Do You Have To Go To School To Be An Audio Engineer?

This is the second of a two part series from a good, long-time friend and colleague of mine, Rene Coronado. I love they way Rene answers the question I am often asked; "Do you have to go to school to be an audio engineer?"


Where you went to school is 100% irrelevant in this field. What you're capable of is all that matters. When people with real money go looking for someone to do their creative audio work they never ever ever look for a degree. What they're looking for (if they don't already have a personal relationship) is a reel and or a recognizable credit list.

With that said, there is a fair amount of good that can come from school, but it doesn't have to cost you an arm and a leg.

I went to a 2 year school in West Texas and got my AAS in sound technology on a free scholarship ride, but if I had paid for it out of my own pocket it would have been chump change compared to what places like the Art Institute charges. Literally a few hundred bucks a semester - and we had our own building filled with all kinds of great rooms, mics and boards to work with. It was a little old-school (we were cutting to 2 inch tape and learning calibration), but the formal teaching of fundamentals and troubleshooting were essential to my career.

My advice is to find a place (be it school or otherwise) that will teach you the following:

• electronics theory
• signal flow
• troubleshooting
• acoustics theory
• writing and communication
• microphone and compressor theory
• file management
• business fundamentals like accounting and bill collection

Once you've found your spot the next step is to put it out of your head that you'll learn what you need to know in school. Theory is an important part of the equation, but it only sets up the most important step - practice.

Start finding projects as early and as often as you can. Work for free if you have to, but get paid when you can. Work on your own stuff and work on other people's stuff. Find a mentor if you can, otherwise engage online.

By taking on projects early and often you'll develop your skill set at a rate of speed that will allow you to keep up with the thousands of other kids sitting in their rooms dreaming up cooler sounding stuff than you are. You'll also start building a reel that you can use to either drum up work as a freelancer or look for a staff position somewhere.

Most importantly though, you'll be building relationships with other people that need audio services. To them, it doesn't matter that there's some kid downtown that can make cooler sounds than you because they don't know that kid downtown. Therefore they can't like that kid. But they like you because you do good work and you get it to them on time.

If it were architecture or medicine I'd say get the best degree you can. But its not. Its audio, so instead you'll need to get the best skillset you can and do it as fast as you can.

About Rene Coronado:

Rene Coronado joined DAPG in 1999 as an Audio Engineer and became Lead Sound Designer soon thereafter.

In his role as lead sound designer his responsibilities include creating custom sound effects and foley for a large array of websites, TV shows, films and live events. From the beginning Rene has worked closely with the Dallas Stars and the Texas Rangers on both broadcast and in-game presentations. In addition to several others, he was the lead sound designer in the film El Descubrimiento (The Finding), which won the Juried Award at the Short Shorts Film Festival in Mexico City in 2009.

Rene has also been an ADR recordist for Fox TV, Warner Brothers and Sony Pictures, and he was audio team lead for voice recording on video games such as Brothers in Arms-Earned in Blood, Dragonball Z: Budokai 3 and Spikeout Battlestreet.

Rene graduated with an AAS in Sound Technology from South Plains College in 1999. As part of the team here at DAPG, René continues to expand his knowledge in all aspects of audio production. He currently writes articles about audio for video on BrightHub.com.

What Do You Say When Clients Ask For More?

This is the first of a two part series from a good, long-time friend and colleague of mine, Rene Coronado. Rene has always been very progressive in his thinking when comes to working within the audio field as well as very willing to share his knowledge. I am very pleased to be sharing some of his valuable words with you.

What Do You Say When Clients Ask For More?

The best way to deal with this situation is to do what you can to avoid it entirely, though that really comes with experience.
Here's how to avoid the situation:

Do your homework on the project

Always discuss deliverables before starting work on something. If you get question marks over heads when the topic comes up, then you need to be prepared for the amount of work in front of you, and make plans and decisions accordingly. Its fairly common for an inexperienced video producer to be in need of audio education even though he's already halfway through his project, and its your job as an audio guy to be as honest and straightforward as possible with what you are wiling/able to do given the price and what his project will require in order to ever make any money.

Even experienced video producers and filmmakers can be sometimes shockingly uneducated with regards to the amount and type of sound work required to make their projects marketable. They don't all have to be works of perfection, but you'll know as well as anyone what can pass muster and what can't, and what kind of effort it will take to get from A to B.
If you can anticipate any compromises that will need to be made in order to deliver the project on budget and on time you'll be able to set expectations and minimized the compromise effect accordingly.

All of this comes from the courting process though, and the red flags that people throw up will become more apparent with experience.

Write a contract

I know, people hate signing contracts, but they also hate paying for audio work so you have to protect yourself. Contracts can be flexible by the way. You can specify a package rate for x deliverables and x hours, with an ability to continue work for a studio rate after those hours and deliverables are fulfilled. This way everyone knows what to expect, and it allows for a new entry point into the money conversation if new requirements appear as the project moves along.

Contracts don't have to be all legalese and complex, in fact, the more straightforward and readable the better. Your goal with a contract is not to litigate it if your client wants other stuff - its to use it as a mutually agreed upon framework for the working relationship.

You don't need a signed contract for every job, but you should start considering it when the work looks like it will span more than a few days. Each situation is different so react accordingly.

Also, a wise man once said that you should only have two prices - free and full pop. Anything in between devalues your work without diminishing expectations.

Communicate immediately when surprises occur

When you initially take assets - if you expect one thing and find another, then stop down for a moment and reassess. Then talk to your client before moving forward. If you see a problem and begin work anyway, then you will miss the opportunity to head off trouble before it can multiply.

About Rene Coronado:

Rene Coronado joined DAPG in 1999 as an Audio Engineer and became Lead Sound Designer soon thereafter.

In his role as lead sound designer his responsibilities include creating custom sound effects and foley for a large array of websites, TV shows, films and live events. From the beginning Rene has worked closely with the Dallas Stars and the Texas Rangers on both broadcast and in-game presentations. In addition to several others, he was the lead sound designer in the film El Descubrimiento (The Finding), which won the Juried Award at the Short Shorts Film Festival in Mexico City in 2009.

Rene has also been an ADR recordist for Fox TV, Warner Brothers and Sony Pictures, and he was audio team lead for voice recording on video games such as Brothers in Arms-Earned in Blood, Dragonball Z: Budokai 3 and Spikeout Battlestreet.

Rene graduated with an AAS in Sound Technology from South Plains College in 1999. As part of the team here at DAPG, René continues to expand his knowledge in all aspects of audio production. He currently writes articles about audio for video on BrightHub.com.