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Unsure where else to put this, but Im pretty interested in doing a degree or something in Music/Music Tech. Any suggestions?

i was told manchester is the best in the country. might've been leeds, but i think they said manchester.

anywhere except cornwall. thats my advice

Don't want to be a meany, but I'd take a visit to all the local music tech stores and ask how many of the store clerks have music tech degrees.

Then ask them what went wrong.

i did a music tech type degree at salford. it was ok. when i was applying, the big ones were the Tonmeister course at the university of Surrey, (very dry. hardly anything about exciting new synths, loads about correct microphone placement for violin recording etc), LIPA in liverpool, and Salford, but i think they've discontinued the course i did.

the important thing to remember is that if you just go to the course, do a normal level of work, pass everything and come out with a 2:1 there is not much point in doing it. you need to come out of uni being able to produce to a pretty much professional level, ie spend all your spare time recording local bands at gigs, producing their demos, do music for some of the film students projects, anything you can, no matter how shite, just for the experience etc etc. otherwise if you can't engineer to a high standard, someone else down the road can, and will get the job.

that's why i ended up in a call centre

think about what you want to do and why. if you just want to get into 'writing dance music for a living' then to be honest you're as well off just teaching yourself or doing a short course: there are plenty of resources on the internet, and the money to be made (ie fuck all these days) doesn't really justify doing a course.... if you want to actually be a sound engineer/producer for all types of stuff then give it serious thought, but remember that the paper qualification on its own doesn't count for much.

hope i haven't come across too negative here.... feel free to PM me if you want though

setspeed wrote:i did a music tech type degree at salford. it was ok. when i was applying, the big ones were the Tonmeister course at the university of Surrey, (very dry. hardly anything about exciting new synths, loads about correct microphone placement for violin recording etc), LIPA in liverpool, and Salford, but i think they've discontinued the course i did.

the important thing to remember is that if you just go to the course, do a normal level of work, pass everything and come out with a 2:1 there is not much point in doing it. you need to come out of uni being able to produce to a pretty much professional level, ie spend all your spare time recording local bands at gigs, producing their demos, do music for some of the film students projects, anything you can, no matter how shite, just for the experience etc etc. otherwise if you can't engineer to a high standard, someone else down the road can, and will get the job.

that's why i ended up in a call centre

think about what you want to do and why. if you just want to get into 'writing dance music for a living' then to be honest you're as well off just teaching yourself or doing a short course: there are plenty of resources on the internet, and the money to be made (ie fuck all these days) doesn't really justify doing a course.... if you want to actually be a sound engineer/producer for all types of stuff then give it serious thought, but remember that the paper qualification on its own doesn't count for much.

hope i haven't come across too negative here.... feel free to PM me if you want though

I've heard many similar stories actually!
If you REALLY want to do it, ....then do it!
But it seems like it is not going to give that many job options!

Yeah im off to Southampton Uni in Sept to do sound engineering. Would of went to SAE but the fees are to much. To be honest i just want an excuse to bum it for another four years making toons

Yeah im starting a degree at westminster doing commercial music in sept. Everything looks good there, all new high end equipment including all the new synths and staff that work in the indusrty already. I think the commerical course is a more rounded music course though. You do some managment and business study etc but you also do a lot of production so its good in helping you find out what you want to specialise in. Deffinatly worth a look. Cheers.

setspeed wrote:i did a music tech type degree at salford. it was ok. when i was applying, the big ones were the Tonmeister course at the university of Surrey, (very dry. hardly anything about exciting new synths, loads about correct microphone placement for violin recording etc), LIPA in liverpool, and Salford, but i think they've discontinued the course i did.

the important thing to remember is that if you just go to the course, do a normal level of work, pass everything and come out with a 2:1 there is not much point in doing it. you need to come out of uni being able to produce to a pretty much professional level, ie spend all your spare time recording local bands at gigs, producing their demos, do music for some of the film students projects, anything you can, no matter how shite, just for the experience etc etc. otherwise if you can't engineer to a high standard, someone else down the road can, and will get the job.

that's why i ended up in a call centre

think about what you want to do and why. if you just want to get into 'writing dance music for a living' then to be honest you're as well off just teaching yourself or doing a short course: there are plenty of resources on the internet, and the money to be made (ie fuck all these days) doesn't really justify doing a course.... if you want to actually be a sound engineer/producer for all types of stuff then give it serious thought, but remember that the paper qualification on its own doesn't count for much.

hope i haven't come across too negative here.... feel free to PM me if you want though

Agree with this guy 100% if you want to be good at sound engineering and producing then get stuck in from day 1, i went to Leeds Met and did creative music and sound technology, be prepared to do alot of group work which can be very good or really really bad depending on what kind of people you end up working with. Obviously even if you do want to get stuck in some people want to bum around and will do what you say but others will be pig headed and want everything thier way because they are the most talented Guitarist/pianist/raper/drummer ever created and everyone else is below them (yes even in university degrees some egos are huge) so then be ready to make lots of compromises for the sake of getting a half decent grade. Im the only person i know who did my course that has a job slighlty related to the field and im an acoustic consultant, i dont know anyone thats now a sound engineer, producer etc etc but someone has to do those jobs so its not to say you cant.

I get what you mean, I don't intend to make dance music for a living or anything like that, I just can't see myself really enjoying any other course like English or Media etc so Im a bit reluctant to go down that path of just going to uni getting a degree, then getting a job and getting involved in the industry as a hobby. I don't want to come across as niave or anything but I really want to get some sort of job in the industry. Theres a few promoters in the family for pretty big bands and I really want to try and get some experience that way as well. But mainly I was hoping doing a music tech degree would be a pretty productive thing to do as well as going to uni to just get wasted

two oh one wrote:Don't want to be a meany, but I'd take a visit to all the local music tech stores and ask how many of the store clerks have music tech degrees.

Then ask them what went wrong.

So looking for experience in other ways could be a better idea? I live in the City Centre of Manchester so that could be a pretty good option as well. Its just the Music Tech Btec Im on now has improved my music tech knowledge quite a lot in a year and has cleared away all the niavity I used to have about the industry.

ive personally had bad experiences when it came to studying sound engineering. it depends what you want to do but if you are looking for a job within the industry, you will have to start off at the bottom - regardless, unless you are very lucky that is. alot of big employers (studios etc) simply do not exist anymore. i would speak to someone who is in the industry first if possible so that they can crush your dreams some more but seriously, if you want to be a sound engineer then go and offer your services making cups of tea/coiling cables/working for 15 hours every day.

DJK wrote: Theres a few promoters in the family for pretty big bands and I really want to try and get some experience that way as well.

dingdingdingdingding!


there's your answer

having been involved in the music industry for the last 3 or 4 years, (and i'm royally, utterly skint as a result) i can tell you that having connections like that are much more important than talent or training. hassle your family members, get some sort of portfolio together, get experience that way. if anything interesting comes of it, you can always go to uni a year or two later, and probably be better placed to understand what you want to get out of it....

Rock Academy in holland does DJ/Producer courses of 4 year. I do it! It's fine. You learn lots about mixdowns and later also synthese and stuff. Its focussed on the Dance music. House/Techno. But they're not narrow minded. Dubstep and hiphop is also cool. They can help you out with lots. Its not only that. You also get lots of music theory lessons, history and bizznizz. The course is in dutch but also in english. Search for it on google. Youll find it

Music Tech at bridgwater college.

Amos - aka Dj Cybin
Houlihan - 21 with own PA and Recording company
Simon - owner of 1 man army & laptop battles

really worth looking into, if you've done this equivilant.

ALCHEMEA!

Psyolopher wrote:

setspeed wrote:i did a music tech type degree at salford. it was ok. when i was applying, the big ones were the Tonmeister course at the university of Surrey, (very dry. hardly anything about exciting new synths, loads about correct microphone placement for violin recording etc), LIPA in liverpool, and Salford, but i think they've discontinued the course i did.

the important thing to remember is that if you just go to the course, do a normal level of work, pass everything and come out with a 2:1 there is not much point in doing it. you need to come out of uni being able to produce to a pretty much professional level, ie spend all your spare time recording local bands at gigs, producing their demos, do music for some of the film students projects, anything you can, no matter how shite, just for the experience etc etc. otherwise if you can't engineer to a high standard, someone else down the road can, and will get the job.

that's why i ended up in a call centre

think about what you want to do and why. if you just want to get into 'writing dance music for a living' then to be honest you're as well off just teaching yourself or doing a short course: there are plenty of resources on the internet, and the money to be made (ie fuck all these days) doesn't really justify doing a course.... if you want to actually be a sound engineer/producer for all types of stuff then give it serious thought, but remember that the paper qualification on its own doesn't count for much.

hope i haven't come across too negative here.... feel free to PM me if you want though

I've heard many similar stories actually!
If you REALLY want to do it, ....then do it!
But it seems like it is not going to give that many job options!

this

R wrote:Rock Academy in holland does DJ/Producer courses of 4 year. I do it! It's fine. You learn lots about mixdowns and later also synthese and stuff. Its focussed on the Dance music. House/Techno. But they're not narrow minded. Dubstep and hiphop is also cool. They can help you out with lots. Its not only that. You also get lots of music theory lessons, history and bizznizz. The course is in dutch but also in english. Search for it on google. Youll find it

that

all about University of West England in Bristol.. long-running MT courses, they've taught course leaders from loads of other uk unis and it focuses on the technology and computing side of things instead of just doing loads of poxy band recordings... (not mentioning any names )

I went to UWE for an interview but they had not built thier studios yet so decided to give it a miss, sounds like it turned out good in the end though, i should point out that if you want to do something fun for 3 years and your young and want to do the whole university thing it is a fun course to do, i found that i made the music i wanted to make at home and in university just got on with what everyone else wanted to do, i learnt alot of other interesting stuff though like doing ADR, Foley, overdubbing etc for films. Acoustics, music management and law and we did an electronics module where we built synthesiser keys, i think that was better than doing recording modules to be honest, but it depends what you like really.

lewisham college?

two oh one wrote:Don't want to be a meany, but I'd take a visit to all the local music tech stores and ask how many of the store clerks have music tech degrees.

Then ask them what went wrong.

Yes true, there is no advantage in having a Music Tech Degree in the professional world. But I'm about to start my 3rd year this September, and throughout the past 2 years, I have had all the time in the world to progress myself as well as learning the intricacies of things like MIDI all the way down to binary level, the physics of synthesis, and the physics of sound, which has helped me understand sound and music on a whole new level.

If you think you will get a job from this degree, your wrong, but look at it like a chance to really progress yourself in your free time and to make use of the techniques you learn in uni. You also get unlimited access to professional and commercial recording studios in your time there, at least I have in Deep Blue Sound.