How can you train other audio engineers in Media Production?

Remote Media Production (audio, being referenced here) has a history. From home studios, telephone hybrids, to ISDN, VOIP, then internet/ISDN hybrids, to internet WebRTC. There are numerous internet collaboration programs which vary in price, quality, and difficulty of use. Some programs may record all talent in one combined file, others seperate the artists into different files, others insert the each talent into the timeline of a DAW in real time. Today, my "go to" program is called SonoBus {www.SonoBus.net). Connecting with skilled artists whom are able to work from their home studios I am able to mix and create the soundscape required for a commercial, music mix, or long form narration collaborating in real time.

In my experience defining a specific discipline within sound to start learning can help speed the process along. By focusing on a single aspect such as dialogue editing, sound effects editing, music editing, or mixing/mastering you’ll be able to dive deep and start to master to concepts quicker. This approach will also help find mentors, discover instructor YouTube videos, and seek out work within that area to grow your skills. After mastering the first skill start to expand into other areas to broaden your toolset.

The most helpful way to upgrade your own knowledge is to following the best producers ever, for instance Mr Quincy Jones, Jean Michael Jarre etc Not with purpose to copy their way on contrary to expanding your own sounds perspective

Network! Get a gig wherever you can. Study, learn, apply. It may take years, but the more you learn, the more you'll see there is to learn.

As we all know, there is a varitety of ways to teach and fine tune editing skills. A tool I found helpful was returning to saved work sessions from previous projects and utilizing that digital history as a guide. It's like unlocking a time capsule of digital wisdom. Within those edited timelines lies a frozen lesson waiting to be unfurled.

If I was starting a sound class I would pull scenes from movies, games, and tv shows. Short 5-10mins clips and have the students work together on the sound track. In the beginning I would have them pull sound from a pre determined library to focus on editing technique and track layout. I think it would be interesting to see different teams using the same source material approach the concepts of design and editing. Each person could pick a role (dialogue, music, effects, foley, mixing) and have a sense of ownership and accountability on the final product.

In my experience, adult learners coming to digital media or music production often fall prey to music industry manufacturer hype. I try to cut through all that, and focus on the basics. Sometimes folks jump ahead to topics or techniques that they don't even need to learn right away, and miss important lessons regarding media production that make a huge difference. Some of those include planning, setting goals, determining your budget and learning style, and setting expectations for what one can do given a particular amount of time. I also drive home the point that expensive gear doesn't necessarily equate to better end product.

A few strategies to help with training audio engineers & editors. Some tactics I use in the Podcasting production world: - Creating a STRUCTURED curriculum: Outline the essential topics needed to complete the project. It can be beneficial for the engineer to know, the goal of the project. - Customized templates & PROJECT FILES: Sometimes it can help to see what the final product looks like. If you create that first project file, that can be the model for how the learner creates future projects. This has become incredibly helpful for our scale. - As the teacher, be FLEXIBLE in your approach. Everyone learns differently. Understanding the way your engineer learns is essential to effective & clear communication.

Any audio production curriculum - weeks-long or years - that doesn’t include comprehensive small-room acoustic treatments (absorption AND diffusion, both phase-coherent and QRD) and soundproofing (they are quite different) is very incomplete. Any content recorded with a microphone is captured in an acoustic space. It’s best to teach accurate information about how to deal with and correct bad-sounding rooms (including why those rooms are bad acoustically).