How did you guys learn so much?

[futuredood]

Hey,

I'm interested to know how you guys seem to have such a good knowledge about all things related to recording? Individually, it'd be cool to know how you got started and if you had a formal education, or played with the tools.

I've done minor recording for about 2 years, and got dived more deeply into it about a year ago, total'ing about 3 years. All hands on though, so I'm not too knowledgable with the technical aspects.

On other forums, I notice I can lend a hand with help. But around here it seems like I'm a newbie all over again.. haha.

[qgrm]

Spend a few hundred hours hovering over the shoulder of some one who knows what the heck they are doing.

spend some time here http://web.archive.org/web/200302161...diocovers.com/

(and be skeptical of what you read there)

thats not a bad start! B.

[pk_hat]

Reading, making mistakes, reading some more, asking questions, experimenting, making more mistakes, reading again, wash, rinse, repeat. You never stop learning, just have fun doing it.

StudioCovers is indeed a great site.

[Joe Evans]

I have found that hanging out here on the DUC to be quite educational.

[jdp16]

the www.studiocovers.com website doesn't work...it comes up as some domain registration site...

[stewie]

http://web.archive.org/web/200302161...diocovers.com/

[Carl Fuehrer]

I started as an assistant engineer in a studio durning high school. I worked allot as a live sound engineer. From there I landed a gig as an assistant at a local large studio worked up to staff engineer and became freelance from there. Went to Full Sail and worked allot on the east coast. Now I have my own studio.

For learning, ask allot of questions, analys every CD you come across, read Mix, Electronic Musician, EQ, Recording and Pro Audio Review. But the main thing I recommend is develope your ears to understanding what processors and effects are used on songs. Once you can hear compression you will know when and how to use it. Same for EQing.

[graveleye]

Total and 100% immersion is the key. You have to dive in all the way and stay there. Be prepared to change the way you are used to listening to music. I drive my wife crazy with picking apart everything I hear, but its part of it and it doesnt retract from my listening pleasure.
Experiment, try everything you can get your hands on...and keep after it. At one point it will suddenly start becoming easier for you, but then you will find you have even more to learn.

I was lucky to have a best friend and bandmate whos father owned a commercial studio. This guy had the proverbial "golden ears" - he used to walk in on us while we were mixing and go "this sounds like sh*t" and twist a knob and achieve the sound in 10 seconds what we had worked on all afternoon.

Protools is fantastic, but sometimes I wonder if folks wouldnt be better off starting with crappy 4-tracks and stuff before they graduate into bigger systems... for me, going from 8 and 16 tracks of tape and minimum effects and then into protools was almost overwhelming, but worth it.

Practice practice practice. Your DAW is like an instrument, the more you play it the better you get.

[lemix]

futuredood,

Great thread...

First off, I don't even think I should be here as I'm probably the oldest member of this forum
However;
1)20+years of pro studio experience here, with live bands ( drums ) background
2)never forgot my dreams = a kickass production of a hit song ( still searching...)
3) no life = learn/practice/update knowledge on a daily basis ( take it as a full time job )
4) invest all you have in gear
5)even if everybody loves your last project...YOU can always do it better next time !!!

>>don't eat..don't sleep..divorce..print reference tones...<<


happy tooling,
cheers,

[da BaSsTaRd!]

Protools is fantastic, but sometimes I wonder if folks wouldnt be better off starting with crappy 4-tracks and stuff before they graduate into bigger systems...

nah, its not the tools, its the experience. i pretty much learned everything about PT in about one year (the PT manual is the best written manual ever), but learning to be a half-way decent engineer... that's another story...

i'd say being a musician first is more important than starting with a beginner's setup. USE YOUR EARS and learn your monitors!!! it took twice as long for me to learn how to listen to my monitors than it did to get into the nitty gritty of PT...