I am at a point to finish school and choose a different education.
Would it be wise to choose a recording education ?
Is there any future in making money with this ?
@ Andy Sneap, Kazrog, Moonlapse or anyone who can make a living out of recording:
What would you give as advice ?
On a dutch guitar forum they told me to keep it as a hobby to get some extra cash.
I got given the 'don't do audio as a full time career, it won't work out' speech many times, by many different people. Whether through sheer determination or idiocy (I still can't determine which it was) I persisted and went through 3 years of audio school. Those 3 years were mainly for the sake of my parents, as they wanted me to have a degree, as they couldn't accept that academic qualifications have no bearing in this industry. During that time I tried to make as many contacts as I could outside of it, brushing up on live sound, recording and sitting in on sessions wherever possible. The audio school was a complete waste of time, and like many others here, I would suggest interning at a studio instead or hooking up with a live production company or freelance engineers who can show you the ropes.
You want as much on the job practice as possible. Assist at studios, simply sit in on sessions, use all your contacts to make that happen for you. Watch, listen and learn all the time. Forums like this one are also an invaluable source of information. Absolutely priceless. I learned just about everything I know between here and experimenting.
As far as the validity of a career in audio.... It's hard. There are no two ways to think about it. It's punishingly hard to make a living out of this and in most peoples' cases it would be advisable to have a fall-back career to sustain a living. If you have the drive, aptitude, know-how and persistence, then I believe you can make it work for you. It's worth noting that to separate yourself from the pack in these days of everyone packing a project studio, you need to eat, breathe, live and shit audio engineering/production for a few years before you hope to start seeing anything back from it.
Out of sheer force of will, I've focused entirely on audio for the last 4 years, with no back-up career. That's how long it took to finally develop a skillset strong enough to reap some rewards and see returns for my work. I'm currently getting booked quite strongly for the first half of this year, with a number of full-lengths and EPs confirmed.
If you think of it from a business POV, it's about filling a niche. If you are providing services that people want, then you will get booked. In my area I'm unaware of there being any good metal engineers, so I do my best to fill that void and keep the bookings coming. Techniques learned here, passed down from the pros, are invaluable in staying ahead of the competition and continually securing work.
Anyway I hope that rant wasn't a bit too long and anecdotal for you. The basic jist of it is this:
-You can make a career out of audio, but it's hard.
-You need to be 100% devoted, all the time.
-Be willing to work for free/petrol money/lunch for a year or two.
-Stay away from audio schools.
-Get 'on the job' experience. Assist at local sessions for free, hook up with live guys and do some live sound for spare change.
-Get good at what you do.
-Make sure there's a market in your area for what you're doing.
Best of luck with it, man.
PS. If you do end up at an audio school, MAKE USE OF THE FACILITIES! The best work I ever did was still back when I had access to a facility with a near 'limitless' time frame. Do as much as you can, experiment with different artists. Hold onto the good ones and keep working with them, pushing both parties to churn out increasingly better work. If anything, the audio school can give you a head start on your portfolio due to studio access.
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