recording school

every now and then a bright young high school student will ask me what recording school they should go to. i myself went to belmont university in nashville. my answer is almost always this: don't!

here are three very good reasons why any bright and aspiring kid should not go to recording school.

1. debt - most schools with a recording program cost thousand of dollars a year for a four year degree. i realize that full sail and the conservatory are cheaper, but it's still reasonable to expect a grad to come out with somewhere between $30k to $100k worth of student loans. student loans aren't necessarily a bad thing. it's about whether or not they're worth it. as soon as you graduate, the first step towards getting a job and paying off that debt is to intern for free. you will be getting lunches and sweeping floors and if you are lucky, you'll get to sit in on a session. how are you supposed to work for free when you have thousands of dollars of debt hanging over your head?

2. post-grad arrogance - no matter how smart you are or how much of a head start you have in recording, you are no where near as good as the guys who have been recording for 20 years. knowledge by theory and knowledge by experience are two entirely different things. one phenomenon and harmful by-product of recording school is that most grads come out with a sense of accomplishment. they even have fancy pro tools certificates. wow. and so as a result, these same graduates develop an attitude and an arrogance that are not very endearing to the veterans who make the hiring decisions.

3. almost everything they teach you is wrong
the more i work and record bands, the more i realize that many of the "rules" that they teach you are wrong. never tracking with EQ or compression, never hitting red, worrying about leakage and bleed...these are all basic things they teach you that are not true. i would go more into detail but i don't want to give away any of my magical tricks. also, there's an old saying that says, "those who can, do. those who can't, teach." this couldn't be more true about recording school. if your teachers are really so amazing at recording, then why aren't they doing that? there's a lot more money and recognition in actually doing what you claim to be able to do. my professors in recording school were awesome. really cool guys. but all of their claims to fame were on records that were made at least 20 years ago. the recording industry is based on technology so it's important to be up to date. my professors were really good at cutting tape, but it was almost laughable to watch them clumsily find their way around a pro tools session.


if you are a high school student wanting to get into recording, forget recording school. buy some used recording books off amazon. spend a little cash to get a low end pro tools rig and a laptop and start recording people in your spare time. learn by doing. we're talking something like $2,000 here. then go to a big studio and get an internship to learn. do whatever you need to do. sweep floors. show up early. leave late. spend all your time there. soak up every bit of knowledge that the veterans will give you. don't worry about a lack of recording school. if they hire you as an assistant, your first job will more than likely be just making CD dubs and printing labels. the main thing they're looking for is a good attitude. they'd rather hire a kid and teach him the right way to do things than hire some cocky recording school grad and try to get him to un-learn bad habits.

on the other hand, if you're parents are paying for school, then what the heck? go for it. have a grand old time. just remember to be humble and have the wisdom to realize that you don't know it all.