As a kid I hated school. I found it boring and a waste of time. When I finally decided that I wanted a career in music and sound design I knew I would do anything to avoid a situation like I had in public school, so I was real cautious in choosing where I wanted to go. What I was looking for, beyond the audio engineering basics, was somewhere that gave me the freedom to work at my own pace and pursue my own musical goals.
Research, Research, Research…
I checked out every audio and recording school around Vancouver, big and small. Being a musician I knew a lot of guys who had gone to a few different chools and had heard a lot of talk, good and bad, but I wanted to find out first-hand and come to my own conclusions.
[I] quickly figured out that most of what I read was BS put there by the schools themselves, either patting themselves on the back or dissing someone else.
I started with the web, read reviews and blogs and quickly figured out that most of what I read was BS put there by the schools themselves, either patting themselves on the back or dissing someone else. I realized this was a total waste of time so I made some calls and actually made the rounds, checking out the studios, classrooms, the vibe of the staff and what the students looked like that were going there.
I got a real hard sell at a couple of places and got the feeling the people I talked to were on commission. That really got my defenses up. When I finally got to PAVI, where I wound up going, the guy I did an interview and tour with actually seemed like he was trying to talk me out of going there. He told me it took effort, that attendance was mandatory and that I’d only get out of it what I put into it; if I thought it was a party to not even bother.
After I saw the studios (by far the biggest and best of all the schools I checked out) classrooms, lab and lounge the guy that was giving the tour (Gord) let me read a bunch of stuff grads had to say and also news items on what was happening in the school and to its grads. It seemed like a lot of students felt they’d gotten a good start, some placement help and had established a network among other students that helped them down the road.
The Audio Engineering & Production Program
The PAVI Audio Engineering & Production program is one year; four hours a day, five days a week. It’s broken into three semesters so you can start January, May or September. It doesn’t matter when you start because the courses are taught four to a semester and they’re modular. You can go mornings, afternoons or evenings. I started evenings and switched to afternoons after a semester because I started working a lot more with my band.
Some teachers were more inspiring than others but for the most part, I thought they all cared, covered the material and tried hard.
I got an outline of what was covered on the first class of each course and we wound up covering everything on the outline and then some. Some kids thought it moved too fast, others too slow but for me, it’s hard to imagine I could have covered too much more material in the time we had. Some teachers were more inspiring than others but for the most part, I thought they all cared, covered the material and tried hard. There was some homework but mostly you would do what was expected in class and on project days. One thing that surprised me was we covered some stuff I hadn’t even thought of but once I got into it, it made sense why I’d want to know it.
The best part for me was working on my own music stuff in the big studios. The worst part was that I actually wished there was more time in the studios. I should have gone there now because I just found out they recently opened the studios up to students 24/7.
For the price, I think I got my money’s worth and would likely do it again.
The Verdict
For the price, I think I got my money’s worth and would likely do it again. I can’t say that PAVI or any school ‘prepares’ you for your career choice. One of the things I got out of it was a good overview of what areas I could go after and a good foundation of general audio knowledge.
Since I graduated I have been doing mobile recording, producing, writing songs and playing with my band. I use a lot of the theory I learned at PAVI, more than I thought I would. If you’re thinking of going down the recording school road make sure you shop around but after having thought about it for a while, bottom line I would have to say PAVI is the real thing.
(13 votes, average: 3.54 out of 5)
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Randy Sparks
This review sounds way too positive to be true. How can one person have an experience like this, and in another PAVI review somebody else has an entirely different experience?
http://www.artschoolreviews.ca/reviews/pacific-audio-visual-institute/audio-engineering-production/you-could-do-better
I guess I’ll be shopping around still.
Anybody hear any good things coming out of Columbia Academy?