Expert: Cleggsan - 9/16/2010

Question
QUESTION: Dear Cleggsan, My son plays electric guitar and is interested in combining his interest in music with an engineering career. He's most interested in designing/inventing things like amps, speakers, effects devices, etc. What is the most appropriate engineering field that would help him meet this goal? Mechanical, electrical, computer? And do you recommend any specific college programs geared in this direction?

ANSWER: Electrical Engineering is the best course to follow - or one that is close to it.  

The Audio Engineering Society in NYC has a publication that lists most well known schools that offer programs suited to the music profession. You may want to investigate that.

Go here:  http://www.aes.org/

I can highly recommend the Miami University.

http://mue.music.miami.edu/

This school's program is technical from an engineering point of view and has many outstanding courses covering the field of recording, business and technology.  You may want to look at it closely.

Georgia Tech in Atlanta has several good hardware design courses in audio within their electrical engineering program.




---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thanks very much for your help.
Larry

Answer
Best wishes.

At Georgia Tech, Prof. Leach is good:

http://users.ece.gatech.edu/mleach/

At Miami, Ken Pohlmann has had great influence on music engineering curriculum and he is highly recommended for the program there:

http://mue.music.miami.edu/faculty/ken-pohlmann

They are both friends and I know of their excellence in the work they do.