California Music Schools

[Mattmaymatt]

What are the best Uc and CSU schools for music production/audio engineering? I plan on transferring in a couple years and would like to know which schools offer the best programs. Thank you

[Greg Curtis]

Citrus College has a decent studio program.

[drBill]

Originally Posted by Greg Curtis

Citrus College has a decent studio program.

[Liquid360]

Don't spend money right now. Do an apprenticeship and you'll get the same thing. You'll have to "work" for the education, but I believe it would be much more relevant in the long run.

[FatherKamikaze]

Originally Posted by Greg Curtis

Citrus College has a decent studio program.

Citrus College is great! They have a multi million dollar studio, some instructors are Grammy nominated/winners, some of them have Gold and Platinum albums under their belt. It's about a year and a half long program (around 3 semesters). They will interview and will ask for a cover letter and resume to get into the program, but before that you will need to take prerequisite classes. I personally had a pleasure going through the classes with brilliant instructors.

The great thing that this program teaches are the fundamentals of how things works. Physics of sound, electricity and about the music business, so you will come out of the program with a foundation of knowledge to become a knowledgeable engineer or future intern

Another bonus: it's REALLY affordable.

[Harvey Gerst]

And you'll learn standard California music industry terms such as: "Like," "Fer sure," "Dude," and "Ya know" - all indispensable for advancement in the music industry.

[therealbigd]

Originally Posted by Liquid360

Don't spend money right now. Do an apprenticeship and you'll get the same thing. You'll have to "work" for the education, but I believe it would be much more relevant in the long run.

Yeah great advice, an apprenticeship in a studio will teach you far more than a college course.

One problem? Can you tell me how many studios are offering apprenticeships?

Most studios are too small and having more people in the room than you need is a pain in the hoop. Plus there is the fact that you just don't have anything for them to do. The modern studio doesn't need a tape op because there's no tape. The big studios which might need a few people, hire a few professionals. There's very little room for apprentices.

But also, going to college... won't help either. By and large. You'll spend 3 years playing in a studio bigger than you'll ever set foot in again, and simply lay down big bucks chasing a dream that will get further from you than ever before as soon as you step out the door.

If you want to work in a studio, start your own up and be different by not giving a flying saucer about the kit you've got, but actually coming up with a proper marketing plan and having a good line of people coming into the studio from the local scene. If you don't know how to be an engineer, then yes, maybe college is the right direction, but generally speaking you're throwing money into the wind which would be better spent either building and marketing your own place, or just doing something altogether different and realising that for all but the most exceptional people, studio work is and will only ever be a hobby achieved with an iMac and Logic.

[drBill]

Originally Posted by Harvey Gerst

And you'll learn standard California music industry terms such as: "Like," "Fer sure," "Dude," and "Ya know" - all indispensable for advancement in the music industry.

Couldn't hurt.....

[drBill]

Originally Posted by Liquid360

Do an apprenticeship and you'll get the same thing. You'll have to "work" for the education

I've seen a lot of interns, "apprentices" and wannabee's in a myriad of studio's, production studio's, post houses and composers studios over the years.

I know my view might be skewed, and perhaps not a perfectly balanced vision of what's out there, but I have only seen a tiny, tiny handful of would be "engineer-producer-composer-whatever" hopefuls (maybe 5 people total) worthy of being taken on as an apprentice. An apprentice needs to be SERIOUS. Most interns just want some glory and a way out of serious study. To rise above the noise floor as an intern/apprentice, you need MORE focus, MORE drive, MORE ambition, and MORE talent than the people who have already made it that you're interning/apprenticing under.

That is a huge burden to bear for the average joe. And also the reason, more and more studios/producers/engineers will NOT take on interns any longer. For the most part, it's a waste of the most precious commodity we have - time.

[Mattmaymatt]

Originally Posted by therealbigd

Yeah great advice, an apprenticeship in a studio will teach you far more than a college course.

One problem? Can you tell me how many studios are offering apprenticeships?

Most studios are too small and having more people in the room than you need is a pain in the hoop. Plus there is the fact that you just don't have anything for them to do. The modern studio doesn't need a tape op because there's no tape. The big studios which might need a few people, hire a few professionals. There's very little room for apprentices.

But also, going to college... won't help either. By and large. You'll spend 3 years playing in a studio bigger than you'll ever set foot in again, and simply lay down big bucks chasing a dream that will get further from you than ever before as soon as you step out the door.

If you want to work in a studio, start your own up and be different by not giving a flying saucer about the kit you've got, but actually coming up with a proper marketing plan and having a good line of people coming into the studio from the local scene. If you don't know how to be an engineer, then yes, maybe college is the right direction, but generally speaking you're throwing money into the wind which would be better spent either building and marketing your own place, or just doing something altogether different and realising that for all but the most exceptional people, studio work is and will only ever be a hobby achieved with an iMac and Logic.

Ya now I'm leaning towards trying to maybe record a few local bands and see what I can do from there.