Berklee vs SAE & other guys, in sake of Audio Engineering

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virgo.floyd

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hey guys, I've been researching on this issue for a while, and reached the point to seek some professional views! so here is my question:


I need to attend school and get a degree on Audio Production, but after days and weeks of googling can't decide which school is better on this field, as Berklee is a big name and would prefer to go there but it seems more focused on matter of music, while SAE and other institutes are providing pretty good audio production courses as their main focus (or at least it seems to me that way).


1. I'm a Music lover in first place & would love to learn anything related to it, but one thing led to another and I thought it would be better to focus on Audio Production more than Music Theory and Stuff.


2. please correct me if I'm wrong anywhere on this, and do it, it matters to me a lot! but PLEASE DON'T SUGGEST ME TO FORGET THESE SCHOOLS AND LEARN ON MYSELF AS THAT'S NOT AN OPTION FOR ME.


3. I'm not a rich boy going to spend daddy's money on this! so please don't look at it that way! I'm spending all my life saving on this and I'm 25! so there's no time for mistakes anymore!


sorry if it was so long! and thanks in advance.
 
Apples and oranges, pick one that is best suited for your location. Why do you want a degree so badly? What job are you hoping to get from this course?
 
thanks for your reply, well, actually there's no location factor, as I'm in Iran! and I want a degree so badly, because I'm in Iran! ;)

there's no Audio Engineering courses provided here, and I'm hopping to get that as my job, so the only remaining option will be to apply for a school overseas.

and by the way another question, what is this hype spreading everywhere about this industry being dead and stuff? is that temporary and related the freaking recession, or the music industry is collapsing and music engineers are dying from starvation all around the world?!
 
I am on a music production course in England and can say that music theory/working with musicians is v. important if you want to be more than an engineer. Basically a degree won't get you far in the real world and you will probably have to coil cables n make your way up the ranks before anyone will hire you. But what you are gaining from taking a degree is industry contacts and all the amazing musicians/producers you will meet. Also, you get to work on real desks with full bands instead of learning how to engineer on a laptop, which isn't a good way of doing it; and getting internships are hard nowadays. Plus you can learn everything a lot quicker, although of course it takes talent to get anywhere.

I looked at SAE and thought it was too expensive for what it was offering. You're paying to work on expensive gear like SSL desks which you will most likely never see doing actual work as project studios are quickly becoming the norm. Plus if you know the signal flow of one desk, you can figure out how to use any Neve, SSL, etc. I reckon both places have very good contacts but I would put my money on Berklee as it's such a well known name and you get more of a University lifestyle than SAE. I would order the prospectuses from both/try to get feedback from students. Hope this helps!
 
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i go to berklee.. its a lot of work, and a lot of money, but the networking and job opportunities kill all other music schools
 
Also, the 'music' industry is not dying, it's just evolving. The 'record' industry is dying. Yes the 'big studios' are closing left and right but there are still opportunities readily available to creating a living from. But the era of extreme wealth/fame we've had in the past 30 years or so as producers or musicians is a thing of the past. People will always want music. There will always be an industry.
 
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virgo.floyd said:
and by the way another question, what is this hype spreading everywhere about this industry being dead and stuff? is that temporary and related the freaking recession, or the music industry is collapsing and music engineers are dying from starvation all around the world?!
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Yes. The music industry is dying.

The reason is that everybody steals music from the Internet.

People all ganged up on Lars Ulrich from Metallica when he brought a lawsuit against Napster, saying that unauthorized filesharing has to be stopped because it will kill the industry...

...now, around 10 years later, there is a whole generation of kids who do not even understand the concept of "paying for music"... Sales are down to a small fraction of what they once were... And unless somebody figures out a way to compensate the music makers for their recordings, the industry will be dead and gone.

...and I am not talking about some .0001 cent fraction for plays on Spotify or anything like that...

And anybody who says there is "more money than ever" in the music industry than ever... Well, they have no idea what they are talking about.


So, now, when all these people are stealing music, where do you think the money will come from to pat for an engineer or for studio time? It will not come from anywhere because the money is not coming in.

It will be nearly impossible (if not completely impossible) no make a living (even a BAD living) in pubic production at all in the next few years.
 
I've seen top level engineers advertising rates that are less than half of my hourly wage. Sad times right now.
 
dean what do you do for a job? just curious cause it there rates are half yours you must be really good!! ;)
 
mikey joe said:
dean what do you do for a job?
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Level 2-3 IT Support for Desktop/Servers. I meant that my day job pays double what these top level engineers are charging, and they have to work a lot more hours and put up with a lot more crap than anybody else.
 
damn thats pretty good man well yeah i guess those trying to make a living from music sounds nearly impossibly unless you one of the tops on itunes or somethin. So you must be musician as your hobby then?
 
deanlofts said:
Level 2-3 IT Support for Desktop/Servers. I meant that my day job pays double what these top level engineers are charging, and they have to work a lot more hours and put up with a lot more crap than anybody else.
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+1 for REAL hustle
 
mikey joe said:
So you must be musician as your hobby then?
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It is a hobby but I have cleared nearly $2000 from music in the last 12 months. A lot of hard work and hours for a small return. You could class me as a professional musician/engineer but money wise it is hopeless. The unfortunate part is that I nearly have to put as much work into audio as I do my day job. But yeah call it a hobby and that way nobody is disappointed. Don't let anything I say stop you from trying though, I followed a path that I thought I wanted to go down and found that it wasn't going to work with what I wanted in life. I had an option to pursue audio engineering or further myself in IT. I chose the safe path and I think I am probably better off.
 
deanlofts said:
It is a hobby but I have cleared nearly $2000 from music in the last 12 months. A lot of hard work and hours for a small return. You could class me as a professional musician/engineer but money wise it is hopeless. The unfortunate part is that I nearly have to put as much work into audio as I do my day job. But yeah call it a hobby and that way nobody is disappointed. Don't let anything I say stop you from trying though, I followed a path that I thought I wanted to go down and found that it wasn't going to work with what I wanted in life. I had an option to pursue audio engineering or further myself in IT. I chose the safe path and I think I am probably better off.
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Really though when it comes to music, the majority of people are going to be a LOT better off working at mcdonalds.
 
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