SC2SEA.com - Starcraft 2 SEA eSports Community Site

You could ask joshy - aka FaDeDeadalus - he studies that kind of stuff and MAY know someone
might be a good idea to change topic to indicate you want audio engineers to check out this here blog

Bad luck on university mate. There are some really silly requirements for admission sometimes. Have you investigated some of the lesser-known universities such as UWS. I'm pretty sure they used to accept people into quite a few courses without even having a HSC. You just needed to do some sort of basic skills test and if you proved you were literate and could add and subtract then they pretty much let you in. Transferring is always quite easy once you're in. Not sure if this applies to the courses you're interested in but it may be worth investigating if you feel like heading back to uni.

Sorry I have no experience or contacts in Audio but I think it's really cool you took the chance to write up this post here best of luck getting some contacts man!

Thanks, I'll do that.

I was actually applying for UWS, but I put all my preferences down in engineering (Electrical, Systems, Mechanical etc) and even though my SAT score equated to a good enough ATAR to make it I didn't get any offers and so my only guess is that either they were wary of the SAT or else my actual score didn't make it to them. Either way the courses filled up on the first round offers and so they weren't looking around for more people. I'm planning on applying again next year unless I can break into the audio industry and follow that around into a career.

Become a dj ;P I'll hook you up with by friend David Guetta,
On a serious note: I hope you find some work Have you tried after school care work or like childcare, that could be a temporary option because these days males are scarce at these kind of places.......

Becoming a DJ is actually viable and not hard :P

Also yeah apply for other institutions like PiG suggested. There are ways to go from TAFE to uni too, presuming VIC is similar to NWS...

This is pretty much all anecdotal based on engineering Melbourne. So it could be different elsewhere, but it's my experience so it might help you in some way.

I've been doing audio engineering for about 6 years now (started at school), it's not easy to get paid (aka, people love you to work for free, I'm not really for that). I went to uni and left halfway through for many reasons, but one of the big ones was the lack of jobs.

Getting into a studio is really damn hard. Now, I was training as a recording and mixing engineer at uni, which is a lot more competitive than say a roadie. You could probably get into a studio and try and work your way up, but I'd say your better off looking at festivals and venues, as studios are few and far between.

From my experience it is incredibly word of mouth to get a job, so keep asking everyone you know.

My experience of studying AE at uni, is conflicting. I already knew a lot going into the course, so I didn't find much value out of it - and the newbies in the course where in way over their heads. I honestly think it's something you are better to learn on the job. If you know how a condenser mic works compared to a dynamic mic, and you know your way around a desk you'll be fine for most of the role. Everything else you can pretty much learn on the job. So while a course in it can be good, I don't think it's that necessary.

If you understand the basic physics, of sound, how we capture it, and how we reproduce it, everything builds from there.

There's heaps on info on the net and youtube to learn from, and its similar to uni. If you want to get into a studio either recording, mixing or mastering, it's hard without a piece of paper - but it's hard with the paper anyway. SO I'd say, go for live music. Venues or festivals or whatever.

Make sure you know how to roll cables, I've heard a few sorry stories about people who couldn't roll cables, and therefore couldn't keep a job. They were utterly woeful at it though.

Based on your experience you'll probably be able to get something somewhere.

Last thing I'd say is that, while audio engineering is definitely still a skilful profession, it's becoming less of a profession and more of just a skill. Many artists record themselves, and many engineers do other things as well. For example, I've moved more into broadcasting and so on.

I hope that made some sense. I don't want to be too specific, because I didn't really like the uni I went to (cost way to much, and learnt very little), and barely anyone from my course has jobs in the industry that weren't lined up beforehand.

TL;DR: It's a tough industry to get into, but live music is probably the best area to look in. Uni is probably not really worth it, especially if you have experience with gear. Studios are basically impossible to get a job in, live music, or corperate is the best bet.

Thanks for your awesome response man, that gives me a good amount to think about. And atleast I know that I'm fine not seeking out going through uni for Audio Engineering atleast. I guess I'll keep my eyes open for any opportunity.

I was actually applying for UWS, but I put all my preferences down in engineering (Electrical, Systems, Mechanical etc) and even though my SAT score equated to a good enough ATAR to make it I didn't get any offers and so my only guess is that either they were wary of the SAT or else my actual score didn't make it to them.

Just a suggestion if you revisit the idea of going back to uni... don't leave it at a guess. Write back to them or phone or something to find out why exactly you were not successful. If it was a grades thing, find out what you need to sort out. Then, if you want to fix your grades, you can set up a strategy to do this. Maybe your application was poor or maybe there were amazing other applications that put you out of the picture. If this was the problem, again, you can then focus your energy on fixing the real problem rather than randomly guessing and maybe wasting time on the wrong thing.

Your welcome.

You can also do a tafe course (I did it VET in HS) call Audio Engineering (Production), which gives you a really solid ground of the basics. I'd probably recommended that over uni, as it sets you up to learn audio engineering in general.