Best Sound Engineering/Production Courses in the World?

HyperKid · Post by **HyperKid** » Tue Jan 06, 2009 2:52 pm

Hi Will and all. Long time reader first time poster.

This is a really interesting thread for me as I just completed the introduction to production course at Point Blank in London. It was brilliant and I have no regrets about forking out the moulin. I was a complete novice before I started and it undoubtedly took the level of my productions much higher in 6 months than they would have been had I been scratching around on youtube and forums for free video tutorials.

Having experienced professionals guiding you over your shoulder and making sure you don’t pick up any bad habits really is invaluable. It was also interesting when my tutor, Danny J Lewis, said that if someone had taught him some of the little tips and tricks that he was giving us, when he started out producing, it would have saved him 2 years of pissing about to get certain effects. For me the time saved on getting to a level good enough to make professional sounding tracks was well worth the money.

I had a mate who went to SAE… he said the atmosphere was quite cold and impersonal, the tutors sometimes made people feel stupid for asking simple questions and he didn’t really connect with some of them like he expected to, or feel like they really cared about certain students, especially those who may not have been as naturally talented. That certainly cannot be said of the Point Blank tutors I have met who have all gone out of their way to help me, however naive the problem may seem.

I would say that the most Point Blank students I met were techno or electro heads, hardly anyone interested in making rock or alternative (in my class anyway) which was great because the focus was on how to create a techno track. They have a specific online minimal techno course in Login or Ableton too which are very reasonably priced. Heres the link if your interested:

http://www.pointblankonline.net/minimal_techno.php

would be interested to hear if anyone else has been to Point Blank…

NoAffiliation · Post by **NoAffiliation** » Wed Jan 07, 2009 4:21 pm

Columbia College in chicago is worth looking into, although it's a 4 year program and expensive... I currently attend for my BA in Arts Management (graduating in June!) but take a fair amount of context classes in midi and audio production.

the music facilities are pretty tops and they get updated very often... there are also a variety of audio facilities dedicated to different things like small midi labs to full scale studios in both the audio and music departments.

the thing I like most about this place is that it's a multi-disciplined arts technology school so you have a wide mix of people doing different things (video, performance arts, graphic design, music, audio) and it's nice to be in that kind of atmosphere around creative people.

I also like the fact that I can get a degree in management and still take lots of music and audio classes that count towards my major. IMO, getting a 4-year degree in audio is pretty worthless (in a career sense) and I know many unemployed people that have graduated from many of the places listed in this thread... The few people I know that are making their living off of engineering have very inconsistent work and are constantly struggling to get by.

Although I would like to take more music classes I would rather try and learn the stuff on my own and have a degree that will carry me through my life. Personally, I don't want to make my living specifically in music, but I will stay in the arts domain always.

upekah · Post by **upekah** » Wed Jan 07, 2009 7:20 pm

Can anyone tell something about the Competition when attending the SaE after school?

I am currently 18 and was planning to go to SaE Munich , a Friend is a Tutor there and showed me everything and I was kinda impressed.

But because Munich is kind of a bigheaded City for mostly rich people where you just have to pay loads of money to pay your rent and because of the not so huge techno scene compared to Berlin I decided to go to the SaE in Berlin instead - lesser price and more connection - but isnt it much more competed than other places or didnt the guys of you that attented there have problems to go there?

cheers

will kinsella · Post by **will kinsella** » Thu Jan 08, 2009 12:59 pm

Since posting this thread I started in the Sound Training Centre in Dublin www.soundtrainingcentre.com. I am doing the Sound and Music Technology course full time. Have to say I have picked up a lot since starting

Would strongly recommend it

TPM · Post by **TPM** » Fri Jan 09, 2009 12:13 pm

Diggin' ..

Near Dusseldorf/Koln/Brussels/Limburg, anyone know some kind of Institute or School where I can apply for this kind of courses?

Thanks in advance.

Harrison · Post by **Harrison** » Sat Jan 10, 2009 6:47 pm

anyone been to manchester midi school?

upekah · Post by **upekah** » Sat Jan 10, 2009 7:26 pm

TPM wrote:Diggin' ..

Near Dusseldorf/Koln/Brussels/Limburg, anyone know some kind of Institute or School where I can apply for this kind of courses?

Thanks in advance.

Think there is a SaE Institute in Cologne as well but it costs you shitloads of money (www.sae.edu - sorry for advertising)

sven laux · Post by **sven laux** » Sun Jan 11, 2009 1:33 pm

Roqqert wrote:you could look to the SAE course .. but you need to do the whole 4 years thing.. not the 1 year course. Thats only standard stuff. Thats the only school/college i can think of

sae is sh!t. I'm at sae berlin.

Best Sound Engineering/Production Courses in the World?

recommending Point Blank