University Sound Engineering

[3guk]

Ok guys,

 

I am looking for help and reccomendations, currently looking and deciding what to study at university. I am really passionate about sound engineering, particularly the live sort, not too keen on the studio based stuff.

 

And I was wondering if anyone is currently taking any course like this ? Or if anyone had any reccomendations of places to go and a course. I am based in the north west at the moment but really do not mind where the university is.

 

I have been told there is a place in dublin that supposedly has an amazingly detailed and interesting course. Does anyone know of the place.

 

And also I would like to looking at some event based management courses, again of the live music area if possible. So any reccomedations would be apprecaited.

 

Lastly I have really got into stage and band lighting and whilst I am not as passionate about it as sound engineering its still an option I would be willing to consider.

 

Again any university courses / place names would be much apprecaited.

 

Thanks

[Gareth Young]

I graduated from Sheffield University in 2005 having studied Physics and Astronomy - when I went to university I had no idea or experience of lighting or sound engineering in a live environment, and when at the university I decided to join the Student's Union's Technical Services Committee, a group of volunteeers that run the tech side of the Union's events for free (more or less, there were guestlists etc), mainly for reasons of developing more of a social life. Four years on from that decision, I have left uni and am supporting myself as a freelance lighting and sound engineer.

 

Working with TSC gave me a lot of experience in event production, starting in the first year or so with being taught what to do at an event, how to build stages, crowd barriers and other important but not very glamour-fuelled areas of the job, before the student Union trained me in a two week summer holiday session and then gave me (and several other volunteers) the opportunity to take responsibility for sound/light engineering at discos and live music events. I was taught in a combination of on the job training by more experienced volunteers, by formal training in the summer and at one off training sessions that were paid for and booked by the union. I still return to the union to train people and work if the volunteer pool runs thin due to issues such as exams.

 

The point of all this is that I don't believe the best way to get involved in this industry is to take an academic course - production/sound is a very practical hands on job that benefits more from experience than teaching. I would suggest that you look for reputable companies that provide equipment to the industry and approach them with a view of obtaining apprentice style work or on the job training with them whilst working as crew or an assistant. Alternatively, find a larger company that has training schemes in place - you will learn more, more quickly, and not end up saddled with large amounts of debt to the SLC at the end of it by taking this route.

 

In hindsight, if I had realised that events lighting/sound was what I wanted to do as a career from the outset, I would not have gone about it by attending university.

 

However, if your heart is set on University (I can understand why - no serious financial concerns until you finish, get to leave your parents/crappy home town, you can take someone home and not worry about your mum disapproving etc etc) consider more general courses at Universities that will give you wider career options but still be useful to a sound engineer, and look for part time work in the industry to get experience when at Uni (or look for work as a tech at your Uni, like I did). For example, an electronics degree would be useful in both sound and lighting contexts, and if you get work experience doing sound engineering whilst studying for this, it will make you much more employable than a Theatre Tech graduate with no work experience.

[3guk]

Im just trying to build on what I am good at, would really like to take a university based course as I want to understand the theory behind it and not just be told it works and thats final.

 

I am not really an academic, and do not really like the normal subjects, I can do them but they do not challenge me like sound engineering does.

 

Yeah and I would love an extra qualification as I have been told it really helps later in life, so why not combine the two and study something I love and get a qualification at the end !

[jpitkin]

I'm about to graduate from Nottingham, and have been quite involved with their PA/Lighting hire company, its run totally by students. I study Electronic Engineering. The course is reasonably hard work, and does involve a fair bit of thinking. I'm far happier coming out of uni with a degree that I can use to get a vast range of Jobs, as well as having experience of running a hire company with a huge variety of events and clients. At the end of the day (imho), getting jobs in this industry is mostly about knowing people, not about a bit of paper that says you have a degree in it.

 

For what its worth, a large percentage of people come out of uni and go and do something entirely unrelated to their degree.

[char-p]

Having done TSC myself (Paul Charleston, 2000-2002), and then quit the degree I was doing to go and do Sound Engineering in live, I can see where Gareth is going, but would say that qualification is desirable.

 

I looked around for months looking for a course that would give me the next level so I could have a real chance - and really for me, there was only one - BSc (Hons) - Sound, Light and Live Event Technology.

 

For live, its really the only contender.

 

Anyways, I guess the point I want to make is that you can do things like the TSC at Sheffield Uni, but what happens when you need to find out why a piece of kit just blew up - answer - you don't, as they are only training you to be a box-pusher. In most cases an LD or Sound Engineer not only knows what to do with a fader, but why and how it works down past the ICs, and into the physics. For example - you may like line array, but why does it work? how can you make a cardioid sub array? WHY does a Nexo box sound better than a Maplin's best?

 

You need to learn these things so that you can spend less time orienting yourself in the industry later.

 

Paul

 

PS I think that it is funny that the spell-check on here doesn't recognise 'fader'!!

[Mr.Si]

Simon Lewis (who's on this forum) might have something to say too.

 

Give him a PM

[Chris_R]

I'd have to agree with the Sound, Light and Live Event Tech suggestions at Derby Uni.

Im there now and when I was looking around for a course I was looking for much the same as you are.

As has been mentioned PM Simon Lewis for more details as he's the course leader!

Hope this helps.

[timperrett]

For sound engineering, the Tonmeister Course at Surrey University http://www.surrey.ac.uk/undergraduate/sound/index.htm is definatly worth considering.

 

Although you say you want to focus on live and this course focuses to some degree on the recording side of things, we have a placement student at our company who is into the live side and goes out engineering our live events.

 

From the people I know in the industry, this course is highly regarded.

[Cougar]

At the risk of being repetitive ill add another vote to the Derby Uni course I am a 2nd year student and I am enjoying it and agree with all Paul said about it being a desirable qualification to have and I think it will prove beneficial when I finish.

[Pete]

Two minds about this one personally.

 

Im glad I ditched academia after college,becuase I went out and actualy did the job in the real world.

Oh and Im sick of graduated LD's who think they know better.

 

But,Im also jealous of people who do go to Uni,simply becuase the lifestyle sounds great and they get letters after there name!

[Ken Coker]

Enjoying it???????????????

You're not supposed to enjoy it!!!!

 

KC

 

PS- Could you tell the Dean?

[dosxuk]

I'll add another vote for the do a relevant course, but try to get experience while there. I was at Sheffield Hallam, just down the hill from Sheff Uni, and am now working there as a senior tech. I was very lucky, as during my final year, we moved buildings, which meant I got to learn a LOT of very useful stuff about installation, system design and system integration on top of all the normal maintainence stuff.

 

I was doing a software engineering degree, and even did a years placement as a web application developer, but there is no way after the last couple of years that I could go back to sitting in an office. But it does mean that I've got some qualifications and experience in a different field which I can use in the future. Also with the way computers are getting into everything, I can see it being even more useful.

[3guk]

Thanks for all the information so far.

 

Would taking a course like this really limit my employablility later in life, I can not forsee myself wanting to leave the industry and I constantly find even the worst jobs enjoyable.

 

The only think I fear is that potential employers, out of the sound and lighting industry could be put off by the rather obscure course ??

 

Thoughts?

[Tom R]

(pops up another Derby student) I don't think that the course is obscure in any way! If you just go out into the world of work today you will (most likely) be doing nothing more than pushing up faders and twiddling EQ buttons until it sounds good/looks good. What the course teaches you, is the electronics behind it all as well as the practical knowledge, which is extremely useful if you want to be successful and work your way high up in the world. I am not saying that you can't do that with experience alone, just it puts you that one step up the ladder(or probably more likely about 5!). There are things that I have learnt already (I am a first year) that I would never have learnt by this point if I had just joined a company hoping to learn. The course is validated as an engineering degree as well so theres obviously more to it than just pushing faders.

 

I'm suprised Simon hasnt piped up yet and made any comments...(maybe he's just waiting to see what we all say) :D

[Simon Lewis]

Would taking a course like this really limit my employablility later in life, I can not forsee myself wanting to leave the industry and I constantly find even the worst jobs enjoyable.

The only think I fear is that potential employers, out of the sound and lighting industry could be put off by the rather obscure course ??

 

As you've asked a specific question about this course, I'll answer publicly...

 

The Sound, Light & Live Event Technology programme has seen a high percentage of its graduates go into the industry. Destinations have ranged from outside broadcast, hire companies, freelance, production companies and theatres to acoustic consultancies, specialist audio / DSP manufacturers, product support and technical sales. Several students have gone on to postgraduate studies and many have started their own successful businesses.

 

The degree is externally accredited as an Engineering qualification, and can lead to Incorporated Engineer (IEng) status. Therefore, it is has a number of transferable skills that are applicable to not just the entertainment industry but to other technical fields as well.

 

I have had a number of companies in the industry comment on the quality of the SLLET graduates they have met, and some call me when they have vacancies as they perceive the skillset of our students as being the type they would like to employ.

 

Naturally, the course itself does not confer instant success or guaranteed jobs. Much of the sucess we see is to do with the perserverence and hard work of our students. They make use of the resources and skills we provide, and this prepares them as independent learners who ready to make a contribution to their chosen field. However, some decide not to go into the industry, and (as with any course) there are a range of academic and practical abilities represented in the student cohort. Furthermore, no student leaves his or her course of academic study with the same practical experience as someone who has worked in the field for several years. This is as true for Sound and Light graduates as it is for medical staff or accountants.

 

To address your comment about employability, we would hope that by taking such a course that you will broaden your employability in later years. I would not decry any course that focuses only on vocational aspects, but the approach that we feel correct for us is to concentrate on "how it works" as much as "how to work it".

 

Lastly, you can study embedded systems, digital signal processing theory and real time audio digital signal processing, and throw in electromagnetic compatibility and power electronics on this course. Or, you could choose an equally viable academic pathway that has more vocational modules (say - acoustics or live surround sound systems). Either way, these are solid engineering and technical subjects that should hold you in good stead for a range of different careers.

 

Hopefully, you will never lose the joy of pushing a heavy flightcases up a rain soaked loading ramp at 2am(!), but if you ever do, I would hope that an accredited degree will help to open doors for you.

 

I hope this helps...

 

Simon Lewis

Programme Leader

BSc (Hons) Sound, Light & Live Event Technology