“We have a few different courses available,” says Director of Audio Engineering Gareth Parton. “There’s a two year, full time fast-tracked Bachelor of Audio, a really good foundation in lots of facets of audio if that’s what you’re interested in. We do production, live sound, sounds for films and games, all that gets covered in the bachelors.
“We’re also starting some new HE Diplomas in audio, covering some very good technical aspects of being a studio engineer, learning about consoles ad recording other people’s music. We’re also starting a brand new HE Diploma in Music Production too, so this is aimed at students who want to further hone their own creative practice – there’s a focus on electronic music production, music proficiency skills, compositional skills as well as production skills. One is more technical, one is your own creative practice, that’s the difference.”
People turn to sound engineering with a view to entering the music industry but often find they require a certain set of skills to do so – as Parton points out, there’s a whole host of benefits in undertaking a course such as those offered by the SAE, to enter in to the industry.
“The music industry isn’t just working in music, it’s collaborating with filmmakers and other medium as well, to add a soundtrack to those visual mediums,” says Parton. “The great thing about SAE is we do have those other mediums on campus so there’s great opportunity for collaboration – you can be composing music for an animation, or do sound design for a game.
“In terms of your own music practice, we are teaching you the fundamentals of how to get out there and be a music producer, or a remixer with those skills as well. Everyone who teaches here is a member of that industry, people who are out there doing live sound for artists, so it’s about the quality of teachers as well as the excellent equipment you get to use.”
Parton’s persuasion to a course of this ilk doesn’t end there – there are many benefits to be had post-gradation at SAE, so armed with your newly polished set of audio skills, placement in the industry can provide you with more potential than simply audio engineering. “We have people out there who are freelancing in location recording, a former student is mastering an album for a big-name hip hop artist, plenty of people are out there using what they’ve learnt here, getting straight to work.
“We also do a work placement module as well, so we expect them to be, as part of the course, out in the industry – we find placements for people and those placements go on to be in a lot of cases, full time employment, which is great.
“I’ve been teaching here for seven years and I love it – I love the interaction of working with creative people. They learn a lot from not only the lecturer but from being with like-minded people as peers. The differentiation between SAE and other places is the quality of lecturers and the calibre of equipment available. The level of the gear you get to use here is of the standard of somewhere like Sin City Studios which is the best recording studio in Melbourne, if not Australia.”
By Anna Rose
