My son is interested in sound design. Most schools offer music degrees for active musicians who want to learn recording, or a film degree with a few classes in sound. Emerson offers film with an audio post production emphasis. Nice! But SCAD is the only school we can find that offers a BFA in Sound Design. We have toured, son sat in on a class and spoke with another Sound Design Department Prof. He really liked everything and was pumped, but is now worried by some of what he is reading online about SCAD. We know SCAD may have some issues, but the real question we have is strictly about the Sound Design major. Is it a good program? Son REALLY liked the professors and the facilities. If the department rocks, isn't that all that matters? Any graduates of the program around?
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Did you see this thread: sound.stackexchange.com/questions/1395/…– Mark DurhamFeb 24, 2015 at 22:57
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I did, thanks! I passed the comments along to my son. Was hoping to get a couple of more recent comments as well. SCAD was his 'dream school' after the class, tour and prof. meet, but negative comments online (other majors) have him worried. He's really hoping to hear more from sound majors but the program is fairly new, I think, so there just may not be that many out there to balance out the naysayers from other more popular majors. Thanks again!– Kate SawyerFeb 26, 2015 at 0:08
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One aspect lacking in the answers so far is that, while you can certainly get a quality sound design education at places like full sail, it won't guarantee you a job in the industry. A lot of sound crew jobs are still using an apprentice system in which you'll have to "pay your dues" and receive on the job training before being considered for running small gigs. A liberal arts degree is probably still worth it for job prospects in general. I say this as a college drop-out from a Music Business degree who eventually worked 7 years as a full-time lead sound engineer.– user9881Oct 10, 2016 at 16:44
3 Answers
I am also very interested in sound design and audio-post production. I was very nervous while nearing the time of high school graduation about trying to find a great college/university or Art School and one of my teachers from high school suggested that I go to Full Sail University. I looked up Full Sail online and heard all the bad things about it like it's not worth the money or you don't learn that much in classes, and etc. I decided to go anyway because I really respected my teacher and her suggestions and the school looked great. The program I am in is Recording Arts and it does heavily focus on the music side of things while only a few classes for audio-post production and sound design. Learning the music side of things can help very much with sound design and most of the rules still apply with it and the rest of audio post production.
In this industry it probably doesn’t matter what the actual degree certificate says or whether or not if he got A’s or C’s; In this industry it really comes down to Networking and not being a jerk. As long as he works hard and networks with peers and teachers, he will be off to a great start. You get out of education what you put into it. If he just shows up to classes just for a grade, he is not going to do well… If he asks questions, willing to take harsh and honest criticism that is when you truly learn.
-Luke
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Thanks, Luke. Happy to hear Full Sail is working out for you! My son wants the music side, which he can get some of at SCAD, but he's really into the post production, foley etc.which seems to be more of the focus at SCAD. Feb 26, 2015 at 0:12
I have been doing sound design for around four years now but have been learning through my father since I was a little kid. I looked around for a long time to find a school to do sound design at and I ended up going to Full Sail University which I currently attend for Game Design and Show Production, and it was a very similar experience to what your son is having. I came to the school, took a tour, sat with course directors and admissions, and after deciding to go here found many reviews and youtube videos speaking extremely negatively about the school, to the point where people were saying it was a scam. After attending the university for a while now I have gotten to learn that the school has these reviews because these were students that couldn't handle the school and workload and end up dropping out mostly. Schools like SCAD and Full Sail are passion schools, and you have to be willing to put your blood sweat and tears into your work if you want to be successful. Because of this I have learned to ignore those reviews and internet articles, since they're mostly from people who are taking their anger out on the internet. People don't tend to write a review about something unless they are displeased so it seems to be best to look at those reviews as the worst it will get. SCAD is an amazing university, I have a few friends that also attend the school and they have loved every second just as I have loved every second here, however it is a lot of work and you have to love what you are doing to have it be the experience you are hoping for
I hope this helps to ease your worries and I hope your son moves on to do great things at SCAD, I wish him good luck.
-Devin Robaina
You can check out our program at CCM:
http://ccm.uc.edu/theatre/tdp/sound.html
The website is pretty sparse, but contact me directly and I'll get you any information you'd like. [email protected]
Other notable programs with a BFA in sound design are Penn State, DePaul and Carnegie. There are a couple of others that offer degrees, but I don't know any more that have dedicated full time professors.
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AJ has sanitized this a bit, but previously it was pretty close to spam IMO. The question didn't ask for alternative recommendations after all.– user9881Oct 12, 2016 at 21:53