Digital Music and Sound Arts BA(Hons)

Year 1

In the first year you will study creative studio techniques together with the physical properties of sound which will inform other work on the course. You will be working on creative projects, aimed at opening up new possibilities through an engagement with new audio technologies to develop creative strategies as used in contemporary music and sound art practices. In addition to industry standard production software like Logic Pro, Protools and Ableton Live, we emphasise creative work with musical programming environments such as Pure Data and Max/MSP in order to enable the design of musical interfaces, installations, or systems based on individual creative projects.

The first year covers a wide field: from sound synthesis and acoustics, perception of sound and music analysis, to musical composition and instrument design. Various project assignments will encourage you to reflect upon your own practice and develop creative projects that you will present to your fellow students. You will also write an essay on a topic of your choice related to the course profile areas. Embedded in the course curriculum are tasks and methods that provide you with transferable skills, such as project development, management and presentation skills, and academic writing.

Modules

• Practice 1: Introduction to Sound

  Through establishing a solid basis in the understanding of sound from a phenomenological and psychoacoustic perspective, this module will encourage you to increase the level of experimentation in your composition exercises. By exploring diverse soundscapes, listening to and analysing important musical works of the past 70 years, you will widen the scope of their own compositional approaches. New technical skills will be contextualised within diverse aesthetic and historic musical approaches. The aim is to conduct an extensive ear training and increase the your compositional portfolio.

• Practice 2: Sound as Material – Perception and Experimentation

  This module will introduce you to creative applications and techniques relating to work in sound studios, loop based music and sound installations. You will also be introduced to the nature of sound, synthesis, psychoacoustics, audio programming and compositional techniques. You will be encouraged to present work in the context of public performances and collaborations with external music organisations.

• Practice 3: Sound Organisation

  This module will introduce you to a variety of creative approaches to the concept of sound organisation as it is applied in contemporary sound art practices. You will engage with techniques for gathering of materials, customization of technical skills, conceptualization, listening and composition, and methods for organizing sound in both virtual and physical spaces.

• Practice 4: Creative Audio Systems

  In this module you will examine music and sound synthesis in the context of contemporary arts and performance by focusing on three key topics: iterative or generative music; new interfaces for musical expression (NIME) and interactive sound installations; and Network Music and Human-Computer Interaction. You will work in groups to research, develop and critique your projects.

• HCS 1: Programme Profile Introduction

  This module will introduce you to the profile of the Digital Music and Sound Arts programme. Taught as interrelated lectures and seminars, you will develop your knowledge of the wide and complex field of artistic sound practice and gain an understanding of its practical, conceptual, cultural and aesthetic implications. You will explore the experimental music and sound works in the cultural context in which they emerged in the 20th / 21st Century. You will practice presentation skills through presenting you own work.

• HCS 2: Experimental Sound and Music in Contemporary Culture

  This module will continue exploring the experimental music and sound works of the 20th and the 21st centuries, the aesthetic concepts that underpinned them, and the cultural context in which they emerged. This is introduced through individual key topics. You will also be introduced to research methodologies and academic writing. You will select a topic of your own choice and will be guided through the research methodologies and writing practices required for producing an academic text.

Watch a showreel of work by Digital Music and Sounds Arts BA(Hons) graduates 2022.

Year 2

In the second year you develop skills and knowledge in three key areas:

• composition and sound design for the moving image
• sound art
• new media.

Theoretical modules support practical work where you will do sound design for films or other screen-based forms and sound art in its various manifestations. Students typically work on composition and sound design for the moving image and new media (film, TV, video, internet, games), radio, multi-channel sound, audio programming, digital instrument design, interactive sound installations and other sound arts practices.

You will take an option module, where you choose from subjects such as photography, moving image, creative writing, architecture, design or various others. In the second semester of this year you will start one-to-one tutorials with your dedicated tutor, supporting you in the first stages of your final research essay, which links strongly to the final practice-based project in the third year.

Modules

• Practice 5 and 6: Sound for Screen (Composition and Sound Design for the Moving Image, and Experimental Sound for Screen)
• HCS 3: Sound/Music and the Moving Image
• Practice 7: Sound Arts Practice
• Practice 8: Final Project and Research Essay Proposals
• HCS 4: Theory and History of Sound Art
• Option module* from across arts and humanities topics

*Option modules are indicative and may change, depending on timetabling and staff availability.

Final year

In your final year, you will work more independently than in previous years. This year consists of the following elements:

• a research essay written in the first semester
• a practical project in the second semester
• the completion of a professional practice in the second semester
• the development of your final project in the first semester. 

The practical project is an intensive process where all the professional skills (practical, intellectual, organisational and production management) gained during the course of studies are condensed into one well developed, documented and presented final project, that will be publicly exhibited during the degree show in June. Your final year will involve one-to-one tutorials, study groups, seminars, lectures and professional practice sessions. All years attend creative studio techniques and audio seminar sessions and benefit from ongoing technical workshops.

Module

• Practice 9: Final Project Development
• Professional Practice
• HCS 5: Final Research Essay
• Practice 10: Final Project

Facilities 

• Four modern digital production and post-production studios equipped with state-of-the-art hardware and software equipped with sound-sound speaker systems
• Two sound-isolated recording booths
• A sound diffusion lab where students can experiment with spatial projection, multichannel sound and unconventional speaker configurations
• Workstation area for individual student use, teaching presentations and demonstrations that is equipped with all taught software
• Dedicated tutorial room for individual and small group consultations
• Separate workshop area where students build customised instruments and devices. 
• Field-recording equipment, including a digital six-channel recorder and 5.1 field microphone.

Software used in the course: Logic Studio Pro, Pro Tools, Ableton Live, Max/MSP, Pure Data, SuperCollider and various open source applications. Students will be able to experiment with software and hardware design, enabling them to build their own acoustic, electric or virtual instruments and installations.

Meet the team

Johanna Bramli, course leader

Johanna works with textures, noise, sonic spaces, audience interaction and sensory perception. She has lectured in sound art, composition for media, performance-based practice and musicology for the past 15 years. Johanna is also one half of electronic/motorik/pop band Fröst, founder of all-female noise/feedback improv choir The Larsens and co-founder of MAMI – Mamas Across Music Initiative.

Read a Q+A where Johanna talks about her career journey and how she got into creating and teaching music.

Holger Zschenderlein

Holger is course leader for our MA Digital Music and Sound Arts degree course. He is a composer and sound artist whose work encompasses creative practice and research aspects in the field of soundscape composition, composition and narrative structures within the wider context. He has collaborated with Brian Eno on several projects and his work in film and moving image have been screened internationally and won international awards. He has composed music and created sound design for contemporary dance, opera, theatre, for instrumental music and voice, video and interactive audio-visual installations. Holger is trained in classical and jazz piano and his musical experience extends from composing and arranging to performing and sound engineering.

Dr Stephen Mallinder, musician, DJ, writer and academic, Stephen is a founding member of pioneering electronic act Cabaret Voltaire.

Dr Kersten Glandien, author, academic and curator specialising in the fields of sound arts, aesthetics and experimental music.

Caleb Madden, sound and installation artist. Caleb is undertaking an arts practice-based PhD focusing on critical noise theory and novel approaches to analysing the political agency of contemporary art practices.

Technical Demonstrators: Bob Morton, Paul Bowyer and Ben Beasley.

Course leader Johanna Bramli is a musician, sound artist, composer and performer.

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Portfolio advice 

We have a history of accepting outstanding students with strong portfolios and consider all applications on an individual basis. We encourage you to apply even if your predicted grades might fall below the entry requirements.

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Find out more about how to create and submit your portfolio.

Course fees

Info

The fees listed here are for full-time courses beginning in the academic year 2023–24.

Further tuition fees are payable for each subsequent year of study and are subject to an annual increase of no more than 5% or RPI (whichever is the greater). The annual increase for UK students, who are subject to regulated fees, will increase no more than the statutory maximum fee.

You can find out more about our fees in the university's student contract and tuition fee policy (pdf).

The tuition fee you have to pay depends on a number of factors including the kind of course you take, and whether you study full-time or part-time. If you are studying part-time you will normally be charged on a pro rata basis depending on the number of modules you take.

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