MA Sound Design

Program Overview

The MA Sound (Design) program at Bath Spa University is a one-year full-time or two-year part-time study that equips students with advanced sound design skills, industry-standard experience, and a high-quality portfolio. The program emphasizes a contemporary and innovative approach to sound design, focusing on storytelling with sound and immersive audio experiences. Graduates are prepared for careers in various sectors, including sound design for film, TV, animation, gaming, theatre, audio post production, sound art, composition, game audio, and software development.

Program Outline

Degree Overview:

This MA Sound (Design) program at Bath Spa University is a one-year full-time or two-year part-time course designed to equip students with advanced sound design skills, industry-standard experience, and a high-quality portfolio. The program emphasizes a contemporary and innovative approach to sound design, focusing on storytelling with sound and immersive audio experiences. It aims to provide students with the technical skills necessary to work at the forefront of the industry and refine their craft in professional-standard facilities. The program encourages exploration of a wide range of sound design techniques while building a unique portfolio of work for future career advancement.

Outline:

The program explores the creative use of sound within various media, including film, TV, animation, gaming, theatre, and other audiovisual media. It focuses on the creative aspects of sound design and advanced audio workflows, providing students with the technical skills to create work they are passionate about without stylistic boundaries.

Course Structure:

• Trimester One:
• Sound Skills:
This module builds upon existing core technical skills and offers opportunities to extend capabilities. Students can choose from a variety of skill projects covering sound design, sound production, and composition and sonic arts pathways, including multimedia elements.
• Research and Practice: This module encourages students to interrogate their own practice and its relation to current artistic and cultural contexts.
It involves a program of visiting practitioners who discuss their work, focusing on developing postgraduate-level research and writing skills.
• Creative Portfolio: This module focuses on the practice of sound design, teaching students to apply sound design creatively and practically in narrative storytelling and sonic immersion.
Students explore the use of sound to immerse audiences in fictional and non-fictional worlds, including games, films, animations, documentaries, and sound installations. The module also involves advanced sound sculpting and processing techniques, culminating in a portfolio that reflects students' interests as sound designers while providing space for experimentation.
• Trimester Two:
• Advanced Audio Workflow:
This module explores industry-level immersive audio workflows in film, animation, TV, game audio implementation, sound and audiovisual installations, and theatre sound design. It covers a wide range of associated skill sets and is assessed through a practical project in one of these areas.
• Sound Skills: Students continue to explore new ways of working through this module.
• Research and Practice: Students complete this module with a project summarizing their contextual artistic research.
• Trimester Three:
• Major Project:
This independent research project culminates in a large-scale practical project supported by a reflective journal. Students develop their own individual and original research area through their practice, negotiating the project's nature with the module leader. This project serves as a substantial portfolio for future career endeavors.

Course Modules:

• Sound Skills
• Practice and Research
• Creative Portfolio
• Advanced Audio Workflows
• Major Project

Assessment:

The program emphasizes building an extensive portfolio of sound design and audio workflows. The majority of assessment is based on practical coursework. Some practical projects are accompanied by short, informal written assignments. The Research and Practice module requires a more substantial paper that investigates students' interests as artists and helps them understand the contexts in which they work.

Teaching:

Teaching methods include lectures, workshops, seminars, and online study materials. The Major Project is taught through individual tutorials, focusing entirely on students' own practice. The Sound Skills module utilizes a flipped classroom model, where students work independently through online materials at their own pace, supported by weekly seminars and workshops with tutors.

Careers:

The program equips students with an individually-tailored portfolio of skills, preparing them for the current employment landscape, which requires a combination of traditional audio post production roles alongside broader practice in sound, music, and other media. Graduates have pursued successful careers in:

• Sound design for film, TV (including documentaries), animation, games, and theatre
• Audio post production
• Sound art and installations
• Composition
• Game audio
• Software development
• Students have access to a range of resources, including:
• Commons building with classroom facilities, social spaces, and specialist digital resources
• Post Production facilities, including high-end audio surround suites, audio editing suites, a Foley and dialogue recording room, a surround viewing theatre, video editing/color grading suites, and two TV studios
• Mac workstation room with networked music technology labs
• Musiclab Studios with control rooms and a live recording room
• Michael Tippett Centre with a concert hall
• University Theatre
• Newton Park Library with a large collection of books, periodicals, and CDs
• Writing and Learning Centre
• English Language Unit
• Virtual Learning Environment
• Free equipment loan service
• Access to LinkedIn Learning
• Bath Spa University is one of only three Adobe Creative Campuses in the UK, providing all students with access to the full Adobe Creative Suite.
• The program has strong links with sound-related industries and regular guest speaker visits from industry practitioners, including alumni.