Choosing a course in Music Production

Hi there!

I’m an international student and a classical pianist who applied for undergraduate study at some universities and got pretty good results.

I should’ve done this earlier, but I’d like to ask music and music production students for recommendations now.

I’m interested in your thoughts about which courses and unis are best for Music Production as well as on these particular courses on my list:

1. Music (Production), Leeds Conservatoire
2. Creative Music Technology, Surrey University
3. Creative Music Technology with Placement Year, Bristol UWE
4. Music Production, Hull University
5. Music Production, Staffordshire University

(edited 2 years ago)

Reply 1

NovaeSci

Have you had a look at BIMM and ACM? They specialise in music.

Reply 2

grintroy

Original post by NovaeSci

Have you had a look at BIMM and ACM? They specialise in music.

Sure! I looked at many unis and colleges in this field, but many of them didn’t suited me: some of them offer very inconvenient payment plans, others don’t issue CAS for a visa.

I surely didn’t look deeply enough into all of them, but yeah, I already considered BIMM and ACM.

But hey, thanks anyways 😉

Reply 3

NovaeSci

I think anything with a placement year would also be highly beneficial. Music production is hard to get in to and the year experience will definitely give you the extra edge :smile:

(edited 2 years ago)

Reply 4

Uni of Hull Students

Official Rep

Original post by grintroy

Hi grintoy

It is great you are considering Hull. I am not a music or music production student, but I know both Bristol and Hull well, I lived in Bristol for 12 years and have been studying in Hull for 4 years, so I will let you know my thoughts on the two cities.

Hull is a small city (population 260,000) and although it has a lovely old town and marina in the city centre, the outskirts can be a little grim, but you would probably never need to go to them. The campus is lovely, everything is there so if you never wanted to leave campus there is no reason to, although it is close to the centre. Having said that they are lots of lovely places around to visit (the same is true of Bristol). Hull is a lot cheaper to live in than Bristol, so if that is a consideration for you then bear in mind that Hull is the most affordable student city according to the Nat West survey.

Bristol UWE has three different campuses, so it is spread out more, and you might have to get a bus from one campus to another, I believe Music Production is based at Frenchay which is on the eastern outskirts . Bristol has a population of 460,000 and is far more diverse, the Uni has around 30,000 students compared to Hull's 16,000. So perhaps there is more choice of things to do in Bristol, but I have always found things to do in Hull anyway.

If you want to ask me anything else, please don't hesitate to ask.

Good luck

Chris
University of Hull Student Rep

Reply 5

Chicken.M.

Bristol is a music/art hub, loads of famous artists originated here (I live here). UWE is considered one of the best in the country for music production. I'm going to be starting their creative music technology course in September as well. They have a 100% student satisfaction as well. I've spoken to the course leader a lot already and he's suuuuuuper helpful and friendly, he's given me loads of resources and advice and I haven't even started the course yet.

(edited 2 years ago)

Reply 6

grintroy

Original post by Chicken.M.

I had a call with Dr Davies, the programme leader, as well. Totally agreed! He is super helpful and supportive.

And I also think that UWE Bristol is an excellent choice. But now I’m trying to find something about the Surrey Uni as well, because I heard many good things about its Tonmeister course. The question is whether Creative Music Technology in Surrey is also worth it.

Reply 7

University of Surrey Student Rep

Official Rep

Original post by grintroy

Hi there,
To introduce myself – I’m Joao, starting next semester I will be in my final year studying BSc Economics at Surrey University. I recently finished my one-year industrial placement as an Economist for the British Government’s Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra). I also had the opportunity to work as a Private Secretary in the Private Office.

I have done some research and found we’re one of the UK’s leading universities for music, with our courses ranked in the top 10 by the Guardian University Guide 2021. On this practice-led course, you’ll study the creative use of music technology using a wide range of specialist software and hardware, preparing you for a broad range of careers in the creative industries. You’ll choose from areas of study such as electronic music creation and performance, sound design, music for moving images, and creative music programming. Traditional music skills are also an important part of the degree and you may also choose to study traditional instrumental music, including performance. Our vision is to create ‘thinking musicians’, so this course will also develop your analytical and interdisciplinary creative thinking and your fundamental transferable skills. You’ll develop a strong portfolio of creative work that will help you in your career, and the skills you need to make professional work for a broad range of media.

Finally, the campus is lovely. Surrey is known to emphasize the social life of students and always care about how you spend your free time at university. The student union offers more than 140 societies based on any hobbies and interests students have and clubs for all kinds of sport that a student might want to take up. And even with covid restrictions, the union managed to organize one of the biggest covid-safe university events in the country!

If you have any questions about Surrey or uni life in general, then please ask as I am here to help you out :smile:

Joao
Economics