BA (Hons) Music Production for Film, TV & Games

In this module, you’ll be introduced to the wide world of music composition for different media formats – from advertising, film and factual TV, to video games, trailers, mobile apps and library music. Your focus will be on understanding how music impacts and enhances a viewers’ experience of a picture or moving image. You’ll learn composition and arrangement techniques that explore melody, harmony and rhythm while developing a solid fundamental grounding in music theory. You’ll gain knowledge of concepts distinctive to composing for the moving image, like time codes and synchronisation points, and will work towards producing an original composition portfolio (a video reel) as you gain hands-on experience creating music from real-world briefs and director’s notes. 

Digital Audio Workstations (DAWs) are an essential production tool for modern music composing and recording. In this module, you’ll be introduced to various industry-standard software technologies that you can use to enrich your cinematic vision. Through practical experience and analysis of industry techniques, you’ll develop skills in sequencing, sampling, audio editing and synthesis. Working with your peers, you’ll give and receive feedback on original work, implementing insights to improve your own compositions. You’ll also learn how to use sample libraries to create authentic-sounding performances, plus experiment with digital notation software to produce scores your fellow musicians can perform. 

Consolidate and build on your existing digital audio workstations (DAWs) skills in this highly practical module. You’ll start to apply advanced techniques and new methodologies while using more complex workflows within DAW management. In a fast-paced studio environment, you’ll experience working quickly and effectively to meet the demands of contemporary digital music production. You’ll explore a range of methods used by established composers and sound engineers to raise your production practices to professional industry standard. 

In this module, you’ll develop your understanding of sound design and the important role that sound designers play in creating soundscapes for film, TV and game development. You’ll discover the different types of synthesis, including subtractive, additive, FM and wavetable synthesis, and will investigate synthesiser components such as oscillators, filters and envelopes. This module combines technical exploration and practice with creative techniques, as you begin to design your own synthesiser patches to use across various media. As you study, you’ll create a production portfolio of sound design tasks and work with your peers to develop imaginative sound concepts. 

In the modern music industry, creative practitioners and businesses constantly interact. This module explores the core structures and functions of today’s media industries and the current models, processes and practices they employ. As you prepare for a successful portfolio career in the music industry, it’s crucial to understand how each area of the industry works and the supporting roles that professional organisations, trade bodies and collection societies play. Through case studies, seminars and discussions, you’ll explore music industry management, copyright and revenue flow, and start to consider marketing, branding and self-promotion for composers and producers. 

This module deepens the skills and knowledge of composing for film, television and games you developed in the previous module: Music for the Moving Image I. You’ll further investigate the historical relationship between sound and the moving image through weekly industry briefs and real-world case studies which explore cinematic productions. You’ll interpret industry game briefs, identify project requirements, use specialist middleware tools to create SFX, and compose then implement your audio to work in game. Your sound design and notation skills will continue to develop and, as your skills progress, you’ll focus on how to balance the aesthetic and technical considerations of your projects.  

Across this practical module, you’ll complete an end-to-end post-production workflow project. Drawing on the skills you’ve learned to date, and using the latest software and mixing consoles, your project will combine creating, mixing and delivering a piece of original work to the current UK and technical standards. You’ll explore audio synchronisation as you learn the surround sound standards and mixing techniques. Other skills you’ll focus on include audio restoration and automated dialogue replacements – both essential for refining and fixing sound recordings in the studio. 

Whichever direction your music production career takes, branding, marketing and PR are essential for success. This module introduces you to the fundamental principles of marketing for a modern, global environment – both traditional theories and contemporary approaches. You’ll focus on consumers – how they behave, how they think and how to solve their real-world problems. You’ll also develop an understanding of how marketing continues to evolve and adapt to meet the needs of changing markets and will explore branding specifically from the viewpoint of an entrepreneurial creative. By the end of the module, you’ll have produced a detailed plan for marketing yourself as a uniquely creative, producer or composer.  

In this module, you’ll learn the fundamental principles of audio theory, sound design and critical listening. Taught in our brand-new purpose-built music production facilities, you’ll develop techniques to analyse sound characteristics and create original sonic events to produce a portfolio of original sound design and creative work. To further develop your understanding of audio theory, you’ll analyse the audio–visual work of composers from the field of sound design – learning how humans perceive sound. As you develop your portfolio, you’ll give and receive constructive feedback on original work in your class – with your expert tutors helping you to build advice into your compositions. 

This module offers extensive time working in the studio and getting hands-on with sound recording. You’ll learn how to capture and record sound – both vocal and instrumental – by studying microphone technology, mic placement, basic acoustics and audio signal flow. You’ll work in teams to record music in a studio environment – from either a string or brass ensemble – focusing on how to capture sound in stereo. Continuing to refine and build on your skills using a DAW, you’ll edit, mix and then share audio. You’ll incorporate engineering techniques to capture a range of audio sources and will learn how to create a realistic drum replacement ‘in the box’.  

In this year-long module, you’ll research and design a music-related professional creative project which supports your compositional and production development. You’ll continue developing, testing and revising your project proposal and portfolio over the year, linking and building upon learnings in other Level 6 modules. As well as technical and creative skill, you’ll develop a range of transferable skills in communication, negotiation, analysis, project planning, project management and project evaluation. The Professional Practice module is an excellent opportunity to look at promoting your professional practice through community or charitable work. 

In this practically focused module, you’ll apply functional knowledge of studio techniques and software, using industry-standard DAWs to create a broadcast-ready mix. You’ll explore a range of advanced mixing techniques and sound formats that relate to audio for the moving image, such as 5.1. Mixing engineers often need to work quickly, so workflows and mixing environments will be a crucial focus during this module, and you’ll encounter mixing techniques both in and out of the studio. You’ll also examine surround sound formats and multichannel mixing across various genres and outputs within the appropriate areas of post-production sound. 

In this advanced module, you’ll develop skills relating to mastering – the crucial final step in producing music for media. It’s an area of production that has undergone enormous change in recent years, and industry professionals are increasingly expected to be capable in it. During your studies, you’ll explore the listening skills needed to identify whether a mix is ready to be mastered. Through practical workshops exploring professional audio processing techniques, you’ll gain valuable proficiencies in mastering audio for picture. You’ll also gain hands-on experience applying these to your work by mastering both single tracks and longer album projects. 

This year-long module will enable you to develop your creative and commercial skills at an advanced, industry-ready level as you plan, develop and manage a cohesive catalogue of original work. You’ll craft a portfolio of original music for a moving picture project of your choice – a film, TV episode, commercial, computer game or more. You’ll set intentions and provide the vision and context for your project, undertaking critical reflection during the year to shape and refine it. Finally, you’ll draw together a range of advanced creative techniques to develop material that showcases your unique musical ‘voice’.