How a Recording Studio Can Be an Audio School
Although there are a number of audio engineering and recording schools out there these days, the ones that are truly worth attending can still be difficult to find. They tend to be more concentrated in high profile music industry hubs (Los Angeles, as one example), and the tuition can be outrageously high. However, there are other alternatives. What if your local recording studio could be an audio school?
The idea isn’t as far-fetched as it might sound. Believe it or not, there was a time not too long ago when there was no such thing as an audio recording school. The recording industry, after all, is barely a century old, and education has had to run to catch up with it. In the early days of recording, where did people learn to be audio engineers? In the recording studios. They learned the trade by doing it, usually by working under the tutelage of a mentor, a working professional in the field. Thus, before the emergence of the “traditional” schools and programs we have today, the recording studios were the audio schools.
With this in mind, consider these other important points:
* The mentor-apprentice approach is still one of the most effective methods to learn audio engineering. It seems the most elaborate programs using the most up-to-date equipment still cannot substitute for learning from a seasoned professional, one on one.
* There are far more recording studios than there are recording schools. This means there is more likely to be a recording studio near you than a school to learn recording. If it were possible for you to learn directly in the studio, it would save a lot of expense and relocation hassle.
* To this day, many of the finest audio engineers never attended a formal school. They learned their skills the same way many others have had to learn: by working in the studios.
So if recording studios can be audio schools, why doesn’t every aspiring audio engineer just go knock on the door of their local studio? Unfortunately, it isn’t always that simple, unless, of course you already have connections to the studio. These are working professionals with jobs to do, and they can’t just stop to teach everyone who asks to learn. However, if you can find an inroad, learning in a studio can be just as effective (and a lot cheaper) than learning in a school.
This is where schools using the mentor apprentice approach can be most effective. Rather than set up a separate academic environment and stock it with expensive equipment, schools like Recording Connection place their students directly into local recording studios, providing a curriculum to guide the process. This happens at a fraction of the cost of most schools, andes the student many more options for learning environments. In this way, the local arecording studio becomes the audio school, just as it was in the early days.
