Course summary
Develop your own sonic signature through this forward-thinking music and sound production course.
- Take a contemporary, wide-ranging approach to sound production and create work with an authentic voice.
- Join a vibrant MA Sound community, where you’ll be supported to pursue your individual interests and aspirations.
- Develop an industry-standard portfolio of sound-based work to take into the next stage of your career.
- composing for film and visual media
- soundscape and field recording
- spatial audio.
Modules
Trimester one At the beginning of this music production degree, you’ll focus on making new work by developing your skills and exploring the contexts in which you work. You begin two modules which run across trimesters one and two. These modules support you over an extended period, focusing on core technical skills and the mutually beneficial links between research and practice. These support the core module, in which you produce a prototype portfolio of creative work. The Sound Skills module is built on the idea that you’ll already have a set of core technical skills that underpin your practice. The module offers you opportunities to extend your capabilities. You can choose a set of projects from a large number of options – these cover skills right across the Sound (Design), Sound (Production), and Sound (Composition and Sonic Arts) pathways and include (optional) elements of multimedia. The Research and Practice module helps you interrogate your own practice and think about how it relates to current artistic and cultural contexts, drawing on our programme of visiting practitioners who discuss their work. Focusing on developing skills in postgraduate-level research and writing, it’s designed to give you the tools to reflect on how you work, what you make, and how it exists in the world. It also helps prepare you for further study as a researcher-practitioner if you continue to a PhD. The Creative Portfolio module focuses on developing your individual practice as a producer or composer/producer. Seminars will explore a wide range of contemporary practice relevant to your area of specialism, focusing on the technical and aesthetic aspects of work by current practitioners. The module particularly emphasises a critical understanding of developments in contemporary thought in sound/music, and its related areas. Through the module you’ll produce a portfolio of production studies, drawing on your own priorities and interests as a creative practitioner, informed by engagement with other ideas and work. The seminars investigate how music and sound production has developed far beyond a means of reproduction, toward a narrative ‘language’ that is constructed to portray ‘meaning’ for the listener. You’ll listen critically, discuss, and create studies in production. All this allows you to explore notions of genre, the relationships between pieces, and how to produce and stage sound technically and creatively, according to modern practices. Trimester two In the second trimester, you’ll develop an advanced creative project for the Production Project. This will reflect on your development process and outcomes in order to keep pushing your personal development and professional skills. Whilst the module assessment is set by us, the content of the assessments will be defined and directed by you. You’ll continue to explore new ways of working through the Sound Skills module, and complete your Research and Practice module with a project summarising the contextual artistic research you’ve undertaken. Trimester three While most postgraduate courses include a dissertation, MA Sound (Production) culminates with a large-scale practical project, supported by a reflective journal. The project will allow you to develop your own individual and original research area through your practice. The exact nature of this work will be negotiated with the module leader. You’ll be able to use it to develop a body of practical work which will serve as a substantial portfolio for the next stage in your career.
Assessment method
Our aim is for you to build an extensive portfolio of composition and production. For this reason, the majority of assessment is based on your practical coursework. Some practical projects are accompanied by short, informal written assignments. For the Research and Practice module, you’ll produce a more substantial paper which helps you investigate your interests as an artist and understand the contexts in which you work.
Entry requirements
Generally we look for a good honours degree or higher. Often this will be in music, music technology, audio production or another closely related field. However, we accept applicants with other degrees where they can demonstrate relevant experience. We make offers based on your previous experience, which may be conditional on completing current courses, or unconditional.
Fees and funding
Tuition fees
| England | £9225 | Whole course |
| Northern Ireland | £9225 | Whole course |
| Scotland | £9225 | Whole course |
| Wales | £9225 | Whole course |
| Channel Islands | £9225 | Whole course |
| Republic of Ireland | £9225 | Whole course |
| EU | £17835 | Whole course |
| International | £17835 | Whole course |
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
No additional fees or cost information has been supplied for this course, please contact the provider directly.
Provider information
Bath Spa University
Newton Park
Newton St Loe
Bath
BA2 9BN