BSc (Hons) Music and Audio Technology

Course details On this course you will usually be taught by a range of staff with relevant expertise and knowledge appropriate to the content of the unit. This will include senior academic staff, qualified professional practitioners, demonstrators, technicians and research students. You will also benefit from regular guest lectures from industry. Year 1 Core units Synthesis & Effects: Gain an understanding of sound analysis and practical skills in creating sounds. You'll begin building a portfolio of work that you'll add to throughout your course. Composition & Arrangement: Develop your creative skills by crafting musical and audio material. Focusing on critical listening, aural skills and composition basics, you'll learn to work with musicians in a creative context. Production Techniques 1: An introduction to creating music using computer technology. You'll become familiar with production software and learn how to use these creatively. Studio Techniques 1: The principles of studio techniques for recording, covering areas such as signal flow, gain structure and dynamic processors. Software Programming for Digital Media: Acquire the fundamental computer programming skills needed for developing music apps and web based audio solutions. Creative Business Awareness: An overview of the Creative Technology Industry and how businesses of different sizes work in this sector. You'll take part in business simulations and develop a range of professional skills like working in a team, project management, presentation and information communication. Year 2 You'll begin to specialise according to your degree title. Other units will be common to both courses. Core units Synthesizers & Sequencing Systems: You'll extend skills and understanding of creating audio using a sequencer and MIDI instruments. You'll learn how MIDIs are used and its relationship to sequencing musical compositions. You'll also explore advanced synthesis techniques and create your own synthesizers. Software Programming for Music & Audio: There will be a focus object oriented design, coding techniques, software debugging and performance profiling. You'll learn methods for coding algorithms. Digital Audio Signal Processing: The foundation of modern music and audio technology. You'll develop the intellectual skills needed for sampled signal analysis and time processing models. Recording and Acoustics: You'll use various various recording practices for the capturing of acoustic and electronic sources, using advanced stereo and multiple microphone recording technique, including the creation, recording and post-production of audio and video. There will be a focus on current techniques used in the industry. Creative Practices: On this unit you will develop and apply a broad range of skills in the context of creating and presenting practice-based projects. This will equip you with the necessary skills for effective communication, the ability to work as part of a team and project management skills. Commercial Business Environment: An opportunity to develop commercial and professional skills for operating a business in the Creative Industry. The unit incorporates teamwork on simulated business projects. Year 3 (Placement) You will normally complete a 30-week minimum work placement which can be carried out anywhere in the world. You'll get an opportunity to include a period of academic study during this time. The placement year offers a chance to gain experience and make contacts for the future. Previous students have completed placements at Walt Disney and The Royal Shakespeare Company. You can exceptionally take a short 8 week placement, subject to agreement by the Placements Panel. Year 4 (Final year) Core units Individual Project: An opportunity to use what you've learnt to develop multimedia, network and business systems. You'll use strategies to help you with research, synthesis, realization and evaluation, and present your project using oral, written and modelling skills. Creative Music Technology: Improve your knowledge of key developments in music technology research and use cutting-edge technologies creatively. Mobile Creative Applications Development: Sound and software programming for creating audio applications and interfaces for mobile platforms. Innovation & Business Development: You'll create innovative business ideas, and learn how to manage your own business. Scheduled learning and teaching activities Contact hours The hours below give an indication of how you can expect to spend your time during each year of this course. You will learn through a combination of lectures, seminars, tutorials, workshops and practical sessions. Your independent learning could include reading books and journal articles, working on group projects, preparing presentations, conducting library research and writing your assignments. Year 1 – 28% of your time will be spent in timetabled learning & teaching activities Learning and teaching: 336 hours Independent learning: 864 hours Non-credit bearing learning and teaching: 14 hours Year 2 – 31% of your time will be spent in timetabled learning & teaching activities Learning and teaching: 382 hours Independent learning: 818 hours Non-credit bearing learning and teaching: 7 hours Year 3 - Placement year. 0% of your time will be spent in timetabled learning & teaching activities Year 3 - 16% of your time will be spent in timetabled learning & teaching activities Learning and teaching: 224 hours Independent learning: 976 hours Non-credit bearing learning and teaching: 7 hours 59% of the course is assessed by coursework Year 1: 51% Year 2: 83% Year 3: 0% (placement year) Final year: 100% Throughout the course you will be assessed by coursework culminating in your final year research project, but you will also undertake group work and written exams. Programme specification Programme specifications provide definitive records of the University's taught degrees in line with Quality Assurance Agency requirements. Every taught course leading to a BU Award has a programme specification which describes its aims, structure, content and learning outcomes, plus the teaching, learning and assessment methods used. Download the programme specification for BSc (Hons) Music & Audio Technology. Whilst every effort is made to ensure the accuracy of the programme specification, the information is liable to change to take advantage of exciting new approaches to teaching and learning as well as developments in industry. If you have been unable to locate the programme specification for the course you are interested in, it will be available as soon as the latest version is ready. Alternatively please contact us for assistance. 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