BA (Hons) Music Technology (Recording and Production)

Course detail
Modules

Year One
Contemporary Production Studies 1
Creative Music Technology 1
Music for Media
Music Industry Structures
Sound Practice
Sound Theory
Year Two
Contemporary Production Studies 2
Creative Music Technology 2
Working in the Music Business
Recording Tools
Advanced Recording Techniques
Option modules - you choose one of the following:
Acoustics
Advanced DAW Practice
Live Electronics
Creative Sound and Music for Film and TV
Year Three
Major Project
Advanced Production Techniques
Recording Analysis
Advanced Mixing Techniques
Producing Musicians.
Module summaries

Year 1 (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 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.

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 from the industry of the past fifty years and the contribution they have made to the business and their continuing influence.
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 2 (Level 5)
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.

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 they have applied it in their production project.

Creative Music Technology 2
This knowledge builds upon the knowledge and skills acquired during the Creative Music Technology module 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.

Recording Tools
This module aims to provide you with an advanced understanding of the potential of a range of tools regularly used in the process of recording music. The tools will be categorised, with their potential application and influence in sound explored. The module will not only look technically at how sound is manipulated, but also look at wider influences on the delivery, emotion and impact of the tool on the musical event.

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

The module 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.

Optional Module 1: Acoustics
This module will provide a detailed understanding of the principles of acoustics. It 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.

Optional Module 2: 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 taking 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 your creative goals.


Optional Module 3: 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.

Optional Module 4: 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 3 (Level 6)

Advanced Mixing Techniques
This module aims to offer you the chance to build a portfolio of mixed material that builds on the previous module content with additional advanced mix techniques. You will incorporate the content of lecture and seminar material into your work, developing new mix techniques whilst refining existing approaches. The module will also encourage reflection in groups, with small group listening sessions and peer feedback contributing to the module delivery. The module will also continue to develop analytical and listening skills and further enhance the development of an analytical musical language.

Advanced Production Techniques
This module is very closely aligned with the Advanced Electronic Production Techniques module on the Electronic Music Production pathway and Advanced Audio Processing Techniques on the Mixing and Mastering pathway. In addition, all these modules are designed to work in parallel with the Analysis modules on these three pathways. The Advanced Techniques modules study the same topics as the Analysis modules on a weekly basis, looking at specific aspects of production technology, its use and the theory behind it. The Advanced Electronic Music Production Techniques module covers some common ground with the other Advanced Techniques modules such as dynamic processing, frequency based processing, distortion, spatial and time based effects. In addition, it looks more specifically at the shaping of electronic sounds, timbre as a compositional tool, advanced sampling and advanced forms of synthesis.

You will conduct a series of experiments utilising and exploring some of the techniques covered in the online lectures and the production workshops. You will also create a short video explaining or demonstrating some aspect of what you have learnt from this module and how you have applied it in your respective Techniques module.
Major Project
The 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 and engaging in professional practice.

You are encouraged to contact 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:
1) a 'pitch' presentation to a panel,
2) development of a proposa
3) development and realisation of the agreed project
4) 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.
Producing Musicians
You will engage with online lectures, set reading and practical sessions where you will explore the issues involved in working with musicians in the studio. This will include the ways in which technology and architecture can have an impact on communication and performance, forms of communication that can affect the musical output, issues of leadership and the development of roles in the collaborative creative process and other technical, psychological and social issues that affect performance in the studio.

Recording students will work with performance students in the studios on collaborative projects of various sorts and will provide written analyses of the issues that arose during this 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.
Recording Analysis
This module aims to give you an overview of the technologies, spaces and personalities that have defined the recording industry. The module will focus on the sounds achieved by the great engineers, exploring the technologies employed, the recording workflows and the spaces in which the recordings were created. You will develop a musical language to aid your analysis, exploring both the measured impact of the technology, space and workflow and the overall musical impact of these characteristics on the final recordings.