Our inaugural Live Sound Production Short Course kicked off on Wednesday 2 September 2015 and it is not only the first of its kind at the SAE Institute in Cape Town, but quite possibly the first structured course dedicated specifically to Live Sound Production in South Africa.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SOUND PRODUCTION AND LIVE SOUND PRODUCTION?
Whilst there are many audio engineering courses including our very own one year full-time Higher Certificate in Sound Production and the three year full-time Bachelor of Arts in Sound Production, there are no dedicated Live Sound Production courses in South Africa.
Although the curriculum for Sound Production does indeed address live sound engineering, it also focuses on the many other aspects of audio engineering, including audio post-production, studio recording and mixing, mastering and modern music making techniques as well as music business.
Traditionally these are all done in the controlled environment of a music college such as the SAE Institute.
Our one and three year courses will equip students for all facets of the world of audio.
Our Live Sound Production short course focuses specifically on the technical know-how to set up, manage and engineer sound for live events.
These include applications such as live eventing, weddings, supper theatres, corporate events, churches and also live bands.
WHO SHOULD CONSIDER A LIVE SOUND PRODUCTION SHORT COURSE?
As a commodity and revenue stream, Live eventing represents the biggest growth sector globally. There are simply not enough qualified engineers and technicians. Locally we have identified a definitive shortage of skills in this area of the industry
At SAE we believe there is an important need to upskill this sector of the industry which up to now has depended very much on the passing on of knowledge between generations of ‘sound guys.’
Head of Sound at SAE, Izan Greyling identifies how this form of broken telephone communication perpetuates the problem;
“A large sector of the live sound and event industry has no formal training. In fact the only training they do have is on the job and often they were taught by the guy who came before, who was taught by the guy before that. So we have this ‘broken telephone system’ and the wrong information gets passed on. The application of some of these ‘self-taught’ theories gets used out of context.”
The SAE Live Sound Production short course aims to empower students with the correct formal training to set up, install and manage sound at events of all types.
“It makes a big difference if you understand the physics of sound as opposed to not thinking about it at all. So if you’re in a venue and there are acoustic issues you understand what to do. Powerful tools like compression and equalisation are often misunderstood and misused, with negative consequences,” Greyling laments.
So if you are involved with live sound applications, whether it’s as part of your AV department at school, you work at a sound hire and installation company, set up sound for events or even a Sound Production graduate, the SAE Live Sound Production short course is an 8 week practical program that will equip and empower you to deliver top notch audio, no matter the location.
When you complete the SAE Live Sound Production short course, you can expect to have both the knowledge and the practical experience in applying that knowledge.
For more information on the SAE Live Sound Production short course click here.
