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Audio Engineering & Production
Your Future in Audio Engineering is Calling
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Earn Your Diploma in Audio Engineering & Production
Program Highlights
Sound enriches our lives and our audio engineering production curriculum is your direct route to a career in the vibrant audio industry! As Western Canada’s foremost audio college, College for Arts and Technology offers two Audio programs to kickstart your career!
The 12 month Audio Engineering Fundamentals program offers you the opportunity to learn the essentials needed to master music production in our state-of-the-art recording studio. If you’re looking to really hone your skills even further, our in-depth, 18 month Audio Engineering & Production program offers applied theory and hands-on learning opportunities to truly launch your career in audio!
College for Arts and Technology’s 18 month diploma in Audio Engineering & Production is a masterful blend of foundational theory and applied techniques to get you the mix of abilities needed to thrive! Through hands-on classes taught in our dedicated audio classrooms or recording studios, you’ll learn the full spectrum of skills needed to thrive including:
- Industry-Standard Software – Pro Tools & Ableton Live
- Music Theory & Song Writing
- Production, Sound Design & Track Creation
- Practical Setup & Teardown of Live Sound Systems
- Using Microphones to Record Live Artists & Instruments
- Dialog, Music, & Effects for TV and Film
- Stereo & Surround Mixing for both Music & Film with Proper Delivery Specs
- Video Game Audio, including Middleware & Game Engine Software
- Career Management, Including Self Marketing & Promotion
College for Arts and Technology’s 12-month Audio Engineering Fundamentals program focuses on the skills and techniques required to master the mixing board. In just 12 months, you’ll dive into this engaging industry, learning the fundamental skills to kickstart your career including:
- Fundamental technical and theoretical skills in microphones and professional recording
- Music theory including song trend analysis
- Industry-standard software – Pro Tools and Ableton Live
- Practical audio production skills including mixing and mastering
- Song arrangement, production and track creation
- Professional skills, work habits, and career management
- Music for TV and film including post-production
- Video game audio middleware Wwise
Ready to Learn Audio Engineering?
Our Grads Power the Arts and Tech Economy!
CAT’s creative and technical programs are directly connected to a creative sector that makes a $6 Billion contribution to the British Columbia economy every year. Graduates from our 2D and 3D animation, filmmaking, graphic design, audio engineering and other programs are among the over 120,000 skilled arts and tech workers employed provincially in this vibrant, constantly growing ‘creative economy’. Just in the past several years alone, CAT graduates were named in the credits for many high grossing films and musical scores, capturing numerous industry awards.
Start Your Audio Engineering Career
Make Music and Sound Come to Life
You’re looking for the best audio engineering school in Canada. Here’s what our program will do for you:
Industry Connections
Professional audio engineers as your Instructors and mentors.
Let’s Get You Working!
Well-rounded, focused curriculum to get you successfully working as quickly as possible.
Degree Pathway Options
Established pathway with University of Gloucestershire in England.
Top Tech
State-of-the-art technology, facilities and equipment in dedicated studio and post production classrooms.
Become an Audio Engineer
Where Our Award-Winning Alumni are Working
When you’re backed by exceptional curriculum and an education team focused on your success and individuality, the future of employment is bright. Here are just a few places where our Audio Engineering & Production Alumni have been thriving.
Alumni Feature
Experience the CAT Difference
Why the Best Choose Us
We understand that choosing a post-secondary school is a big decision that usually involves input from some of the most important people in your life. Tuition considerations, support after graduation and key industry connections – these are all part of choosing the best audio engineering and music production school for you.
Here are a few reasons why you’ll be happy you chose College for Arts and Technology:
Hands-on, employment-focused education.
Employment-focused programs delivering the soft skills you need for lasting career success and hands-on experience with the latest, industry-standard technology. Your career starts here!
Personalized support from start to finish.
Financial guidance? We’ve got you covered. Career advice after graduation? We wouldn’t have it any other way. You’re more than a student number to us. We create a personalized experience that you won’t get anywhere else.
More one-on-one time with your Instructors and mentors.
Small class sizes mean you get more facetime and critical feedback from your education team, to achieve real growth and success.
Quality you can fact-check.
College for Arts and Technology holds a full designation through Education Quality Assurance and the Private Training Institutions Regulatory Unit. You’ll only get the best at College for Arts and Technology.
Department Head
Chris Holmes
Chris Holmes started his career working alongside The Matrix, a production and songwriting team based in Los Angeles. Over the course of 4+ years, he sharpened his engineering and production skills while working with numerous A-List artists, including Katy Perry, Ricky Martin, Korn, Nickelback, Hot Hot Heat, Big Wreck, Ashley Tisdale, and many more. After relocating to Vancouver, Chris took over the position of Chief Engineer at Greenhouse Studios, where he worked with dozens of independent and major label artists. With over 20 plus years of experience, Chris is now an independent engineer and producer, dividing his time between Vancouver and Kelowna. Chris is excited to bring his knowledge and experience to the audio students at the College for Arts and Technology.
To learn more about the Audio Engineering Industry, you can listen to our PODCAST with Chris on our Soundcloud Stream.
Quarter Descriptions
Here’s How You’ll Build Your Audio Engineering Skills
In this quarter, you will learn the fundamental technical, theoretical, and creative skills necessary to work in the audio industry. You will study the basics of music theory, microphones, and basic recording, as well as DAW functionality in industry standard software Pro Tools and Ableton Live. This knowledge will become the basis for the remainder of the program.
In your second quarter, you will continue to learn intermediate microphone and recording techniques, by conducting your own recording sessions under supervision from your instructors. You will explore practical audio editing skills that are used for performance correction and enhancement, as well as advancing your ability to create simple song arrangements and productions. This quarter also branches out in the world of synthetic sound design and track creation.
In your third quarter, you will develop your understanding of the professional skills, work habits, and attitudes expected by the commercial recording industry. This will include client interaction, working in teams, and delivering high quality work on a tight deadline. Live sound reinforcement is introduced, with practical setup and teardown of complete sound systems. The quarter rounds out with a focus on song arrangement and song writing within a DAW, including analysis of popular songs and song writing trends.
In your fourth quarter, you will use various techniques learned in your previous quarters and apply them to more advanced topics such as Post Audio. Sound for TV and Film becomes a main component of this quarter, including ADR, sound design, and foley, as well as film scoring and music soundscape creation. This quarter also includes career management and music industry classes that help students understand the business side of making and marketing music. Through all of this, music creation and track production is still included and developed further.
In quarter five, you will continue to develop your practical skills related to the roles involved in film and TV post-production audio, including ADR, foley, sound design, as well as 5.1 mixing. Students will also learn about on set location audio and working with film crews and actors. Students will also explore more advanced audio topics, like mixing and mastering, and more advanced synth sound design.
In the final quarter, students use all the skills learned to fine tune their own portfolios, with a large final project. Advanced recording, mixing, and mastering classes will help the students to craft release-ready productions. Students are also mentored heavily in this quarter to help them find their unique selling point and help guide them on their career path.
Frequently Asked Questions
Let’s Get You Answers
Yes! We are in an age of content creation, most of which has some audio component to it, providing a wide range of career paths for audio engineers. From big budget music artists, to TV and film, and even expanding industries like esports broadcasting, the audio career options are diverse. When you consider this large and varied volume of content being created that requires audio, the career outlook is very bright.
Through our Audio Engineering & Production Program, you will be exposed to all the audio equipment and build your applied skills in our two on-campus audio studios. In addition, our program will give you a leg up on the competition through focused employment and professional development classes. These self-development and career-focused classes are complemented by support from our Student Services team who can provide one-on-one career mentorship. Student Services will continue to provide support after graduation in the form of job opportunity emails and continued coaching if needed. Our Audio Engineering & Production Program Advisors welcome the opportunity to tell you more about this expanding industry. Book an appointment to get started.
The short answer? No. The long answer? Still no, but it’s worth mentioning that investing in your tools of the trade is never a bad thing. We provide two state-of-the-art audio studios on campus that allow you to hone your skills on professional-grade equipment. These studios feature up to date Pro Tools Ultimate Systems, including Ableton Live Suite, and various 3rd party playings. The studios also feature great monitoring environment, and Apple Studio M1max computers. In Studio, you will have access to an SSL AWS digital console as well!
Our Equipment Cage is decked out with a variety of audio gear for students to learn with including guitars, bass, a drumkit, as well as over 30 microphones, headphones, location audio equipment, and dj controllers. After graduation, you’ll have the hands-on experience under your belt to be able to jump into a variety of technical or artistic roles with confidence.
We welcome visitors for campus tours, and we love to show off our audio studios! If you’re interested in an in-person visit, our Audio Engineering & Production Program Advisors are available by booking an appointment. You may even catch a class in-progress, and get the opportunity to see the students in action in the studios.
You can apply at any time throughout the year for our Audio Engineering & Production Program for our annual October intake. If you are still in high school, you can apply while completing your grade 12 year and upon graduation from high school, will be required to submit your high school transcript, to complete your application package. If you have questions on when to apply, or what the complete application package entails, book an appointment with one of our Audio Engineering & Production Program Advisors. Our Admissions team is here to support you on your education journey.
Audio is an exciting and dynamic industry, with a blend of artistic and technical skills needed to succeed. Our program is mostly focused on the applied, technical skills to get you to a level of mastery required for a lasting career in the audio industry. You will have extensive hands-on learning within our studio classrooms and gain indispensable experience with a variety of software including Ableton and Pro Tools. With that said, we certainly encourage the development of your artistic individuality, as your unique approach to audio will set you apart from others.
Additionally, all of our programs, including Audio Engineering & Production, include Professional Development courses, delivered by our Student Services Department. Career counseling, job search skills and self-development are all included in these valuable courses and workshops, giving you the leg up you need to create lasting success as an audio engineer. For complete details on our Audio Engineering & Production Program, including curriculum, book an appointment to tour the studios on campus, meet current audio students and our audio faculty.
Experience is never a bad thing! We love to see when program applicants have a demonstrable passion for their industry, but no formal experience in audio is required for entrance to this program. Are you in the Kelowna area and interested in sitting in on a class to see what we’re all about? Book an appointment with one of our Audio Engineering & Production Program Advisors to visit an audio class on campus!
We love to see passion and drive in our students, but this doesn’t always translate into academic success, aka high grades, in high school. Even though a high school transcript is required (mature students exempt), we are not looking for a specific grade point average, instead are mainly focused on a commitment to your own success, accountability and an excitement for the audio industry.
For complete details on admission requirements, please reach out to a Program Advisor at 1.866.860.2787 or by filling out our contact form.
No! While having a computer at home could be beneficial for doing homework, students are provided with enough lab time in the school’s facilities to cover all homework and assignments. You can show up to our program with no equipment of your own, and still get as much benefit out of the program as someone who has built a home studio.
For complete details on admission requirements, please reach out to a Program Advisor at 1.866.860.2787 or by filling out our contact form.
No. Similar to the answer above, having software at home will always be a benefit, but is not required as the school’s facilities are all equipped with the all the software you will require. If you decide you do wish to purchase either software, you may be eligible for student discounts. Please inquire with your Department Head once your program has begun for details on these discounts.
Most students come into our Audio programs with a very specific goal in mind. While we will always nurture these individual goals, we often find that students’ perspectives on what they are most drawn to will change and evolve as the program progresses. We often see students enter a program with one idea in mind, and graduate with a completely different trajectory. For example, students may enter focused on being artists or producers, but through experience gained through the program, may graduate with their sights set on sound design for video games or films. It’s also worth noting that a broad skillset also drastically improves your career opportunities.
Ready to know more? Complete an online inquiry form and a Program Advisor will follow up with you.
A day in the life of an audio student at CAT is varied, and as a student, you may find yourself in a few different classrooms around campus. Schedules vary from Quarter to Quarter, so this is just an example of what you could expect.
If you drive, you’ll park your car in our student-designated parking lot and make your way across the Landmark Plaza to our campus! If you’ve opted to walk, bike or take the bus, you’ll find lots of great scenery on the short walk from the bike lock-up or transit stop to campus. Perhaps you feel the need for some extra caffeine to get you through the day, so you stop at the coffee shop on your way to class. After grabbing coffee, you stop by the Equipment Cage to sign out some gear needed for class. On your list of needed gear is all the microphones, headphones, and cables you’ll need for your session in the Live Room today. Your first class of the day is one of your favorite classes, Recording and Production. You love being able to be hands-on and today you and your classmates are practicing setting up a new type of microphone in the Live Room of Studio A. You’ll be using Pro Tools to record and have an interesting local musical artist coming in to participate in the class.
Your second class of the day is a break period, so you meet up with your project partners in the Student Lounge and continue working on your upcoming presentation for Music Theory. The goal of this assignment is to create and extract a one-to-one cover of a popular pop song, and you and your team are feeling pretty confident!
Lunchtime! You take a much needed break and decide that some tacos are what you’re craving today. There’s a lot of great cafes and eateries around campus, so you head over to the restaurant that serves the best tacos in town, just a short walk across the plaza. #satisfied
After fuelling up, you head back to the main campus building for a Professional Development class. Today you’re going to be diving into Personality Dimensions and starting on a self-portrait assignment. You’ll also be discussing how to find the balance between being a creative individual and securing success for yourself professionally, a topic we take great pride in at CAT. #nostarvingartistshere.
Last class of the day is Ableton and you’re really starting to get the hang of the software’s interface and today you’re going to be diving deeper into the use of fx and sampling. You’ve been working on some tracks you’re really proud of and you’ll get some time today to continue improving these tracks.
After class, you decide to meet up with some friends from class to check out a local live music venue downtown. There’s a great band playing and you could use the time to chill before heading home to work on some school projects. Let’s do this again tomorrow, shall we? New day, new classes, new opportunities.
Interested in seeing for yourself? Book a time with one of our Program Advisors! They can give you a tour of campus, including the Studios, and can even arrange for you to sit in on some classes. What better way to experience the CAT student experience than to become one yourself!
Audio Engineering & Production Degree Pathways
Our Post-Graduation Pathways
Our graduates boast exceptional employment stats, so a degree is not necessary to secure a career as an Audio Engineer. However, should you wish to pursue a degree after graduation from our program, we have an established Degree pathway with the University of Gloucestershire in England. For more information, book a time to speak with one of our Program Advisors or check out our Pathways page.
Financial Aid For The Diploma in Audio Engineering & Production
The Financial Guidance and Support You Need
You have options available to you when it comes to financing your education with College for Arts and Technology. Our Finance team can answer any questions you may have on payment plans, bursaries and grants, and student loans. We believe in empowering people through education and proudly offer the support and guidance you need to ensure finances are not a barrier on your path to higher learning.
Audio Engineering & Production was reviewed and approved by the registrar of the Private Training Institutions Regulatory Unit (PTIRU) of the Ministry of Post-Secondary Education and Skills Training.
This program is not eligible for the Post-Graduation Work Permit Program. Learn more about PGWP eligibility on the IRCC website.