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Sound mixing board

Music

Key Information

Key information

Undergraduate course

Duration

  • Foundation (4 Years)
  • First Year (3 Years)

Intakes

  • January
  • September

Location

  • Cambridge

Music overview

We have strong links with industry, so you can do work placements at music studios, theatres or production companies – and start building a standout CV while you study. We have five different music degrees to choose from:

  • Build foundations for your professional life as a commercial music producer or sound engineer, equipped with the latest techniques and experience in a range of audio production equipment on our full-time Music and Sound Production BA (Hons) degree.
  • Become a versatile performer in your preferred musical style and broaden your abilities by trying out new styles, with our Music Performance degree in Cambridge.
  • Prepare for a career as a commercial music producer, equipped with the latest techniques and experience in a range of music production equipment, with our BA (Hons) Music Production degree course in Cambridge.
  • Discover how sound works, and how technology can help you master it, on our full-time, industry accredited Audio and Music Technology BSc (Hons) degree
  • Become a resourceful producer of electronic music on BA (hons) Electronic Music Production. Study in Cambridge, explore the latest techniques, and gain experience in a range of electronic music production equipment.

Pathway progression

Please see our International and UK course matrix for entry point, intake and study location information.

Course structure

Interactive Learning Skills and Communication (ILSC)

Interactive Learning Skills and Communication (ILSC) will help you to develop your academic, research, communication, and literacy skills in preparation for your undergraduate degree. ILSC covers reading, writing, speaking, and listening and will give you an understanding of institutional culture, practices, norms, and expectations of UK higher education. You will develop transferable skills such as effective communication to support ongoing study, career, and professional development skills.

Information and Communication Technology (ICT)

Information Communication Technology (ICT) provides you with the practical computer skills needed for university. In this module, you will cover fundamental topics surrounding the use of technology and discuss these together with societal and ethical perspectives. This will allow you to reflect on and discuss the main challenges facing society and consider the implications of your technology use. This module requires no previous technical experience and will introduce you to practical ICT skills that will be needed for academic success across many areas of higher education. By the end, you should have sufficient proficiency in the Microsoft Office productivity suite for planning and producing presentations, using functions, and writing formula to display, formatting and analysing quantitative data, and producing written assignments to a standard appropriate to higher education.

Critical Thinking

This module aims to enable you to participate in and practice independent learning tasks for deeper thought and investigation as needed for Higher Academic pursuits. You will participate in a Socratic Discussion based around Conspiracy Theories and Source Checking to encourage presentation and debating skills. You will be encouraged to invest in strategies that will deepen understanding and interpretation of processes, motives, argument, rationale, credibility, and possibilities which will then be applicable to a range of studies. You will also undertake research, based on an issue related to your degree programme, to review the main points of examining an argument in depth. You will then learn to create a personal response that analyses the content of the issue under study.

Intercultural Studies

Intercultural Studies explores differences between cultures and subcultures around the world. Within this module, you will draw from your own cultural experiences as well as learning from other people and lecturer-led case studies. The aim of this module is to increase your awareness and help you to further develop an understanding toward other cultures and value systems. You will gain the skills required to explore and articulate comparisons between different cultural practices, institutions, beliefs, and analytical frameworks.

Psychology

Psychology will teach you about the brain and psychosocial contexts within the humanities and sciences. Within this module, you will look at how research has informed theories about how we think and behave, and how this applies in a variety of contexts. You will learn about the main psychological approaches (cognitive and behavioural; psychodynamic; developmental, social and biological) which will be discussed in relation to current psychological theory. You will also be given an introduction to psychopathology through the discussion of mental health disorders. By applying psychological principles to current events and common situations, you will gain a greater understanding of human actions and motivations.

Ethics

Ethics is all about making decisions based on what you consider to be correct and not correct which is a discipline that is fundamental for students in higher education. Within this module, you will discuss the complexity of ethical theory and will investigate the status of several major ethical theories and claims and consider some practical ethical issues which are impacted by these theories. You will be encouraged to use critical thinking and research to discuss descriptive, normative, and analytic approaches to ethical problems and you will also look at how ethics is applied within the humanities, technology, business, medical and legal contexts.

Composition and Style

Composition and Style teaches a structured introduction to all aspects and stages of the academic writing process. This module is vital for providing you with the knowledge required for the preparation and completion of written assignments within university and to university standards. This includes research and note-taking; structuring work; drafting and redrafting; editing and proof-reading; achieving an effective academic style; referencing; writing effectively under differing conditions; using feedback on your written work and grammar and punctuation. A considerable proportion of this module focuses on writing processes, and more specifically how these processes correspond to the different creative stages of writing.

Social Perceptions

In this module you will address social perceptions and commonly held beliefs or ideas held across Western cultures in response to a series of topics. Understanding and discussing these areas will help to provide you with the transferrable skills needed for university and beyond. This module will assess your ability to grasp a variety of typical responses and critically think, respond, and debate about contradictory approaches to an idea. It will integrate different thinkers (historical and current), media and communications influences, and perspectives on the topic for a given week.

Course Structure for BSc (Hons) Audio and Music Technology

Interactive Learning Skills and Communication (ILSC)

Interactive Learning Skills and Communication (ILSC) will help you to develop your academic, research, communication, and literacy skills in preparation for your undergraduate degree. ILSC covers reading, writing, speaking, and listening and will give you an understanding of institutional culture, practices, norms, and expectations of UK higher education. You will develop transferable skills such as effective communication to support ongoing study, career, and professional development skills.

Information and Communication Technology (ICT)

Information Communication Technology (ICT) provides you with the practical computer skills needed for university. In this module, you will cover fundamental topics surrounding the use of technology and discuss these together with societal and ethical perspectives. This will allow you to reflect on and discuss the main challenges facing society and consider the implications of your technology use. This module requires no previous technical experience and will introduce you to practical ICT skills that will be needed for academic success across many areas of higher education. By the end, you should have sufficient proficiency in the Microsoft Office productivity suite for planning and producing presentations, using functions, and writing formula to display, formatting and analysing quantitative data, and producing written assignments to a standard appropriate to higher education.

Critical Thinking

This module aims to enable you to participate in and practice independent learning tasks for deeper thought and investigation as needed for Higher Academic pursuits. You will participate in a Socratic Discussion based around Conspiracy Theories and Source Checking to encourage presentation and debating skills. You will be encouraged to invest in strategies that will deepen understanding and interpretation of processes, motives, argument, rationale, credibility, and possibilities which will then be applicable to a range of studies. You will also undertake research, based on an issue related to your degree programme, to review the main points of examining an argument in depth. You will then learn to create a personal response that analyses the content of the issue under study.

Maths for Scientists

Maths for Scientists will ensure that you have the necessary basic mathematical skills required for entry to level 4 on various science related degree programmes. By the end of the course, you will be able to carry out the basic mathematical manipulations and understand the relevant key concepts required to progress on to your chosen degree course. Each mathematical concept is introduced by a lecture, in which examples of how to use and apply the concept are demonstrated. The subjects covered are a range of arithmetic skills, algebra, areas and volumes, trigonometry, and basic statistics.

Maths for Engineers

Maths for Engineers is intended for students progressing onto engineering and computing degree programmes. Both of these disciplines will make extensive use of calculus, vector and matrix mathematics. This module is intended to build on basic maths concepts in order to prepare students for success in Level 4 programs which have a heavy mathematical focus.

The module will focus on the development of calculus skills, but will also introduce simple vector and matrix operations. The application of the pure maths to engineering and computing problems will be highlighted.

Physics for Engineers

Maths for Engineers has been designed to support you in progressing onto engineering and computing degree programmes. This module will make extensive use of calculus, vector, and matrix mathematics and will call attention to the application of pure maths to engineering and computing problems. Throughout the module, you will build on basic maths concepts to prepare for success in level 4 programmes which have a heavy mathematical focus.

Fundamentals of Computing

Fundamentals of Computing will introduce you to basic computer programming using a low-level programming language (C). You will not be required to have previous programming experience for this module as you will learn the basic principles, such as the structure of a program, syntax of simple statements, data types, functions, files, design and testing, and problem solving. By the end of this module, you should have sufficient mastery of the C programming language to allow you to design, implement and test simple programs. The material taught to you in this module is intended to form skills directly transferable to the workplace, giving you a basic foundation which will allow you to apply programming skills in your subsequent studies.

Engineering Design

Engineering Design has been created to help you progress to Engineering, Computer Science, or Architecture degree programmes. This module focuses on putting your studies into context in the wider world, by considering how different professions must collaborate in the world of work. This module will consider several unique design processes, and how they might be implemented by multi-disciplinary teams, as well as how the design activity fits within the wider business context.

Related links

For more information about intake semesters and campus location please see our course matrices.

Find out the academic entry requirements for our courses listed by country. Unless stated, requirements are standard across all courses.

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