The module is divided into two sections; digital audio recording and production which includes an introduction to the practice and theory of digital audio recording, mixing and mastering, and digital audio sequencing which covers the study and development of ability in the handling of sequencing and MIDI control along with an introduction to basic audio signal processing.

This module is delivered by a mixture of studio practicals, critical listening, reading and self-directed study.

Practical: 74 hours, Consolidation: 40 hours, Reading: 44 hours, Self-Directed Study: 122 hours, Assessment: 20 hours  

This module is a seminar and lecture series introducing you to a diverse range of issues and perspectives related to recent and current cultures in music and the sonic arts.

The focus will be on central historical and philosophical threads of the last century to contextualise contemporary sound- and music-making. Exploring individual artists and thinkers, broad aesthetic movements, and the development and impact of technologies on culture, music and sound. Listening will be a key activity: inquisitive, contextual, critical and analytical.

This module is delivered through lectures, critical listening workshops, reading and self-directed study.

Lecture: 48 hours, Workshop: 24 hours, Listening: 56 hours, Self-directed study: 144 hours, Assessment: 28 hours

An understanding of how sound works is essential in developing an appreciation of, and an ability to work with, sound as a medium. This module first familiarises you with the physical/acoustical foundations of musical sounds. You will study sounds through both waveform and spectral representations and understand how temporal and spectral acoustical features relate to the primary perceptual parameters such as musical pitch, dynamics, and timbre.

The module is block taught over 7 weeks, delivered by a mixture of lectures, workshops, listening, reading and self-directed study.

Lecture: 24 hours, Workshop: 12 hours, Practical: 36 hours, Reading: 40 hours, Reflection: 70 hours Self-directed study: 94 hours, Assessment: 24 hours

This module covers the music industry, and how to make a career in the music industry. Topics include:

The evolution of the music industry including current and likely future trends, copyright, licensing, royalties, and media rights, and artist multifaceted income streams, consumer music delivery processes/systems, past, present, and future including streaming.

Live music promotion festivals and events. It also covers professional working techniques, equipment, and achieving professional standards in the studio.

As well as the chain of production and the role of ​artists/engineers/producers/mastering engineers in it.

The module is block taught over 7 weeks, delivered by a mixture of lectures, studio workshops, listening, reading and self-directed study.

Lecture: 28 hours, Studio Work: 42 hours, Independent Studio Practice: 48 hours, Reading: 40 hours, Independent Research: 60 hours, Reflection: 60 hours, Assessment: 22 hours

This is an open module designed for you to undertake a short intense project to allow the development of specialist creative, technical, professional and/or research-led skills, while simultaneously developing professional practice.

Special thematic sub-projects, supported by lectures, workshops, and personal tutorials, are offered each year, from which you may choose one or more across the duration of the module. Indicative examples of sub-projects include:

• Improvisation Ensemble 
• Sensors and interfaces  
• Advanced Synthesis & Sequencing 
• Electronic Instrument Building  
• Coding or Live Coding 
• Spatial Performance 
• Spatial Composition 

For each chosen project, you will devise ways of promoting and presenting work, both collectively (e.g. organising a group performance) and individually (e.g. accumulating a personal portfolio) within a public forum.

Teaching will vary according to the projects undertaken, but will comprise lecture and seminar activity, technical instruction, contextual and critical study within regular workshops. Work towards your projects will be guided through tutorial support.

Workshop: 44 hours, Tutorial: 12 hours, Reading: 40 hours, Reflection: 60 hours, Self-directed study: 104 hours, Assessment: 40 hours

Covers the technical and aesthetic considerations of the creation original musical compositions and sound designs in a variety of audio-visual contexts.

Content includes application of existing skills and the development of new skills in relation to designing sound and context-specific compositional strategies in a range of "real-world" scenarios, focusing primarily on sound and moving image.

The module is block taught over 7 weeks, delivered by a mixture of, workshops, listening, reading and self-directed study. Workshops will bias listening and analytical exercises in early weeks, along with group discussion. In later weeks, they will turn to peer listening and tutorial support for work in progress.

Workshop: 21 hours, Tutorial: 28 hours, Self-directed study: 230 hours, Assessment: 20 hours

Learn more advanced studio recording and production, including detailed knowledge of the nature and physics of acoustic and electronic instruments, microphones, and recording spaces such as studios.

Covering a variety of structured recording, mixing, and production strategies and work practices to enhance efficiency and quality of work, as well as advanced techniques of applying effects and other processing in mixing.

This module is delivered by a mixture of studio practicals, critical listening, reading and self-directed study.

Practical: 74 hours, Consolidation: 40 hours, Reading: 44 hours, Self-Directed Study: 122 hours, Assessment: 20 hours

This module offers students advanced techniques in production practice in a range of common sound-mixing and recording scenarios outside the controlled studio setting. Teaching focuses on planning and management of live sound production sessions, and adapting audio equipment to given occasions (e.g., music, talk, film set), devising suitable capture, routing, and mixing approaches, and considering monitoring, avoidance of signal feedback, wireless transmission, and/or the use of specialist microphones and recording techniques. As any live-sound application needs to adapt to the performance venue, students will study advanced acoustics in conjunction with instrument and loudspeaker propagation while considering how to control issues through customisation of PA systems and/or acoustic treatments.

Effective and innovative use of studio systems requires an understanding of the underlying technology. This module looks at a range of studio technologies, developing a comprehensive awareness and understanding of the studio context through investigation of its anatomy, such as for example the underlying digital and analogue technology and the acoustic environment.

This module develops your technical and contextual knowledge within the framework of professional practice, testing the full breadth of skills needed to be successful in this area.

You will experience the audio recording and production process through taught sessions using multichannel studios.

You will develop a portfolio of targeted practical projects that will demonstrate confidence with live recording practice, while also developing project management skills, including working in small teams; you may also participate in broadcasts, such as DemonFM and will compile and produce programme material in a format appropriate for its intended distribution.

Lecture/Large Group: 24 hours, Studio: 48 hours, Workshop: 6 hours, Reading: 40 hours, Self-directed study: 142 hours,  Assessment: 40 hours

The overall aim of this module is to increase a general understanding of the UK music industry and develop personal confidence in it as a possible source of employment. It explores how different aspects of the sector are managed, copyright, music publishing, live, the recorded industry and the current developments of an evolving business. The module is taught by industry practitioners and guest speakers.

You will engage in an in-depth investigation of a music technology topic of their choice and design, supported by an individual tutor.

The final research may take the form of a purely written document (a dissertation), or you can choose to pursue a practice-based investigation (a ‘final project’, or ‘final performance project’), in which research is reflected both in written work and a portfolio of creative work that is informed by and/or helps investigate the topic.

In either case, the module is designed to enable you to advance considerably as an independent learner, being able to imagine and define a project of interest to you, plan and manage that project over several weeks, develop you capacity to build your own ideas or creative work on the ideas of others through research, and make arguments and/or articulate the context and ideas behind creative work.

Lecture: 10 hours, Tutorial: 10 hours,  Research: 100 hours, Reflection: 180 hours