Sound for Picture introduces you to the theory and practice associated with film sound and particularly post-production sound design. The module examines both the relevant theory and the technology necessary for successful capture of audio suitable for film. You will record all of the sound for a short digital movie, using only one microphone and a digital recorder. You will then have the opportunity to explore the perceptual properties of sound and manipulate it for dramatic effect with industry standard software. Keeping a production diary will encourage you to reflect upon the skills you gain.

A&R provides an opportunity to learn about artist and repertoire (A&R) and discover the central role it plays in the music business through practical experience. You will participate in an assessment day and be interviewed for the role of an A&R scout before exploiting a combination of established A&R techniques, along with online digital tools, to identify new and emerging musical talent, across a range of genres. You will give a short presentation of the talent you have discovered, including examples of music and biographies, and submit a short written report which articulates and reflects upon the A&R techniques used to source the talent.

Creative Music Technology introduces you to techniques for studio and desktop-based composition. You will identify and analyse concrete (sample-based) approaches to composition within contemporary electronic music. A creative exploration of recording studio technology, sampling, sequencing and arranging will enable you to develop knowledge of a variety of techniques that can be applied within musical compositions. You will create your own sounds ‘from scratch’ in a recording studio. These sounds will then be used in compositions or sound design projects. This process requires you to develop essential technical skills, critical listening and attention to detail.

Ensemble Performance assists you in developing skills and confidence in musical performance. Practical workshops will enable you to develop your skills in composition, arranging, performance strategies and improvisation. Through a series of collaborative small-group projects, you will develop arrangements of existing or original material to be performed in a public setting at the end of the module. You will produce all aspects of the final performance, such as staging, stage management and live sound, thereby gaining knowledge and understanding of this key area of musical practice.

Ear, Voice, Song will develop your musicianship skills through ‘ear training’; that is, listening, imitating, improvising and inventing, using the voice and the body. Working through five phases of practice, class activity will include ensemble vocalisation and rhythmic exercises from around the world, focused on intervals, melodic shapes, basic rhythmic and metric patterns, ostinati, conducting patterns, dynamics, textural balance, modes, harmonies and simple tonality. This will lead into the composition and performance of song through collaborative studio sessions.

Music and Society introduces you to the key concepts and developments that have shaped modern music and assesses the current trends in musical practice. By placing these themes in an historical perspective, the module will also consider the contexts of production, distribution and consumption of music in various contexts in order to consider the links between music and society. You will investigate the impact of new technologies on the development of new music genres and also the way music has driven technological innovation.

Performance Study is the first stage in which you are taught technique and musicianship, on an instrument or vocally, along a progressive path set by professional specialists. The module will generally be taught in one-to-one, hour-long weekly sessions (ten per semester).

Music Literacy is designed to assist those who cannot read conventional music notation or who have not yet reached the standard represented by the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music (ABRSM) Grade 5 Theory examination. The module will introduce you to time-based and pitch-based notation, basic principles of writing melody, harmony and counterpoint, varieties of rhythmic notation, simple phrasing, and descriptive terms in various languages. At the end of the module, you will have the required knowledge and skills to be able to successfully achieve the ABRSM Grade 5 Theory standard.

Recording and Mixing focuses on the recording of music and develops the theoretical knowledge and practical skills needed in a modern studio environment. You will be exposed to current hardware and software which will provide you with a real-world experience appropriate to the industry. In addition, the practical elements of the module will be underpinned by relevant theory, established principles and working practices, thus allowing you to exploit the dynamic elements of music for creative purposes. Exploration, analysis and experimentation with audio technology will culminate in the creation of music for use in media or performance.

Production and Mastering builds upon recording and mixing and allows you to further enhance the critical listening skills necessary for completing both the final mix of a piece of music and its distribution. You will explore and experiment with advanced music production techniques using current industry standard hardware and software. Attention is given to the spectral and spatial enhancement of music during the final mix process. Engagement with the audio technology will result in a composition suitable for delivery via a range of listening media.

Researching Media and Culture provides an overview of the main research methodologies in research in the humanities (media, music, performing arts). You will learn to identify, justify and implement appropriate methods and techniques, in accordance to the topic and type of the research project. The module will also encourage you to think independently and reflect upon the ethical constraints of research and professional conduct.

Soundtracks critically examines the relationship between music and moving images in cultural contexts such as film, television, video games, advertising, animation and interactive performance. You will interrogate the communicative potential of musical scores and soundtracks, whether sourced or underscored, in order to explore the discourses of visual culture and how they are amplified by ascribed non-visual (sonic) traits. Of equal note has been the applied use of ambient soundscapes, foregrounded music and songs. In the main, the module takes the view of the composer and sound designer, focusing on the contextual history and development of their role. Ultimately, you will create a music score or soundscape to a given film extract.

Music and Media will broaden your appreciation and knowledge of the ways in which popular music is mediated. The module will help you to understand the organisational and cultural influences that affect the production, distribution and consumption of popular music. By studying the synergistic relationships between the music industry and media industries, you will be able to demonstrate detailed knowledge of the business side of creative industries (such as the music industry) and better understand the organisational complexities in music and sound production.

Performance Development is the intermediate stage in which you are taught technique and musicianship, on an instrument or vocally, along a progressive path set by professional specialists. The module will generally be taught in one-to-one, hour-long sessions, supported by related classes focused on collaborative projects and improvisatory strategies.

The Artwork of Music considers album artwork and sleeve design within the overall context of the packaging and marketing of music. You will deliberate upon the contribution of illustrators, graphic designers and photographers to the advancement of the album cover as a distinct element in the culture of music. The module will chart the historical development of the album cover from the 1940s and reflect upon the national and regional contributions to the art form. You will have the opportunity to create your own artwork for a band or solo artist via the use of visual authoring tools.

Playing Live allows you to gain experience of performing live in different environments and in front of different audiences. You will have the opportunity to gain credit for playing live on the street, or at a venue, such as a local open-mic event or other specialist music venue. You will also have the opportunity to perform in the Creative Edge TV studio and to play and have your music streamed over the Edge Hill Student Union’s radio station. This module is ideally suited to performing musicians and will provide you the opportunity to engage with the planning and organisational elements necessary for successful live performance.

Listening Studies will develop your skills in listening and in appraising what listening is as an occupation of the brain and mind. The module will also consider the psychology of ‘the musical mind’ and the social history of listening, from pubs and festivals to the iPod. Above all, the module will enable you to consider, annotate and critique live music performance across a variety of popular music genres through a series of projects, thereby expanding your vocabulary, your means of communication, and your experience of music as an act of performance.

Music Industry: Recording and Live Music in Business traces the history and development of the global music industry, exploring the key features of industrial practice through chief critical texts from Adorno to Negus and Frith. You will become familiar with the use of statistics as well as concepts such as gatekeeping and synch rights. The module is designed to guide you through the principal issues surrounding the organisational, economic, legal and ethical aspects of music industry activity.

Electronic Music and Sound Design engages you in a creative exploration of sound synthesis techniques, equipping you with knowledge and skills to inform the production of distinctive and highly flexible sounds for use in a variety of applied musical contexts. The module will develop your understanding of fundamental concepts and repertoires of relevance to digital audio, enabling you to identify and analyse synthetic approaches to composition and sound design within contemporary digital and electronic music. The acquisition of technical and theoretical knowledge will be demonstrated through the completion of a number of compositional assignments and original compositions.

Dissertation Project offers you the opportunity to undertake an in-depth personal research project, under supervision, and explore a range of research methodologies and presentational formats appropriate to the project. You will gain a thorough knowledge of your chosen subject area and will be expected to shape that knowledge to produce a final submission that demonstrates your ability to locate the material within the wider contexts of your discipline. The project will require the consideration and discussion of methodological and epistemological issues. The dissertation will allow you to work independently to explore areas of contemporary academic interest, consider issues of current industry practice and critically analyse case studies or products within specific cultural and social contexts.

Social Media Context and Practice engages with the information and communications technology currently underpinning download culture. You will consider the impact of internet-based sharing tools, specifically in relation to the online distribution and consumption of music. The module will also require you to devise a strategy for how this can best be exploited for a band or solo artist.

Arranging Popular Music will guide you in learning the compositional techniques associated with the transforming capacities of the arranger in the production of popular music. While the activity is often seen as adding material to, for example, a song, the arranger might also refine the composition through reduction of timbre or enhancement of other features, meaning the terms ‘transformation’ or ‘realisation’ is preferred in this context. As well as exploring facets of harmonisation, orchestration, instrumentation and voice leading, you will also learn conducting and the diplomatic skills needed to manage studio time and organise session musicians. You will examine the historical work of a variety of leading arrangers, including Gil Evans (Miles Davis), Rod Temperton and Quincy Jones (Michael Jackson), Carla Bley, Wil Malone (Massive Attack) and Vince Mendoza (Joni Mitchell, Bjork).

Foley and ADR Studies immerses you in a post-production facility and exposes you to the software, hardware and workflows typically found in the film, animation and gaming industries. Film audio is characterised by a heavy dependency on post-production techniques, such as Foley and auto dialog replacement (ADR). In motion picture film, it is common practice for the soundtrack to be constructed separately from the moving image. Dialogue and sound effects are often replaced in post-production, after the film has actually been shot. Animation and game sound is also constructed using similar processes, albeit in a slightly different order. Such processes employ multi-pass (looping) techniques which help bring to fruition the overall aesthetic of the moving image. This module will enable you to develop critical listening skills and a working knowledge of how Foley and ADR can be used to shape the sonic landscape of the moving image.

Music Ethnographies requires you to study popular music as a way of life. In doing so, you will undertake an in-depth ethnographic research project into a music scene, musician/band or group of music fans of your choice. This will allow you to observe and critically reflect on how music is performed/consumed and consider the links between popular music and identity. Developing expertise in ethnomusicology will allow you to think more critically about the link between the industrial process of production and the relationship between performers and fans/consumers.

Advanced Performance is the final undergraduate stage of three through which you will be taught technique and musicianship, on an instrument or vocally, along a progressive path set by professional specialists. The module will generally be taught in one-to-one, hour-long weekly sessions, or group sessions, under the supervision of a specialist.

Music and Creative Coding introduces you to advanced computational techniques for real-time digital performance, generative music production, algorithmic composition and interaction design. You will develop skills enabling you to move beyond studio and desktop-based environments into the fields of interactive multimedia performance and installation practice. You will learn how to build bespoke software and digital instruments to suit your individual creative requirements.

112-120 UCAS Tariff points are required to join this programme with effect from September 2020 entry.

MUS1008 Performance Study (20 credits) and MUS1168 Music Literacy (20 credits) added as optional modules in Year 1.

MUS2060 Performance Development (20 credits) and MUS2166 Music Industry: Recording and Live Music in Business (20 credits) added as optional modules in Year 2.

MUS3001 Music Ethnographies (20 credits) and MUS3062 Advanced Performance (20 credits) added as optional modules in Year 3. MUS3060 Digital Performance (20 credits) removed as an optional module in Year 3. MUS3065 Arranging Popular Music (20 credits) changes from optional to compulsory in Year 3.

MUS1169 Creative Music Technology (20 credits) and MUS1170 Ensemble Performance (20 credits) replace MUS1006 Studio Composition (20 credits) and MUS1007 Music Composition and Sound Design (20 credits) as compulsory modules in Year 1.

MUS2171 Electronic Music and Sound Design (20 credits) replaces MUS2055 Digital Composition (20 credits) as an optional module in Year 2.

MUS3168 Music and Creative Coding (20 credits) replaces MUS3060 Digital Performance (20 credits) as an optional module in Year 3.

An audition workshop now forms part of the entry requirements to this degree.