How Long Does It Take To Study Sound Engineering?

A career in audio production is not the easiest and most people that take up this career usually have a lot of questions regarding various things relating to a career in music.

It’s only natural to be curious and asking the right questions is certainly a good way to know what you’re really up against.

In this post I’m going to walk you through how long it takes to study sound engineering so you actually know what you’re up against.

This is usually a question that people aspiring to be sound engineers usually have.

With that said, How long does it take to study sound engineering?

A diploma in sound engineering will take you 2 years to complete, a degree in sound engineering may take you 4 to 6 years depending on the program. Some sound engineering online courses can take as short as 3 months to a year to complete.

Qualifications in sound engineering

Diploma

With a diploma, it may take you 2 to 3 years to finish your studies. You’ll have to deal with a less bulkier work load as compared to those pursuing degree programs.

The Downside is that people with degrees may be considered first in job applications.

Degree

Degree program durations for sound engineering differ deepening on the school you wish to get into.

The common duration is around 4 years…but it may be 6 for some.

A degree in sound engineering is certainly a huge advantage,  the only downside is that the duration is lengthy.

Short courses in sound engineering

There are a lot of short courses being offered online in various fields. Sound engineering is one of them.

You can easily apply in one of these courses

One advantage is that they’re pretty affordable, so you don’t have to worry a lot about raising money to get into school.

Another advantage is that most of these courses don’t take more than a year to complete.

Self education

Self education is also another way you can learn and study sound engineering.

It will take you some time to learn but it all comes down to how much effort you put.

Choosing the right sound engineering program

Let’s get onto the most important things that you need to do when choosing a sound engineering program to enroll in.

Goal setting

The first thing you need to do before you even choose a program to enter into is to set some goals.

Set long term goals and short term goals and see how they align with the sound engineering program options you have.

This will help keep your mind on the right things while your pursue your career. It will also help you pick the right sound engineering program that is custom fitted with your goals.

Have a budget in mind

I cannot stress thing enough, you need to have your financial situation in place before you even consider enrolling for a sound engineering program.

Find out all the costs involved and see if that’s something you can manage.

If you have people sponsoring you, it’s great to discuss these things with them before you even choose a school.

Sit down with them and explain your goals and the choice of school you have in mind.

Get their views and then decide on where you’re going to be applying.

Choose the school

Choosing the school is an important step that requires a lot of scrutiny and decent amount of research.

Ensure you get enough detail as possible about the schools and what they offer.

This will help in assessing whether the school meets the goals that you have set

Assess the career

Assessing the schools is important but you also need to zoom out and assess the career as whole.

Sound engineering is a tough space filled with talented people.

You therefore need to ask yourself these two questions:

is sound engineering a good career?

can I find work in sound engineering?

Am I looking to be employed or am I looking to work for myself?

is sound engineering a competitive career?

These are just a few questions that you can use to assess your career choice. I’m sure you can come up with a lot more.

Do that.

The important thing is knowing exactly what you’re signing up for before you sign up for it.

If you know all the downsides to a career then you won’t be in for a lot of surprises.

Be specific about the field to drop down to

I always advise people to look for a specific industry in sound engineering to focus on.

This makes it easier to find work.

If you’re really good at engineering audio for gaming then that should be your niche, thats your sweet spot and all you have to do is double down on it and get established in the space.

Consult people with the job you want

Another thing that you have to do is find people doing what you want to do.

This means can acquainted with sound engineers.

You can learn a lot from them and they can give you good quality information about sound engineering as a career which can help you.

You need as much information as possible because picking a career is not something to take lightly.

…The truth is, you need to research and get enough information as possible.

What to know about sound engineering

Below are the two most important things that you need to understand about success in the world of sound engineering.

Experience with DAW’s

At the end of the day all it boils down to is your experience with Digital Audio Workstations and what you can actually do in them.

You’ll of course learn a lot of things in school but you’ll generally need to be a good engineer that knows his stuff both hardware and software.

Networking

To get ahead in sound engineering you need to network as much as possible and pick up some experience while you’re in school.

Your focus should be to learn as much as you can and to network as much as possible so you can land gigs, build your book, make friends, establish yourself and meet key people.