SAE Institute

[zac coupe]

id like to finish my career with reasonable hearing aswell.

[Bennage]

When I went to college it was free. Is that not still true for under 18s?

[zac coupe]

it is still true but SAE arent government run hence the £6300 fee.

[Frydek]

hi,

sae course is not suitable for live sound

as said before based on studios

you can still learn good general knowledge regarding dB's, acoustics, etc...

as for your hearing I'd suggest to get a good pair of custom made earplugs with flat freq response

and btw, sae fees in london: £8000

[zac coupe]

cheers for all the advice folks, ive now decided not to go to SAE, so im just pondering my other options, Ill have a read through the forum and see what I can find in the way of sound course etc as im sure its all been covered before. The other thing ive considered is perhaps doing lots of short courses in specific things like yamaha desks, midas desks etc. D & B array and other such short courses including acoustics.

[Jammie300]

Just to dig out this old thread again.

 

I am seriously considering undergoing this course. I have all the prospectuses through and the London site looks great. I'm considering going for a tour soon. The thing that attracts me to this is the amount of high quality kit they have. You are working with the best of the best which has its advantages and its disadvantages. The one big disadvantage is the price tag. £16000 for the full BA (Hons) Degree with discounts.

 

The thing that worries me the most is, is it worth it. I could leave college and seek work after with a Music Tech A level. Or I could go into something like this and come out with a degree and then seek work after with BA Hons after my name.

 

I'm keeping my options open but at the moment this is definitely my preferred option.

 

James Allen

[paulears]

In the recording business - big studios go to the wall almost every week, and most people start their own studios and labels. What SAE teaches is essentially good, solid, industry skills and practice, on decent kit - to give you transferable skills. The big studios out there that do make a profit look for people with a decent professional CV, or a few trainees that are usually recommended by somebody else. Have a Phd and no experience won't get you a runners job.

 

SAE probably offer good value for their fees, expensive as they are, but it may just be a passport to better things. Qualifications mean a lot 'attached' to a proficient person, and zilch if they belong to an idiot!

[digisound]

Having been to the london facility for a tour I must say I was impressed but it isnt in a cheap area and funding was a major problem for me despite all the help the LEA were prepared to give.

 

I decided not to bother and just continue my experience based career and learn along the way.

 

However now I have a fair few years experience im considering it as an option again.

[gary111]

For info on SAE please check the following link

 

 

 

http://www.wiretotheear.com/2008/10/25/is-...comment-page-2/

 

 

 

 

After reading this I decided that SAE was not for me, not interested in paying ££££ to have a teacher who is a former student, no matter wat college you decide on you will pay a fair sum of money and for that I would like industry people to teach me and give me insight to what is to come after I graduate. Yes they have loads of equipment but that like someone else said that doesn't make it a valid education

[paulears]

If you read internet material and use this as a basis for choosing or not a university or industry training course without going to see them, then frankly - you're better off not applying.

 

I've spent a while reading the posts linked to, and found it quite amusing. Disgruntled ex-students aren't exactly unbiased. If you search for SAE on the SOS website (not in the forums) you get a better view of the facility - and some material goes back to the 1990s, allowing you to see how they have expanded.

 

Facts of life in educational recording studios throughout the UK, and no doubt abroad too, are that demand for studio time has to be rationed, and all of the educational studios I come across at both college and university have some kind of booking system. Some just book time, others have voucher systems - but some kind of rationing is essential, and in many places, studio time is also rationed by priority - so 3rd year students have more allocated because they need it. Early or late hour bookings are often the only way for students who want extra time to get it. There's no point moaning about this - it's simply tough! Some of the comments people have made are pathetic - moaning because they didn't like the basic mac they were given.

 

If you really want advice, get the place you are interested in to give you contacts from their better students, not the moaners and groaners who always left their bookings till late, then complained because other people had got in first! Idiots who book studio time without doing the planning and waste it compared to the reliable and dedicated ones who never seem to be short of studio time. The people I have been reading who are moaning are almost certainly the ones who didn't do well. To make a proper decision, you need to go there and ask them about the questions posted here and the links. You may very well find the response is not what you expect. As SAE is expensive, and has always been - if they were rubbish, as implied here, then students who do do proper research on them wouldn't go, would they? If you don't wish to go to any of these places - it's your choice, but without solid fact, and that discounts anonymous internet comment, then I'd suggest your research is a bit biased.

 

The last comment is about the staff. I'd rather be taught by an excellent ex-student who is really current on the equipment and has solid technical background, than somebody who might come in two or three hours (not days) a week from a pro studio in their downtime/unsold hours - who may not be quite so up to speed on the equipment in place. Ideally, you want plenty of variety in your teaching staff. A university professor who went school/college/uni/teaching will have very different tallents to a learn on the job tea boy to studio engineer style person. One or the other may leave holes, but the more variety, the more complete the training.

 

Go and see every place you are considering, and ask questions - lots of them. If the answers are good for you - this could be the place for you.

 

I have not read anything about SAE from people I trust that is less than complimentary - so giving them the benefit of the doubt seems only fair. Slagging them off on the basis of hard facts would also be fair - but as yet, I've not seen any!

 

EDIT

After a bit of surfing, I note that they have an open day on August 23rd, and a twilight tour on the 19th.

 

I realise, after reading this back, that I seem to be very pro SAE - I'm not, and have no connection with them at all - but find it a bit unfair when people get unbalanced comment like we've seen recently.

[Simon Lewis]

Paul,

 

you raise excellent points, and it would be unhelpful to discuss the specifics of this situation.

 

I would make one observation though...

 

All education establishments have (or jolly well ought to have) a quality enhancement system and an auditable system for student and staff feedback and comment with a corresponding response path from the various levels of course, departmental and senior management. It's here that the brickbats and plaudits can fly amongst the stakeholders and problems can be resolved. Whatever the rights and wrongs of any given situation, I would be concerned when it spills out ungraciously into the public domain.

 

Simon

[gary111]

Hi' Paul

 

 

 

I do agree with what you are saying and I did go to the SAE in London, to have a look and asked them kindly if I could speak to the manager, but the answer to this was "No".

 

 

I also asked specific questions with regards to their opening hours, teachers etc, but the person showin me around did not seem interested and kindly avoided my questions, and that as well as a bit of research made me make my mind up.

 

I have managed to find and been able to speak to some former staff members from the sae london branch, and they did have some quite shocking info as well.

 

But yes I agree that you should visit the College you want to attend and then make your decision, after all is a lot of money and there are better school than the SAE Institute.

 

Thx

 

 

 

A concurrent post has been automatically merged from this point on.

 

Forgot the link:

 

 

 

http://tom-misner.blogspot.com/

 

 

 

According to former staff members this is still a major issue, and how SAE makes millions.

[paulears]

You did the right thing by going, and by asking questions - and reading between the lines, I suspect your decision won't be very hard to predict. Your facts and comments will, I'm sure be very useful to other people seeking information.

 

The blog you linked to is frankly - scary!

 

P