Sound Enginner

highlydebased

Considering entering sound engineering when I leave school

Can anyone provide details of current industry conditions
and
The average pay per year, if self employed

PeakOutput

ok i have done a sound engineering course and a music production course one private one not.

if you really want to get into the business do not go down the paying thousands of euro for a years education route just dont you will learn alot but you will be no clser and I mean NO closer to getting a job at the end of them.

instead use your money to set yourself up with some gear, a pa a desk and a few mics............learn this equipment inside out.....tell all your mates who are in bands that you will let them use this gear for free at rehearsals and gigs as long as you engineer them. you can also organise some local gigs in pubs or gaa clubs etc for your mates bands if they cant get them themselves.

now obviously this assumes you want to be a live engineer and if you do thats great as it is SLIGHTLY easier to get work as a live engineer.

if wana be a studio engineer i will warn you straight off that it is a long long long road with a small small chance of success. i am not saying this to rain on your parade or to be a dickhead but iv been there and iv tried it.......i havnt one hundred percent given up yet but i do need to start thinking about how i am going to support myself while i work on getting the foot in the door somewhere

anyway do the same as above but also buy a bit of recording equipment....you can use a live desk and the mics you bought then research the various interfaces and software and get what you think suits you. then after your friends have had a few gigs that you have engineered tell them you will record a single for them and do it well.

this will tell you if you really want to be in the business or not and if after doing the above you still do then you will be at the stage where you will know how to choose your own next step.

i have to warn you again though it is very difficult to get into this part of the industry and unless you really make it big the money is not great

Neo#

Im in a band myself and love recording too. But i would think long and hard about doing it full time. Ive spoken to sound engineers in the past and they say its hard work with long hours usually. It can be boring and repetitive. Imagine listening to the same song over and over again for a week!:eek: (and not a good one!) But if you have "the passion" then go for it. You would have to be damn good though and a course isnt a bad way to start.

highlydebased

Thanks for replys guys...

UL have a new course http://www.ul.ie/admissions/newprospectus/Undergraduate/colleges/informatics/LM114.shtml

Which may be of interest to me

Its a job I would love......if only the money was better

PeakOutput

Neon-Circles wrote:

Thanks for replys guys...

UL have a new course http://www.ul.ie/admissions/newprospectus/Undergraduate/colleges/informatics/LM114.shtml

Which may be of interest to me

Its a job I would love......if only the money was better

ue thats my second choice on the cao this year my first being the digital media design course they do maynooth have a degree course in music technology aswell and trinity have a masters course.

you will learn alot more than sound engineering on these courses and once again i cannot reiterate enough that you should not do this course expecting to have a job in the industry at the end of it.

highlydebased

Yes, true

At least I would learn something in it

Would also give me time to get some funds and gear together if I was to become self employed

PeakOutput

by all means go for it and they are amazingly fun courses to do i jsut feel like i have wasted the last 2 years doing them under the pretense id have some sort of job and now im back to square one.