting is half the battle. Making art feels daunting, whether it be an album or a painting, conceptually, it feels impossible.

Many times artists and creators are surprised at how their work ends up the way it does. It’s almost like we serendipitously end up with the finished product, but we aren’t sure how we got there. It makes us feel like phony because we don’t know how we did it. Then there’s always this underlying fear that we won’t be able to get to that same place again. It’s hard not to feel like that one great recording, mix, or song we made was just a stroke of good luck and we wouldn’t be able to do it again. Since we don’t know exactly what we did, we certainly don’t know how to replicate it. So we go into the next project with our fingers crossed, hoping that we can recreate that same magic again, sometimes we do, and other times we don’t.

Perfectionism will affect every aspect of your creative process, but it will affect you most when it comes time to stamp something finished. Trying to create something that’s “perfect”  won’t let you declare any project completed because there’s always something you can do to make it better

So what should you do?

Work on projects and finish them. The goal shouldn’t be to make a perfect product; the goal should be to finish it. Whether it’s good or bad doesn’t matter. There are always going to be people that have unfavorable opinions and negative attitudes, try not to listen to them. Work within a time frame and stick to it. It’s better to work on 50 good projects in a year than one perfect project. The only way to get better at recording and audio engineering is by doing more of it.

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Related articles:
How to survive as a working audio engineer
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The “your mixes sound bad in the car” phenomenon

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It’s almost impossible to find steady work at the start of your career. Most audio engineers are grinders, we start small– going from one gig to the next (more significant) gig until we eventually have enough work to support ourselves solely on audio and music. The truth is that it takes a long time to get there, and there’s always the risk that it may never happen.

Long gone are full time studio jobs with benefits at a major studio. You’re not going to fall into a major recording session with a major artist. Geoff Emerick’s story of starting work at Abbey Road at 15 and by 19 was recording the biggest band in the world’s no longer a reality. (I highly recommend reading his autobiography Here, There and Everywhere: My Life Recording the Music of the Beatles)

Here are a few pieces of advice that may help you get by as a working audio professional

Get a flexible second job

This one might annoy some readers because it’s obvious and usually the last thing most people want to do. I’m sorry, but it’s true. There’s no shame in getting a second job that’s flexible while you try and make music a full time thing. I discuss in great detail in my post, “Is your career where you thought it would be? Neither is mine.” my initial struggle with taking a day job. Making enough money to live comfortably is hard, and you don’t need to make it harder on yourself by stroking your ego. If you find a job that allows you to do what you love while also paying your bills, you’ll be able to live comfortably and also pursue your passion without burning out and living on peanut butter and jelly. I would love to put 100% of my time into music, but I’m not sure if that would even be the best move for me. I think if I had no other job or responsibility other than being successful in music, I’d have a hard time motivating myself. Since I have other responsibilities and other sources of income, time for me is so valuable that I have a hard time wasting any of it. Coffee shop baristas, uber drivers, servers, and bartenders are all jobs with flexible hours that you can get just about anywhere in the world.

Give music, instrument, or production lessons

One of the more difficult solutions but given some time and effort, has the possibility of being very lucrative. Giving lessons in anything is a business in itself, and you’ll need to find clients for lessons just as you need to find clients to record and produce. Finding people is a lot harder than making a website and saying you’re a teacher. Like with recording, word of mouth is always the best way to find students. Do you have any friends or family that are looking to learn guitar? Offer lessons at a discounted rate to start. Put up advertisements and flyers, and post them on social media. Getting started by giving lessons is difficult and a long process that takes commitment and persistence, but if you’re able to stick it out, you are on your way to a steady stream of income that many find to be rewarding and still allows you to stay within music.

Write, talk or make videos about audio

If you had told me even a year ago that I would have an audio blog, I would have told you that you’re crazy. Writing essays and research papers for fun? Get out of here. Well, since posting “Things I wish I learned sooner about audio engineering” to Reddit and receiving a great response, I’ve found immense joy and fulfillment in learning and writing about the many different facets of audio. I only write about what interests me and things I think would be helpful to other engineers. This gives me the opportunity to learn more about things that I like which helps not only me but also other people.

It also turns out I am pretty decent at writing, and other people (surprisingly) enjoy reading what I have to say. Now I’m not making any money on this website now, but there’s always a possibility of that happening in the future. This is the life of a musician, spreading yourself out, throwing a lot of darts at the wall, and hoping one sticks. That’s what this whole list is about. These are just a few darts, but the more you throw, the greater chance you have at hitting the bullseye.

Develop a product or start a business in the industry that’s separate from recording

You’re probably thinking, duh! Start a business, why didn’t I think of that’ Before you attack me for stating the obvious hear me out. A lot of the other ideas I’ve stated in this article involve starting a business in one form or another. Giving lessons is a business, starting a website is a business, and making videos and starting a YouTube channel could be a business. You don’t have to be the next Elon Musk or the audio equivalent, Steven Slate. Think of other ways to make an income that may not be right in front of you. I’m constantly trying to think of new ideas, video series,  applications, software, etc. Most of them are terrible, but I think the more you brainstorm these types of ideas the more opportunities you give yourself to have a good one and see it through to completion. Everyone has ideas, but it’s the execution that everyone falls short of. I’ll go back to this website, most blogs don’t last more than three months, but If I make realistic goals for myself and keep showing up and writing articles, there’s a possibility it may turn into something much bigger.

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Related articles:
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[Even more] Things I wish I learned sooner about audio engineering
EMT 250 and the birth of digital audio
The “your mixes sound bad in the car” phenomenon

So you like making music…maybe you make EDM in your bedroom, or you’re in a band, or you want to be the next big rapper. Whatever it is, you might be considering going to music or audio engineering school or trying to make music into a career. If this is you, perfect, you’re in the right place. I only wish someone had written this article before I went to school. I’m not saying my decision would have been different, it may have, but it definitely would have been more informed than it was. The only thing I’ll stress throughout this entire article is to make sure you make an informed decision, there’s no right or wrong there’s only the best way for you.

So, is going to school worth it, or should you skip it? I can’t answer this question for you, but I can give you a realistic view of both paths and maybe help decide which one will be better for you.

I will start by saying that you can be successful whether you go to school or not. I’ve seen top engineers that have never read a book or had any formal training, and I’ve seen very knowledgeable and technical engineers work their way up from student to respected engineer and even to the studio owner. There’s no clear path to success in this field. It’s a rocky, bumpy road that, the majority of the time, will lead to nowhere. That’s the hard truth. The majority of the people that set out to be audio engineers will never become audio engineers. If it were easy, everyone would do it.

I think the first thing you need to ask yourself is, what are you trying to get out of school? You can’t decide if school is right for you until you figure out what are you expecting to get out of it. Unrealistic expectations are the reason that audio engineering schools can leave a lot of students with a sour taste in their mouths. Not because of what the school offers but because their expectations were unrealistic. If your expectations are to go to audio school, intern at a studio, and receive an offer for a full time job, you should just forget about recording music professionally. This sentiment resonates with me because I was a naive 18 year old with big dreams. I didn’t exactly think I’d immediately go from student to professional engineer, but I also didn’t know that the chances of that happening were astronomical when they probably were. I thought there would be more opportunity to gain full time employment than there was. Granted, I went to school during the worst time to get into audio engineering. It’s hard not to put blame anywhere else but on myself because of my unrealistic expectations. If only I had done my research and gone to school with more reasonable expectations, I might have not only enjoyed my time there more but would’ve gotten more out of it.

If you think going to school is going to bring you closer to employment, then you’re sadly mistaken. In the music industry, it’s rare anyone gets a job because of their degree. Experience and reputation trumps all. Sure, a degree might look nice on a resume, but it’s not going to be the reason you get a job or make more money. So then, what is audio school good for?

Going to audio school puts you in an environment with other audio engineers, producers, and musicians and a type of atmosphere you won’t experience anywhere else. Attending school puts you in a position to make friends with people who are also trying to do what you want to do, and this can turn into something bigger. This is something that nothing else can replace and, without a doubt, the most significant negative of skipping school. I’ve mentioned networking as things they don’t teach you in audio school, but it’s really because networking skills are difficult, if not impossible, to teach in a traditional sense. You can work on your social skills, but some of us are innately better than others. Teachers can tell you to network, and that networking is important but establishing relationships with people and making friends is different. If you’re well liked you’re just more likely to be successful, people want to help you if they like you. I think my words were misconstrued last time in thinking that I’m saying you should use people. You shouldn’t. I’m saying make friends and work with your peers–  you never know what these relationships develop into. Like it or not, careers are made on who you know, and there is no better environment to meet people than in school.

With that said, I think the majority of my real knowledge was gained outside of the classroom. Nothing can replace experience and learn from real masters of the craft who already have their 10,000 hours. Schools are big and only have so many studios for you to use. We were only offered so many practical hours, and even if we did have assigned studio time for a project, it’s hard to progress when you’re working with a group of your peers and not with someone more experienced.

There used to be a system in place in the industry where young engineers had to work their way up, working under better engineers until they were ready. With the death of the major studios came the death of a true assisting and working your way up the ladder, learning little by little under masters of the craft. You can only learn so much from a book or a video. The classroom isn’t the place to learn how to become a great recording engineer. You can learn technical information in a classroom, but practicality comes from actually working, recording, making albums, doing voice overs, foley work, whatever is your cup of tea.

Many audio and art schools are for profit and have significant marketing campaigns. My issue isn’t with the school’s teaching audio but with the targeted advertising. It seems a bit predatory to target young, mostly naive, creatives trying to make what they love their livelihood. The advertisements are on popular radio stations or in magazines where they show pictures of students in big studios with expensive microphones. Sure they look cool, but is it meant to make me believe that it’s a good investment and a good education? A part of me feels that schools should be morally and ethically responsible for making sure that there are enough jobs for the students they are sending out into the field.

Now I’m sure a lot of you are saying, well, how is that possible? Is it a dying industry? When I say dying industry, I mean the structure there are no longer cushy gigs with full time benefits at a studio recording music. There are jobs. It’s just not going to be as stable and easy as landing a single job. You’ll have to find work in multiple different places, doing various different things. The only way an audio engineer, musician, or any creative can survive is by doing many different things. You have to spread yourself out in as many ways as possible. Teach lessons, work corporate gigs, weddings, broadcast, start a business, write for a website, etc. there are a lot of different ways to make money from audio.

So…

Should you go to an audio engineering school?

I still can’t answer that for you. The good news is if you made it this far, I think you’ll have a much better perspective on what to expect and, in return, be able to make a better decision. I will end by saying that whether going to school is the right decision for you, I don’t believe it’s ever a sound investment. In this field, a degree does not make you more money as it does in other industries where you could justify the cost of tuition.

If you’re interested in reading more about my personal views on being an audio engineer, check out the first part of my Confessions of an Audio Engineer series, “Is your career where you thought it would be? Neither is mine.”

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