Wat would you say my chances are.

[craiz730]

If I have been producing for 6 years now on my own, I go to college and get a degree in music, that I would actually land a job or internship in a studio? I'm most likley still gonna do it but I just wanna know how many people here are struggling looking for work after getting degrees. Thanks

[LeGato]

3 chances.... slim, fat and none...

Just kidding, if you drop out of college early enough then maybe you can work up the ladder quicker and get that grammy for best engineered album. The only reason you'd need a degree in music is if you plan to teach music, otherwise it's a waste of time and money. Just put in your time and dues and you'll get the work. Oh and start developing that thick skin cause you'll need that too.

Good Luck,

RS

[LeGato]

Oh and one more thing, it'd be a waste of a degree just to be and intern fetching coffee and ketchup for ungrateful "artists" don't cha think? Gotta think twice about the intern at a major studio.

RS

[MartinC]

I was given the advice that I didn't need a college degree in music-I wanted to be a rock musician. I dropped out after two years and became a professional musician. It was a huge mistake to drop out of college. I'm 46 years old now and own a very successful business, but still wish I had gotton the degree-it would have increased my options, and those of my kids. I have an 18 year old daughter now, and she is going to college this fall. I took her on a tour of campuses and couldn't believe how great these kids who attend a universtiy have it. If I have graduated from a really good college, my kid would have had an advantage getting in to that same school. If you have an opportunity to go to college, do it. You won't regret it.

[ggunn]

I was given the advice that I didn't need a college degree in music-I wanted to be a rock musician. I dropped out after two years and became a professional musician. It was a huge mistake to drop out of college. I'm 46 years old now and own a very successful business, but still wish I had gotton the degree-it would have increased my options, and those of my kids. I have an 18 year old daughter now, and she is going to college this fall. I took her on a tour of campuses and couldn't believe how great these kids who attend a universtiy have it. If I have graduated from a really good college, my kid would have had an advantage getting in to that same school. If you have an opportunity to go to college, do it. You won't regret it.

Yeah, I agree, but don't get a degree in music.

[alance]

true true.
I got my degree in music and film and the whole thing was a great 4 year party. Unfortunately it put me 4 years behind where I could have been. But that's where I figured out what I wanted to do. If you already know you want to be an engineer start trying to get working (while you study finance/business/medicine etc...)

[Produce_Dept]

I agree with those who have commented. A college degree is a great thing to have. I would reccomend going for it - but it wont really help you get your foot in the door as an intern or anything (imho) - I received a degree in Philosophy =) I didn't even put that on the resume that got me my current position. I just did allot of work around town, lots of it for free. Bought some gear to get me goin' and familiar with ProTools. Then I got some live sound gigs mixing for plays, and other small venue gigs. Over time - the offers came more and more frequently - providing me different jobs. People I did sound for wanted me to record Promo's and Demo's for them - and I gained allot of experience that way. And ended up with some finish products to show other customers.
Anyway - a love for what you do and a willingness to do what other's don't want to. Small and tedious jobs (in the field) can lead to really great opportunities in the future.

[Chris Coleman]

I still wish I had gotton the degree

So does your English professor.

[Matt Whritenour]

i've been going over this whole thing in my head for a while,
i'm in college right now(county college) and i'm doing a dual degree
as New Media Technology / and the othere is Music Recording,
i started off with just new media tech, and took intro to music recording
my first semester just for fun and quickly i got hooked on recording,
and while taking that recording class it made me want to by a recording
sound card for my computer just to mess around with some stuff and i didn't
want to spend too much money, and i asked my teachers advice
www.portraitrecordingstudios.com (that's his studio)
and he stead instead of getting what i was looking at he was showing me the 001
but i didn't want to spend that much money on something, and he told me that
i would be best off getting that because i would get to work with pro tools
and it's the industry standard and stuff, so after much thought i decided to just
go for it, and that's when the obsession started, so i started buying all differnt
equipment and what not, then less then a year later i decided to upgrade my 001 to the
002R so i've had the same teacher for a bunch of differnt classes and after i got the 002R
he was kinda making fun of me because i didn't want to spend 800 bucks on a 001 but then
to see me a year later with everything i was buying, so now i have 2 and a half semesters
left until i got both of my associate degree's and i want to go into the music recording
over top of the new media technology and i've been thinking about going on to get my bachlers
but i dont know what school to go to because i don't really wanna go somewhere away because
then i wouldnt be able to record at home how i do now, plus i dont think that it will help
me to get a job, (besides teaching, which i wouldn't mind doing) so right now i'm thinking
about not going anyfurther in school because it's all about experince especially if your
running your own business, but I can say that i am really happy that i went to school
because the classes i did take help me out a lot with all the knowledge on how the equipment
in the studio works , and then me having my own studio at home is what helped me take
that knowledge on how the equipment works and apply it to recordings and allow my self to
constantly keep improving the sounds that i am getting,

so i dont know if everything i wrote in there made sense because i didn't proof read it
and i feel like i was rambling but in a nutshell
do you need a degree to get a good job in the music industry? -No
will it help? - in certain ways, such as having a good knowledge of differnt types of equipment
and how it works, but then again you can go online or buy a book or 2 and learn a lot of the
same stuff that i learned in school.

[Jon Dickinson]

How about doing the music in your spare time, and doing a business degree of some type. You can improve your music skills, expose your music to people, improve with feedback etc. If you go into the music business you can either learn beforehand (business degree) or else learn by getting ripped off. College is expensive but you can budget the costs. Being ripped off is much more variable!