Creative Music Technology (Games and Interactive Media) with Professional Placement Year
Bath Spa University
UCAS Code: J933 | Bachelor of Arts (with Honours) - BA (Hons)
Entry requirements
A level
Overall Grades BBC-CCC including Music/ Music Technology or related subject
Access to HE Diploma
Typical offers for applicants with Access to HE will be the Access to HE Diploma or Access to HE Certificate (60 credits, 45 of which must be Level 3, including 30 at merit or higher) accepted along with evidence of experience of Music Technology.
International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme
A minimum of 27 points required along with evidence of experience of Music Technology.
Pearson BTEC Level 3 National Extended Diploma (first teaching from September 2016)
Extended Diploma in Creative Music Technology grades Distinction, Merit, Merit (DMM) accepted.
UCAS Tariff
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Perform an audition
Present a portfolio
About this course
Console, computer and mobile gaming are now as common a recreational activity as watching movies or listening to music. The UK gaming industry is reported to be growing exponentially, and exciting developments continue in the growing interactive web and media content scene.
Creative Music Technology (Games and Interactive Media) is designed to give you industry-standard skills and confidence in sound, music and audio production for gaming and interactive media content. This includes the creation of innovative sound effects, musical composition and orchestration, voice recording and audio post-production.
Great sound design has the ability to enhance the gaming experience while creating emotional narrative and dynamic impact. Gain valuable insights into sound design, composition and dialogue on this specialist programme.
You'll source original sound through Foley-studio style recording, synthesis, and location or site-specific sound capture. Within gaming, music composition ranges from traditional orchestration and arranging through to more abstract, electronic or urban production. You'll explore composition and the dialogue/voiceover recording and editing that often complements it. You'll also learn audio post-production skills such as editing, processing, producing and mixing, with a strong focus on the techniques used to implement this audio content into interactive game environments through industry-standard software known as Middleware.
**More about the Professional Placement Year**
A Professional Placement Year (PPY), traditionally known as a sandwich year, is where a student undertakes a period of work with an external organisation for between 9-13 months. The placement occurs between the students' second and third years of undergraduate study. Students can engage in up to 3 placements to make up the total time and are required to source the placement(s) themselves with support from the Careers & Employability Team.
Our goal in designing this course is to give you the freedom to explore creatively, while instilling the technical skills you'll need to forge a career in this exciting industry. As your studies progress, you'll collaborate on industry style projects, offering insights into team working and responding to a game designer or director's brief. Collaborations with students across other areas such as Creative Computing, Acting and Music (game designers, voice actors, producers and musicians) are encouraged.
Modules
Year 1
Build the foundations. We'll encourage you to continue to explore and grow your existing creative activities alongside important practical and interpretive skills. You'll explore topics such as audio recording and production, sound design, critical listening, and the relationship between music/sound and game/moving image.
Year 2
Take your skills and creativity into the professional arena. You'll attend a series of high-level industry guest lectures and engage in collaborative opportunities with external professionals, an internship or an industry placement. You'll also be guided toward greater technical competence in the core areas of sound design and critical listening, and undertake a collaborative project with game designers on the Creative Computing (Games) course.
Year 3
Professional Placement Year
Year 4
Specialise. A number of creative and industry-level optional modules will enable you to select a specialised route to support your creative and professional aspirations. You'll combine interactive audio and professional game design in dedicated projects. You'll also design, develop and present a large-scale project, which takes the place of the traditional dissertation on this programme. All third-year assignments are designed to be the foundation of your professional portfolio, and may be used publicly to promote your skills.
Assessment methods
The vast majority of assessment is through coursework, with most assignments aiming to develop your professional portfolio. We're also committed to developing your communication skills as a way of empowering you to discuss your own work and the work of others. Tutors are always available to support assignments and particular assessment style preferences if needed.
You'll learn through a combination of lectures, music lab workshops, large and small group seminars, individual tutorials, online delivery and self-directed study. The majority of taught sessions are in specialised spaces such as music studios, audio suites and fully equipped computer labs that will give you individual access to your own workstation with relevant software and audio materials provision. Access to specialist rooms such as the recording studios and our comprehensive equipment hire system allows you to work on coursework and undertake directed and private study.
Tuition fees
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The Uni
Bath Spa University
School of Music and Performing Arts
What students say
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Music
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Most popular A-Levels studied (and grade achieved)
After graduation
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Looking further ahead, below is a rough guide for what graduates went on to earn.
Performing arts
The graph shows median earnings of graduates who achieved a degree in this subject area one, three and five years after graduating from here.
£14k
£16k
£22k
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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