BA (Hons) Music Technology (Audio Post Production) with Foundation Year

Bachelor's degree

In City of London

£ 9,250 + VAT

Description

  • Type

    Bachelor's degree

  • Location

    City of london

  • Duration

    4 Years

Course summary
This London College of Music's music technology course represents over two decades of development and experience. The flagship course has become the core on which our other music technology courses are based. It has an enviable resource base, making us one of the largest audio complexes in Europe.

This course is both practical and theoretical, it is designed to give you the opportunity to explore and develop creative techniques to produce sound for a range of associated disciplines including:
foley
dialogue replacement
sound-design
recording production sound on location.
The Audio Post Production pathway will also explore workflows for mixing and editing in a range of areas, from film through to animation and gaming.

Facilities

Location

Start date

City of London (London)
See map
St Mary's Rd, W5 5RF

Start date

On request

About this course

Entry requirements
You must have:
72 UCAS tariff points at Level 3, which would normally include at least two relevant subject areas
plus GCSE English and mathematics at grade C or above.
If you do not have traditional qualifications for university study, we will consider you application on its merits.
You are also required to hold a Level 3 Music Technology qualification or alternatively can provide a portfolio.
International students need to meet our English language requirement at either IELTS at 6.0 or above and a minimum of 5.5 for each of the 4 individual components (Reading,...

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Subjects

  • Staff
  • Animation
  • Music Technology
  • Design
  • Sound
  • Music Industry
  • Post Production
  • Sound Design
  • Project
  • Technology
  • Industry
  • Writing
  • Media
  • Music
  • Critical Thinking
  • Musical
  • Production

Course programme

Course detail
Course overview
The Audio Post Production pathway of the BA (Hons) Music Technology aims to provide you with both practical knowledge and an understanding of established industry conventions and concepts.

Foundation Year (Level 3)

Critical Thinking and Academic Performance
Personalised Learning
Sound Production Workshop
Project Studio
Digital Skills
Introduction to Contemporary Production Studies.
Year One (Level 4)
Contemporary Production Studies
Creative Music Technology 1
Music Industry Structures 1
Music for Media
Sound Practice
Sound Theory.
Year Two (Level 5)
Creative Music Technology 2
Contemporary Production Studies 2
Working in the Music Business
Foley, ADR and Production Sound
Creative Sound and Music for Film and TV.
Plus one option from:
Acoustics
Advanced DAW Practice
Advanced Recording Techniques
Live Electronics.
Year Three (Level 6)
Creative Sound for Games and Animation Audio Post Analysis
Mixing for Audio Post and Industry Workflows
Production-Sound Practice
Sound for Picture (Concepts and Analysis)
Major Project.
Module summaries
Foundation Year (Level 3)
Critical Thinking and Academic Performance
This module will focus on academic study skills and critical thinking, equipping you to become confident, independent learners. Using a scenario-based model, the module will include (among other aspects):
research skills
referencing skills
reasoning and critical thinking
note taking
reading effectively for purpose.
The module will also cover academic writing, although a more focused approach to academic writing will be available in the Personalised Learning module.
Personalised Learning
This module is designed to cater to your personalised needs and allows you to create a highly personalised learning action plan. The module will be structured around a needs analysis undertaken at the start of the year with your personal tutor. It will comprise a combination of one common element: ‘Me@UWL’ together with a selected range of half day workshops, derived from a menu, according to your individual learning needs.

Sound Production Workshop
This module covers:
Single flow, live sound and recorded sound workshops in class
Setting up and using basic analogue sound equipment.
Project Studio
This module covers:
Practical MIDI, sampling and synthesis
Computer and software setup
Drum machines and keys
Setting up a project studio
Introduction to DAW skills
Digital Skills
This module covers:
Video edit - pop video edit
Photoshop - cover art, web graphics
HTML - create band web page
Word Press blog
Introduction to Contemporary Production Studies
Making music involves understanding how it works – the sounds and the structures – and in this module you will examine the way that others have made music and use some of those ideas to make your own productions.
Students will explore:
musical structure
rhythm
melody
harmony
instruments
the way that computers represent those sounds on a screen.
Year One (Level 4)

Contemporary Production Studies 1
This module works in parallel with Sound Theory and Sound Practice to provide Level 4 students with a contextual understanding of popular music from the past century and the ways in which musicians and recordists have worked with recording and instrument technologies to shape the sound of this music during that period. The module runs over both semesters in level 4 and the content will be delivered by alternating, week by week, between a week of analytical and study and a week of ear training.

An understanding of the history of popular music is an essential component of a rounded education in music technology and you will view online lectures and engage with a program of set reading to prepare you for fortnightly, assessed seminar discussions about a range of topics. These will include discussions of musical styles, how they developed and how different technologies affected how they were produced and how they sound. These lectures and discussions will be informed by the research and professional experience of LCM’s outstanding lecturing staff.

In addition, on the alternate weeks, you will engage in ear training exercises that have been designed to coincide with and enhance the knowledge that you will be acquiring through your parallel studies in Sound Theory and Sound Practice. This unique program of ear training explores the musical meaning of various production techniques as well as more conventional ear training in musical features such as instrument recognition, musical form, scales and modes.

Creative Music Technology 1
Sequencing
Sampling
Synthesis.
These terms should excite any aspiring music technologist.

This module explores the rudiments of Music Technology in a creative manner, arming you with the tools and techniques to harness cutting edge hardware and software to sequence music, synthesis sound, and lay a foundation of knowledge and critical awareness in this ever developing field.

Music Industry Structures
This module provides the key provision on the roles of music industry professionals within your course.

Lectures will provide you with a foundation of the roles of music industry professionals within today's global music industry and feature examples of good working practice.

Each lecture in the module will focus on a specific issue or area relevant to today's global music industry practitioners, along with an in-depth analysis of the knowledge and transferable skills required.

The module will also examine key practitioners firm the industry of the past fifty years and the contribution they have made to the business and their continuing influence.

Music for Media
The module aims to give you an overview of the concepts and technologies involved in sound-design and music to picture and the fundamental principles that underpin this practice. You will develop your awareness of the creative potential of sound and music.

Through the assignments you will experience working with sound and music to deliver compositions, which are more than the sum of their parts. This process will also develop listening skills, which are essential for the proper analysis and application of music and sound production. You will develop your appreciation, analysis and critical appraisal of audio.

Sound Practice
Sound Practice runs in parallel with the Sound Theory module, through semesters one and two. It covers all aspects of the recording studio and the recording process. The module will extend the ear-training techniques and examine each component of the studio in detail. In addition, it will address the techniques of recording coupled to the technology, providing each student with a backbone of knowledge designed to help the recording demands of the second year.

Sound Practice is primarily concerned with gaining the skills necessary in the practical use of large-scale studio recording systems. The module assessment strategy will involve producing your first studio recordings. While it is not yet expected that you will be producing recordings of a fully professional standard, obviously, marks will reflect the quality of work and commitment involved.

Sound Theory
You will gain an appreciation of the physical aspects of sound, and how this relates to the practice of recording. You will also receive a grounding in the use of the multi-track studio and attendant equipment.

You will receive a course of practical demonstrations allowing for a greater understanding of audio, both in its recorded and natural states, and how transduction plays a critical role in associated routing procedures. Working closely with the Sound Practice module, you will be comprehensively briefed on fundamental routing procedure in an effort to support the more practical aspects of the music technology course.

Year Two (Level 5)

Creative Music Technology 2
This module will build upon the knowledge and skills you will have acquired during Creative Music Technology 1 at Level 4. This module provides an in-depth exploration of sampled and synthesised sound and electronic music production and technique. You will further discover the historical and creative concerns regarding this broad topic. Participants will endeavour to break free from the preconceptions and stale narratives that plague modern electronic music production and forge their own relationship with creative music technology that will set the stage for the demands of the level 6 modules.

Contemporary Production Studies 2
This module will comprise lectures by members of the LCM staff and doctoral students with seminar discussions to explore the ideas and practices raised in them. Each fortnight a member of staff will give a lecture on their production practice or research. This will range from sequencing, sampling and synthesis techniques to orchestration and arranging for the recording studio; from experimental microphone techniques to the psychoacoustics of mixing audio. LCM staff range from Grammy winning producers to widely published researchers and these lectures will reflect their latest projects from the cutting edge of both professional and research activity.

The week after each lecture, you will participate in small group, seminar discussions exploring the ideas and practices raised in the lecture and informed by some set reading or viewing.

In addition, you will work on a practical production project of your own, negotiated with your module leader, which will demonstrate how you have synthesised knowledge from this broad range of lectures to expand your production ‘tool box’ and the ways in which you think about the production process. As part of this process, you will also create a short video explaining or demonstrating some aspect of what you have learned from this module and how you have applied it in your production project.

Working in the Music Business
This module will introduce you to the fundamental business principles of the UK music industry.

It will explore the range of legal and contractual responsibilities related to the music industry and examine the issues around setting up and operating a business within this field.

Each lecture will focus on key areas including the creation and protection of copyright and the legal framework of the music business. The module will also analyse the mechanics of promotion and income generation and identify the ways of communicating with key industry professionals.

Creative Sound and Music for Film and TV
The module content will be delivered through lectures and tutorial work in progress sessions. Lectures will introduce sound design concepts and practice by analysing artefacts, professional examples and relevant media. You will also learn about processes and techniques, associated workflows and considerations by means of in focus on work in tutorials and development of student work in progress.

Plus one option from:

Acoustics
This module will provide a detailed understanding of the principles of acoustics. The module will develop these principles in the context of studio and concert hall design, specifically focussing on the control of sound in a space to a required specification, and the prevention of interaction between isolated spaces.

The module will also introduce the principles of concert hall design, looking at the specific acoustic requirements for a range of concert and opera halls and also introduce the principles of reinforcement in these performance spaces.

Advanced DAW Practice
The module aim is to build upon core DAW skills and to enable advanced operation of Pro Tools software to produce a computer-based, digital mix of music only projects to a professional standard.

With a strong emphasis on project analysis and problem solving you will become confident in talking on large mixes and challenging editing tasks.

On completing you will be able to speak the language of the DAW and collaborate with producers, engineers and musicians to realise their creative goals.

Advanced Recording Techniques
This module aims to provide you with an enhanced recording experience, exploring a range of advanced techniques that build on the Level 4 recording module. The module concentrates on specific recording elements, focussing on drum, guitar, vocal and acoustic instrument recording, giving you a range of tools and then exploring the most appropriate of those tools for your recordings. The suitability of techniques will be assessed based on target musical sounds and staging, with the influence of the recording space fully considered.

Live Electronics
MaxMSP, Pure DATA, Ableton Live, Eurorack, MIDI & OSC, Arduino, ARM, and Pi are all technologies than can be harnessed for live electronic performance. This module creates systems for real-time musical expression using these technologies.

Year Three (Level 6)

Creative Sound for Games and Animation Audio Post Analysis
The module content will be delivered through lectures, computer lab and studio-based tutorial sessions. Lectures will introduce sound design concepts and practice by analysing commercial examples.

You will also learn about game audio technologies and associated production workflows and considerations by means of in-class demonstrations.

Mixing for Audio Post and Industry Workflows
Module content will consist of a combination of lectures and tutorials detailing the necessary processes required to mix and deliver audio-to-picture content for all major contemporary formats.

With a strong emphasis on working to industry-defined standards, example projects will be analysed during lectures and undertaken as weekly tutorial tasks by you.

Production-Sound Practice
You will study production sound practice and location recording skills, with post-production applications specific to a production-sound recording and with an emphasis upon Foley, ADR and Wild Tracks.

The main teaching and learning methods for the Production Sound module will be based upon practical tutor led workshops, in an appropriate teaching/studio environment. There will also be the opportunity for individual tutorials with the lecturer. You are expected to engage in both individual and group based studio work.

Major Project
The Major Project module is an individually negotiated and self-managed undertaking and as such has little prescribed module content. However the generic characteristics such as the learning outcomes, the timetable and assessment strategies will largely remain the same for all.

The module will commence with a series of sessions focusing on key aspects necessary for success in the undertaking of the project namely:
organisational skills
managing resources
planning research
engaging in professional practice.
You are encouraged to make contact with staff with whom you would like to work to act as your academic supervisor.

There are various stages of development that must be completed by set deadlines on this module, these will include:
a 'pitch' presentation to a panel,
development of a proposal
development and realisation of the agreed project
research and extended critical analysis of the artefact and the production process.
During the development of the project you must keep a record of all personal and professional development issues. This should include key critical decisions and the subsequent actions considered and taken following reflection. This document is intended to act as a record of events and occurrences. Consistent and dedicated documentation of your progress will act as an aide memoire when writing the critical evaluation of the finished artefact.

BA (Hons) Music Technology (Audio Post Production) with Foundation Year

£ 9,250 + VAT