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Sound (Production)

MA

Postgraduate degree

Award
MA Sound (Production)
School/s
Bath School of Music and Performing Arts
Campus or location
Newton Park
Course length
One year full-time or two years part-time.

Entry requirements

Entry requirements for our postgraduate courses vary. We're generally looking for a good honours degree or equivalent. Some courses also require an interview or the submission of a portfolio of work.

Please contact our admissions team for more information: admissions@bathspa.ac.uk.

Develop your own sonic signature through this forward-thinking music and sound production course.

  • Take a contemporary, wide-ranging approach to sound production and create work with an authentic voice.
  • Join a vibrant MA Sound community, where you’ll be supported to pursue your individual interests and aspirations.
  • Develop an industry-standard portfolio of sound-based work to take into the next stage of your career.

Are you an aspiring musician, composer or producer? MA Sound (Production) is designed to enable you to refine your craft and build a professional portfolio to help you thrive in the sound and music industry.

Working alongside fellow students and specialist staff, you’ll be able to take an interdisciplinary approach to sound production that encompasses contemporary electronic, experimental, and urban music. You’ll get the chance to explore advanced production and recording techniques, mixing, mastering and engineering. While the course has a music production focus, it also covers key areas of practice such as:

  • composing for film and visual media
  • soundscape and field recording
  • spatial audio.

You won’t be expected to cover all of these areas. Instead, you’ll be able to use the course to develop an individually-tailored portfolio of skills, experience, and industry-standard work.

What you'll learn

Overview

Join a community of students and staff working across a suite of Music and Sound courses, including related pathways in Sound (Design) and Sound (Composition and Sonic Art).

Our postgraduate sound production course covers aesthetic considerations, technology, and the skills used in modern audio production. You’ll develop work within your areas of interest, without stylistic boundaries, and we’ll encourage you to collaborate with related fields of practice, to expand your practice.

Course structure

Trimester one

At the beginning of this music production degree, you’ll focus on making new work by developing your skills and exploring the contexts in which you work. You begin two modules which run across trimesters one and two. These modules support you over an extended period, focusing on core technical skills and the mutually beneficial links between research and practice. These support the core module, in which you produce a prototype portfolio of creative work.

The Sound Skills module is built on the idea that you’ll already have a set of core technical skills that underpin your practice. The module offers you opportunities to extend your capabilities. You can choose a set of projects from a large number of options – these cover skills right across the Sound (Design), Sound (Production), and Sound (Composition and Sonic Arts) pathways and include (optional) elements of multimedia.

The Research and Practice module helps you interrogate your own practice and think about how it relates to current artistic and cultural contexts, drawing on our programme of visiting practitioners who discuss their work. Focusing on developing skills in postgraduate-level research and writing, it’s designed to give you the tools to reflect on how you work, what you make, and how it exists in the world. It also helps prepare you for further study as a researcher-practitioner if you continue to a PhD.

The Creative Portfolio module focuses on developing your individual practice as a producer or composer/producer. Seminars will explore a wide range of contemporary practice relevant to your area of specialism, focusing on the technical and aesthetic aspects of work by current practitioners. The module particularly emphasises a critical understanding of developments in contemporary thought in sound/music, and its related areas.

Through the module you’ll produce a portfolio of production studies, drawing on your own priorities and interests as a creative practitioner, informed by engagement with other ideas and work.

The seminars investigate how music and sound production has developed far beyond a means of reproduction, toward a narrative ‘language’ that is constructed to portray ‘meaning’ for the listener. You’ll listen critically, discuss, and create studies in production. All this allows you to explore notions of genre, the relationships between pieces, and how to produce and stage sound technically and creatively, according to modern practices. 

Trimester two

In the second trimester, you’ll develop an advanced creative project for the Production Project. This will reflect on your development process and outcomes in order to keep pushing your personal development and professional skills. Whilst the module assessment is set by us, the content of the assessments will be defined and directed by you.

You’ll continue to explore new ways of working through the Sound Skills module, and complete your Research and Practice module with a project summarising the contextual artistic research you’ve undertaken.

Trimester three

While most postgraduate courses include a dissertation, MA Sound (Production) culminates with a large-scale practical project, supported by a reflective journal. The project will allow you to develop your own individual and original research area through your practice. The exact nature of this work will be negotiated with the module leader. You’ll be able to use it to develop a body of practical work which will serve as a substantial portfolio for the next stage in your career.

Course modules

This course includes or offers the following modules. Please check the programme document for more information on which modules are core, required or optional.

  • Sound Skills
  • Practice and Research
  • Creative Portfolio
  • Presenting Practice
  • Advanced Audio Workflows
  • Production Project
  • Major Project
How will I be assessed?

Our aim is for you to build an extensive portfolio of composition and production. For this reason, the majority of assessment is based on your practical coursework.

Some practical projects are accompanied by short, informal written assignments. For the Research and Practice module, you’ll produce a more substantial paper which helps you investigate your interests as an artist and understand the contexts in which you work.

How will I be taught?

You’ll be taught through a mix of lectures, workshops, seminars and online study materials. Throughout the year we bring in composers, sound artists and industry professionals to talk about their work and deepen your knowledge and understanding of current contexts.

The Major Project is taught through individual tutorials, where the focus will be entirely on your own practice. In the Sound Skills module we make use of a ‘flipped classroom’ model, where you independently work through online materials at your own pace, supported by weekly seminars and workshops with tutors.

To find out more about how we teach and how you'll learn, please read our Learning and Teaching Delivery Statement.

Opportunities

Work placements, industry links and internships

We have good links with sound-related industries and have regular guest speaker visits from industry practitioners, including Bath Spa Alumni, during the year.

Careers

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 sound production roles are required alongside broader practice in sound, music and other media.

Potential roles include:

  • artist/producer
  • mixing engineer
  • mastering engineer
  • sound designer
  • sound library content creator
  • sound artist
  • composer for film, TV and games
  • music label professional
  • software developer.

The course also provides the breadth necessary for teaching, and provides the basis required for PhD research and beyond.

Adobe Creative Campus

Develop a wealth of indispensable digital skills that you can take into your future career. One of only three Adobe Creative Campuses in the UK, we provide all Bath Spa students with access to the full Adobe Creative Suite, giving you the tools to communicate creatively, whatever your course or chosen professional field.   

Facilities and resources

Where the subject is taught

Based at our Newton Park Campus, you’ll have access to a range of specialist music and sound resources, as well as other University services, venues and facilities. 

Resources
  • Commons building, with its superb classroom facilities, social spaces, and specialist digital resources.
  • Musiclab Studios with three control rooms and a live recording room.
  • Audio Mixing booths.
  • Recording studios with two control rooms with live recording room.
  • Post Production facilities, including:
    • two high-end equipped audio surround suites
    • audio editing suites
    • Foley and dialogue recording room
    • surround viewing theatre
    • video editing/colour grading suites
    • two TV studios.
  • Mac workstation room with networked music technology labs with high-spec workstations, running core software including Ableton, Pro Tools, Logic, MAX/MSP, and Adobe.
  • Michael Tippett Centre, housing a purpose-built concert hall with excellent acoustics and PA.
  • University Theatre.
  • Newton Park Library, including a large collection of books, periodicals and CDs with extensive eBook and online journal access.
  • Writing and Learning Centre, which provides support for your academic work, including feedback on written drafts and other help with academic writing.
  • English Language Unit, which can help you improve your English, reach your full potential and boost your confidence.
  • Virtual Learning Environment, which provides online access to learning materials such as lecture slides, assessment information, discussion boards and other resources.
  • Access to our free equipment loan service, which provides a huge variety including field recording, film and other audio related equipment.
  • Access to thousands of business, design and tech courses online via LinkedIn Learning.

Fees

2024 entry
Student Annual tuition fee
UK full time £8,825
UK part time £4,413*
International full time £17,065

Fee notes

*Fee shown is for part time study over two years, although some courses may be available over longer periods.

Interested in applying?

What we look for in potential students

We’re looking for creative individuals who have proven experience in sound and music production or composition.

Typical offers

Generally we look for a good honours degree or higher. Often this will be in music, music technology, audio production or another closely related field. However, we accept applicants with other degrees where they can demonstrate relevant experience. We make offers based on your previous experience, which may be conditional on completing current courses, or unconditional. See our Accreditation of Prior Learning (APL) web page to learn more.

How do I apply?

Ready to apply? Click the "apply now" button in the centre of this page.

Need more guidance? Head to our how to apply pages.

Application and portfolio guidance

Your application should be accompanied by a portfolio of creative work. The nature of this portfolio will depend on the work you make, but is likely to contain a mix of music production, produced music as an artist/producer, and potentially creative and technical work across film sound design, multimedia sound, sound installation work, or similar. It’s easiest to put the materials in a folder (Dropbox, Google Drive etc.) with a document listing what it contains, and links to any external work online.

Typically, a portfolio consists of two or three pieces. Above all, we’ll be looking for the creative use of sound in your work.

Please email the course leader if you have any questions about the course, and don’t forget to book an Open Day so that you can meet us in person and take a tour of our facilities.

Guidance for international students

Just like our domestic applicants, international students are asked to submit an online application portfolio (see above). An online meeting with the course leader can be arranged if you have questions about the course. Further information will be provided on application. 

When to apply

Many of our postgraduate courses have a limited number of student spaces. To avoid the disappointment of the course being full, we recommend that you apply now.

Late applications (generally those made after 31 July) will only be considered if places remain on the course.

Need more information or still have questions? Contact us to discuss your situation.

Course leader: Jan Meinema
Email: j.meinema@bathspa.ac.uk

Website feedback to web@bathspa.ac.uk