Recording Arts Major/ Music Major or Minor

<p>Hi! Right now, I'm a student in high school. I play the double bass (and love it) and play at the all-state and pre-conservatory level, but due to various reasons I don't exactly want to major in it (perhaps double major), so perhaps there is a better thread for this. What I want to primarily major in is Recording Arts Technology- specifically, I want to become an Audio Director/ Sound Engineer for a video game studio. A quick search on college board has brought up surprisingly few schools with this major- are there other places that are better or are these THE places to go? Your thoughts on the major, best and worst schools, schools that also have a high music/bass level of study, and schools that best reflect the goal of working in video games. My GPA has steadily been around a 4.40 for highschool, I am currently a junior. </p>

<p>Here's some of the colleges I found that looked good:
-Ithaca College
-SUNY College at Fredonia
*Loyola Marymount </p>

<p>*prefer CA schools</p>

<p>The Frost School of Music at the University of Miami was the first school to offer a Music Engineering Technology program and is still considered one of the best places to go for that by a lot of people. It’s also relatively well known as a school that produces very good bassists, but more for Jazz (Jaco Pastorius taught there in the 70’s). I play bass and when I was looking at schools a bunch of people told me to look at it. It’s also a pretty rigorous school academically, and has an amazing campus. I’d check it out. I play bass and want to go to school for recording arts as well. I applied to Miami and should be hearing back in the next few weeks. That’s where I want to go.</p>

<p>DePaul University (Chicago), CalArts and University of Oregon all have programs in sound recording technology or music technology. There is a parent on the forum whose son attends University of Michigan in a similar program. It is difficult to search on CC right now, but perhaps someone knows the poster’s name.</p>

<p>Found her screen name - kmcmom13. You can search her posts and hopefully get useful information.</p>

<p>thanks! I just want to specify that one of my main concerns is that I want to attend a college that is great for recording arts- one of the best, if not the best- but turns out students that are prepared for video game audio design. Many of the best places tends to be very music-oriented and I’m worried that it won’t be relevant to what I want to do. Thoughts? </p>

<p>Also, what are the differences between recording arts technology/ sound recording technology, audio engineering, and music technology?</p>

<p>Maybe this might be of interest [TIMARA=Technology</a> in Music and Related Arts<a href=“click%20on%20the%20major%20link,%20and%20then%20open%20the%20curriculum%20link”>/url</a> Potentially similar is Syracuse’s Bandier (highly selective) program. My understanding is that these two are a bit more multimedia than a strict music tech or audio tech program.</p>

<p>I’ll pull you a series of links, but realize that I am no more than a mildly informed layman in this area. Read the threads, and you’ll realize that what one school calls its program can be completely different than what another calls the same thing. You need to thoroughly know the options by looking at the specific majors and their variations by finding the undergrad or course catalog and comparing the required coursework within and between programs.</p>

<p>I’d start here <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/957443-music-business-industry-management-technology-production.html?highlight=Music+technology[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/957443-music-business-industry-management-technology-production.html?highlight=Music+technology](<a href=“http://timara.con.oberlin.edu/]TIMARA=Technology”>http://timara.con.oberlin.edu/)</a>. The first link doesn’t work, but I’ve relinked it in the last post in that thread. </p>

<p>The AES site has a list of programs by geographic region. [MEIEA</a> MEMBER INSTITUTIONS](<a href=“http://www.meiea.org/schools.html]MEIEA”>http://www.meiea.org/schools.html) also has some good info.</p>

<p>I’m going to 'bump" a thread for you that has numerous links in it. You might have an easier time finding more specific information that way.</p>

<p>My screen name was chosen when older S was applying to theatre programs for sound design and also reflects that I live close to a sound. I am not really familiar with sound recording programs other than S taking one or two electives for his major.</p>

<p>The thread SoundMom just bumped was the one I inked above (Post 6).</p>

<p>A bit of crossposting never hurt.</p>

<p>Recording arts/sound recording basically trains you how to record, edit, mix and process audio. Audio engineering is more mathematically-based and combines elements of electrical engineering, acoustics and music. It could allow you to design electronic equipment or a sound reinforcement system for a stadium or concert hall, for example.</p>

<p>Music technology can mean a lot of different things and can cover some aspects of sound recording, the use of technology in musical performance, the use of technology in music composition and possibly some sound design. Some programs are more oriented toward the musical end and will require most of what a performance major would get, plus instruction on the technology end of things. Other programs are less concerned about the ability to perform and place more emphasis on the technological end.</p>

<p>What do you want to do with video games? There are a lot of different roles involved, from composers and sound designers to recording engineers to performers to arrangers to music directors to postproduction to clearance of recording rights. Sometimes all of those are handled by just a few people and sometimes, especially on the bigger budget projects, there are a lot of people who specialize in one or two areas.</p>

<p>Well, my main career goal is to become a sound designer for video games (although frankly, I’m not sure how realistic I’m being here but there you go). I’ve been pretty confused about the differences between audio engineering and sound design, although I assume that engineering is the more technical side (in video games, probably more programming requirements) and design involves more field recording, mixing sounds to create unique sound effects, working with voice actors and musicians, and working with the programmers(/audio engineers?) That just sounds really good to me. My parents don’t want me to specialize or go to a vocational-type environment; as they put it, they don’t want me to “learn something” they want me to “learn how to learn”. So basically, they want me to look at colleges that also have great academic programs for other career opportunities and possibilities (I’m not sure my dad is too keen on the salary and intellectual level of the job) Thoughts?</p>

<p>I know some schools (at least I know at U Miami) let you major in Music Engineering (or whatever the school calls it) and minor in Computer Science which would be useful for video games. I think U Miami offers a dual major program where you get a degree in Music Engineering Technology and a degree in Computer Science.</p>

<p>Dept. of Recording Arts, Indiana U. Jacobs School of Music:
[Courses:</a> Recording Arts: Academic Departments: Departments, Offices & Services: Jacobs School of Music: Indiana University Bloomington](<a href=“http://www.music.indiana.edu/departments/academic/recording-arts/courses.shtml]Courses:”>http://www.music.indiana.edu/departments/academic/recording-arts/courses.shtml)</p>

<p>If you are looking to be a sound designer, you need to know more than just the recording side of the business. You will also need to be part composer, part arranger, part Foley artist, part psychoacoustician, part music director and, in some cases, part performer. The sound designer is in charge of selecting and/or creating all of the sounds that will be used in the game and putting them together to produce the soundtrack. To do the job well, you will need a program that includes both the artistic and the technical parts. </p>

<p>You will need to take a close look at the curriculum for whatever degree you want to pursue to assure that you are not getting into a program that is either all musical or all technical. Some sound recording programs are mainly technical in nature and will not give you all the tools you need to be a sound designer. Others may be more balanced.</p>

<p>The Audio Engineering Society Education Directory at [AES</a> Education Directory](<a href=“http://www.aes.org/education/directory/]AES”>AES Education Directory) would be a good place to start looking.</p>

<p>Cebula, UCSD has an electronic music/music technology major. Stanford has something in music technology, and so does USC, since you’re interested in CA schools. You can go to these schools’ websites and type in “music technology major” into their individual search engines to see what their specific programs are.</p>

<p>NYU/Steinhardt is doing a lot of work in video game scoring/music technology. Its facilities are amazing. NYU/Tisch also has a Clive Davis Recorded Music program which may be what you are looking for as well.</p>

<p>thanks! (esp. for CA colleges) I’ve been researching extensively. Do you know good colleges with music tech that seem to advocate sound design over audio engineering, or do they tend to be in the same degree/ area of study, and you specialize for your career choice?</p>

<p>Although I would prefer to stay in CA, NYU’s Steinhardt program looks absolutely fantastic. NYU of course looks very difficult to get into, so I’m definitely still looking at colleges that would be be just as satisfying to attend.</p>

<p>Also looks like NYU doesn’t give out much in the way of FA; a bit out of range financially.</p>

<p>As Soundmom mentions:</p>

<p>Cal Arts : one of the strongest cutting edge options in California [Music</a> Technology | The Herb Alpert School of Music at CalArts](<a href=“http://music.calarts.edu/programs/music-technology]Music”>http://music.calarts.edu/programs/music-technology)</p>

<p>Northwestern has a minor in sound design, open to students in the college of arts and sciences, the college of communication, and the school of music:
[Sound</a> Design at Northwestern, an interdisciplinary program / minor](<a href=“http://www.sounddesign.northwestern.edu/#/about/]Sound”>http://www.sounddesign.northwestern.edu/#/about/)</p>