Your first block introduces music and technology as an integrated field of study and practice. In the studio, you will develop initial skills in recording, editing, and mixing using professional equipment.

Alongside this, guided listening and discussion introduce the ideas, movements, and technologies that have shaped contemporary music and sound, developing your critical ear and analytical vocabulary.

By the end of Block 1, you will have a working foundation in both the studio environment and the cultural and historical contexts that underpin the subject.

Building on Block 1, this module develops both your technical abilities and your critical understanding in greater depth. Through practical studio exercises you will consolidate and extend your production skills, while seminars and listening sessions take you further into the history and aesthetics of 20th and 21st century music and sonic arts.

By the end of the block, you will have a solid grounding across both the practical and intellectual dimensions of the subject and be well prepared for the more specialised work ahead.

Sound is the raw material of everything you will make on this programme. This block develops your understanding of how sound works - its physical properties, how we perceive it, and how its characteristics relate to musical parameters such as pitch, timbre, and dynamics.

You will also develop practical skills in sound synthesis and signal processing across a range of techniques, using both hardware and software tools. These capabilities underpin studio production, composition, and sound design for screen and games alike.

In your final block of Year 1, you will turn your attention to music production as a creative practice. Working across a range of styles - electronic music, hip-hop, composition, performance, and related areas - you will develop your DAW-based production skills while beginning to establish your own creative voice.

The block concludes with a portfolio of original production work alongside reflective writing in which you contextualise and evaluate your creative decisions.

Studio Production: Advanced Recording and Mixing Techniques

This module develops your recording and production skills to an advanced level. You will gain detailed knowledge of how acoustic and electronic instruments behave and how to capture them effectively, developing expertise in microphone technique, signal processing, and mixing strategies across a range of genres and professional contexts.

The module runs in parallel with Sound for Film & Games, ensuring your technical capabilities develop in step with the creative demands placed on them.

Sound and Music for Film and Games

This module explores the technical and aesthetic dimensions of creating original music and sound for moving image and interactive media.

Working with industry-standard tools and workflows, you will compose, produce, and implement audio across a range of film and games briefs — developing an understanding of how sound shapes narrative, emotion, and player experience.

Running in parallel with Studio Recording & Mixing, the module puts your developing production skills to work immediately in audio-visual contexts.

Each year, a menu of short, intensive creative sub-projects is offered, and you will select the one that interests you most.

Recent examples have included live coding, electronic instrument building, sensor-based interactive performance, spatial composition, and augmented reality sound work.

You will develop specialist skills, work towards a public presentation of your outcomes, and reflect critically on the context and implications of your practice.

The module's content evolves each year to reflect emerging technologies and practices in the field.

Choose one of the following: 

Creative Projects: Developing Artistic Practice

You will plan and realise an independent portfolio of original creative work - whether compositional, performative, or sound-based - supported by workshops, peer listening, and tutorial guidance. The emphasis is on developing a coherent creative identity and demonstrating genuine artistic ambition alongside the technical command to realise your ideas effectively.

Multichannel Audio and Live Sound

This module develops practical skills in live sound reinforcement, location recording, and multichannel audio formats including surround, ambisonics, and binaural, using professional equipment and workflows. It spans both the technical and creative dimensions of spatial audio, and is relevant to careers in live events, broadcast, games, VR, and sonic arts as well as studio production.

This module develops your technical skills to a professional standard, covering advanced mixing and processing, mastering for distribution across multiple formats, and the integration of technical and aesthetic judgement.

Running in parallel with your chosen creative elective, it ensures that advanced skills are developed in direct dialogue with sustained creative project work. The goal is distribution-ready work that is both technically accomplished and creatively distinctive.

Choose one of the following: 

Advanced Creative Projects

You will develop an ambitious, independently directed body of work - a single extended project or a collection of related pieces connected by a coherent artistic, conceptual, or technical focus.

Supported by one-to-one mentoring, the module is open to any creative direction: studio production, composition, performance, sound art, interactive work, audiovisual practice, or combinations of these.

Studio Production Portfolio

This module gives you space to develop a substantial independent production portfolio to a professional standard.

Working with your own chosen projects, you will define your creative and technical identity as a producer, with one-to-one mentoring throughout.

Applied and Collaborative Projects

You will undertake one or more projects in which your music technology skills are applied in interdisciplinary and community-facing contexts - composing with dancers, creating sound for film or animation, developing sound installations, or exploring interactive audiovisual work.

The module is ideal for students who want their final year to connect their practice with the wider world.

Music Industry Management

This module explores how the contemporary music industry works — examining artist management, publishing, rights, live music, streaming economics, and the challenges of a rapidly changing sector, supported by industry practitioners and guest speakers. It also develops the professional communication skills valued by employers across the creative industries.

Your degree culminates in an in-depth, independently managed investigation of a music technology topic of your own choosing, supported by an individual supervisor.

Your final submission can take several forms: a written dissertation, a practice-based investigation combining creative work with written contextualisation, or a technically oriented research project.

Whichever form you choose, the Final Project asks you to work as an independent researcher and practitioner, defining your own question, managing your time, and communicating your ideas with clarity and authority.