Music and Sound Production [with Foundation Year]
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About this course
**Build foundations for your professional life as a commercial music producer or sound engineer, equipped with the latest techniques and experience in a range of audio production equipment.**
Create a diverse portfolio of work that will prepare you for the modern collaborative creative industries, whether you want to make soundtracks for films and games, manage sound for podcasts and live broadcasts, or perform as a DJ.
Our BA (Hons) Music and Sound Production degree will allow you access to industry-standard equipment for recording, mixing, editing and production, giving you valuable practice in working as a professional producer or sound engineer.
As well as advancing your understanding of digital audio theory, MIDI, and sound synthesis, you’ll move beyond move beyond the native mixers, processors and plugins in commercial DAWs towards higher-quality external processors, such as digital signal processing-based plugins and analogue outboard.
As a student at ARU in Cambridge, many of your modules will be shared with our other music courses, giving you the chance to collaborate with different students and develop all-important skills for your professional life, such as teamworking and time management. You’ll also have opportunities to work with students on our film and computer game degrees, creating soundtracks for their projects.
Our optional modules allow you to shape the course for your chosen career. For example, Music Business will develop and broaden your entrepreneurial skills for the modern music industry, with teaching by professionals who have extensive industry experience, and visiting speakers contributing specialist knowledge. Electronics for Music will introduce you to the analysis and design of electronic circuits, small-signal and power amplifiers, and the problems of noise, interference and distortion, helping you evaluate, select, design and test audio electronic equipment for use in your creative projects.
You can even opt for a placement year between years 2 and 3 to get ahead in the creative industries.
The UK music industry contributed £5.8 billion to the UK economy in 2019 – up 11% from £5.2 billion in 2018. (PRS for Music)
**Professional facilities**
All our music students have access to:
- Five climate-controlled recording studios featuring analogue-digital hybrid studio set ups and two mixing suites, all equipped with Pro Tools, Logic and outboard hardware recording equipment (Neve, Universal Audio, Audient, SSL); and an audio-visual studio
- A spacious recital hall, band rooms and practice rooms
- Electronic and orchestral instruments; five grand pianos, including a Steinway Model D; synthesisers; traditional instruments from India, China and Africa; a Balinese Gamelan
- An impressive inventory of professionally rated microphones and recording equipment
- podcast and video capture system
You'll also have access to all our other creative facilities and equipment.
**Careers**
Throughout our BA (Hons) Music and Sound Production degree, you’ll not only develop the latest skills and knowledge for a career as a music producer or sound engineer, but also get the support you need to grow into a confident and creative graduate with a willingness for lifelong learning, and the desire to seek continuing personal and professional development in all aspects of your career.
By the time you graduate, you’ll have built up a professional portfolio of audio production projects that will act as an enhanced CV for you to present to future employers and clients. This might consist of video showreels, commercial music releases, or other demonstrations of your technical expertise, as well as a fully-developed online profile.
Graduation doesn’t need to be the end of your time with us, of course. You might decide to stay at ARU and study for a Masters, such as our MA Music Therapy. Take advantage of our Alumni Scholarship and get 20% off your fees.
Modules
Year 1 core modules: Foundation in Humanities, English, Media, Social Sciences and Education. Year 2 core modules: Music in Context; Electronic Music Composition; Studio Techniques; Music Production. Year 3 core modules: Advanced Audio Technology; Ruskin Module. Year 3 optional modules: Audio for Film; Audio for Games; Composition and Orchestration; Music Business; Electronics for Music. Year 4 core modules: Final Project; Collaborative Project; Portfolio. Modules are subject to change and availability.
Assessment methods
Our open assessment tasks will challenge you to come up with your own creative responses, giving you space for active and creative rehearsals, collaborative experimentation and the development of your own independent work. You’ll also be assessed using different methods and strategies that reflect the wide variety of activities involved in music-making. As well as creative projects, these might include presentations/performance; essays; analytical work; portfolio development; and written and practical exams.
Tuition fees
Select where you currently live to see what you'll pay:
The Uni
Cambridge Campus
Cambridge School of Creative Industries
What students say
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Music
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£12k
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