Viewpoints: Getting Audio Ready
How to prepare for college

By Doug Jones

This is a tricky one. I would rather go after Jack and his seat-of- the-pants approach to audio! Let me first say that after twenty years or so in higher education as a part time teacher then full time and now department chair, if there is one thing I am sure of, that is that there are no universal answers to this question.

There are as many potential college options as there are individuals seeking to attend college. The path that Jack took presumably worked for him. The path that I took worked for me, but those paths are closed forever. No one else will do it that way, ever again.

OBSERVATIONS

If pressed, I can offer four general observations that may be helpful. If these turn out to be useful in your particular situation, I am honored that I could help. If they don’t work for you, well, you were warned!

I will also state for the record that the observations and advice I am giving here are all things I told my own son as he entered college.

Lets start with the premise that underlies this month’s assignment. The assignment was to explore what high school students can do to prepare them selves for a college education, presumably in audio. The premise here is that students in high school know what they want to do. I can here the pages flipping from here!

Before all you young guns blow me off as some old fart who is trying to tell you stuff you don’t want to hear, think for a moment. How many people in your life, knew when they were in high school, what they would be doing fifteen years after graduation? Probably not that many.

For many of us, high school was a time of social turmoil, zits and depression! These conditions are hardly a great cornerstone for making solid life plans. What follows are five ready-for-college observations

#1.) Figure out what your passion is, yet keep an open mind.

Passion is not a word that creeps into our conversation very often, but it is a great word.

It took me years to discover that my passion was music. It is what makes me tick and gives me life! How I wish I had recognized that in my high school years! Looking back, I see the signs so clearly now. Back then, however, the shades were just way too dark.

If you are considering higher education, try to identify your greatest passion. Remember, of course, that as you grow and mature, you will think differently.

#2.) Get a Gig (at a restaurant)

My second observation is that those students who are a bit older, even one year, do significantly better than those students right out of high school. Therefore, if at all possible take a year off between high school and college. This break will usually help put things into perspective and allow you to start fresh in a new situation.

During your scholastic hiatus, get a job. Not just any job. Get a job as a waiter/waitress. The reason for this my third observation is, that the audio business is almost totally about people skills. Sure, getting a good mix is important, but keeping the politics cool is infinitely more important.

The reason I failed in my early career as a recording engineer is that I did not have the requisite people skills to mediate between the producer on speed and the band on ‘ludes. I am uncertain that I now possess those skills, and fervently pray that the recording industry has moved past those moronic and self destructive practices.

Still, the fact remains that I left the recording studio not because I could not do the job technically or aesthetically, it was the people. Being a waiter forces you to learn how to deal with the public in ways that few other jobs can match.

#3.) Pick the Proper College (for you)

No, this is not the commercial. Columbia College Chicago will be the right college for some, ( there I said it) but possibly not for others. It is important to look for things like accreditation, balance in the curriculum and the pedigree of the professors.

Consider these three criteria. The accreditation is what makes the credits that you earn transferable to other colleges and ultimately what makes your degree worth something. It also gives some assurance that the college has met some minimum standards for higher education.

This is something that parents usually worry about more than the students do. However, I could tell many stories of students who decide they want to come to Columbia after studying at some “school of audio stuff” only to find out that the time they spent is not transferable and doesn’t count towards a degree. Bummer! Check the accreditation!

Next, look for a balanced in curriculum. That is admittedly more difficult and subjective. If audio is to be an academic discipline, then it must have the three elements of a discipline, the theory, the craft and the aesthetic. Traditional colleges often emphasize the theory to the determent of the craft or the aesthetics.

Trade schools tend to emphasize the craft and the danger is that the students learn how to push buttons with little or no understanding of what the buttons do. Art schools often emphasize the aesthetics and leave the other two elements out of the picture.

Find a program that has all three elements in its curriculum. Watch out for the trap/lure of “hands-on” education. I am not anti-“hands-on”. Nothing could be further from the truth. “Hands-on” is a necessary part of a quality education. We are talking about education here, not training!

I have had a number of students leave Columbia and contact me a few years later with gratitude for the theory and tech courses we taught. Once in the “real world” you will get all the hands on you can handle, but rarely are you going to find someone to teach you the theory.

This leads me to the third criteria, the professor’s credentials. It would not be point/counter point if I did not disagree with Jack and I will not disappoint the reader! I emphatically disagree with the notion that “most experienced engineers are in teaching mode…”

If good engineers always made good teachers I would not have such a hard time finding teachers! Teaching is an art and a gift. It does not necessarily come with mastery of some body of knowledge or craft, although it cannot come with out such mastery.

Therefore my third criteria is a thorough faculty evaluation. Are they proficient and known in their area? Are they committed teachers? Many schools will offer open campus times, where you can check out professors. This is a good idea!

#4.) Use college for what it is good at, not for what you could do better yourself!

I know this one sounds weird, but bear with me. Colleges, in general, are not so good at teaching people how to do stuff. I have a twenty year old son who has never shown much interest in audio till a few years ago.

The old man (me) was playing a gig and the kid tells me he wants to record the gig. In response, I gave him a DAT machine and some DATs and said go for it. He managed to hook it up to the house board and get a reasonable recording. Next, he informed me that he wanted to edit it and burn a CD.

I said fine. The I pointed him to the ProTools™ rig and said go for it. He had never used that software before in his life. With no instruction from me at all and with very little from any one else, he presented me with a CD a few days later.

Now, is he a genius? Well I know he reads these columns so I must be very careful here! No, he is not a genius. He is typical of his generation who grew up with a computer in his home and never had to “learn computers”.

For him, using new software was natural. For him to go to college and have some one take sixteen weeks teaching him software would be a waste of time. The reality is that if the software is not intuitive it will not survive.

The other reality is what ever software we purport to teach to freshmen will be laughably obsolete before they graduate. What they need ­ what my son needed- was instruction, teaching, in digital editing.

They did not need to learn the software, but instead to learn the aesthetic, and perhaps some digital theory, so as to be able to do it better next time and to eventually be able to figure out how to get out of jams as needed.

College works best when the student learns how to think, not do. Admittedly, there are software packages that are extremely complex. It may make more sense to attend a seminar on using the software than to take a college course.

THE PAIN OF IT

Now alas, I must agree with Professor Alexander. As much as it pains me, he is right on the money when he urges you to learn how to listen. It is the most important skill you can bring to college or audio school of any type, and clearly the most important skill you can bring to the profession of Audio what ever your particular field of interest.

Listen to everything. Listen analytically. Ask how and why. Take the mix apart. Figure out what instruments are playing. In my old studio days, it was a point of pride to be able to listen to an album and tell what kind of guitar was being played through what kind of amp and with what kind of microphone.

I’m not kidding. I know that there are a lot more variables now than were available in 1976, but my point still stands. You have to be able to listen critically.

Finally, the most important thing you can do to prepare for a future in audio is protect your hearing! I don’t know how to emphasize this enough. There is no font large enough to convey the importance of this message. YOU WILL NOT WORK IN AUDIO IF YOU BLOW YOUR EARS OUT! You must use hearing protection if you are serious about this business.

Audio is a fantastic business full of promise and opportunity for those who are willing to work at it. I wish you well in your journey!

Douglas R. Jones is the Chair of the Sound Department at Columbia College (Chicago). He may be reached via e-mail at djones@popmail.colum.edu

July/August 2001 Live Sound International