MSc in Sound Design
Sound Design is an expanding and diverse area. It is growing both as an academic discipline and as a career path.
There is much, as yet, unchartered territory in sound design as a research discipline and the term itself encapsulates a range of outputs from sound for moving image to sound installation and even applications in industrial contexts. Our MSc programme allows students to explore many gradients in-between these positions and as a student here you will be given the opportunity to define your own concept of sound design through an extensive summer project.
Academic staff
Programme Director
The Sound Design MSc is overseen by its Programme Director and course designer Martin Parker. Martin is a composer and sound artist and graduated from the University of Edinburgh with a PhD in composition. He has run the Sound Design MSc in the Graduate School of Edinburgh College of Art (ECA) since its inception in 2003. Martin is active as a sound installation artist, improviser and performs regularly with his laptop around Europe. His recent period of research leave saw him complete a new work for the computer and instrumental ensemble commissioned by percussionist Joby Burgess and the development of a large-scale interactive music theatre piece for performance in cinemas.
Tutors
There are many other lecturers who contribute to our core course and we enjoy a range of visiting speakers who come to talk on specific areas of practice or academic research.
A brief overview
The programme began in 2003 and grew out of the interdisciplinary Edinburgh College of Art that currently is home to Music, Architecture and Landscape Architecture, Design, Art and History of Art. It enjoys a close relationship with both the MSc in Digital Composition and Performance, MSc in Design and Digital Media as well as the MSc in Acoustics and Music Technology. Together this cohort of staff and students apply a richly diverse and dynamic approach to specialist research in themes of design, composition, musical acoustics, computer science, media and cultural theory.
Entry requirements
We normally require candidates to have obtained, or expect to obtain, a degree in any humanities subject with a 2.1 or equivalent grade.
Course outline
Whilst Sound Design requires a good deal of highly specialised skills in sound recording, editing, manipulation, computer-based studio-craft and critical listening, once mastered, these skills can be applied across a range of creative disciplines from web design to film sound and musical composition.
This MSc is not a sound engineering programme but students have access to expertise that could help them develop in this area. Technical sills are acquired through regular submission of assessed practical project briefs.
Across the two teaching semesters (September to March), students will take six taught courses, three in each semester. Some of these can be swapped out with options from the related MSc in Digital Composition and Performance and the MSc in Acoustics and Music Technology.
Semester 1: Introduction and Orientation
| Course | Credit |
|---|---|
| Sound Design Media | 20 |
| Sonic Structures (or two 10 credit Acoustics courses) | 20 |
| Media and Culture | 20 |
Semester 2: Practice, Reflection and Action
| Course | Credit |
|---|---|
| Interactive Sound Environments (or Non Real Time Systems) | 20 |
| Sound and Fixed Media (or Electroacoustic Composition and Performance) | 20 |
| Digital Media Studio Project | 20 |
Summer period (Vacation):
| Course | Credit |
|---|---|
| Integration | |
| Sound Design Final Project |
This article was published on Aug 1, 2011