About a year before attending PAVI, I bought an MBox, a pair of studio monitors, and a condenser microphone.  After a couple years of attending and then hosting open mics, I was taking my first steps towards playing in bands.

I had enjoyed the home recording I had done, and at the time I was just leaving the military after 11 years.  The decision to attend an audio school came quickly, and I picked the one that was in my part of Vancouver and had a comprehensive program.  A tour of Blue Wave Studios confirmed my choice.

Everyone's experience at PAVI is affected by the rotating semester system, where the lecture classes are attended by both new and experienced students.  There are advantages to this rotation, where some of the senior students can mentor new ones, and where studio work can be divided according to experience.  A group of new students would likely find it impossible to run a session, but can happily learn while providing important labour for the student running a session.  Also the classes in your first semester will set the base of knowledge for later semesters.  For me the first things I learned were Electronic Music, Mixing, Pro Tools, and Entertainment Business skills.  The first weeks can be intimidating since you have no foundation, but the extra semesters you have to polish those skills really pays off.

My second semester had a recording class, music history and theory, production, and a career class.  Music theory was an important class, giving everyone a basic foundation on melody, scales, and chords, but for me and a few others with strong theory backgrounds it was little challenge.  A threshold knowledge test designed to place an advanced self-study section would be a good improvement.

My final semester was my favourite.  The studio class focused on signal flow and assistant engineer tasks.  The audio for video class gave me an opportunity to learn how to place effects and dialogue in video.  The studio design course is very challenging but gives the technical and theoretical electronics background that is essential in almost any audio career.  I use knowledge from that class constantly, and learning how to solder has saved me lots of money.  Live sound was terrifying at first (the prospect of running a show, not the actual class) but practicing the rudiments in class gave me confidence to start helping with and then doing sound for shows.  I've since been convinced that live sound is fundamental to studio sound.

Most of the classes are run from a classroom, with support as needed from consoles in those rooms (for example: live sound) or from computers (for ProTools, Logic, and video editing).  One class in each semester is a hybrid of classroom and studio.  The best learning facilities at PAVI are definitely the two studios, and the time available for student-run sessions is definitely the most important part of the program.  Take it as a given that the recording rooms and gear at Blue Wave Studios are some of the best in town.

I got opportunities at PAVI for both volunteer and paid interning, and while those specific opportunities didn't directly translate to a job, they did give me important experience.  I also mentored as much as possible, which I find is a good way for me to learn.

PAVI can definitely give you every chance to become proficient in audio, but you need to exploit it as much as possible.  A good number of students were honestly wasting their time and putting little effort in.  If that's you, you'll probably still graduate, but there are better things to spend your money on.  I got in the studios as much as possible and tried to take advantage of the environment every moment I could.  Since I've graduated I understand the studios are open around the clock so there is even more time to use.

After I graduated things started a bit slow.  I did some free recordings for people to build a portfolio, and I volunteered to help with live sound for Vancouver City Limits.  I also continued recording and mixing my band's album.  Gradually I convinced bands to let me do live sound for them, and eventually I was good enough that word of mouth took over.  This is a reputation based industry, and having it known you do good work leads to more work.

I have four main streams of income in audio:

My “day” job is working for SFU at the new Woodward's campus as a stagehand.  My education at PAVI was my qualification.  My job at SFU has lots of variety, and at first general labour, set assembly, and lights were my most frequent tasks, but I also do a lot of sound installation and now have begun doing sound operation for the theatre and live music that happens there.  Two of my co-workers are PAVI graduates.

I occasionally record for money in my home studio.  I've recorded a few demos and a couple of album length projects.  You can hear some of my recordings at www.myspace.com/gregmonforton and www.myspace.com/caseclosedcanada.

Doing sound for a friend's band led to standing calls for a venue on Commercial Drive, about twice a week.  I also occasionally do sound at other venues and I have a live PA that I can deploy when needed.

Finally, I build effective and affordable acoustic panels and bass traps at home and sell them on Craigslist.  You can see my wares at http://www.electricwhale.ca/.

I couldn't have done any of these things without my education at PAVI, and if this kind of work interests you then you should check it out.  The audio industry is a serious hustle, and it's not for everyone, but it can be really rewarding.