Audio Production

This module will develop advanced sound recording, editing, processing and surround techniques, both within a group and in an individual context. You will be given the opportunity to work on a recording project that will entail both technical and logistical challenges.

This module covers the tools and techniques used in the audio post production process and how to apply these skills in an original and creative way by developing the advanced skills and techniques needed for sound design, dialogue editing, ADR (automatic dialogue replacement) and Foley work. You will also develop a systematic understanding of mixing for 5.1 surround and to apply these in an original and creative way and be able to develop mastering techniques in stereo and 5.1. On completion you should have the skills and techniques needed to produce broadcast-standard output.

This module will enable you to gain a systematic understanding of, and an ability to critically evaluate likely future developments in media, in both a technical and commercial context. Topics covered include social media, cultural impacts and drivers; consumer markets, digital identity, ethics, privacy, copyright, licensing; content creation, sharing and reuse and digital rights management.

Audio theory will give you a thorough understanding of analogue and digital audio signals and systems and the complex techniques for digitally controlling and interconnecting audio devices. This will include synchronization, clocking and automation across a variety of audio production platforms and contexts. Digital audio formats will also be examined.

In this module, the spatial hearing capabilities of the auditory system are further investigated and spatial audio systems including stereo, binaural, transaural, 5.1, ambisonics and wave field synthesis will be investigated both in terms of theory and practical use. There will be opportunities to audition and experiment with a number of different surround systems during practical sessions in the recording studios, listening room and anechoic chamber.

You will learn the acoustics of sound propagation in enclosed spaces and will learn how to design methods of treating such spaces to achieve a desired acoustic result and the limitations of those methods. An assignment based on the design of a creative space (recording or control room) will tie all these strands together so that you can understand the acoustics, engineering and management required in the successful design of both control rooms and other creative audio environments. 

You will develop theories of timbre analysis, the ways in which musical instruments produce sound, musical synthesis techniques, then undertake software-based musical sound synthesis using both emulative and abstract approaches. Additive, subtractive and modulation synthesis will be studied along with signal processing (effects) design. By the end of this module, you will have built a complex synthesizer and multi-effects unit in software.

You will learn a range of research techniques appropriate to audio, acoustics and video and the relationship between research questions, research methods and analysis techniques. This will help prepare you for writing your dissertation that takes place in the third semester. Topics studied include literature searching, data types, qualitative and quantitative data analysis and the integration of different research methods.

The aim of the master's project is to carry out, under supervision, an extended individual study into a topic in audio, digital media or acoustics. A large number of topics will be offered to you to choose from or you could undertake a bespoke topic to be agreed between you and your supervisor. Your project will reflect the skills, knowledge and understanding from different areas of the course and will encourage initiative and project management.