Music and Audio Production

If you’re seeking to advance your career in music and audio production, this course gives you the opportunity to study record production, sound design, audio-visual composition, sound art, creative audio production and music business, amongst other exciting topics. Through your studies, you’ll have the opportunity to develop your personal organisation skills, self-discipline, time management and dedication to succeed in a competitive field.

Why study this subject? The Recorded Music sector offers a range of different roles in different environments for you to explore. The UK music industry contributed £5.8bn to the UK economy in 2019, (Music By Numbers UK Music) and employed an estimated 315,000 people in music, performing and visual arts (DCMS 2020) so the opportunities open to you are great.

Whether you see your future in studio and live production or within a record label, you can be sure you’ll gain skills and knowledge that can prepare you for a range of music careers.

Why study at Buckinghamshire New University? BNU have a 25-year history of teaching music courses, so we have a wealth of expertise and you will be taught by staff, associate lecturers and guest speakers with a track record of music industry success in music and audio production. Our MA Music and Audio Production will allow you to sharpen your production skills, enabling you to confidently pursue your goals.

The MA Music and Audio Production will provide you with an opportunity to learn about advanced recording and production techniques, exploring new methods of sound creation and manipulation using industry standard software. You will also be provided with the opportunity to develop your own production skillsets in composition and signal processing techniques, as well as refining your knowledge in recording, mixing and sound design.

All our music degrees at Buckinghamshire New University come with membership of UK Music’s Music Academic Partnership (MAP), a ground-breaking collaboration between educational institutions and UK Music, designed to maximise the relationship between the industry and educational institutions in order to inform the next generation of industry professionals.

What facilities can I use? Our state-of-the-art recording studios and Dolby Atmos certified sound lab, give you access to the space and technology you need. From individual edit rooms up to large Pro Tools Ultimate studios with attached live rooms and vocal booths, we have it all to help you gain hands-on experience.

Studio 1 boasts a Dolby Atmos 7.1.4 speaker system and an Avid S6 console. We are one of the first Universities in the UK to adopt Dolby Atmos into a music environment.

Studio 2 boasts an Avid D-Command control surface and 24 channels of Focusrite ISA828 microphone preamps.

Studio three and the Electronic Music Studio are based around Avid S3/S4 control surfaces and UAD Apollo x8 audio interfaces.

The edit booths are equipped with microphone preamps from Avid.

What will I study? You will learn how apply newly acquired knowledge and skills creatively in order to exploit current opportunities in the music industry as well as instigate new lines of professional activity. Through developing conceptual understanding, you'll be able to evaluate methodologies employed in audio and music production and critique them.

You’ll study topics including sound art, composition and approaches to recording and mixing. Additionally, depending on the modules you pick, you can delve into the live music industry, recording performance, sound design, and social media marketing, amongst other area.

You can choose to study this course full time over one year or part-time over two years.

What are my career prospects? This course will prepare you to work in a number of freelance professional roles such as Recording Engineer, Mix Engineer, Studio Technician, Sound Editor, Sound Technology Educator, further postgraduate study or research.