So called sound mixing school

[Mick]

A couple of years ago I did a shortish stint at a Los Angeles so called film school. The class was production sound mixing and the students were mostly foreign, about 75% Asian and the rest middle eastern and eastern European. They were being charged quite a lot of money for a "film making" course which included camera and lighting, direction, writing and some other aspects of the overall film making process including of course production sound recording. Quite frankly I was appalled at the lack of attentiveness, commitment and concern shown by some of the so called faculty toward the students. Aside from the completely inadequate quality of the gear they were learning on, the attitude of the instructors that I interacted with, mainly lighting and directing, was so cavalier and supercilious that I was ashamed to be a part of it. Thankfully I didn't stay around for too long (another story) but I made sure that my students were aware of the type of equipment prevalent in the professional sound mixing community rather than the third rate pro-sum er gear that they were forced to work with.  I understand that with so many students the acquisition of pro gear for everyone is a costly enterprise, but some compromise and accommodation should have been reached to give these kids a better understanding of how the real film and TV world works, and I hope that that's what I gave them. On my current show we had the opportunity to mentor some students from various schools around L.A. and I guarantee that they learned more in two weeks with us than a whole semester at the place where I taught. Don't ask me which school it was because although some of the faculty were as I described, others were of the same mind set as me and they are still in there trying to give these kids a proper grounding in the biz.

[Philip Perkins]

It may not be politically correct to say, but I myself learned far more far faster from being around pro shoots than in any film class I ever took.  Good for you for letting some folks hang with you and see how its done--utterly invaluable, priceless in fact, if they want to get into this field.

 

[Richard Ragon]

This is terrible .. No wounder why these producers don't understand sound, and the importance of 'doing it right'.  Seems these days, all they are looking for is a warm body to fill in..  They think that it's all just done with the right equipment, and nothing more.  It's like a loosing, uphill battle.

-Richard

[Jay Rose]

The commercial magazines aren't helping. They used to have expert tutorials and useful case studies. Now, since NewBay has taken over most of the titles in film and broadcast, the "tutorials" are thinly disguised ads for whoever is buying space. "Case studies" are a paragraph about the workflow, and a big pile of "I used products x and y. Couldn't have done it without them!"

I realize the business side of magazine publishing has gotten scary. But it's not helping our industry. 

[Jim Feeley]

25 minutes ago, Jay Rose said:

The commercial magazines aren't helping. They used to have expert tutorials and useful case studies.

Sigh. You and I and the gang did what we could for a long time, Jay.

I was just talking with some other former cohorts about the general state of affairs (a conversation sparked by a particularly bummer of an article). And there's just not a sustainable business model that I see for a magazine or website that puts the needs of the readers/visitors first. 

[Marc Wielage]

There are some really terrible websites out there that put out "advertorials" every day that basically plug new products, disguising an ad as an article. When they do an original article from scratch, it's almost always woefully superficial, thin, and lacking in crucial detail. Take a look at RedSharkSound if you want to be frightened:

http://www.redsharksound.com/

I can't figure out if they think they're pro, semi-pro, or consumer. You'd think they'd want to aim slightly higher than high school students making YouTube comedy videos, but that's about the level of their tech articles and reviews. Very thin content.