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Audio and Music Technology (with Placement year)

Entry requirements


UCAS Tariff Points accepted.

UCAS Tariff

96

About this course


Course option

4years

Sandwich | 2024

Subject

Audio technology

Discover how sound works and how technology can help you to master it with our industry-accredited Audio and Music Technology degree.

With our BSc (Hons) Audio & Music Technology degree, you’ll produce compelling audio projects by mastering the sciences that underlie the design and control of sound. You will build a portfolio for a future-oriented career in the creative industries, including studio engineering, live sound, film, video games, broadcast, and acoustics.

Under the guidance of expert academics and industry-active practitioners, you will spend time developing a broad, balanced skill set and become proficient in the design and application of key technologies and specialist techniques.

We've been committed to equipping our graduates with such skills for more than 20 years, providing you with the technological edge to succeed in the creative industries.

Graduate with a degree approved by the industry. Our Audio & Music Technology course is accredited by JAMES (Joint Audio Media Education Support), a professional body established by the Music Producers Guild (MPG) and the Association of Professional Recording Studios (APRS). Made up of accomplished industry professionals and experts, the JAMES accreditors distinguish our course as being "highly relevant to current industry practice".

Join our thriving community of graduates who engineer in studios, tour the world as live-sound production managers, work for companies such as Focusrite, PRISM Sound, Meyer Sound Laboratories, dCS Audio, Sharps Redmore Acoustic Consultants, and Atkins, or become successful entrepreneurs, like Kerr Acoustic Ltd.

Make the most of Cambridge’s diverse music scene with our links to local networks such as Cambridge Arts Network, Cambridge Live, Cambridge Junction and Britten Sinfonia – from classical music to UK rap, and film to video game soundtracks, there are plenty of opportunities to explore your style.

Take advantage of an optional work placement between years two and three or internships with our industry partners and practitioners. Such opportunities are invaluable to gaining real-world experience and making those essential industry contacts. Our students have completed industry placements with companies such as Focusrite, Woodleyside IT, Sharps Redmore Acoustic Consultants, and Slovak TV.

Work in industry-standard recording studios and audio/video production facilities with support from our dedicated technical team. Develop your audio/music practice solving real-world problems and experiment with different areas and techniques as you immerse yourself in our industrious and collaborative student community across other music-related courses and our Cambridge School of Creative Industries.

**Professional Facilities**
As part of your Audio & Music Technology studies at ARU, you’ll have access to specialist facilities including:

- Five recording studios featuring analogue, digital or hybrid mixing desks by AMS Neve, SSL, Audient, and Allen & Heath, with all spaces equipped with the DAWs Pro Tools, Logic Pro, and Ableton Live and plenty of hardware outboard (Drawmer, DBX, TC Electronic, Lexicon, TL Audio, Toft Audio), software plug-ins and instruments (Universal Audio, Native Instruments, Moog, iZoTope, Fabfilter).

- Audio-visual studio

- An impressive inventory of professional-grade condenser, ribbon, and dynamic microphones (Neumann, Sennheiser, Coles, Røde, Shure), Ambisonics and binaural 3D microphones (Soundfield, Neumann), recording equipment (Neve, RME, Sound Devices, Antelope Audio, Roland), and other cutting-edge technologies (Audio via ethernet, Wwise audio middleware for games)

- A spacious recital hall, band rooms and practice rooms

- Five grand pianos, including a Steinway Model D

- Many orchestral instruments, including a range of synthesisers; traditional instruments from India, China and Africa; and a Balinese Gamelan

Modules

Year 1 Core Modules: Core Skills for Audio, Studio Techniques, Acoustics, Live Sound. Year 2 Core Modules: Advanced Audio Technology, Ruskin Module. Year 2 Optional Modules: Audio for Film, Audio for Games, Electronics for Music, Audio Programming, Live Event Production, Music Business. Year 3: Work Placement. Year 4 Core Modules: Collaborative Project, Final Project, Portfolio. Modules are subject to change and availability.

Assessment methods

You’ll show your progress through a variety of methods that will best prepare you for your future career. These include portfolios of recorded works, essays, reports, log books, posters and presentations.

Tuition fees

Select where you currently live to see what you'll pay:

Channel Islands
£9,250
per year
England
£9,250
per year
Northern Ireland
£9,250
per year
Republic of Ireland
£9,250
per year
Scotland
£9,250
per year
Wales
£9,250
per year

The Uni


Course location:

Cambridge Campus

Department:

Cambridge School of Creative Industries

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What students say


How do students rate their degree experience?

The stats below relate to the general subject area/s at this university, not this specific course. We show this where there isn’t enough data about the course, or where this is the most detailed info available to us.

Others in technology

Sorry, no information to show

This is usually because there were too few respondents in the data we receive to be able to provide results about the subject at this university.


Who studies this subject and how do they get on?

69%
UK students
31%
International students
89%
Male students
11%
Female students
77%
2:1 or above
46%
First year drop out rate

Most popular A-Levels studied (and grade achieved)

B
C
A

After graduation


The stats in this section relate to the general subject area/s at this university – not this specific course. We show this where there isn't enough data about the course, or where this is the most detailed info available to us.

Others in technology

What are graduates doing after six months?

This is what graduates told us they were doing (and earning), shortly after completing their course. We've crunched the numbers to show you if these immediate prospects are high, medium or low, compared to those studying this subject/s at other universities.

£23,000
low
Average annual salary
86%
low
Employed or in further education
34%
low
Employed in a role where degree was essential or beneficial

Top job areas of graduates

21%
Artistic, literary and media occupations
15%
Sales assistants and retail cashiers
9%
Teaching and educational professionals

What about your long term prospects?

Looking further ahead, below is a rough guide for what graduates went on to earn.

Others in technology

The graph shows median earnings of graduates who achieved a degree in this subject area one, three and five years after graduating from here.

£24k

£24k

Note: this data only looks at employees (and not those who are self-employed or also studying) and covers a broad sample of graduates and the various paths they've taken, which might not always be a direct result of their degree.

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This information comes from the National Student Survey, an annual student survey of final-year students. You can use this to see how satisfied students studying this subject area at this university, are (not the individual course).

This is the percentage of final-year students at this university who were "definitely" or "mostly" satisfied with their course. We've analysed this figure against other universities so you can see whether this is high, medium or low.

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This information is from the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA), for undergraduate students only.

You can use this to get an idea of who you might share a lecture with and how they progressed in this subject, here. It's also worth comparing typical A-level subjects and grades students achieved with the current course entry requirements; similarities or differences here could indicate how flexible (or not) a university might be.

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Post-six month graduation stats:

This is from the Destinations of Leavers from Higher Education Survey, based on responses from graduates who studied the same subject area here.

It offers a snapshot of what grads went on to do six months later, what they were earning on average, and whether they felt their degree helped them obtain a 'graduate role'. We calculate a mean rating to indicate if this is high, medium or low compared to other universities.

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Graduate field commentary:

The Higher Education Careers Services Unit have provided some further context for all graduates in this subject area, including details that numbers alone might not show

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The Longitudinal Educational Outcomes dataset combines HRMC earnings data with student records from the Higher Education Statistics Agency.

While there are lots of factors at play when it comes to your future earnings, use this as a rough timeline of what graduates in this subject area were earning on average one, three and five years later. Can you see a steady increase in salary, or did grads need some experience under their belt before seeing a nice bump up in their pay packet?

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