Hey everybody. I've been seriously considering going back to school lately. I have been looking into different possibilities where I live (Tacoma, 30 miles south of Seattle) and wanted to try and reach out for other people's experiences with education in this field. I am primarily interested in sound design, at least as far as looking for any formal education is concerned. I have found very little on courses of education in this field. There are several programs that appear to be more generalized audio engineering that cover sound design in some way as part of the course that are within a reasonable commute for me.
The further I type this the less I seem to know what I'm actually asking, haha. Have any of you guys completed an audio engineering course? Did you feel like you gained any more practical skill as producers/beatmakers than you could have from individual research and experimentation. Are any of you working in a field directly related to what you went to school for within audio?
I hate the idea of going back to school for a better job, I want to go back to school to learn something intensely, that i feel would be fulfilling for me to learn, and have the access to experienced teachers and workspaces beyond what I could afford on my own. However I'm 28 now, the idea of going back to school, spending the time and financial resources to do it, being 30 by the time I'm done and being in debt with no better job opportunities than I have now is a little terrifying.

I did this program in 2002 (wow I'm old)
http://www.citrusarts.org/ra/studio.html

'Twas the bomb but shit's really changed since then. USB, iTunes, etc...

It's great to have an education with this if you apply it somehow... I never tried to get a recording job, but ended up recording other people's bands at home instead. I hung on almost all the information, very useful... Don't know how well it will get you hired to record though... everybody has a studio at home these days.
Right now I'm in school for art, getting my bachelors, but what do I do with that? Luckily I have work lined up for me when I move back to LA doing boom mic stuff for my friend's sound company...

I wish it was easier to just take classes you want to and be done. There are some really specific things that i think i could learn more effectively in a classroom setting, but i'm just not sure i want to commit to becoming a full time student. Ive also been thinking about doing a technical school accreditation course, which, with some luck would get me a better job and enable me to frivolously spend money on courses i want to take just for myself.

Q
I was in your exact position.
I went to film school in Vancouver for audio design/engineering.
It cost a lot of money and some of the people I met were great. The school has one of the highest reputations in the world for film studies and I excelled in all my classes. Of course I tried to sneak in some processed SP material whenever I submitted.
If you are going to sound engineering school to better your career path while learning how to make better 'beats'.... I suggest you think twice. Economy is shit and there's no jobs. ... just being blunt

Kel
" work lined up for me when I move back to LA doing boom mic stuff for my friend's sound company..."
KEEP ME IN MIND
really, seriously. My connections have deteriorated this past year.

that's exactly what's making me second guess the decision to go to school. If it wasn't so expensive to begin with i could go and learn things that i would like to learn in a classroom setting without having to think about career path. but most of the programs i've found near by are at least 40 weeks and full time which would be really hard to swing with a full time 40 hour a week job where i only have so much extra money to expend as resources for something like this.

Waddup Culp!

I will man, it won't be until June but I think there is potential for some work. Are you living in CA now?? I think my friend has about 12 or so peeps working for him, and he may not even really need me but wants to hook me up with whatever he can. I will keep in touch with you as I get a feel for what's going on over the next few months...

In the audio engineer school i learned that i don't want to record shitty rock bands as a job. There was some interesting stuff as well but i'm trying to forget all the rules they taught me about mixing. Now i'm a kindergarten teacher and make music at home whenever i can. Not too satisfying but better than recording shitty rock bands

[quote="squ!L"]In the audio engineer school i learned that i don't want to record shitty rock bands as a job.[/quote]

yeah once you become a sound man your like, ' wheres the tylenol'

i got my cirt 3 in technical music production at tafe (poor mans uni) here in oz, i think it was cool for getting a feel for working in recording studios and live sound, it was good for a basic and hands on understanding for different things like signal flow setting up equipment problem solving, learning what certain equipment does, working with mixing boards, and also how to work with and record musicians.

BUT
with having to compete for one on one time with the teaches and equipment with all the other students, a lot of time gets wasted, plus some students brought there little attitudes with em (fresh from high school), which would disrupt classes a little.

i personally could of learned everything i did there by looking up tutorials on youtube (wasn't an option back then 9 years ago), and i have learned so much more, and more in depth information from the internet since.
i think if you are only interested in making sample based beats and nothing else (like getting a job in a recording studio etc) i wouldn't bother wasting the money on audio schools, with that money you could buy a modest studio setup and learn through tutorials and trial and error yourself and have a ball while doing it.

as an alternative id say:
you make beats with real instruments? - get lessons on the instrument
you want to learn certain software like ableton? - join an ableton class
want to work in live sound? - try for an intern position with a local company

Hey thanks everyone for the realistic responses. Pretty much confirmed everything I had already been thinking. My main thing thinking about this stuff was that it could be fun and rewarding going to a school and learning some of these things in a classroom setting, while also getting some hands on experience with messing with a bunch of different gear that I can't really afford. I have been thinking very seriously about a vocational school sort of situation to try and improve my career options, because quite frankly retail is killing my soul. There are very few things that I find interesting enough to devote going to school in a more longterm and serious capacity for, and unfortunately none of them are really things that would open up much of a career potential for me unless I wanted to take it far enough to end up teaching, and that's an even larger commitment that I'm not sure I have in me. All things said I would just like to further my knowledge base and understanding about the creation and manipulation of sound sources and the shaping of the outcome, if school had been a more realistic option for me, like if i had a trust fund or something, I would be enrolling right now just for the experience and to absorb the different perspective into my outlook, but for now I think it's just whatever books I can get my hands on until I can get a good enough job to be able to afford internet at my house and then I can further knowledge through the tutorial base and super specific non credited online courses that cover a topic I find really interesting and so on.
thanks again for sharing your experiences with me!

If it is something that you're passionate about I say go for it. BUT you can learn a lot of stuff on your own or by interning/working with companies. I went to school for audio and I soon as I did my first internship I found that I had only learned the basics and really didn't know S*** as I kept interning,working, asking, talking with engineers, etc I started to learn a lot more.
Keep in mind that in the sound/audio field of work they don't care if you have a Masters or Bachelors in Audio or sound. All they care about is if you can run a board or make equipment work/sound properly. Good luck

They have online classes nowadays that i've been looking into

Went to fullsail in 2003.
It was really informative and I'm still paying for it.
I've worked in sports television ever since. It's not what I had planned on doing, but it pays the bills and is fun.
I was hired into my job right after graduating, it was a video position. I'm now the operations manager for a new network they're starting, not really using my audio knowledge.
I could also probably still be where I am today if I had just stared as a PA.
Fullsail taught me a shit load of stuff and made me better at my hobbies though.

I always wanted to but could not afford it