How to become an audio engineer

If you are looking to become an audio engineer with the hopes of starting a career as an audio engineer, you can easily become overwhelmed by all the options available to you. There’s the DIY model where you buy some gear and software and spend hours watching YouTube tutorial videos to figure out how to use them. There’s the more conventional approach of going to any of the many post-secondary schools that offer audio engineering courses. And finally, there’s the Recording Connection mentor/extern educational model. Learn more about Efrain Matias’ journey in audio.

Each of these models for learning the skills required to be an audio engineer can work. The DIY is limited by the amount of money you can afford for gear and software as well as your ability to be a complete self-starter who doesn’t fizz out over time. The conventional post-secondary school model can be quite costly, but gain you access to gear and software you might not otherwise be able to afford. It’s limited to how much time with the gear and software you can actually receive as you will be sharing access with all of your classmates.

The Recording Connection is one of the more affordable options available and it allows you a great deal of access to the gear and software of the recording studio where you extern. Other major advantages are more subtle but nevertheless enormous in their potential.

What separates the Recording Connection is that you are learning in, and physically placed, inside the music industry. You are learning in a real-world recording studio. A recurring theme we hear from our successful students is that they received a call from their mentor asking if they were available to help with a session starting in an hour or two. Calls like this led to our students serving as audio engineer for a session with Justin Bieber, Trinidad James, Miley Cyrus, etc. Not only did they gain valuable experience working with top professionals, they gained a valuable credit on their resumes. Calls like this don’t happen if you are sitting at home watching YouTube tutorials, or are attending a campus based school.

Another recurring theme we hear from our successful students is that they got hired by their mentor to work as an audio engineer at the recording studio where they externed. They got these job offers because they demonstrated to their mentor that they had the skills, work ethic and passion to be a valuable asset while they were attending the Recording Connection. Campus based schools don’t hire their graduates to be audio engineers because they don’t have any such positions available.

The single most predominant character trait that successful Recording Connection graduates exhibit is work ethic. This means they welcome ten or twelve hours work days, working all night on tight deadlines, or saying yes to out-of-the-blue opportunities that require saying no to something fun they had planned. In other words, if you want to become an audio engineer it needs to be your number one priority at all times. It’s almost comical when we look at Recording Connection students who aren’t successful. Invariably, they are the same students who regularly failed to show up for their lessons, didn’t do their homework but were quick to complain about not being catered to. Would you hire a person like this? And yet, these are the same people who put the blame on everyone but themselves.

Being successful in any field requires talent, passion, drive,  a great work ethic, skills, connections and being in the right place at the right time. The Recording Connection, or any other school for that matter, can’t teach talent, passion, drive or  or a strong work ethic. However, the Recording Connection can teach you the skills required to be an audio engineer, and through its mentor/extern model which places you inside the music business in a real-world recording studio, it can expose you to industry connections and give you the opportunity to be in the right place at the right time. If you are serious about becoming an audio engineer, put Recording Connection on your short list of ways to get there. Contact us via phone or email here.

Recording Connection student Alex Adams works with Miley Cyrus!

How Recording Connection grad Morning Estrada got Hired as Engineer for Trinidad James.

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