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Giving up my job to study Music tech at college.

Posted: Tue Aug 10, 2010 6:23 pm
by upadeg
Hey guys,
Ive recently bought logic and im finding the learning curve quite steep. Im really passionate about learning more, enough that im willing to reduce my hours at work just so i could go to college to do a btec in music tech.

Anyone done a music tech course? Was it helpful? Did you learn all you could about your chosen DAW? Would you have been where you are now without doing it?

Thanks

Re: Giving up my job to study Music tech at college.

Posted: Tue Aug 10, 2010 6:29 pm
by JFK
Mate, I would advise you to think VERY carefully before you give up work to take a Btech.

I did a Btech in Music tech and hardly any of it was to do with working with DAW's in the way that we as producers do.

Re: Giving up my job to study Music tech at college.

Posted: Tue Aug 10, 2010 6:30 pm
by lowpass
You'll learn about a lot, not just about logic although I was taught the basics.

Useful for learning and getting a bit of experience but useless for getting you a job. So yeah as long as you're happy to reduce your hours simply to learn a bit more then go for it!

+1 about the being taught it in a dance music style, it will probably be based around recording/sound for film etc you might learn a few new things but nothing that can't be learned out of a few books + a few hours a week in logic

Re: Giving up my job to study Music tech at college.

Posted: Tue Aug 10, 2010 6:32 pm
by gravity
mate dont give up your job to learn music tech, especially not at the moment while jobs are a bit sparse still.

if you wanna learn enough, you should be able to do it with nothing more than the internet. or buy a book or something. tbh with regards to electronic music production i learned more from tinkering about and reading dogsonacid than i ever did at college or even uni.

Re: Giving up my job to study Music tech at college.

Posted: Tue Aug 10, 2010 6:33 pm
by JFK
lowpass wrote:you might learn a few new things but nothing that can't be learned out of a few books + a few hours a week in logic
Agree 100%

Re: Giving up my job to study Music tech at college.

Posted: Tue Aug 10, 2010 6:41 pm
by Sharmaji
i know tons of folks working professionally in audio, only one of them went to school for music tech.

Re: Giving up my job to study Music tech at college.

Posted: Tue Aug 10, 2010 6:43 pm
by djake
yea i did a national diploma in music tech, i wouldnt have said i learnt anything that was really relevant to what i do, but i did pick up a few things.

overal id say its worth it if you just wanna get a bit of paper and some grades to go onto uni after, its a piss eas, my mate did nearly 2 years worth of work in about 4 weeks at the end.

Re: Giving up my job to study Music tech at college.

Posted: Tue Aug 10, 2010 6:44 pm
by Pedro Sánchez
Stick at the job mate and buy some books, read articles on the net and teach yourself in your downtime.

Re: Giving up my job to study Music tech at college.

Posted: Tue Aug 10, 2010 6:45 pm
by BananaBomber
u can learn everything u need all online thats what i did :) im making a bit of dollar of music now takes time tho lol[sorry if that sounds bigheaded]

alot of trial and error too :P

Re: Giving up my job to study Music tech at college.

Posted: Wed Aug 11, 2010 6:49 am
by Anain
I don't think it's worth it unless you are serious about getting most any job in audio. It's a really competitive field and I've found that even though you can be better at certain things (like production) you be stuck doing a bit of everything or focusing on work you're not particularly passionate about.

I've been in the industry for four years and have done a lot of live sound, simple sound for picture, music production and recording, sound editing, and system install. I enjoy what I do, but if you're only into making music I don't think it's worth your money unless you're going to dedicate years of your life to it.

For music production read a lot of articles and forum posts, ask questions, and try to connect with people near you who use logic. You can learn a ton from collaborating.

Re: Giving up my job to study Music tech at college.

Posted: Wed Aug 11, 2010 6:54 am
by jaydot
I considered doing a music course but was told (on here) that ther'es not much use. It's up to you but like someone says jobs are sparse at the moment.

Re: Giving up my job to study Music tech at college.

Posted: Wed Aug 11, 2010 2:22 pm
by mattyseizure
Ive studied music technology at BTEC, it was so basic, learning the simplest of things, such as different cables, basic eq, compression. For 2 years i was there I came out with hardly any knowledge. Most of what i have learnt has been from watching youtube videos, reading on here and other forums, hands on stuff, going to recording studios and watching what they do. You would be better using the money on buying equipment and learning yourself in my opinion.

People think that you will learn about Daws, and producing music, this is untrue most of the lessons are based on world music, acoustics and Live sound (Which was good) key skills (English) Performance, Music video, basic midi, then only 4 hours a week on logic and studio time.

The tutors (Mostly) are failed musicians who hold a grudge against people in class who either themselves or their band is getting anywhere.

Re: Giving up my job to study Music tech at college.

Posted: Wed Aug 11, 2010 2:31 pm
by samurai
if you just want to learn how to use your DAW better then going to college for it is pretty much a waste of time. just hang around forums and shit and soak everything in. if you're interests in other parts of production and audio in general then yeah the college route starts look a lot less useless.

Re: Giving up my job to study Music tech at college.

Posted: Wed Aug 11, 2010 2:34 pm
by legend4ry
mattyseizure wrote: The tutors (Mostly) are failed musicians who hold a grudge against people in class who either themselves or their band is getting anywhere.
I hear that!

I used to get pretty much bullied by the tutors when I did music tech because other people in the class would come to me for knowledge and not them.


Personally I wouldn't give up your job, maybe look for a weekend course or a one day a week course what are offered around the country, they're expensive but you're taught but amazing producer who know the EDM industry like the back of their hands and will get you bare contacts.

Re: Giving up my job to study Music tech at college.

Posted: Wed Aug 11, 2010 2:49 pm
by skimpi
mattyseizure wrote:Ive studied music technology at BTEC, it was so basic, learning the simplest of things, such as different cables, basic eq, compression. For 2 years i was there I came out with hardly any knowledge. Most of what i have learnt has been from watching youtube videos, reading on here and other forums, hands on stuff, going to recording studios and watching what they do. You would be better using the money on buying equipment and learning yourself in my opinion.

People think that you will learn about Daws, and producing music, this is untrue most of the lessons are based on world music, acoustics and Live sound (Which was good) key skills (English) Performance, Music video, basic midi, then only 4 hours a week on logic and studio time.

The tutors (Mostly) are failed musicians who hold a grudge against people in class who either themselves or their band is getting anywhere.
same, granted i knew nothing about music tech when i went there, i was just another person who 'likes music so ill do music tech at college' and it seems like i was one of the few who actually tok it seriously to the end, most people just doin it cos it sounds cool. So i kinda started learning there, if i hadnt have gone i wouldnt be making tunes now, but i did learn more at home that i did at college, in the second year i felt like i was going over stuff i already knew.

I did learn a bit about acoustics and like building a computer which i felt was good to learn, but if you wanna leanr how to make electronic dance music on logic dont go and do a btec music tech course, the technical bits are more about the recording side, and an introduction on how to use the gear. and it will probably mainly be full of people who are in rock indie bands.

this is probably just my college aswell cos of the unique situation, but our college merged with another over the summer between years, and that fucked everything up and there was no organisation, and lessons got moved further down the year and shit or even maybe cancelled! and during our final project we got hardly any time in the studio due to only being able to use like 3 days out of the week, and then having to split that up between the class. Luckily me and my mate did mainly electronic, with some recorded stuff, so all of the arrangeing and mixing could be done at home.

yeah stay at work man, atleast you get the money!

Re: Giving up my job to study Music tech at college.

Posted: Wed Aug 11, 2010 2:50 pm
by Hurtdeer
i enjoyed studying music tech a lot, met a lot of great people and it improved my ability with music dramatically




but on the other hand finding a job has proven to be a bastard