Modules

Trimester one At the beginning of the course you 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 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, and offers opportunities to extend your capabilities. You can choose a set of skills projects from a large number of options – these cover skills right across the Sound Design, Sound Production and 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. In the Creative Portfolio module you’ll be involved with the practice of Sound Design. You’ll learn to apply sound design creatively and practically in the contexts of narrative storytelling and sonic immersion. You’ll explore the use of sound to immerse audiences in fictional and non-fictional ‘worlds’ – this could be within a game, film, animation, documentary, or sound installation. The module also involves advanced sound sculpting and processing techniques. You’ll produce a portfolio which focuses on your interests as a sound designer while giving you the space to experiment with new ideas. Trimester two In the second trimester, the Advanced Audio Workflow module explores industry-level immersive audio workflows within the areas of:

• audio post production within film, animation and TV

• game audio implementation

• sound and audiovisual installations

• theatre sound design.

Assessment method

Our aim is for you to build an extensive portfolio of sound design and audio workflows. For this reason, the majority of assessment is based on your practical coursework. Some practical projects are accompanied by short, informal written assignments, and for the Research and Practice module, you’ll produce a more substantial paper, which investigates your interests as an artist and helps you understand the contexts in which you work.