Not necessarily. All our intro level courses are created for beginners – browse intro courses here!

Private mentorships accept students all year round with rolling admission. Spring and fall semester course applications remain open until the first day of classes, or as long as there are seats available in classes. You can start an application here.

While a background in music never hurts, an engineer does not have to be a musician themself in order to be a great engineer. And, not all careers in audio engineering involve producing music: there are also many opportunities engineering for broadcast, podcast, audiobook, television, video game, film sound design, and more.

If you are interested in producing music specifically, but are not a musician yourself, you may want to consider cultivating a basic understanding of music through an instrument like piano, guitar, or the voice. See our music lesson catalog here.

At Factory Underground Tech, a private mentorship is a series of one-on-one lessons with an industry professional. Private mentorships are designed to meet students' individual needs with flexible scheduling. Mentorships can be a few weeks long, a few months long, or even beyond. You can browse our mentorship programs here.

A semester course is a 60-hour curriculum-based class, taught in small pods. Each section has seats for up to 5 students. Semesters are 15 weeks long. The fall semester runs from early September to early December. The spring semester runs from late January to late April. All of our classes earn accredited certificates. You can start an application for a semester course here.

It’s also possible to earn a 60-hour certificate in a private mentorship, over 20 weeks.

Our accredited courselist includes introductory courses in Audio Engineering, Artist Production, Content Creation, Live Sound, and Music Business. You can browse our accredited courses here.

Yes.

The Factory Underground Method aims to provide students with training through hands-on experience and real-world credits. Our mission is to find current and creative ways to involve our students in productions to build their training, confidence, and résumés. Moreover, our instructors are all working industry professionals, and our “classroom” settings are fully operational studio spaces. Finally, students enrolled in accredited courses are encouraged and expected to take advantage of studio lab hours, where they can come use the studio for their own self-structured projects or classwork in audio and video.

There are 5 seats in each class.

Yes. Browse our private mentorship programs here .

Yes. Students meet with career counseling faculty to ask questions and receive guidance on their education and programs.

Our courses are designed for a range of ages. Our students range from high schoolers, college-aged students seeking alternative secondary education in technology, and adults who want to learn something new or embrace a long-time passion with training. The best student is simply anyone with a drive to learn about audio engineering, music production, video production, and more. 

Students younger than high school are welcome to come for a tour and inspire their futures.

It takes a lot of training and first-hand experience to become any one of these things. Professional work requires several years of experience. At Factory Underground, we guide students through technical training, while strongly emphasizing the necessary hands-on experience that makes engineering, producing, and videography possible. We help students build those years of experience and industry exposure from the beginning of their education by including them in real productions.

To figure out the best career paths for you, our students receive career counseling and conversations from our faculty. Some jobs of note in audio might include tracking engineer, mix engineer, producer, live sound engineer, audiobook producer, podcast producer, radio broadcast engineer, sports broadcast engineer, television audio producer. Some jobs of note in video production might include video content producer, user-generated content creator, multimedia creator, video editor, independent videographer. 

Tuition varies based on program details. Browse courses and mentorships here.

We do not offer financial aid, but we offer multiple tuition payment plans depending on student needs.

We also frequently partner with local non-profits who provide fundraising and scholarships. If you would like an opportunity to become a student through one of our local partners, please reach out with your name, phone number, and area of interest to factoryundergroundtech@gmail.com, using the subject line “Local Scholarship Inquiry.”

In an accredited course, you can earn a nationally-accredited certificate in your area of study. Accredited courses also come with plenty of perks, such as student-only lab hours in the studio. Non-accredited mentorship don’t earn certificates, but these private, student-led sessions can serve as deep dive into a specific areas of interest or career skills.

Yes, we would love to give you a free tour of the studio and campus. You can book a free 30-minute tour by clicking the BOOK A TOUR button in the bottom right-hand corner of this page.

The studio phone number is (203) 275-8672 and our email is factoryundergroundtech@gmail.com. You can also book a free 30-minute tour by clicking the BOOK A TOUR button in the bottom right-hand corner of this page.