What’s So Wrong With SAE Anyway?

It was the traditional twice yearly SAE open day a couple of Sundays ago, and although I didn’t have the pleasure of joining all the young hopefuls on a sightseeing tour of a warehouse in Islington, I thought this would be a good opportunity to share some of my thoughts and experiences of SAE. I should point out at this juncture, that everything I say relates to the SAE London campus just off Caledonian Road in Islington (other SAE sites, particularly those in Australia are said to have a higher standard than here). A lot of recording colleges seem to be in Islington for some reason, Alchemea and IMW are just a short distance away which is handy for me as I can easily get to all of them. Anyway…, I digress

SAE Founder: Dr. Tom Misner

First some history. Back in 1976 an engineer named Tom Misner (right) decided to try and teach the science and the art of sound engineering and set up a recording school in Sydney, Australia. That school was known as the creatively titled ‘School of Audio Engineering’ or SAE. Over the next few years schools were setup at various places down under including Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth. A commercial recording studio owned by SAE was also setup in Sydney. Then in 1985, Misner decided to branch out abroad and set up the first overseas SAE in good old Blighty – and SAE London was born. SAE now boasts 50 campuses al around the world and offers courses in audio, film making, animation, web design and games design. If you want the full story of Misner and SAE it’s available here.

Of the two recording forums that I often frequent (Gearslutz and Sound On Sound), there doesn’t seem to be a very high opinion of SAE and not much credit is given to its graduates. The question is…, why?

SSL 4000 Studio At SAE London

One aspect of SAE that is often praised are their facilities, and on the face of it they have a very tempting selection of gear. SAE London has two main control rooms with an SSL 4000 G+ and a Neve VR Legend each with an accompanying live room. There is also a third SSL studio which houses a SSL AWS 900. Next down the line are a number of ‘8 track studios’ which include Yamaha 02R96, Mackie D8B and Digital X Bus consoles. Finally there are plenty of Pro Tools systems of varying specifications including a Control|24 and an ICON based system. Add in plenty of new and vintage outboard gear, and it’s obvious that SAE will prepare you for much of the professional gear you will find in the industry.

However, there are still some omissions. Although there are a number of live rooms, none of them are particularly impressive and while they employ lots of acoustic treatment and are lovely for vocals and drums, I can’t help but expect better from such a wealthy institution. Alchemea have some nice live rooms which not only provide a good ambiance, but are large enough for a good number of musicians and singers. Another disappointing aspect is the lack of tape machines. When I was there, I only saw one tape machine in a corner not in general use. Now I’m the first person to advocate digital systems, but recording to analogue tape is still an important skill and part of the recording process IMHO. There seems to be something of a trend with guitar bands to go back to analogue gear where possible and whether or not it improves the final CD doesn’t matter so much as that’s what those bands want and that’s what engineers need to give them. Plus, there’s something unique about tape, not just in sound but also in its tactile handling. The feeling when you take a razor blade to a tape to perform an edit is something special (and terrifying) which you don’t get with the unlimited undo of a DAW. I’m not saying that’s how everything should be edited (certainly not!), but it’s an important skill to have.

My last gear concern is perhaps a slightly controversial one. We all know that Apple computers and Pro Tools dominate the pop and rock industry. There’s plenty of reasons for that and together they make a good editing system, but there is another way. It’s perfectly correct for SAE and similar institutions to have a good number of Apple/Digidesign systems, that’s what the industry uses and that’s what students need to be fluent in – but I feel SAE takes this too far. There is only one “alternative” system at SAE London, which as SADiE workstation located in the corner of a room that’s used to introduce students to recording. The fact that I never actually saw the workstation turned on, and that on all my tours it’s only been mentioned once by someone who obviously had very little knowledge of the system, is very worrying. There was no sign of any other DAW software like Nuendo, Pyramix, Soundscape etc… or recording systems like Radar and worst, there appeared to be very little knowledge of these systems. That lack of experience of different systems is another reason for a potential employer to not hire you.

The whole point of colleges like SAE is to prepare the student for a career in audio but and SAE proudly claim they are the ones to give you the best possible start in the industry. They will reel off former SAE graduates who have gone on to engineer big hits and say that you too can do that. Well of course, you may go on to engineer big hits, but I’m not sure SAE will help you far along that road. As I see it, one of the major misconceptions about sound engineering is that people underestimate the amount of maths and physics involved. It’s an engineering subject and if you don’t know your dBu from your dBFS, then you’re in trouble. From what I’ve seen, SAE doesn’t put nearly enough emphasis on this aspect of the subject. For a course that ends up in a degree, I would expect a deep level of knowledge of technical matters.

SAE promises a lot to its students, many of whom do not have a good basis in technical engineering, music or both. It charges very high rates for courses that are no more spectacular than other colleges, and despite the institution’s considerable wealth, the live room facilities leave much to be desired and their equipment list is matched by other colleges with considerably lower course fees (IMW also trains students on a SSL 4000 G+ desk, but only charges a few hundred pounds for their courses).

To finish, here is what Hugh Robjohns (Technical Editor of Sound On Sound magazine) thinks on the matter. Hugh has taught audio at the BBC since man first learnt to record sound, so he knows a thing or two:

I have yet to find a course which I have felt has anything valid to offer its students. The majority of these courses appear to be poorly equipped and poorly structured, and taught by tutors with little more than a hobbyist’s understanding of the topics involved. I don’t wish to insult anyone currently undertaking or working on such courses, but I report as I have found. I really don’t feel that most of these media and sound-engineering courses offer their graduates any significant advantage over a keen amateur who has spent time and effort reading and understanding relevant magazines and text books, with some practical experience gained from working (usually as an unpaid ‘observer’) in a local radio station, TV studio or recording studio.

There are some excellent courses available — but not many — and most of the good ones are academically selective, and with very good reason. The Tonmeister course at Guildford is certainly one of the best in the country, as is LIPA, and the NFTS.

I’ve little detailed knowledge of SAE, but am aware that standards seem to vary considerably with the different colleges. I’ve also met and taught many graduates of recording schools including SAE, Gateway and others, and while some have been highly competent, many had very patchy and confused understanding of fundamental audio physics and engineering principles, and a very narrow range of practical experience. The latter can be forgiven, but not the former — especially after a two or three year course, in some cases!

I have to say, if I were seeking a career in professional audio today, I would start by going to a traditional university to study electronics and computing. Before the holidays I would write to radio and TV stations, recording studios, theatres, independent outside broadcast companies, dubbing houses, film studios, live sound companies, hire companies, mobile recording companies, freelance sound engineers in all disciplines and anyone else I could think of asking for the opportunity for *unpaid* work experience. During the holidays I would work my butt off to be a keen, reliable, useful, interested member of the staff, while learning as much as possible about every aspect of everyone’s job. The more places you have experience of, the better, and the more contacts you will make.

By the time you graduate your degree course, you will have a useful and recognised qualification which proves your intellect, your ability to learn, and your self-motivation. Your work experience will have provided you with a broad and useful background knowledge, realistic expectations of the industry, and a lot of contacts.

With luck, one of those contacts may well turn into a job offer, but if not, you will have a CV which will be taken far more seriously than most media or sound engineering course graduates.

Sad, but true, I’m afraid.

Finally, the audio industry is contracting at an alarming rate. Most of the big studios in London have either closed, or are up for sale. Most of the mid-range studios are struggling to survive, and those that are still afloat have only managed it by diversifying into other areas such as Audio for Video post-production, mastering, and DVD authoring, for example.

That means there are already more experienced people with proven track records looking for work than there are vacancies. So, other than being cheaper to employ (initially at least) novices (regardless of which audio course they have attended) will have a very difficult task in trying to find employment in the industry.

I don’t want to put anyone off trying, and it can be a great industry to work in, but approach it with realism. If you want to attend a sound engineering course, look at all aspects very carefully before deciding whether it really will offer anything useful in terms of starting you on a viable career path.

hugh

You can read more on a career on audio at The Byre’s site (where I took Hugh’s quote from).

I hope this has been helpful to you and if you want to know more, please leave a comment.

[edit - November 2008] Firstly I’d like to say thanks to all the comments that people have left with their own experiences and views of SAE. I think the comments cover a good range of opinions and should hopefully serve to provide a balanced resource for those contemplating a career in sound. Please, keep them coming

I have now added a poll to this post, to try and get some idea of the overall experiences of SAE students (past and present). If you think there’s an option I’ve missed out, please let me know. [/edit]

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