I grew up in a musical family and church environment where I had access to instruments and audio consoles and such.
Later, I was in a shitty high school rock and roll band, and did a little bit of guerilla home recording. I also organized some live events that were basically house shows.
In college (for an unrelated field), I worked the console for an easy, weekly show for a semester or two. After graduate school (in the same, unrelated field), I had some time to kill while figuring out my next move. My old neighbor was the audio engineer at a local venue, and after some work convincing that person, I was taken on as the intern. A short time later, I started working gigs around town and moving up the chain at the venue where I started.
So, I learned production the old-school way, like an apprentice. I had the benefit of picking up a weekly, low-stakes gig early on where I gained a lot of experience and got to make mistakes. I also had the benefit of a formal education that really helped out with the communication and organizational aspects.
Basically, through several twists of fate, I'm now a full-time, professional audio engineer/production manager. I'm now dipping my toes into the studio side, and doing some post-production work at home using the knowledge I've gained in the live sound world and, critically, with the help of friends and colleagues I've had the good fortune of meeting along the way.
TLDR: Sheer, dumb luck. Study hard and be kind to people. Don't be afraid to make mistakes and DIY.
I grew up in a musical family and church environment where I had access to instruments and audio consoles and such.
Later, I was in a shitty high school rock and roll band, and did a little bit of guerilla home recording. I also organized some live events that were basically house shows.
In college (for an unrelated field), I worked the console for an easy, weekly show for a semester or two. After graduate school (in the same, unrelated field), I had some time to kill while figuring out my next move. My old neighbor was the audio engineer at a local venue, and after some work convincing that person, I was taken on as the intern. A short time later, I started working gigs around town and moving up the chain at the venue where I started.
So, I learned production the old-school way, like an apprentice. I had the benefit of picking up a weekly, low-stakes gig early on where I gained a lot of experience and got to make mistakes. I also had the benefit of a formal education that really helped out with the communication and organizational aspects.
Basically, through several twists of fate, I'm now a full-time, professional audio engineer/production manager. I'm now dipping my toes into the studio side, and doing some post-production work at home using the knowledge I've gained in the live sound world and, critically, with the help of friends and colleagues I've had the good fortune of meeting along the way.
TLDR: Sheer, dumb luck. Study hard and be kind to people. Don't be afraid to make mistakes and DIY.