Sound Choice

The lure of a career in the music business attracts scores of hopefuls each year, many of them choosing to take up full time courses in areas such as sound engineering and live production. According to Paul Lacey, who along with Dave Christopher, runs music industry courses at the Sound Training Centre in Dublin's Temple Bar, it's not all glamour and glitz.

"There's a lot of hard work involved," he says. "People who embark on these courses have to be committed right from the start. One of the questions we always ask people is what do they want to achieve at the end of the course? A lot of people don't necessarily want to work as full-time sound engineers, they might be musicians or members of a band and want to improve their recording skills for example. Then we get the people who've been saving for five years and who really want to do it. You can always spot them and they usually do very well in the long term."

Among the most popular courses at STC are Sound Engineering & Music Technology and Sound Engineering, Lighting & Stage Production. Courses carry recognised accreditation such as City & Guilds and are delivered by a team of experts already working in the music industry. To give potential students a feel for the industry before committing themselves to a full-time course, STC run week-long summer courses where they get to spend time in different areas of the Music Centre, as Lacey explains. "It's a great idea for anyone who likes the idea of working in music but isn't fully certain of what they want to do. They get to spend a day in the recording studio with a band and also to spend time in different areas of the Music Centre such as the live venue. At the end of the week we ask people to come back to us and to let us know how they feel about it. If they still want to ahead then they're probably going to make it."

Lacey points to the fact that STC courses are conducted in a commercial music environment, ensuring that students get experience in all aspects of the business. "From day one they're exposed to all the good things and bad things of working in a fully operating music environment," he explains. "We have five recording studios, a mastering lab, a venue, a PR department – almost every aspect of the music business is represented here. They see bands and producers coming in all the time and they're aware of what's going on."

One of the key issues as far as students on music courses are concerned is the question of job opportunities on completion of the course programme

"The reality is that there aren't jobs out there just waiting to be filled," Lacey explains. Most people at the end of a course become

freelance or self-employed. You've probably got to do a few years working that way before you can make a good living. You have to be prepared to sell yourself. We encourage our graduates to think laterally. It's not just studios who are looking for people with sound engineering qualifications. There are multi-media companies, sound labs, a company like Microsoft for example might take on someone to work on a soundtrack for software. Apart from that bands are always on the lookout for good engineers and they are constantly being snapped up."

Graduates of STC's courses are working successfully in a wide range of roles in the music industry, some with artists like JJ72, Madness, Sting and Ronan Keating, others in studios such as Windmill Lane and Abbey Road, while many are working in the broadcasting world with organisations like Today FM, RTE, TV3, Channel 4.

Finally one of the biggest employers of STC graduates is, not surprisingly, the Temple Bar Music Centre itself, Lacey explains. "90% of the crew working in the Music Centre are ex students of ours. We usually hire our best students at the end of the course."

Sound Training Centre are having an open day on Saturday 8th September, 11.30am–4.30pm.