The Student Room Group

not sure which uni to pick — sound and music production

i haven't been as diligent as i should've been when looking for universities, and now the ucas deadline is basically here and i'm second-guessing some of my choices.

i've only used 4 of my 5 choices, but i'm only really fine about one of them. i'm struggling to find places that offer an accredited sound and music course which covers the things i want to do with good student opinions.

so far i have:
- uog - this is the one i like the most so far to be honest, the campus seemed nice, good facilities, etc etc. i just don't know about the quality of teaching

- uca (farnham) - i liked this one at the open day, though looking online shows they're leaning into ai, and that the quality of teaching is subpar, student opinions aren't amazing, so i'm pretty conflicted about it.

- hertfordshire - i was excited about herts before going to the open day, where the lecturers didn't really explain the course content well and seemed a bit full of themselves? and felt like there was a sort of commercial focus rather than creative. maybe i just had a bad experience though. also, the music courses here are more specific (i was looking at composition for games, though i still don't know what the course is actually like.)

- winchester - this one is here because i didn't know where else to go. i liked it but it's not a first choice and could probably be swapped for a more appropriate course.

i'm currently sort of panic-searching for uni courses now (haha) and any advice or help would be greatly appreciated. i want to study somewhere where my time and creativity is valued, and where the lecturers care about the students as individuals. i personally want to do work on sound and music for games and interactive media, though i don't want to do a hyper-specific course, and want to also cover recording techniques, composition and production, working with analog and digital, live sound, etc. (somewhere that offers a game audio module maybe?) preferably also somewhere in the south of england.

i've been sort of looking at bimm, bath spa, (and anglia ruskin?), but as always theres mixed opinions and it's tough to find actual information.

tldr; what are good unis in the south to study sound and music production?
any help would be appreciated o7

Reply 1

Original post
by and4stre
i haven't been as diligent as i should've been when looking for universities, and now the ucas deadline is basically here and i'm second-guessing some of my choices.
i've only used 4 of my 5 choices, but i'm only really fine about one of them. i'm struggling to find places that offer an accredited sound and music course which covers the things i want to do with good student opinions.
so far i have:
- uog - this is the one i like the most so far to be honest, the campus seemed nice, good facilities, etc etc. i just don't know about the quality of teaching
- uca (farnham) - i liked this one at the open day, though looking online shows they're leaning into ai, and that the quality of teaching is subpar, student opinions aren't amazing, so i'm pretty conflicted about it.
- hertfordshire - i was excited about herts before going to the open day, where the lecturers didn't really explain the course content well and seemed a bit full of themselves? and felt like there was a sort of commercial focus rather than creative. maybe i just had a bad experience though. also, the music courses here are more specific (i was looking at composition for games, though i still don't know what the course is actually like.)
- winchester - this one is here because i didn't know where else to go. i liked it but it's not a first choice and could probably be swapped for a more appropriate course.
i'm currently sort of panic-searching for uni courses now (haha) and any advice or help would be greatly appreciated. i want to study somewhere where my time and creativity is valued, and where the lecturers care about the students as individuals. i personally want to do work on sound and music for games and interactive media, though i don't want to do a hyper-specific course, and want to also cover recording techniques, composition and production, working with analog and digital, live sound, etc. (somewhere that offers a game audio module maybe?) preferably also somewhere in the south of england.
i've been sort of looking at bimm, bath spa, (and anglia ruskin?), but as always theres mixed opinions and it's tough to find actual information.
tldr; what are good unis in the south to study sound and music production?
any help would be appreciated o7

Have you tried looking at 'Waterbear'? They are a relatively new uni and one is situated in the south. They have great facilities, and the people that work there have generally made it quite far in the industry. Check it out, maybe you'll like it.

Reply 2

Original post
by Josh2010
Have you tried looking at 'Waterbear'? They are a relatively new uni and one is situated in the south. They have great facilities, and the people that work there have generally made it quite far in the industry. Check it out, maybe you'll like it.

Its not a 'University' - its a privately funded 'for profit' college with no degree awarding powers. These sort of places go under or just 'disappear' on a depressingly regular basis, leaving students with no way of completing their courses. Avoid.

Reply 3

Original post
by McGinger
Its not a 'University' - its a privately funded 'for profit' college with no degree awarding powers. These sort of places go under or just 'disappear' on a depressingly regular basis, leaving students with no way of completing their courses. Avoid.

That is incorrect waterbear college of music whilst not titled as a university do degree courses all with plenty of music experience opportunitys i would serpusly consoder this one and have a look at there instagram page as they show some of there courses and events theu help with.

Reply 4

Waterbear is part of and part owned by Falmouth University who are quite respected for this type of course. I was quite sceptical at first but have been very impressed by what I have seen so far from the young people I know of who are there.

Leeds Conservatoire & LIPA should really be on the shortlist of any serious would be sound/music production student (assuming that they don;t have the right grades/subjects for Surrey Tonnmeister

Reply 5

Hello!

As a current student studying at Anglia Ruskin (Cambridge Campus), studying Digital Media Productions, I walk by the music room quite often and hear they are always playing in there! ARU also has a seperate building which focus on music production, I believe it's called Compass House, and from a time where I had a project with a student in Music Production, I heard only positive things and he did not say anything negative about the lecturers either. We had access to the podcast recording studios and the staff there were very helpful from the get go, making it a very welcoming and easy environment. Whilst I am not in Music Production in particular, Digital Media Productions has had a wide range of activities and modules for us, never doing the same thing twice. I am aware that Cambridge is South-East rather than just South, but it is still a good option to explore. I am attaching a link to the Music Production course overview if you wanted to have a look at that. I also want to add that in my experience the courses in the Arts Faculty tend to be small in numbers, making it easier for our lecturers to give us 1-1 chats and personalised advice, and as someone who also went to a small college this has been more than enough help in my uni life.

Hope this was helpful and if you have any more questions, please let us know!

Best Wishes,
Lee

Reply 6

Napier in Edinburgh !!

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