Course summary
Develop advanced music production skills and prepare for a professional career in the audio industry. This music production master's degree combines technical expertise, creative development, and industry-focused learning to help you succeed as a music producer. Course Overview Advance your career as a professional music producer through intensive studio work, professional development, and industry-focused learning. Our MA Music Production combines advanced music production techniques with essential business knowledge, preparing you for success in today's music industry. You will learn how to enhance your music production skills, carefully refining your approaches to become more productive, and gain a highly sophisticated understanding of the mixing and mastering process. You will have opportunities to explore new or established areas of your creative practice, pushing boundaries and achieving innovative results. You will also focus on your development as a professional music producer, focusing on exploiting opportunities and planning your career, leading on to a large scale creative project in which you will choose a specialist focus. Why choose this course?
- Professional Production Skills: Develop advanced techniques in our industry-standard studios, with expert guidance on both creative and technical aspects of production
- Specialist Focus: Shape your studies around your career goals through flexible modules and a self-directed final project
- Industry Integration: Connect with active professionals through our guest lecture program, featuring insights from successful producers, engineers, and music industry experts
- Business Ready: Build essential knowledge in project management, client relationships, and marketing strategies for a sustainable career
- Creative Community: Work alongside fellow producers and audio professionals at one of of our specialist campuses in Bristol, Manchester, and Plymouth
- Music Production
- Mixing & Mastering
- Creative Exploration
- Professional Development
- Project Realisation
Modules
Music Production This module will challenge you to apply self-reflective strategies to examine your approach to producing and engineering music. You’ll cover advanced concepts and professional strategies that enhance workflow and increase output, ensuring you can respond to the varied and ever-increasing demands of producing music to a commercial standard. Steer the module in a direction that suits you by focusing on your own music as an artist, or producing music for clients or production companies. Mixing & Mastering Explore the concepts and processes surrounding the art of mixing and mastering. This module can be used to enhance the quality of your own music or to prepare you for a role as a professional mixing and mastering engineer by working on music and audio recorded by others. You will discover advanced technical processes as well as the conceptual and professional considerations essential to understanding the intricacies of finalising and preparing audio material for distribution and commercial consumption. Creative Exploration A self-directed and highly creative module that allows you to explore a specialist area of your choice. Dive into the world of immersive audio or modular synthesis, develop live performance techniques, experiment with advanced recording or sound design, or explore approaches to programming and beyond. This is an opportunity to align your skills with your individual interests and explore new territories in preparation for the final Project Realisation module. Professional Development In this module, you focus on a specific area of your specialist practice that will support your career as a professional music producer. Develop a deep understanding of the factors involved in setting up your own professional enterprise or create a skills development plan that can elevate your confidence, ensuring longevity, growth and success in your endeavours. With these skills, you will become a master of running your own career, capable of capitalising on emerging industry opportunities and different income streams. You will also develop valuable postgraduate research skills preparing you for your Project Realisation module. Project Realisation In this double module, you will create a substantial and original major project focused on a self-selected area of music production. You will develop your research and project-management skills as you negotiate a professional proposal, develop an effective framework before delivering a final project that can lead you into the industry or further postgraduate study.
Assessment method
How you’ll learn Through regular workshops, support sessions from the course team and project supervision throughout your master degree, you'll develop your professional music production skillset with the opportunity to focus on your own area of specific interest. Working towards a major project, you'll enhance your skills through practical workshops while developing the business knowledge needed for your career. Your learning combines hands-on studio work with professional development through: Lectures and practical workshops Professional studio access and bookable equipment Industry masterclasses and guest lectures Individual and group tutorials Physical and digital library resources Virtual Learning Environment with interactive resources Supporting online materials including videos and readings How you’ll be assessed Assessment is 100% coursework, submitted electronically and designed to reflect professional practice. Your work will demonstrate both technical ability and professional development. On average you should allow for between 40 hours per week for your studies of which approximately 15% will be taught (c.6-8 hours) and 85% will be self-study.
Entry requirements
We welcome applicants with varied qualifications, but typically you'll need an undergraduate degree in a related discipline. Our typical applicants hold an undergraduate degree of 2:2 or above, or equivalent experience. We'll also welcome your application if you have formal or 'certified' learning (such as training courses not run by universities or colleges) and learning from work experience or self-study.
Fees and funding
Tuition fees
| England | £8500 | Year 1 |
| Northern Ireland | £8500 | Year 1 |
| Scotland | £8500 | Year 1 |
| Wales | £8500 | Year 1 |
Tuition fee status depends on a number of criteria and varies according to where in the UK you will study. For further guidance on the criteria for home or overseas tuition fees, please refer to the UKCISA website .
Additional fee information
UK/Home Fees (Per Year)
£8500 (FT) / £4250 (PT)
Provider information
dBs Institute
2 Mitchell Lane
Bristol
BS1 6BU