[trilblitz]

Originally Posted by ALX Music Group

I disagree - I think if your serious about engineering, then the best of learning is to get a decent set up, and practice like hell. Of course to supplement that with all the things you mentioned (forums, books, studiotime with a pro) is also important, but the key is practicing on your own. A good engineer will be able to hop on an mbox and mix the hell out of a record, it not about the gear, its about the skill.

With a lot of time and hard work, dedication and ambition you will become a pro yourself. Of course your not going to *poof* get your records to sound like you did them at hitfactory when you did them at home on your small setup - but that doesn't take anything away from the songs that are being made, a good song is a good song, and it might take you 20 hours of mixing to get it to sound right on your small setup, but then the next time it might take 19 hours, then 18 hour..etc On GS and on all the other forums we tend to focus more on the final result, rather than focus on the time it took to get there. The whole fun part of mixing and mastering is playing with sounds getting them to sound good, and getting frustrated and being up late and working hard to find the end result was worth it.

master your set up and then i would suggest trying to intern at a big studio.

+1 Also add to that working with different producers, singers and rap artist will also broaden your horizons and give you a feel for what other people are looking for and how you may achieve this on your small set up. These type of experiences has well as the above mentioned are priceless.