Where did you professional engineers get your training?

[mjslakeridge]

I know quite a few of the members here work as professional recording engineers. Just curious as to the routes you took to get to where you are. I am by no means a professional engineer. I took a few courses at Houston Community College in their audio engineering program back in the 1990's. I was able to take the courses without enrolling as a full time student since I already had a couple of college degrees in business, and they let me enroll in just the courses I wanted to. Back then we learned the basics of microphones, mixing boards, signal flow, outboard effects, etc. Projects were done on Tascam TSR-8 and 24 track reel to reel tape machines. I learned ProTools on my own years later by trial and error, and also by sitting in with Grammy Award winning engineer Andy Bradley at Sugar Hill Recording Studios and now at Wire Road Studio for a number of recording and mixing/editing sessions. He taught me a lot regarding AutoTune graphical mode.

My guess is a lot of you pros took very different routes to get where you are today.

[albee1952]

Most of the answers will probably depend on when each of us started. I got the bug when my band did its first studio recording and by the time we were ready to mix(2" 16 track and an APSI console), I was pushing faders with the engineer 12 years later, I discovered I could make a better living as a sound guy than as a guitar player. That turned into a regional sound company, but that got expensive in a hurry, so I ended up as the head audio guy at a large casino. Frequent little projects showed me that studio work was just as fun and a little less "white knuckle" I let myself get talked into moving to Nashville and as soon as I got settled, I bought a little recording rig(002, an MXL V69 and built a "monster" Barton core PC and never looked back. Not much formal training here. I just jumped into the deep end and learned from any and everyone(even a bad engineer can teach you what NOT to do)

[Bob Olhsson]

I took 5 years of radio drama from grade 8-12. Then I showed up at a recording studio and hung out every Saturday for a couple years. This was before it became glamorous and most of us were nerds.

Today I'd volunteer for my local public broadcasting station and find a community college recording or preferably television production program. I would stick to college programs where there are great music or film schools.

[Wizzoboy]

My interest in audio began in the early 1960s when my father brought home a Philips tape recorder. In 1970 I got a job as a trainee projectionist in a film dubbing theatre. Over the next 8 years I worked my way up to assistant mixer, learning as I went. From there I moved to a studio that created radio spots for ad agencies. Then in 1983 I joined a company with three studios that created soundtracks for corporate and museum productions. Over the years they moved into special venue show production, I became their chief engineer, and redesigned the studios in 1990. All analogue in those days with Ampex MM1200 2" 16 tracks and MCI 2 tracks. Christmas 1994 saw us go digital with the first UK installation of PT III TDM. Finally went freelance in 2000. Like albee, I have always jumped in at the deep end with an "I can do that" way of thinking.

[mjslakeridge]

Originally Posted by Wizzoboy

My interest in audio began in the early 1960s when my father brought home a Philips tape recorder. In 1970 I got a job as a trainee projectionist in a film dubbing theatre. Over the next 8 years I worked my way up to assistant mixer, learning as I went. From there I moved to a studio that created radio spots for ad agencies. Then in 1983 I joined a company with three studios that created soundtracks for corporate and museum productions. Over the years they moved into special venue show production, I became their chief engineer, and redesigned the studios in 1990. All analogue in those days with Ampex MM1200 2" 16 tracks and MCI 2 tracks. Christmas 1994 saw us go digital with the first UK installation of PT III TDM. Finally went freelance in 2000. Like albee, I have always jumped in at the deep end with an "I can do that" way of thinking.

I forgot about my first tape recorder, your post reminded me of it. I got it as a Christmas gift in the late 1960's. It was a portable reel to reel that used the small tape reels (maybe 2 1/2 or 3 inches in diameter). I remember it had 2 C cell batteries for the tape mechanism and a 9 volt battery for the electronics. It came with a tiny crystal microphone that had a very small plug (like today's 3.5mm). I think the recording time was something like 7 minutes per reel. Since it recorded in mono, you could flip the reels over and get another 7 minutes on the other side.

We had a couple of acoustic guitars and one snare drum, and recorded some songs which at the time we thought were pretty good, but I am sure they were terrible in both performance and quality.

I still have a TEAC A-2300S reel to reel that uses 7 inch tape reels. It was thrown in as a freebee by a guy I bough a Tascam 4 track reel to reel from, along with a TEAC 1 mixer, which I still have also. Traded in the Tascam 4 track when I went to a Tascam TSR-8 1/2 Inch reel to reel. The A-2300S still works, but I haven't used it in quite a few years. Before CDs, I would record my vinyl albums onto it when I first bought an album, and before the albums got scratches and pops from playing them. I was able to record a full album per side at 7 1/2 ips. It also has a switch to record at half that speed. Still have a big box full of those tapes somewhere, but digitized them years ago when I got my first DAW (Roland VS1680).

Link to picture of A-2300S and TEAC 1 mixer:

https://i.imgur.com/JuHKJYm.jpg

[Drew Mazurek]

Entirely self taught. Teenage hobby that morphed into a career.

[EGS]

As a kid, I wondered why some albums had great drum sounds while others sounded like punching boxes. This led to a passion for mics & audio. Tape op/gopher at large studios & took a class ("About me" below). Just stick with it and find a way.

[JFreak]

So to summit up, most of us old dinosaurs are self-taught but youngsters have the luxury of formal training. That said, I only turn 40 next march

[amagras]

Self taught musician here, forced to learn to produce and mix his own stuff. I've been lo lucky to meet and watch good engineers work in good studios during my career.

[uptheoctave]

Self-taught, then working as a tape op/assistant engineer in studios.

It is good to cultivate the idea that you are the eternal student.