This week’s Ask Joe question is an intriguing one. I’d love to hear your thoughts on the topic, so be sure to leave a comment!
Stephen wrote:Photo by rockmixer
Hey Joe,
I was wondering if it was worth the money to take the classes for Pro Tools Certification and if you did would that help out your chances to find work in this diminishing market? Thanks.
Stephen
This is a really good question, Stephen, and I would imagine there are many Pro Tools engineers out there who are asking themselves the same thing.
Let me preface my response with this – I am not a Pro Tools Certified Engineer. I did earn my bachelor’s degree in recording and production technology, but I have not gone through a Digidesign Pro Tools certification course.
At the heart of Stephen’s question is an underlying issue, which he refers to as “this diminishing market.” Are there jobs to be found as a recording engineer? Yes, there are. Are there a ton of jobs? Nope.
Stephen’s facing this reality. Several big studios are closing their doors. Record labels are floundering under the reality that records don’t sell like they used to (and that may never change). So in one sense, finding a job as a staff engineer is a tough venture. If that’s what you’re going for, I’d say go ahead and pony up for the Pro Tools certification. It may be enough to cause you to get noticed over somebody else.
However, it seems to me that the likelihood of finding, let alone landing, a studio job is pretty low. Does that discourage you? It shouldn’t. The big record labels and studios are having trouble. They’re rethinking the whole big-budget album business model. In the meantime, independent artists and recording studios (i.e. home studios) are presented with an opportunity to make some serious headway.
The mere fact that you can produce a great-sounding recording from your bedroom for less than $10,000 should excite you. So you may not work in a huge recording facility, but you may still be able to get work and make a living. How? Two ways:
- Be good at what you do. You’ve got to be a good engineer. You’ve got to be able to make the artist’s music sound amazing.
- Be good with people. You don’t have to be a little social butterfly, but you do need to know how to market yourself, your business, to prospective clients.
With that in mind, you have to ask yourself, “Will getting my Pro Tools certification help me do these two things well?”
The answer will be different for everyone. For me, I know my way around Pro Tools. The limiting factor in my abilities as an engineer is me. No amount of extra head-knowledge about Pro Tools will give me better ears. That’s something I must learn through doing.
Perhaps you don’t know Pro Tools very well. Perhaps you’re not as fast as you’d like to be. Perhaps you aren’t comfortable running a recording project from start to finish. If so, a Pro Tools certification course might be the perfect thing for you.
One thing to keep in mind, though. Be a PT-Certified engineer won’t help you with #2 above. You could be the most amazing engineer this world has ever known, but if no one knows you, if no one hears your work, then you’ll never get anywhere.
Your thoughts? Leave a comment. Also, here are some additional articles I’ve posted that provide some excellent further reading:
- 10 Ways to Promote Your Home Studio
- “Do I Have to Go to College to Learn to Be a Recording Engineer?”
Thanks, for your comments. I am a musicians and I desire to put my ideas in songs that are recorded, mixed and mastered correctly. Learning Pro Tools is where I am at. I thought getting certified would be the answer for me. However, I beleive learning pro tools and how to apply plug-in and mastering will get me over the top. I appreciate everyone’s comments.
Joe,
I have a question, recently i was waitching “mix it like a record” dvd, by charles dye. There charles mentions using mcdsp ac1 on his master fader or buss mix, but he says its better to put the plugin in the begining of the mix, rather than at the end of the mix. What does he man by that, whats the difference between the two? How does one get that in pro tools?
Thanks,
Abhijit
Whenever you’re doing any compression or limiting on a mix, you don’t want to slap the compressor on right at the end, before you do your bounce. Compression will change the balance between the instruments, and may very well ruin the mix you’ve already crafted. The reason is that compression will make the louder things quieter and the quiet things louder.
Thanks Joe…
Abhijit
Wow Joe, you nailed it once again. I was having the exact same question. What I thought was “why am I going to spend so much money if I’m not that good yet?” I have always thought that you should learn a bit or a lot before you get certified on anything. For instance, I’m a computer, website design, and SEO specialist. I have worked on tons of sites and computers. One day long time ago I had the same question “should I certify myself in Microsoft, Adobe, and other stuff?” My answer was “no way.” Why? Well, many times certified people are those behind the money, not the passion (not who I am). Also, people quickly realized that I am good, just like Joe is good as a recording engineering. What do you need? You need material to show; a portfolio. A certification will take you so far. And to that I add: what do you think about a non-certified, successful r. engineering, and a certified but non-experienced engineering?
EXCELLENT post.
Thanks Krem! Great analogy, too.
You are welcome. It is all about helping others out there just like you are doing.
I think your right Joe, the Pro-Tools training programs can be a good way of getting training on Pro Tools if you have never used it before or are a musician looking to posh up your skills to allow you to record your work quicker and more efficiently but it won’t teach you how to be a good sound engineer. It also I don’t think will open many extra doors for you except those in education or maybe sales. No sound engineer I know has ever got a job on the basis of a piece of paper saying he can do that job. The breaks come from making personal contacts with people and from having a portfolio of work behind you to back up your sales pitch. If doing the training program allows you to build on that portfolio then it may be worth looking at but otherwise I’d use online resources to teach yourself and concentrate on building up the show reel.
All very good points, Andy. Thanks! I think you really need to look at it like any other profession. The degree may be important, but it won’t be the thing that lands you the job.