what is the difference from audio producer and audio engineer?

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Can I learn hip hop beat making buy going to an audio production/engineering school?

Hello. I want to go to school to learn how to make hip hop beats. I went to a school and explained to the admissions counselor that I wanted to learn how to make hip hop beats on computers using programs like pro tools or logic pro. I only said this because I see videos on youtube of people making nice beats just with like a Digital Audio Workstation, a computer or an mpc and like a keyboard or something.

When I told the admissions counselor this he told me that that school would not be good for me because they do not focus on beat making as much as they focus on audio recording and audio engineering.

I thought that audio production, audio engineering and beat making where essentially all the same in a way. But like the counselor explained to me (and other people have been telling me) beat making is only one part of the whole music making process and that audio production/engineering is the way to go if you want to make it in the audio business not small ti(I still want to learn beat making though).

What I have been researching is that beat making is like making beats on a computer using logic pro or pro tools and audio producing is like dealing with bands in a studio and arranging mics and sound proofing studios. And like audio engineering is like mixing and editing in a studio and that beat making is separate from audio engineering/ producing.

I was told that If I go to an audio engineering/production school that I will essentially be able to make hip hop beats with Digital Audio Work Stations or something even though they don't focus on that.

So in conclusion, can I learn hip hop beat making by going to an audio production or audio engineering school? And also, does anyone know of a website called lynda.com? Lynda.com is a website that teaches you how to do things like audio production, 3d animation and other things through video tutorials for a relatively very inexpensive price (like $25.00 per month is one package that lynda.com offers).

Does anyone know if I could really learn audio production through this website or am I better off going to an audio school where I could get feedback from a teacher. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.
 
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Was there even a question in there? You answered it yourself. The guy at the school told you already, he's right.

Dont goto audio school if you want to be a beat maker only. Its an ENGINEERING school. Yes you learn LOTS of relevant stuff to beat making but part of that is learning irrelevant stuff

> trying to expand on it on your own time

> accidentally coming across tons of other stuff that does help you out in other areas(producing, etc..) , thats not the point.

The point is the people who go there SOLELY to become a beat maker don't do good at it because they aren't interested in the classes that they ASSUME to be irrelevant. If you think you are gonna go, be done, and be able to make a good beat. it doesn't work like that. They will give you the skills that you need to apply AND EXPAND on in your own time..

I look at it as a really really good foundation builder, Id be lost trying to learn all this on my own. They give you the path and you gotta do the rest. Not saying they don't teach you there, I LEARN TONS at school, more than I expected. My point is you HAVE to learn and expand on your own too cuz there is just soooo much information when you are first starting out that there is no reason not to be trying to find it, and theres no way they can teach you all of it there.

Its not the traditional type of school. You don't go, get the material, study that material, graduate, get a job. You go in order to figure out whats relevant and what you should be studying on your own time, making connections, etc. If you aren't taking what you are learning in audio school and trying to learn more about it outside of school you might as well have not gone in the first place.

90 percent of it is going to be stuff that you aren't interested in learning. It doesn't mean it won't be relevant, because its all relevant in the big picture. It means you won't be interested in learning it because all you have on your mind is being able to become a beat maker, so you won't apply yourself.
 
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you really don't need to go to school to be a hip hop producer.. most of the top producers don't... just get fl studio's demo version and start there....
 
This depends on what kind of producer you want to be and how you want to get there.
Blatantly saying that you do or don't need to go to a sound production and engineering school is pointless.
- A beat producer = a producer that produces beats, that rappers can rap over. The end product may need to be further mixed and mastered by an actual engineer or the same beat producer if he or she has a bit more know how.
- A hiphop producer = Might be the same as above, might be someone who records rappers and other artists who has his own engineers who mix and master and his own musicians (electronical or not) might be someone who is more of an orchestra-tor and does none of the technical stuff.
- A producer = More like a hiphop producer but produces more kinds of music.

A beat producer might also be called a bedroom producer.
The term " producer " has a load to it where elitist can nag your ass off for hours. Think of producers like Dre, Kanye, Quincy Jones, John Williams, etc. There's already a big difference between all of those.

School will teach you a great deal of stuff where you get proper guidance and your hand will be held more then in an autodidact situation.
Go read up on your theory, pick a DAW, go fiddle around with it, try to get your theory into practice and figure out if it'd be something that you'd like an education in or not. Also, having an actual degree instead of a piece of paper can help. School, if a good school and correctly picked to your needs, will always teach you useful stuff!
 
Was there even a question in there? You answered it yourself. The guy at the school told you already, he's right.

Dont goto audio school if you want to be a beat maker only. Its an ENGINEERING school. Yes you learn LOTS of relevant stuff to beat making but part of that is learning irrelevant stuff

> trying to expand on it on your own time

> accidentally coming across tons of other stuff that does help you out in other areas(producing, etc..) , thats not the point.

The point is the people who go there SOLELY to become a beat maker don't do good at it because they aren't interested in the classes that they ASSUME to be irrelevant. If you think you are gonna go, be done, and be able to make a good beat. it doesn't work like that. They will give you the skills that you need to apply AND EXPAND on in your own time..

I look at it as a really really good foundation builder, Id be lost trying to learn all this on my own. They give you the path and you gotta do the rest. Not saying they don't teach you there, I LEARN TONS at school, more than I expected. My point is you HAVE to learn and expand on your own too cuz there is just soooo much information when you are first starting out that there is no reason not to be trying to find it, and theres no way they can teach you all of it there.

Its not the traditional type of school. You don't go, get the material, study that material, graduate, get a job. You go in order to figure out whats relevant and what you should be studying on your own time, making connections, etc. If you aren't taking what you are learning in audio school and trying to learn more about it outside of school you might as well have not gone in the first place.

90 percent of it is going to be stuff that you aren't interested in learning. It doesn't mean it won't be relevant, because its all relevant in the big picture. It means you won't be interested in learning it because all you have on your mind is being able to become a beat maker, so you won't apply yourself.


hahahahaha I am sitting here laughing at the fact that bandcoach went in and edited my post so it had better grammar. I do remember it was just one big blocked up, probably run on sentence. I tend to forget about grammar when I go on my little post reply rants and just keep on typin'.
 
Thank you guys. A lot of good information. So should I go to school for audio production or beat maker? So if I am understanding correctly if I go to lets say an audio recording school I will learn things that I can use on my own to further learn beat making on my own time? beat makers put the raw beat together and send the beat to a producer who takes care of perfecting that beat and making it an actual song? can a producer also make a beat like a beat maker would?
 
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Yes many top producers never went to a school to learn how to produce. lol. my best suggestion is to download a music production software and just give it a go! i'v been producing for 1 and a half years and i feel like i'v barley really started to understand the technicality of production. good luck!
 
Hello. I want to go to school to learn audio production. If I would go to an audio engineering school could I learn things that could help me transition into audio production on my own time? Will I learn how to make hip hop beats from an audio engineering school? Because I thought that audio producers where the ones that made the beats, but I assume that an audio engineer could make hip hop beats also.
 
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No, they don't have the time to teach you music theory and song composition along with recording and mixing.

Yes it will help, anything will help to some degree.

From the syllabuses that I've seen they do cover midi, which is kinda useless without the former.

An engineer won't/cant necessarily make a beat, a producer/engineer can.

Don't confuse titles with the title holders.
 
what the hell? You asked (and I answered) the exact same question on an identical thread on the same page of these forums. What answer are you looking for? Its not gonna change by recreating the thread. If you are looking for justification go ahead, its your money. You will learn relevant stuff, but its not gonna be what you expect..Keep this conversation to the other thread where there is already an ongoing discussion.

https://www.futureproducers.com/for...g-audio-production-engineering-school-480206/


and as far as what mcbeats said, thats just an assumption. I can think of tons of audio engineering schools that teach music theory and song arrangement. But like I already said, thats just one part of it.
 
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Thank you guys. A lot of good information. So should I go to school for audio production or beat maker? So if I am understanding correctly if I go to lets say an audio recording school I will learn things that I can use on my own to further learn beat making on my own time? beat makers put the raw beat together and send the beat to a producer who takes care of perfecting that beat and making it an actual song? can a producer also make a beat like a beat maker would?


you aren't getting it. Quit putting specific titles on what you wanna be and just start studying about making music, music theory, play around with a daw, etc... You obviously haven't started anything yet besides just asking questions. So, do some research on your own for a year THEN decide if you wanna goto school. Because if you go right now I am confident you will just be wasting your money. NOT because school is a waste of money, but because you will go about it in the wrong way and expect WAY to much from them.
 
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and as far as what mcbeats said, thats just an assumption. I can think of tons of audio engineering schools that teach music theory and song arrangement. But like I already said, thats just one part of it.

As a part of their engineering curriculum? no, in addition, probably.
 
As a part of their engineering curriculum? no, in addition, probably.

Yes, lots of schools have program called Audio Engineering AND production..MOST of them have the individual courses you are thinking of, but MOST audio schools are also shit. If you are going to go you better be putting research into where.. AE & P usually costs more but its covers almost everything that the little classes specifically cover. Its like a "blanket" degree over top of the other ones. Obviously this varies from school to school, but I know for a fact I'm right. Its all I looked into for like a year. I don't even like the schools that have a bunch of 'different' little classes that charge you like 5 grand for each one(electronic music, ableton workshop, etc.) THATS a money grab. IF you are interested in going to school, those individual classes are garbage unless you WANT to only take one specific one like that. But if you are going for a general education in audio. The only way to go is to find a GOOD "Audio Engineering & Production" year+ long course. Mine right now has an entire class of a semester dedicated to Songwriting, Music theory and arrangement. But thats only one class of 16.

My audio engineering and production course covers everything from theory, ableton, reason, Pro tools, digital and analogue signal processing, studio maintenance, career management, etc.. It really touches on everything. Most schools don't, but like I said, most schools are garbage that just want more money so they charge extra for each individual class.
 
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what the hell? You asked (and I answered) the exact same question on an identical thread on the same page of these forums.

fixed that for you and merged them into one thread - @op: one freebie; after this duplicate threads get penalised with full vigour

as for the rest, my son is currently studying audio engineering and they have a significant production aspect as they are teaching them sound design and theory as well as electronics (repair and design and building), mixing, tracking and mastering - so it entirely depends on the individual institutions curriculum goals
 
It is not in an engineer's job description to make tracks.

if you are an engineer and you make a track, you will be a producer/engineer.

Engineers don't produce, and aren't expected to produce, those who do will no longer be just engineers.

Don't go to engineering school if all you want to do is learn how to produce,

Don't take music theory and piano lessons if all you want to do is learn how to mix.
 
why wait for school start making beats now

what equipment do you have now?
do you have a computer?
do you have a DAW?
do you have a MIDI keyboard?
 
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