In the U.S. there are several colleges that offer a music engineering degree. This includes the Berklee College of Music, Belmont University and Texas State University in San Marcos. The Berklee College of Music offers a degree or certificate in music production and engineering. The focus is on working in the music industry. The tuition fee for this course is $16,730 per term as of 2011. The Belmont University, through the Mike Curb College of Entertainment and Music Business, offers a bachelor's of arts (BA) and bachelor's of science (BS) in audio engineering and technology. This program allows students to learn about the application, installation, manufacturing, operation and maintenance of analog and digital audio and music. The tuition fee rate is $495 per credit hour as of 2011. Texas State University -- San Marcos, offers a bachelor's of science in sound recording technology program. This trains students who are interested in the recording for music and movies. In-state students will pay a tuition fee of $7,482 per year while the tuition fee for out-of-state students is $15,792 per year as of 2011.
The music engineering course work is usually focused in practical skills to capture and edit sound surroundings. Students are exposed to different technologies used in the music and recording industry. Some of the courses covered under the music engineering program include acoustics, analog signals, digital audio recording, live sound design and audio mixing. Students are also required to take math foundations, electronic and computer music, editing and mastering and music and technology seminars.
Graduates with a degree in music engineering often end up working in the music, film and software recording industries. They can be employed as a sound and music recording engineer, live sound engineer, video recording engineer and software sound engineer. They can also be employed as a mix & master engineer, digital audio workstation operator, music programmer and remixer.
The employment for broadcast and sound engineering technicians will increase by 8 percent from 2008 to 2018. Employment of audio and video technicians is expected to increase by 13 percent over the same time period. Competition for music engineering employments is tougher in major metropolitan areas. The annual salary for music engineers ranges from $32,900 to $47,490 depending on their position. Music engineers with more experience and high qualifications usually have higher salaries.