Education

[djake]

havent a clue what anyone is talking about in this thread

yeah seriously, i've read it twice and i'm still none the wiser

[blk plague]

went to school for music and dropout after the first year because i realised i could learn most of it on my own, for less flash.

[thesynthesist]

College doesn't make good doctors, good doctors care about being good doctors. they would be good doctors even if they didn't have a certificate saying they understood the technical medical stuff......!

You are straight mental if you believe that.

Anyway, i wont be going to YOUR doctor.

[misk]

in the doctors office:

"wheres your diploma?"

"oh, i dropped out of med school and learned it all on my own! I love medicine so much though, that i practiced on homeless cadavers i found under the bridge! I'm really passionate about surgery too!"




err...

[thesynthesist]

"Med School? Why the 3rd degree? What are you, a lawyer or something? There's nothing you can learn in a medical school that i didnt learn through experience in my basement apartment clinic."

[futures_untold]

I'm really passionate about surgery too!"

ha ha

All I'm saying is if one has a passion for something, we will learn what's needed to be good at what we're passionate about. This comes across to others in our work..

Who's wiser? A priest who went to study theology or a person who contemplates and debates stuff with people who are interested and enthusiastic?

Music is an art, so going to college won't make up for enthusiam and drive in the subject.. The best musicians just play, they don't worry about phase distortion issues or bit depth etc!

Everything I know about music tech I learned through reading and hands on experience in my spare time. Sure, I'm not designing sounds for computer games and films, recording orchestras and earning $$$, but I bet I have the same level of knowledge about music tech as a college student.. If I tried to find work within the music industry, I would do so through the people I know, not off the back off a college/uni certificate...

At the end of the day, what you put in is what you get out.. Do what you will, if you enjoy it and it pays the bills in the long run, then go for it. But people like Richard Branson prove that it isn't neccessary to go to college to become successful in life!

[rudeski damager]

I been building tunes 2 years

I'd say I have a basic but good understanding.

Is there any point in goin music college or will they jus tell me basically what i already learned myself

dont get it twisted, i got a degree being finalized now too (im in my 3rd year at a good uni doin an arts degree)

so i'm not really looking at it as a career option, i'm 22. but if something were 2 come up, I wouldn't turn it down.

can anyone suggest somewhere good in London that I should look at? A website or suttin?

[djake]

i would rather go college n do music tech and do somefing i have interest in than have a part time/full time job that i moan about everyday.

wouldnt you?

[futures_untold]

Personally then, I would say do ya stuff in your spare time

Check out your uni library for books related to music in the engineering , physics and music sections respectively... Riveting stuff no doubt..!

One is bound to meet like minded people at college though, so just for the laugh and collabs, it would be worth doing an Access to Music course or something. I have a few friends who enjoyed those in Bristol and Manchester..

Google FE music courses for links I guess?

[slothrop]

One is bound to meet like minded people at college though, so just for the laugh and collabs, it would be worth doing an Access to Music course or something. I have a few friends who enjoyed those in Bristol and Manchester..

Yeah, afaict from the people I've known who've done music tech courses, the benefit isn't like taking guitar lessons, where you go and learn a bunch of specific techniques that you can then apply directly to what you want to do. It's more about meeting people, exchanging ideas, being made to try different approaches, different ideas, different methods, different perspectives and so on...

[John Locke]

One is bound to meet like minded people at college though, so just for the laugh and collabs, it would be worth doing an Access to Music course or something. I have a few friends who enjoyed those in Bristol and Manchester..

Yeah, afaict from the people I've known who've done music tech courses, the benefit isn't like taking guitar lessons, where you go and learn a bunch of specific techniques that you can then apply directly to what you want to do. It's more about meeting people, exchanging ideas, being made to try different approaches, different ideas, different methods, different perspectives and so on...

the danger of which is u never find yr own style, cos u r like 'this week i'm producing some house, next week i'll be dropping hip hop beats, and so on...' and u end up a well rounded jack of all genres producer, capable of churning out stuff on demand for advertising clients or something, but u r not neccesarily an artist. obviously i taking it to extremes here, and its up 2 u what u do with that knowledge, but i think its a risk...

[slothrop]

the danger of which is u never find yr own style, cos u r like 'this week i'm producing some house, next week i'll be dropping hip hop beats, and so on...' and u end up a well rounded jack of all genres producer, capable of churning out stuff on demand for advertising clients or something, but u r not neccesarily an artist. obviously i taking it to extremes here, and its up 2 u what u do with that knowledge, but i think its a risk...

But it's not really about "this week you'll do a hip hop tune, this week you'll do a house tune, here's how you do hip hop, here's how you do house." I guess the guys I'vew talked to who've done it have been more into experimental stuff, but they've been doing things like "this week you'll collaborate on a mixed-media music and animation project, this week you'll work on manipulated environmental sound samples, this week you'll learn to use MAX/MSP for generative processes." It's a much more abstract thing of expanding your ideas and your approach to music rather than just learning how to copy some new styles. It depends on the course, though, I suppose.

Obviously if you've got no drive to do what you want to do you won't end up producing much that's worthwhile, but that kind of goes without saying.

[cryptic]

Leeds met - Here i come

[jackquinox]

I did Music Technology at college for a 2 year diploma then did a creative music and sound technology degree at leeds met and this is all i will say:

1: 90% of people on the course a male.
2: 50% of these believe they are the fucking muts nuts at everything they do and you will have to listen to them going on about how great they are all the time.
3: You will have the chance maybe once or twice to make a piece of music that you really want to make, but will normally be in the form of a remix or something like that, in my opinion leave your own music making to a home hobby and in uni and college concentrate on letting other peoples egos control what music gets made try and focus on learning about microphone placement or using the desk which leads me on to->
4: Everything you do is group work so find a good group of people with similar music tastes that will actualey turn up and share the responsabilites, in 5 years of doing music technology i got shown how to use a desk maybe once very briefly, lecturers really on the fact that some people know how to use a desk and some dont and those in the groups that do will take the lead, if you stuck me infront of a desk now i would probably still struggle to record anything.
5: These kind of courses are run by people that still work in the industry and not to stereotype but the fact is that when a sound engineer has children or some shit thats when they decide they need a steady income so they start teaching they dont really care if you learn they just like to tell your stories about recording with the stones etc etc.
6: I dont know anyone that did my course that now has a job in the industry, personally its alright for me because i found i really liked doing acoustics which is what i am now trying to pursue a career in but again i will need to do another year of education for a diploma in this, the things i liked the least where any of the recording things because it was always a pain in the arse.

Good luck to who ever is going to Leeds Met for me it was one of the most disorganised courses in creation and i know alot of other people that have done music tech courses at other universitys and told me the same thing, in my opinion do a degree thats worth while and keep music making to the bedroom unless you really want to get into sound engineering, acosutics or things like foley and sound design for film, be prepared to really push yourself to the front of the pack to get a chance to use the desks and have your ideas realised because what normally happens is that everyone will have an idea and then you will either end up with a shit pot of loads of different ideas or one loud mouth will make everyone submit to doing there thing which you will despise but in the interests of getting good marks you may aswell do it.

Rant over but i feel its good to point out things like this because i sometimes feel as if i was robbed of actually being taught anything in music technology.

[thinking]

^^^ jacquinox summed it up beautifully there. I didn't go to Uni to study Music Tech, but I applied for and subsequently turned down 6 places on various courses, having decided each time that I actually didn't want to be stuck doing it for 3 years.


If you're serious about production, you'll spend the time learning yourself - this doesn't mean just sitting around writing beats, it means reading lots of books, and doing things properly. Set up a half-decent home studio with good monitors & acoustic treatment, give yourself a solid understanding and CONTROL of EQing and compression, etc etc.

There's very little you can't learn yourself, particularly if you're only interested in producing one particular kind of music, but you have to be serious about things if you're going to get there.

[ramadanman]

i had heard good things about that leeds met course

leeds college of music might be worth a try..

[ozols man]

I did Music Technology at college for a 2 year diploma then did a creative music and sound technology degree at leeds met and this is all i will say:

1: 90% of people on the course a male.
2: 50% of these believe they are the fucking muts nuts at everything they do and you will have to listen to them going on about how great they are all the time.
3: You will have the chance maybe once or twice to make a piece of music that you really want to make, but will normally be in the form of a remix or something like that, in my opinion leave your own music making to a home hobby and in uni and college concentrate on letting other peoples egos control what music gets made try and focus on learning about microphone placement or using the desk which leads me on to->
4: Everything you do is group work so find a good group of people with similar music tastes that will actualey turn up and share the responsabilites, in 5 years of doing music technology i got shown how to use a desk maybe once very briefly, lecturers really on the fact that some people know how to use a desk and some dont and those in the groups that do will take the lead, if you stuck me infront of a desk now i would probably still struggle to record anything.
5: These kind of courses are run by people that still work in the industry and not to stereotype but the fact is that when a sound engineer has children or some shit thats when they decide they need a steady income so they start teaching they dont really care if you learn they just like to tell your stories about recording with the stones etc etc.
6: I dont know anyone that did my course that now has a job in the industry, personally its alright for me because i found i really liked doing acoustics which is what i am now trying to pursue a career in but again i will need to do another year of education for a diploma in this, the things i liked the least where any of the recording things because it was always a pain in the arse.

Good luck to who ever is going to Leeds Met for me it was one of the most disorganised courses in creation and i know alot of other people that have done music tech courses at other universitys and told me the same thing, in my opinion do a degree thats worth while and keep music making to the bedroom unless you really want to get into sound engineering, acosutics or things like foley and sound design for film, be prepared to really push yourself to the front of the pack to get a chance to use the desks and have your ideas realised because what normally happens is that everyone will have an idea and then you will either end up with a shit pot of loads of different ideas or one loud mouth will make everyone submit to doing there thing which you will despise but in the interests of getting good marks you may aswell do it.

Rant over but i feel its good to point out things like this because i sometimes feel as if i was robbed of actually being taught anything in music technology.

lol! never a truer word spoken.

im studying music production and sound recording at leeds college of music and what u say is so true. thing is i met loads of sound like minded people, the college is pretty jokes anyway, the city is good for partying... and on my course im learning different stuff to wot id be learning on logic 8 n shit in my bedroom, even if u do have some boffin who steps up to the desk and takes over everything.. so for me its worth it..

[struggles]

Make sure you read what the course is actualyl really about.
I started a course in september, only to find out it is 90% maths and computer programming. Havn't even really heard anyone on my course talk about music / play any of their own music. Not quite sure why the course is called audio and music technology.
I will probably be starting a different course next year. I wouldnt waste your time.

[jackquinox]

Apologies i was slightly on a rant with my previous post, when i said it was disorganised its because we where the first year when they tried something different by having a "major project" as apposed to a disertation for the final year and it fell into chaos because communication between lecturers was so bad and also they moved us from city campus to headingley without any notice so i found my nice 7 minute walk to uni changed to a 15 minute walk and a 10 minute bus trip.

[justin roche]

I went to LIPA in Liverpool.

I went as a mature student and was out numbered by 18 and 19 year olds, majority from wealthy back grounds.

The Degree I took is pretty well known and thought of as one of the best in the world.

However, as it was a Sound Technology Degree, the types of people on the Degree were stereotypical ass hole techies, that had a twisted and bigoted perspective on life.

Also, the course was dominantly male which sucks really, as no nice girls to hang out with.

When I first started the Degree, there were 2 really nice girls on the course, but they both dropped out.
One because she found the pressure too much and missed home, and the other, who was lovely, dropped out because the majority of the men on the course bullied her for being a girl.

Ass holes.

I finished the degree with debt which has taken me years to repay.
I also had to sell most of my equipment, including a Supernova 2 and Genelec Speakers.

I was poor for the entire duration of the Degree course and living in Liverpool is really crap if you are living off £50 a week.

I couldn't drop out as my local education authority makes all students pay back fees and living grant if they do not finish course.

It put me in a really shit position as all i wanted to do is make music.
If you love music, save money and buy your own equipment.
Don't go to College.

Buy books and read.
Read magazines
and try out things

Take notes
record everything
compile notes
and formulate a method
to work

The more you do this the better.
The degree has done nothing for me.
If anything, it has made me less employable and more of a target for people in the local sound technology industry to pick on (for being a threat to their income).