Digital Music and Sound Arts MA

Why study with us?

• You’ll be exposed to sound across a wide spectrum of aesthetic forms and in diverse technological media, especially the relation of sound to other art forms.
• Our staff are experts in the field and work as artists, producers, curators, composers and authors as well as in teaching.
• The course combines practical experimentation in both music and sound art with theoretical reflection and contextual research.
• You are encouraged to articulate, explore and develop your ideas within group and independent projects.

Areas of study

Through creative practice-based research students will engage with musical composition and sound design productions. Studies will place particular emphasis on the relationship of sound to other art forms and related media key areas including:

• sound for screen and moving image – addressing screen-based musical composition and sound design for film, video, games, new media, television, multi-channel audio-visual installations and audio-visual projections in space
• sound arts – addressing sound in relation to other art forms, such as sculpture, installation art, photography, architecture, soundscape composition, environmental art as well as sound ecology, sound in space and spatialisation of sound, audio-visual installations and radiophonics
• sound and new media – covering sound and music in the context of the new content afforded by the digital media, such as generative composition and sound design, audio programming for new media applications and interactivity, hybrid (lived and virtual) environments, interface and new instrument design, computer games, locative media, apps design for mobile media.

Modules

• Experimental Sound Practice
• Practice-based Research Methods
• Critical Theory – Research Essay
• Contemporary Debates in Sonic Media and Sound Arts
• Sound Research Project and Professional Practice: Stage 1 (Initiation)
• Sound Research Project and Professional Practice: Stage 2 (Resolution)

Some modules are shared with students from the Digital Media, Culture and Society MA, and the Digital Media Arts MA, enabling a cross pollination of ideas and strategies.

Facilities

Students have access to high-end equipment, resources and expert staff support, including:

• four state-of-the-art networked digital studios equipped with surround sound, high-end sound processing, AV post-production capable via fully automated mixing and mastering, which includes an array of analogue hardware synthesizers and specialised analogue outboard equipment and instruments, for example Theremin
• two sound isolated sound recording booths with connection to all studios
• sound diffusion lab dedicated for multi-channel sound (up to 16 channel), HD video projections and digitally controlled LED DMX eight channel lighting system for research and experimentation with multi-channel audio-visual interactive systems
• computer suite with specialised audio and AV software
• recording equipment: digital mobile multi-channel professional digital recorders, professional condenser and dynamic microphones, 5.1 surround sound microphone
• specialist software: IRCAM Spat, MaxMSP, Pure Data, Logic Audio Pro, Cubase, Pro Tools, Melodyne, Final Cut Pro, full Adobe Suite
• dedicated electronic workshop mash-up area to aide building and experimentation with interface design, new instrument design, sensors via dedicated Arduino kits
• AV technical support
• technical inductions and workshop sessions
• tutor support for practice-based research and theoretical research project development.

Click to view a virtual tour of our digital music and sound arts facilities.

International requirements and visas

We can help you meet our English language or academic entry requirements.

Visas and immigration advice

Course fees

Scholarships, bursaries and loans

We offer a range of scholarships for postgraduate students. Bursaries and loans may also be available to you.

Find out more about postgraduate fees and funding.

What's included

You may have to pay additional costs during your studies, although we have tried to keep this to a minimum. The cost of optional activities is not included in your tuition fee and you will need to meet this cost in addition to your fees. A summary of the costs that you may be expected to pay, and what is included in your fees, while studying a course in the School of Media are listed here.

• There will be opportunities to attend field trips and off-site visits. These are optional and are not required to pass your course but you can budget approximately £30–£700 for these. The nature of the costs vary from provisions for a packed-lunch to flight and accommodation costs for international field trips. The amount spent would be based on location and number of trips taken.
• Typically, practice-based courses incur more costs than text-based subjects. These costs are normally associated with specialist equipment and materials for making work and for the public presentation of work.
• Specialist equipment is provided to cover essential learning. Students may choose to buy their own specialist equipment, these may include cameras, or computers and software. Budgets can range from £50–£2,000. Buying specialist equipment is best undertaken in consultation with our academic and technical staff. This expenditure is not essential to pass any of our courses.
• For some courses you will need to budget up to £200 for printing and publishing. Photography courses may incur higher costs (£500–£2,000) when printing and framing images of professional standard for public presentation.
• Course books are available from the university but you may wish to budget up to £200 to buy your own copies.
• For some courses you will need to budget up to £150 for stationery.
• Final-year graduation shows are opportunities to present your final, independent project work to the public. Practice-based courses will typically incur higher costs. Depending on the specific nature of your final project you will need to budget between £20–£2,500. 

You can chat with our enquiries team through the Stay in touch panel at the end of this page if you require further information. Or check our finance pages for advice about funding and scholarships as well as more information about fees and advice on international and island fee-paying status.

Info

The fees listed here are for full-time courses beginning in the academic year 2020–21.

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/EU 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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