<p>Can anyone suggest me a university with good sound engineering course? The university also must provide financial aid.
Thanks</p>
<p>The name Sound Engineering is deceiving. Sound engineering is an art/music degree. Something of concern is that Audio/Sound Engineering Technology is NOT an ABET accredited degree, which most likely means it is not a ‘real engineering’ degree. Someone I know graduated with a similar degree called Electronic Media Tech with a 3.5+ has been underemployed for the last 3 years. I am not saying you will end up in the same boat and I especially do not want you to be discouraged to pursue that degree, but you should know the facts. One more thing, please do NOT enroll in any of those online, campus-free universities or most of those programs that advertise. I have heard too many horror stories of people who pursued media and digital art degrees at places like fullsail and itttech.</p>
<p>Here is a list of Audio Engineering Technology Universities:
[Category:Audio</a> engineering schools in the United States - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Audio_engineering_schools_in_the_United_States]Category:Audio”>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Audio_engineering_schools_in_the_United_States)</p>
<p>University of Michigan appears to have a reputable B.S. Sound engineering curriculum, I can tell because of their relatively high standards for admittance such as an SAT math score of 630 or better and because it is a B.S. instead of a B.M or B.A.
[UM</a> School of Music, Theatre & Dance - Department of Performing Arts Technology - Degree Programs](<a href=“http://www.music.umich.edu/departments/pat/bs_curr_d.htm]UM”>http://www.music.umich.edu/departments/pat/bs_curr_d.htm)</p>
<p>Try this link. The Wiki link is incomplete.</p>
<p>[AES</a> Education Directory](<a href=“http://www.aes.org/education/directory/]AES”>AES Education Directory)</p>
<p>Also, you may want to ask your question in the “Music major” forum.</p>
<p>@alchemist - I attended fullsail (physically, not online) for a recording arts (sound engineering) degree and I thought it was good; it’s a known school for that field, I was able to find a couple of jobs with it and I learned a ton, not to mention I enjoyed going there. Though I will say it is a bit expensive, I definitely wouldn’t say it’s a bad school or something to beware of.</p>
<p>OP - alchemist is right about sound/audio engineering not technically being “engineering” but more of a technology degree, though your position would be “sound/audio engineer” at most places. It’s a different ballgame than traditional engineering. Everyone I know that has pursued this route (from all different schools) has been employed; the jobs are out there, you just have to take a different approach to getting them and it will depend on your location. I personally went to fullsail and I’ll say it would do you good in this field, but there are a lot of good schools that will teach you what you’d need to know so look around for what fits you. I would even say, for a field like this, that you don’t need to go to college necessarily. You can land yourself some sort of lowend interning gig at a studio, learn the equipment and techniques and work your way up from there, really go hard at learning this stuff on your own. It’s more about experience than a degree, a degree just helps you get experience and teaches you the ins and outs of the business, studio work, etc. in a short amount of time and at a price.</p>
<p>Some info about the field:</p>
<p>1) It’s extremely competitive, because the field is art/media/entertainment, i.e. products that have subjective value.</p>
<p>2) It can get rather expensive, there are a lot of costs involved in running or setting up a sound studio. Although a lot can nowadays be done with just a laptop, a sound card and a couple of nice microphones. Minimal, but good quality or good bang-for-the-buck setups are efficient, because getting paid to afford improvements or gear is difficult.</p>
<p>3) Internships may be difficult to find, because the business is so tight (i.e. you’ll have to work for free, possibly for many years, before you may have “established” yourself in the local/global professional circles). It pays to be humble and helpful, remember that the sound production industry is really a service industry.</p>
<p>4a) Be prepared to not have work hours really, you work when you have to, as long as you have to and there are always deadlines to be met.</p>
<p>4b) Be prepared to possibly have to work on stuff that doesn’t interest you at a personal level. Working in the art/media/entertainment field often means (unless you belong to that under 10% of sound producers / artists that get to pick what they want to work on) that you can’t pick what you work on, but rather you work on what’s available or what you can get. I.e. you aren’t necessarily working on stuff (music/ad/film/game/etc.) that you enjoy or find interesting.</p>
<p>5) You need to have good social skills. Because the field is a service industry and “getting gigs” is a social procedure (you need to know someone who’s doing something, people need to know you, you need to advertise your services, if you’re a freelancer). If it turns out that you’re not an easy person to work with, the information may spread quickly by word of mouth and you might be “kicked out of the circles” or ruin your reputation as a sound producer.</p>
<p>6) Audio engineering (i.e. not so called “record engineering” or “sound (production) engineering”) is a subfield of electrical engineering and is the branch concerned with developing audio equipment, software programs and audio signal processing techniques.</p>
<p>Sound engineering or acousTical engineeRing?</p>
<p>@Dreburder
“Sound engineering or acousTical engineeRing?”</p>
<p>Acoustical engineering is heaps and bounds more practical and scientifically sound field. You can work in the construction industry, in the civil engineering field, in the audio equipment design and manufacture industry or e.g. as a consultant for acoustics design for personal or industrial buildings or recording studios. It’s also a competitive field, but because it’s grounded in physics, the education is more sound and generally applicable. In acoustical engineering you can also focus on more on the EE side of things e.g. audio signal processing (acoustical engineering is sort of a branch of EE).</p>
<p>I think University of Southern California is the best for acoustical engineering including architectural acoustics.</p>