Our Digital Music and Sound Arts MA is aimed at graduate and professional artists who are interested in exploratory, experimental and interdisciplinary approaches to sound, music, AV media, and sound arts practices and productions.
The course enables students to address new developments in digital music and sound arts and the role of sound in contemporary culture in its widest sense. It is structured around a framework for developing advanced practices relevant to artistic and commercial contexts, and for potential researchers wishing to further their research-based practice.
Through creative practice-based research students will engage with musical composition and sound design productions, as well as focusing on the relationship of sound to other art forms and related media key areas including:
Through creative practice-based research students will engage with musical composition and sound design productions. Studies will place particular emphasis on the relationship of sound to other art forms and related media key areas including:
Modules
Some modules are shared with students from the Digital Media, Culture and Society MA, and the Digital Media Arts MA, enabling a cross pollination of ideas and strategies.
Students have access to high-end equipment, resources and expert staff support, including:
The course emphasises the creative exploration of sound in the context of both new creative industries and contemporary arts practices. Students are encouraged to develop a strong portfolio preparing them for professional opportunities as creative specialists or researchers, who can move across different fields of practice and respond to conceptual and technical innovations with imaginative solutions.
*New for 2017, subject to final approval.
The MA in Sound Design is a forward thinking course, which invites you to explore the creative use of sound within film and other visual media at an advanced level. The course focuses on the more creative aspects of sound design and post-production while providing you with the necessary technical skills.
You’ll develop your work within your areas of interest without stylistic boundaries. The content areas include:
• Sound editing (production audio, dialogue/ADR, SFX, music)
• The language and aesthetics of sound design (narrative, dramaturgy)
• Foley
• Field recording
• Sound sculpting and processing
• Working with directors
• Post-production workflows
• Dubbing
• Surround sound
• VR audio
• Industry deliverables
The course delivers a mixture of advanced technical skills related to sound design and audio post production for film and other visual media. It also provides creatively-oriented insights into contemporary sound design practice and encourages students to push the boundaries of the field. Subject areas include:
• Sound sculpting, processing and synthesis
• The language and aesthetics of sound design
• Storytelling and dramaturgy
MA Sound Design is part of a suite of postgraduate courses available across music and sound, operating alongside ‘sister’ pathways in Sound Production and Sound Arts, which allow further specialism in these areas.
For more information on the course structure, please go to: https://www.bathspa.ac.uk/courses/pg-sound-design/
In trimester one, you'll gain the skills you’ll need to fulfil the rest of the course. The Skills Portfolio module is built on the idea that you’ll already have technical skills in this area. It therefore allows you to choose a handful of skills projects from a large number of options – these cover skills right across the Sound Arts, Sound Design and Sound Production pathways and include (optional) elements of multimedia.
The Research Methodology and Context module develops skills in postgraduate-level research and writing.
In trimester two, the core module is the Sound Design Practice module. It explores the creative and practical application of Sound Design within a visual narrative and storytelling context.
Alongside this core module, you’ll be offered a wide range of options. The Post Production module explores an industry-level workflow for Audio Post within film and visual media and covers a wide range of associated skillsets. Intertextuality in Sound Production, from the Sound Production pathway, explores the overlap between Urban Music production and what are considered more experimental genres. The Visual Music module, from the Sound Arts pathway, explores the idea that musical thinking can be extended to the visual, and encourages students to develop multimedia projects that explore this idea.
There are also choices in Composition, Performance, Musicology and Professional Practice.
In trimester three, you'll complete the course with a independent research project, compromising of a large-scale practical project, supported by a reflective account.
For more information on modules please visit the course webpage: https://www.bathspa.ac.uk/courses/pg-sound-design/
The delivery of the course involves a mixture of teaching and learning activities, including lectures, workshops, seminars, online study materials and guest speaker sessions.
The workshop / seminar sessions will include ongoing peer review and tutor support opportunities. Some parts of the course are delivered using a ‘flipped classroom’ model, where students independently work through online study materials and tasks, which are followed up by practical support workshops.
The assessment is majorly based around practical coursework, with the aim to build an extensive portfolio of sound design and post production work. Practical coursework is typically supported by a written commentary or evaluation. The Research Methodology and Context module is assessed through a more substantial written paper.
You can use the course to develop an individually-tailored portfolio of skills. This will equip you for the current employment landscape, where a combination of traditional audio post production roles are required alongside broader practice in sound, music and other media.
Our graduates have range of successful careers in production, composition, music for film and TV, sound design for moving image and games, sound art, software development, engineering, further education, higher education and research.
*New for 2017, subject to final approval.
Develop your own signature sound and production style, through this forward-thinking, cutting edge music composition and production course. The MA Sound Production programme is tailored towards individuals who are keen to hone their composition and production skills inside an intertextual and cross-disciplinary framework that pushes at the stylistic boundaries of genre.
The content will cover aesthetic considerations as well as technology and techniques utilised in modern music making. The award is deliberately unbounded by genre and there are opportunities to take an interdisciplinary approach to sound production, including contemporary electronic music, studio and field recording, experimental music and sound design for composition.
The programme encourages interdisciplinary and collaborative working methods with students from the wider music community at Bath Spa, as well as visual media and other departments within the University. While the programme has a music production focus, it also covers key areas of practice such as:
• Sound design
• Electronic music composition
• Soundscape and field recording
• Traditional studio practices
• Sound engineering
• Spatial audio and sound design
• Composition for visual media
You won’t be expected to cover all of these areas. You’ll be able to use the course to develop an individually-tailored portfolio of skills, experience and top-level work across them.
The course is part of a suite of courses available across music and sound, operating alongside ‘sister’ pathways in Sound Design and Sound Arts, which allow further specialism in these areas.
For more information on the 'sister' pathways please refer to the website: https://www.bathspa.ac.uk/courses/pg-sound-production/
In trimester one, you'll gain the skills you’ll need to fulfil the rest of the course. The Skills Portfolio module is built on the idea that you’ll already have technical skills in this area. It therefore allows you to choose a handful of skills projects from a large number of options – these cover skills right across the Sound Arts, Sound Design and Sound Production pathways and include (optional) elements of multimedia.
The Research Methodology and Context module develops skills in postgraduate-level research and writing. It is designed to give you the tools for an onward journey in academia, but not to be, in the colloquial sense, ‘academic’.
In trimester two, you’ll advance the knowledge gained in the the first trimester and begin exploring the intertextual possibilities of music composition. In addition, you’ll develop a creative project that will further extend the work undertaken on the trimester 1 Skills Portfolio module.
The module Intertextuality In Sound Production aims to capture and contextualise emerging trends and innovation at the forefront of sound production and composition, and develop composition skills that extend beyond the limits of genre.
Alongside the Sound Production modules there are additional optional modules that you can study from the other pathways. From the Sound Arts pathway, the Visual Music module explores the idea that musical thinking can be extended to the visual, and encourages students to develop multimedia projects that explore this idea. From the Sound Design pathway the Post Production module explores an industry-level workflow for audio post production for picture.
In trimester three, you'll complete the course with a independent research project. While most Masters level courses consist of a substantial written dissertation component, the MA Sound Production programme focuses more on high-level practical work and the concept of ‘practice as research’ through the creation of a large-scale practical project.
The project will fulfil the same function as the traditional dissertation; you’ll develop individual and original research, but through the creation of a portfolio of works, rather than through the written word.
For more information on modules and course structure please visit the course webpage: https://www.bathspa.ac.uk/courses/pg-sound-production/
Most modules are taught through small-group seminars and workshops, where you’ll benefit from close interaction with tutors and peers. The Major Project and parts of the other modules are taught through individual tutorials where the focus will be entirely on your own practice.
You’ll be assessed entirely on coursework. The majority of this will be practical and creative work, including the dissertation-equivalent Major Project. Some practical projects are accompanied by short informal written assignments, and the for the Research Methodology and Context module you’ll produce a more substantial paper.
You can use the course to develop an individually-tailored portfolio of skills. This will equip you for the current employment landscape, where a combination of traditional music roles are required alongside broader practice in sound and other media.The course also provides the breadth necessary for FE and HE teaching in the field, and provides the basis required for PhD research and beyond.
Something happens when you add sound to an image. And filmmaking depends upon the strength of this relationship. Ultimately it’s what makes a film work – it’s what moves your audience.
MA in Filmmaking (Sound Recording, Post-Production & Design), is housed in a new purpose-built media facility equipped with state-of-the art teaching spaces including a film studio for sound shooting, Pro Tools suites, Audio Postproduction facilities with Foley recording studios, Avid Media Composer, screening rooms and an Avid ISIS SAN network linking all teaching spaces. The new Curzon cinema provides the department with digital projection along with its weekly programme of first-run films.
You'll learn the fundamental technical skills necessary to begin a career in screen sound, both as a location sound recordist and post-production sound designer. But equally importantly, you will gain an understanding of how a film’s narrative relies on the precise partnership between image and sound.
Within this MA programme you'll expand your existing knowledge of sound. Through recording and design you'll investigate what it means to listen with awareness and to translate that experience to your audience. And you'll study how sound is created, how you can manipulate its form, whether it’s natural, synthesised, digitised or analogue, and how to work with sound as a storytelling medium.
The Sound curriculum focuses on the structure of the soundtrack, deconstructing it from its beginnings in pre-production to the final mix, experimenting with the ways in which different components (dialogue, atmospheres, sound effects, music) allow an audience to engage with a film’s story. Through iterative exercises, group reviews and regular feedback, you gain the awareness and ability to construct soundtracks that interpret stories through sound.
As a sound specialist you work on one film each term, ending with a major production. You learn about related fields such as directing, editing, producing and documentary, and work with students across specialisms within Goldsmiths Screen School. As well as developing your awareness of the discipline and learning software such as Pro Tools, the Options modules provide the opportunity to learn the concepts and debates informing the wider filmmaking industry. This means you have the chance to explore your craft with other filmmakers and get used to the unique dynamics of the industry
You'll also benefit from guest lecturers who bring their professional expertise into our classrooms. Last year, specialist classes featured Oscar-winning sound recordist Ray Beckett (The Hurt Locker), film/TV sound editor Adele Fletcher (The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus) and composer Stuart Earl (The Secret Agent, Lilting).
In addition, MA Filmmaking students collaborate with composers and players from Goldsmiths’ Department of Music who offer a wide range of musical styles from classical to electronic to popular.
Pro Tools tuition is offered to all Sound Recording, Post-Production & Design pathway students giving you the opportunity to achieve Pro Tools Certified User accreditation.
This MA doesn’t just deal with technique and technology and it’s not about objective theory. We explore the space in between. Not only do we want you to acquire the skills and understanding to follow a career in professional filmmaking but also we prepare you to use your new-found expertise in the wider world of media and the arts.
You work in depth on at least one film per term in your specialist role, culminating in a major production towards the end of the degree. You will also lead and take part in a number of other sound-based and music-based projects in Screen Lab. This collaborative framework is designed to stimulate collaborative practice by providing you with a breadth of filmmaking knowledge combined with a high level of expertise in sound recording and design.
For two terms you will spend a full day a week in specialised contact with your specific programme convenor, plus a further day in Screen Lab working with colleagues across the programme in a Talent Campus-style project-led learning structure with:
You will also have a variety of research projects to undertake, as well as other module options.
The third term will be taken up with your final substantive project, and in writing up a process paper on your work and research over the year.
Screen Lab
You will also advance your collaborative skills by working in teams with fiction and documentary producers and directors, edit, cinematography and music students, on a variety of projects and at least three scheduled films across the year.
You will leave the programme with a diverse portfolio of performed work that may span a variety of formats – music video, web series drama, documentary, campaign/commercial, experimental art pieces and feature-scale short fiction films.
Screen School options
As well as your Sound Recording, Post-Production & Design specialism, you will undertake three short courses to enhance your other skills and critical approaches.
The programme is a gateway to any career that involves sound, particularly those that concentrate on narrative storytelling. Our graduates go on to work in a range of fields from film, theatre, radio, and web design, to advertising, documentary, and animation.
Find out more about employability at Goldsmiths.
The Masters in Sound Design & Audiovisual Practice provides advanced training in creative practice with sound and audiovisual technologies. The programme offers topics relevant to practicing musicians, artists, and the creative industries, such as sound shaping and design, audiovisual composition, field recording, creative and experimental approaches to technology, live performance, interdisciplinary perspectives on sound, and sonic aesthetics. You then develop an individual portfolio of sonic and audiovisual artwork based on your particular skills and interests.
The programme aims to:
The MSc comprises 180 credits as follows:
Semester 1 compulsory courses (60 credits):
Semester 2 compulsory courses (40 credits):
Semester 2 option (one 20 credit course chosen from):
Additionally you will produce an individual creative portfolio over the summer (60 credits).
Teaching methods include small group tutorials, seminars and workshops, lab and studio sessions, and individual guidance meetings.
The attributes you gain will be attractive to employers from the creative industries, and are particularly relevant for contemporary music, sound design and sound production, games, theatre, film and television. Many of our graduates undertake successful portfolio careers as artists and sound practitioners in their own right. The programme also offers an excellent foundation upon which to progress to PhD studies and an academic career.
In the MA for Sound Arts you will explore sound as a creative medium at an advanced level, and focus on the areas that interest you most. We’ll help you develop the technical skills you need, but the course is about sound more than technology, and values lo-tech and no-tech as much as the latest technological developments.
You can work in any music genre, and/or cover areas such as soundscape recording and sound design, interactive audio (for applications such as live performance, gaming, VR, immersive environments and installations), spatial audio, hardware/software (instrument) design and interdisciplinary practice incorporating other media.
The course caters for those working in a wide variety of music genres, and at the same time also covers areas of practice such as soundscape recording and sound design, interactive audio, spatial audio, hardware/software design and interdisciplinary practice incorporating other media. Most students won’t cover all of these areas, but will use the course to develop an individually-tailored portfolio of skills, experience and top-level work across them.
Most students won’t cover all of these areas, but will use the course to develop an individually-tailored portfolio of skills, experience and top-level work across them. We believe this to be appropriate to the current employment landscape where many combine traditional roles in music with broader practice in sound and other media. The course also provides the breadth necessary for FE and HE teaching in this field, and provides a basis where required for PhD research and beyond.
In trimester one, you'll gain the skills you’ll need to fulfil the rest of the course. The Skills Portfolio module is built on the idea that you’ll already have technical skills in this area. It therefore allows you to choose a handful of skills projects from a large number of options – these cover skills right across the Sound Arts, Sound Design and Sound Production pathways and include (optional) elements of multimedia.
The Research Methodology and Context module develops skills in postgraduate-level research and writing.
In trimester two, you'll study the Sonic Architecture module. This is intended as an expansion of traditional music composition teaching, where the aesthetic aspects of individual work will be examined and developed.
Alongside this core module, you’ll be offered a wide range of options.The Visual Music module explores the idea that musical thinking can be extended to the visual. Intertextuality in Sound Production, from the Sound Production pathway, explores the overlap between Urban Music production. Post Production, from the Sound Design pathway, explores an industry-level workflow for Audio Post for picture.
There are also choices in Composition, Performance, Musicology and Professional Practice.
In trimester three, you'll complete the course with a independent research project, compromising of a large-scale practical project. Allowing you to develop your own individual and original research area.
For detailed information on modules, please visit the course webpage: https://www.bathspa.ac.uk/courses/pg-sound-arts/
Most modules are taught through small-group seminars and workshops, where you’ll benefit from close interaction with tutors and peers. The Major Project and parts of the other modules are taught through individual tutorials where the focus will be entirely on your own practice.
You’ll be assessed entirely on coursework. The majority of this will be practical and creative work, including the dissertation-equivalent Major Project. Some practical projects are accompanied by short informal written assignments, and for the Research Methodology and Context module you’ll produce a more substantial paper.
Our graduates have range of successful careers in production, composition, music for film and TV, sound design for moving image and games, sound art, software development, engineering, further education, higher education and research.
MA Sound is a new course – this is based on MMus Creative Sound and Media Technology, which is its predecessor.
For information on facilities and resources, please go to our website: https://www.bathspa.ac.uk/courses/pg-sound-arts/
This programme is targeted at individuals interested in exploring the domain of sound in the wider context of new media theory and technology. It is strongly interdisciplinary and course content ranges from the study of film sound to interactive audio design, sound installation and web design.
This programme will provide you with knowledge, skill and understanding in a range of sound design situations both commercial and experimental. Graduates of the programme will be armed with professional, practical, analytical and critical skills to take into sound-related industries or on towards further academic study such as a PhD.
The Reid Studio is our new surround-sound mixing and production studio, and our Russolo Room offers industry-standard recording equipment and software. Our Sound Lab, which hosts a number of fully equipped workstations, is available for your use.
Students will attend a combination of lectures, seminars, tutorials and practical sessions supported with occasional input from external professionals in the field of sound design and related areas.
Students who follow this programme will:
Thanks to the rich cross-disciplinary course of study this programme provides, you will graduate with advanced skills in multimedia, audio production, post-production and other digital technologies which are applied to sound design. These skills will allow you to take on commissions in professional sound design, or pursue your own creative path.
You will also gain a wide variety of transferable skills, such as research, teamwork and communication that will increase your employability.
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