University of Hertfordshire - BSc (Hons) Music Production

University of Hertfordshire

BSc (Hons) Music Production

Our Music Production students are creative technologists, who want to produce their own music, enhanced by the very best sound production values. You'll work on a range of musical projects and portfolios centred around music creation. You'll hone your technical skills, and also develop an understanding of a wide range of musical styles, musical theories and cultures, and apply these skills and understanding to the creation of music products.  You'll also work with others, including engineers and musicians in order to craft an overall music ‘production’ vision. Core modules studied alongside production practice modules develop your techniques and approaches using a range of sound technologies. They also foster professional and industrial contextual immersion and awareness, and experience with specialisms within connected musical fields. 

BSc (Hons) Music Production sits within the overarching Music & Sound Technology Programme.  There are four degree awards within this programme: BSc (Hons) Music Production, BSc (Hons) Music and Sound Design Technology, BSc (Hons) Audio Recording and Production, and BSc (Hons) Live Sound and Lighting Technology.  

All courses share the same ethos, and you’ll have opportunities to work alongside our music composition and music industry management students too, ensuring you benefit from teaching and experiences within a large community of musicians, composers, technologists and performers. 

Within the wider school of creative arts at UH, there are opportunities to collaborate with students from other creative areas, including animation and film and TV, allowing you to network with a broad range of creative industries. 

Year 1

Within the core modules, you’ll gain a solid grounding on a number of major DAW packages, as well as develop your creative and technical skills in mixing and effects processing, studio work and making your own virtual instruments.  In order to develop your technical knowledge of connected audio specialisms, you’ll investigate acoustics, psychoacoustics, audio and Midi protocols and a number of sound projection systems whilst also using lab time to develop an understanding of audio electronics through building your own synthesizer for your own creative output. The music business is also introduced where you’ll investigate various music business modules and contexts that connect what you are studying to the music industry. 

In addition to the core modules, music production students also investigate a broad range of music production systems within the creative music context. Through the analysis, re-creation of and development of a range of production techniques and approaches used in a variety of genres, much scope is placed on applying these to individual composition and production work in order to develop a ranged portfolio of musical material. 

Year 2

In year 2 much focus is placed on developing your critical ear, and getting your music out there, with detailed work on developing both mixing and mastering techniques, and approaches to digital distribution and delivery.  In addition, students continue to develop their deep understanding of microphones and sound signal routing, including network-based systems using our state of the art Rednet enabled facilities. You will continue to hone your studio practice and understanding of the wider music industry. As a music production student this goes hand in hand with dedicated taught areas that help you to continue to develop and enhance your creative music output. 

Year 3

By year 3, the vast majority of our students have already formed a number of professional connections, and students are able to make use of these and reflect on their approaches within a dedicated field project. In addition, there is the final major project which under the supervision of a dedicated tutor allows you to specialize in your chosen area which could be for example album recording and production. 

Drawing on the programmes’ industry and accreditation links, students also engage with an externally defined industry brief, including delivering to specification, deadline and budget within the area of (or relating to) music production. This is delivered and supported by sessions from a range of academic staff in addition to bespoke sessions from industry professionals who feed in external expertise. 

Entry Requirements

UCAS pointsA LevelBTEC
104-112BCC-BBCMMM-DMM

IB requirement: 104-112 UCAS points.

Access course: Diploma with 45 level 3 credits at merit.

All students from non-majority English speaking countries require proof of English language proficiency, equivalent to an overall IELTS score of 6.0 with a minimum of 5.5 in each band.

Career Prospects

You will graduate as a talented music producer / technologist capable of forging a career in a variety of roles. Our graduates can be found in many places within the music industry, working in recording studios, production companies, working in live sound and at major events. 

Each year, former students return and talk to our current students about their employed roles and how their degree has been beneficial. 

Whilst a number of our students go one to work for established companies, there are always a number who set themselves up independently, developing their own business.   

“I'm currently working as an engineer for the producer Naughty Boy in West London. This has involved working with a range of artists and producers, from popstars to reality TV names in a range of genres. As well as this I've been producing for a few artists, I'm also doing solo work as a producer artist and have been starting to freelance as a mixing and mastering engineer” 

Jordan Bernard – Recent Graduate 

You can expect to develop a career in hardware / software system specification, web-based music / sound creation and delivery, or in technical roles within the music and sound industry. These could include sound reinforcement, recording and engineering, multimedia installations, music studios or production companies.

Course Details

Degree programmes are structured into levels, 4, 5 and 6.  These correspond to your first, second and third/final year of study.  Below you can see what modules you’ll be studying in each.    

Year 1

Professional & industrial context 1
Music production practice 1
Audio specialisms 1
Sound technologies and techniques 1

Year 2

Music production practice 2
Audio specialisms 2
Sound technologies and techniques 2
Professional & industrial context 2

Optional modules
Year abroad
Professional work experience 30: music

Year 3

Professional & industrial context 3
Music production practice 3
Sound technologies and techniques 3
Major technology project
Mt technology project (version 2)
Sandwich year (creative arts)

*The information’s are correct at the time of publishing, however it may change if university makes any changes after we have published the information. While we try our best to provide correct information, It is advisable to call us or visit university website for up to date information.

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