4 Likes
Sorry, couldn’t help it … I think of this every I see the thread title. Completely OT … apologies.
1 Like
DON’T PAY FOR AUDIO ENGINEERING SCHOOL.
Spend that money on your own gear, microphone, and interface to record and just start your own business. Nobody is going to care about whether you went to school or not they only care about examples of your work, what you can do, and your professionalism.
In fact, I’ve no doubt you could build up clients by renting gear and recording and producing for people. If you don’t already own it. I -had- a studio full of 10k gear, compressors, preamps. Not needed. Honestly the artists I was getting didn’t really care about what I was using. Honestly could just be using Rode NT1 and an H4N. It was more about being a fun, and knowledgeable person to be around.
I do photography now, it’s the same thing. Sure the pictures have to be decent, but it’s more about getting to know people and have them feel comfortable and engaged with you. Meet people and let them know what you do, if they’re looking for someone they’ll probably talk to you.
School isn’t a waste of money in many cases but it’s just a massive cost to you that isn’t going to help running a creative business. There are also tons of super cheap online video classes… You could even do that.
2 Likes
I just wanted to chime in and say I’ve landed a new job which is finally so much closer to what I want to be doing. Honestly I have done ‘not it’ for about the last 5 years, I truly thought there was no way forward. Not that there was anything super wrong with my situation, but it sucks to feel like you’re going through life not doing what you’d prefer.
For me it’s this amazing light at the end of the tunnel I didn’t even know existed - and that can be true in reality - the business I’m now working for didn’t even exist 2 years ago. I dunno what ever stone you have in your gut but all I can say is it’s worth protecting and holding onto that impulse, because eventually breaks can exist and then you can stoke that fire back up.
3 Likes
Haha. There’s a lot of that in Japan as well. I mostly avoid expat communities here for the reasons you noted, but am lucky enough to get enough international/English exposure through work to not feel like I’m losing my mind or becoming a total weirdo. I speak/read Japanese to a pretty high level now, so that makes it possible.
I sort of say the same thing to most new people to Japan I meet. If you want to stay beyond a year or two, you have to learn the language, as the most interesting people to talk with probably don’t speak English, and a good percentage of Japanese people that do speak good English are just like the people you described above (oddballs of some sort; not necessarily bad, but not necessarily good either). It also doesn’t help that the easiest way to socialize is at bars, like you mentioned. I have nothing against the pub, but for a lot of people that ends up being all they’ve got, which is definitely not good.
Once you speak the language, you find that the people you gravitate towards are the same types of people you’d want to hang out with back home, and career opportunities also skyrocket, so it’s good motivation to learn. It’s a long road though, so not necessarily recommended, unless that’s what you want to do. It makes for an interesting life though.
3 Likes
definitely my biggest regret was being so lazy about learning mandarin. the coolest people i met were local taiwanese people but the language barrier had me all anxious about even trying to pursue those friendships. big miss on my part
3 Likes