Every aspiring engineer hits this point:
“Should I go to school, keep watching tutorials, or find something else?”

There’s no shortage of choices. But there’s a serious shortage of guidance that works.

You could spend years jumping from video to video, collecting half-explained tips from strangers on the internet.
You could enroll in a generic audio course built around tests and theory, not skill.
You could patch together your own path without feedback, without structure, and without direction.

And then there’s the option that actually moves people forward.

 

The Trap: Thinking Free = Enough

 

We’ve all heard it: “You can learn anything online for free.”

And yeah, you can start anything online for free. But starting doesn’t mean finishing.

You can’t learn real mixing without someone correcting your choices. You can’t understand mic placement without trying it and hearing the difference. You can’t fix a session gone wrong unless you’ve been in one.

Tutorials don’t give you that.

They show you a version of the process with no stakes, no pressure, and no accountability. You press pause, take notes, move on.

But you haven’t done the thing. You’ve watched someone else do it.

 

What Those YouTube Videos Don’t Tell You

 

Let’s call it what it is: a lot of content online is either outdated, oversimplified, or made for clicks, not careers.

The “secret tricks” rarely work outside the video. The gear is unaffordable. The advice doesn’t scale past your bedroom.

And if you follow 20 creators, you get 20 different versions of the truth, with no way to know who’s right.

Worse: no one’s watching you. No one’s pointing out what you missed. No one’s showing you how to fix it when your session crashes or your mix collapses.

 

The Other End: Long, Slow, Expensive School

 

Some people go the opposite way. They choose a traditional college or university program hoping it will fill the gaps. And it does, in some ways, on paper.

You get structure. You get assignments. You get a schedule.

But you also get:

 

1. General education classes that waste your time
2. Instructors who haven’t worked in sound for years (if ever)
3. Labs packed with students, limited gear, and no one-on-one feedback

 

You spend years chasing a diploma that doesn’t guarantee studio experience, clients, or practical knowledge.

 

What Real Audio Training Looks Like

 

Forget lectures. Forget clickbait tips. Forget another playlist of 10-minute how-to’s.

If you’re serious about working in sound, you need three things:

 

1. Repetition

Hands-on, over and over again. Until compression becomes instinct. Until you don’t have to think about routing. Until troubleshooting happens before the panic sets in.

2. Feedback

Not likes. Not comments. Direct, technical, professional feedback. The kind that stops you from repeating mistakes and shows you where your edge really is.

3. Mentorship

You don’t need a professor. You need a professional. Someone who’s worked under pressure, fixed real problems, and knows what the job actually requires.

Without those three things, you’re gambling with your time.

 

Why People Get Stuck

 

Most people don’t fail at audio because they aren’t talented.
They fail because they waste time in systems that don’t give them tools.

YouTube gives you scattered pieces. School gives you slow progress. Neither prepares you for the pace, pressure, or problem-solving needed in real audio environments.

So what happens?

People burn out.
They doubt their ability.
They blame themselves instead of the system.

That ends when the training makes sense.

 

What the Right Program Offers

 

This is about choosing a setting that actually matches your goal.

The right kind of training:

 

1. Gets you into the studio fast
2. Pushes you every session
3. Gives you room to fail, fix, and grow
4. Shows you what working engineers really do
5. Builds your portfolio as you learn

 

You don’t need four years. You don’t need 400 videos. You need the right format.

 

The Industry Doesn’t Wait

 

The projects are happening.
The gigs are getting booked.
The clients are already out there.

 

If you’re still “getting ready” through tutorials or lecture halls, someone else is taking those spots.

The faster you learn how real engineers work, the faster you can step into those spaces. Confidently. Competently. Professionally.

 

Final Word: You Can Still Choose Something Better

 

You don’t have to keep refreshing YouTube hoping for answers.
You don’t have to sit through another semester before touching a console.
You don’t have to wait to be “qualified” before you start training like a professional.

There are programs built for this moment. Programs made for people who are done spinning their wheels and ready to take sound seriously.

The difference is in the format. And your future is in your hands.

 

You know the difference. You’re ready for more.
Hollywood North Sound Institute offers training built for real-world audio, designed to teach, push, and prepare you.
Start learning in a place where the work is real. Contact us today for more information!