BSc (Hons) Sound Design

Why study this subject?

Do you have a fascination for sound and the creative use of audio technologies in different visual contexts. 

With a degree in sound design, you could be working in post-production for the Film, TV, and Gaming industries, outside broadcast, live music events, or for audio suppliers or broadcasters such as Sky or the BBC.

With a career in sound design, you could use your studio and production skills as part of a team to create appropriate audio in a variety of contexts to demonstrate atmosphere, texture, or overall effect.

This course is also offered as a four-year programme, including an initial Foundation Year. The Foundation Year will allow you to develop your academic study skills and build confidence in your abilities, identifying your own strengths and development needs for progression onto an undergraduate programme. 

What facilities can I use?

Our state-of-the-art recording studios and Dolby Atmos certified sound lab, give you access to the space and technology you need. From individual edit rooms up to large Pro Tools Ultimate studios with attached live rooms and vocal booths, we have it all to help you gain hands-on experience.

• Studio 1 boasts a Dolby Atmos 7.1.4 speaker system and an Avid S6 console. We are one of the first Universities in the UK to adopt Dolby Atmos into a music environment. Find out more about Studio 1 in this tour.
• Studio 2 boasts an Avid D-Command control surface and 24 channels of Focusrite ISA828 microphone preamps.
• Studio three and the Electronic Music Studio are based around Avid S3/S4 control surfaces and UAD Apollo x8 audio interfaces.
• The edit booths are equipped with microphone preamps from Avid.

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 location field recording, audio programming and synthesis, game engines and audio middleware, experimental composition and sonic arts, and spatial audio.

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 location field recording, sound design for Film, TV and Games, live sound, audio drama and podcasting and Dolby Atmos mixing, before completing a specialist major research project in your final year.

Opportunity modules are a key part of the BNU curriculum. You’ll choose modules in both your first and second year from a broad selection in areas such as sustainability, entrepreneurship, creativity, digital skills, personal growth, civic engagement, health & wellbeing and employment. Opportunity modules are designed to enable you to develop outside the traditional boundaries of your discipline and help you to further stand out from the crowd to future employers.

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 also learn through group discussion and one-to-one interaction with tutors, as well as through lectures, workshops and master classes.

A variety of assessment methods will be used as appropriate to the modules you take, including essays, reports, portfolios of creative audio content, written evaluations, presentations, and some continuous assessment on practical tasks. Assessments will be appropriate to the task, achievable, motivating and vocationally focussed, forming a constructive part of your learning process.