I totally agree with you man. If they just handed a paper with a class photo, to me it would be even more rewarding. But unfortunately, employers want to see these papers. You are right, people getting Degrees and Diplomas for something which is debatable might sound silly, but JBroll, I don't want to be harsh on these colleges because they do teach you a lot of important theory and to be honest, the assignments handed out (ex. Mixing, sampling, recording, etc etc) are based on how good you followed technique and handled the equipment and produced clear results, not on your artistic skills to make it sound amazing because who is to say what sounds better? If a guy mixed a metal song and another mixed an RnB song, the examiner might be biased because we're talking music too, which, if the examiner isn't 100% professional in his methods is going to be biased.
About having a maths degree and entering an AE school, yes I think you would have an edge (and a distinct one too) over everyone else, but if you weren't into audio (which I know isn't the case with you), your maths degree would only get you so far in my opinion.
This isn't only with audio though, a degree in Art to me is a legitimate one too, because although you're graded on your artistic skill, the majority is based on your different techniques and how you employ them in different sectors, and also, there's a lot of theory (history is one of the main chunks). Now I am no painter so I might be speaking out of my ass here, but to be honest, I think there's nothing wrong with a degree in Audio Technology.
It's true, Audio courses just skim through the important stuff which constitute it like the physical phenomena, the electronic aspects, acoustic aspects....etc,etc. which a learned physics graduate would have a greater idea of. But (at least, where I come from), people in my country enter courses in university like Electrical Engineering for a prime example. Fine, he might come out of there with a degree, understanding all the gear used and it's internal construction to the last minute detail, but he will have no idea about how to relate it to audio.
I think that your objection to a degree based on "he can twiddle knobs" is fair enough, but seriously, there is a lot more to it I think. You aren't only evaluated on that. Actually, it should probably be one of the least things you're graded on.
You're mainly graded on 1) theory - everything from Nature of Sound to Electronics in microphones, understanding impedance and being able to explain the different types, the acoustics of a room and how they affect audio, bringing out the best of your environment, learning why dynamic mics are different to condensers from the internal point of view.etc etc.
My only objection is that we weren't thought well enough. We had 3 hours of lectures a day for 2 months and still, everything was brushed over. I had to go through extensive research to understand fully all the concepts mentioned above. And I'm glad I did because the exam paper baffled most since there wasn't much elaboration during lectures.
So the point is, I agree if someone says "you're just brushing over these concepts which are most important in understanding audio" , but then it comes down to the individual to make an effort to go beyond and understand the true meaning of these phenomena that we work with.
Agreed: no matter how hard I try reading books and searching the net, I won't be 1/10th as versed as a Physics major, but like the physics major must specialise in something, so did I by choosing audio. Being a field which balances art and science, as you said, it is debatable and you disagree that degrees are handed out, but personally I think that just like an Art graduate (although there is a lot of specialisation too in this field which I don't know about), I think someone who got a degree in audio should know about the theoretical aspects of audio. I'm going to say, most of my classmates didn't give half a shit about theory and focused on maxing out on the practical assignments. In my opinion, I don't agree. I think in this field, having at least a basic knowledge of the physical and technological concepts of what you're working with is vital, and no one should pass just because they made an excellent mix but doesn't understand the basics of sound.
Because then, you will be right to say that no degree should be handed out like that. And that is what pisses me off too. But in my eyes, if the Degree encapsulated all the vital aspects pertaining to sound AS WELL AS everything else, giving it prime importance just as much as how good you can twiddle the knobs of an SSL mixing console, I think then yes, an AE degree stand ups in legitimacy just as much as any other degree. Unfortunately, that isn't the case. Most of the people who enter these courses just want to play around with all the cool gear, leaving with a degree in Audio without knowing what causes one to hear a sound. There, JBroll, I agree with you and with your frustration towards how these people get a piece of paper saying they're skilled in the world of audio. A 1 minute interview with most of these people would reveal that they're full of shit.
But I think there are truly good courses out there which do include all there is to know, with a proper educational system covering ALL concepts, from the nature of sound to the electronic aspect, to digital audio, to acoustics and yes, then finally, the fun parts: mixing, recording, microphone techniques etc etc.
For example, I was looking at this university in particular and it caught my attention as it doesn't look like the: "learn how to use this mixing desk and get a Degree" college.
http://www.dmu.ac.uk/Subjects/Db/coursePage2.php?courseID=4571#quickLink0
Personally, I think it all comes down to the reputation of the college. What is to be taught? How are we going to teach it? Are we going to make sure that all the graduates can fully understand the basic principles of audio before enticing them in a world of cool gadgets and gismos?
So to cap things off, I do agree with you Jeff, but I think, despite the fact that employers do want to see a piece of paper as proof (at least in this country), having a degree in audio (if studied at the right place), should mean that you know Audio like an Electronics engineer knows his electronics.
The only problem is that Audio includes many other fields like digital technology, electronics, physical principles, acoustics, etcetc, and each one of these is a whole different ball game if delved into, but what can the Audio student do? Learn the specialised route as much as possible and use the concepts from different fields that pertain to audio and learn them and why they affect his field so much. I think that's the best he can do. It's impossible expecting someone in Audio to be as knowledgable as an electronics engineer, but just as the electronics engineer might know his stuff very well, I doubt he'll be as skilled in all the fields that pertain his own as those who specialise in them. I hope that made some sense, although it's only my opinion.
