BSc (Hons) Sound Design

Why study this subject?

Do you have a fascination for sound and the creative use of audio technology? 

With a degree in sound design you could be working in post-production, outside broadcast, tv and film production, live music events, or for an audio supplier or broadcaster such as Sky or the BBC.

A career in sound design would see you using your studio and music production skills as part of team to create appropriate audio to demonstrate atmosphere, tempo or overall effect.

Why study at Buckinghamshire New University?

BNU pioneered music business and management degrees over 20 years ago. Having studied at BNU you’ll be associated with our highly regarded teaching programmes and benefit from a leading team of lecturers.

Creating sound doesn’t happen in isolation. At Buckinghamshire New University you’ll get to work in a production-house style environment, collaborating frequently with students from our other courses and with external partners on live projects.

You might design sounds to accompany an animated creature created in the university’s motion-capture studio, or work with Film & TV Production students to produce sound and music for a sci-fi scene. You could also implement sound using game engine tools with our games development students.

Honing your skills on real projects, you’ll build an extensive portfolio of work examples and experiences you can use to establish and market yourself at a professional level.

What facilities can I use?

You’ll record and produce audio in our Sennheiser Sound Lab, fully equipped by our partners, Sennheiser.

Our studios are 5.1 surround sound equipped, with dedicated recording booths and live rooms, and with sound-to-picture capability throughout.

Further facilities include:

• Multiple further professional grade studios, recording areas, and edit suites
• Rooms tailored for post-sync recording such as Foley and ADR (dialogue replacement)
• Foley props store
• A huge array of studio mics, plus stereo and surround sound mic kits
• Extensive collection of audio plugins and processors, instruments, and Sound FX libraries
• Live sound venue and PA facilities, with Midas desks
• Outside Broadcast truck and facilities
• A fully equipped rehearsal space
• Extensive TV studios and performance spaces
• Location sound recording kits including the Sound Devices 664
• IT facilities equipped with multiple DAWs (Pro Tools, Ableton ,Logic), midi controllers, programming tools and other essential sound design software including Max MSP, Izotope RX and game engine and interactive sound tools such as Unity and Wwise.

What will I study?

The course covers all the relevant building blocks of sound design. In addition to core recording and mixing skills, you’ll also get to grips with areas such as audio programming and synthesis, game engines and audio middleware, field sound recording, experimental composition and digital instrument design, and spatial audio.

How will I be taught and assessed?

Teaching on the course is highly practical and hands-on with a focus on real production work working within our industry standard studios and sound facilities. The staff on this course have a wealth of professional and academic experience, with many still working in industry.

You’ll learn about technology and sound production, and audio principles, theories and practices, and be introduced to the sound and computing technologies used in audio studios and elsewhere. You’ll build on, and apply, these skills to more specific production areas as the course progresses, focussing on areas including live sound, audio drama, sounds for games and VR, and film sound design, before completing a specialist major research project in your final year.

Placements Plus

BNU is a Placements Plus university. So, whatever degree you do, you can be sure there’ll be plenty of industry-relevant opportunities on offer, to help you get into your chosen field.

We’ll also prepare you for work beforehand, with special skills for work training, further boosting your CV, and building skills employers will value. In recognition of the value we place on these skills we have incorporated this experience into your study time.

Placements Plus is all about helping you get some valuable experience under your belt while you’re a student, to increase your choices later, and help you get the graduate-level job you want.