Awesome article on production/recording by Eyal Levi

[Mattayus]

In regards to pursuing a qualification and if it's worth it.

Despite that being the subject matter, it's still a great read on how to get ahead in the biz.

http://www.metalsucks.net/2012/11/0...uld-you-go-to-recording-school/#disqus_thread

 

[Nimvi]

Cool read, and it gives me hope too. The path I've been walking so far is very similar to what is described there. I was forced to quit my medical profession a couple of years ago due to severe illness (which I still suffer from), and at that point my hopes and dreams were completely crushed.

I'm the type of guy that likes 1 or 2 things in life so much that he can't think of anything else, so when one of them was torn away, I did the only thing I could have done: fall back on the other thing.
That other thing was creating and recording music. Before this point of my life, that was more of a hobby-thing, but I did work on it with a serious mentality, so when I flicked the switch to lifegoal-mode, I had a good base to work from, and didn't have too many troubles giving it my full attention.

I invested some time and money into a medium-sized room, made my own treatment, got some basic recording gear, and off I went. I started off mixing stuff just for my self, then my musical friends got interested and from there on their contacts got interested, etc etc, and that's the point I am at now. It's still really small and I'm absolutely not very good at networking. But I do give this trade my full dedication and by now I know a thing or 2 about production. And so far that has been paying off. I think that if you put enough energy into something, at some point it will pay off, as long as you don't give up.

Like many times before in my life, I found out that I'm better at autodidactic learning than absorbing a premade program. I have looked into AE-schooling programs a few times, but honestly, I didn't really see anything in there that I haven't or couldn't tackle by myself. So I have decided to just go my own way and see where it leads me. I do find it frustrating at times that there doesn't seem to be any recognition or support for this kind of learning. At least around here, people think that school = success and no school = gutter. But fuck them, I live my life for me, and I'm sure I'm not the only one that works this way.

 

[Mattayus]

Right on man. I've ALWAYS struggled in a learning environment. I found it incredibly difficult to concentrate at school/college, and so exams and such were my biggest downfall. My grades make me look like an idiot, but I've got a great vocabulary and like to think I'm a reasonably intelligent guy. The education system fails people like me every day. Some kids thrive in those conditions, while others are suffocated and compromised. But they get overlooked as "disruptive" or "not using their full potential".

Put me in front of something and I'll work it out. I'm definitely an "on the job" learner. A formal education in a field that I consider a hobby (and now profession) would be the best way to kill my love for something, it really would. And reading this article was really reassuring in that I haven't done the wrong thing by dropping out and just getting on with life. For me, it was the right thing to do, absolutely.

 

[LiberaScientia]

Right on man. I've ALWAYS struggled in a learning environment. I found it incredibly difficult to concentrate at school/college, and so exams and such were my biggest downfall. My grades make me look like an idiot, but I've got a great vocabulary and like to think I'm a reasonably intelligent guy. The education system fails people like me every day. Some kids thrive in those conditions, while others are suffocated and compromised. But they get overlooked as "disruptive" or "not using their full potential".

This is exactly me. I did AS Music Tech last year but I got an E cause all I did during the lessons was try out new mixing techniques when I was supposed to be doing some sequencing bullshit that I already knew and would never help in a professional AE situation anyway. Got the lowest grade in my class even though I know for a fact, and without sounding too egotistical, that I can produce the best mix, and handle a studio situation better than anyone else in the class. It's a load of bullshit, frankly. I've learned more from this forum in the few months I've been on it than I would have in the 2 years of that course

 

[Star Ark]

Awesome article. What I learnt from music school was that the lecturers are pretty comfortable in their positions and that I would love a job like that one day lol. I could have taught myself everything I learnt in the course with private study and part of me wishes I had studied something more useful in gaining steady employment. Those courses are designed to look exciting to earn as much money as possibly and the people running the course don't want very experienced students in their classes, it just creates extra work for the teachers. If you are an extremely driven person who is unlike most musicians (lazy) then you don't need the music school you will be bored. Think about a teacher who has 20 amateur students and a couple of students who already know most of the course and are working hard on their own projects. Maybe the couple of hard working students are banging out mixes of a similar level to the teacher. The teacher just wants to teach the majority simple things, not advanced techniques that only a couple of students will understand. And the people that are amateurs won't get a real career out of the course because it is such a competitive industry. I think Audio Engineering school is even more useless than music school.