Music and Sound

Flagship Studios

Recording/mixing studio with SSL AWS 900 mixing desk

6th for Graduate Prospects – Music

Complete University Guide 2021

Industry recognised

Avid-accredited status across the University

Establish yourself as a composer, producer, sound designer, sound engineer or music industry professional.

Our undergraduate and postgraduate music and sound courses will help you into a range of careers in today's challenging and highly rewarding creative industries. Whichever course you choose, you can follow your passions with optional modules and flexible assignments. You'll also have the chance to work on projects with students from other disciplines – like film, games and animation.

Our teaching is practical, giving you the hands-on experience and creative skills you'll need to impress future employers. You'll learn from highly-qualified staff with active and prominent roles in both industry and research. Our courses all have regular input from a wide variety of guest speakers working in the music, sound and creative industries. Teaching takes place in our professional facilities, which include live studios and control rooms, Mac Labs, a TV centre and a range of industry-standard software. As an approved Avid and Apple training centre, we offer accreditation in Pro Tools and Logic at a very low additional cost.

Our undergraduate students go on to work in diverse roles as: studio engineers, music producers, sound designers (for film, TV and games), promoters, performers, composers, DJs, lecturers, technicians, teachers and marketers.

Music degrees at Staffordshire University

Video

Music & Sound student Andrew discusses the highlights of studying Music at Staffordshire University

Courses

Music Production BA (Hons)

Study options: Full-time; Foundation year

Available in Clearing

Sound Design BSc (Hons)

Study options: Full-time; Foundation year

Available in Clearing

Undergraduate Open Day

Saturday 14 August 2021

Explore our campus and facilities, find out more about the courses you're interested in and connect with our lecturers and current students.

Book now

Taught courses

Music Production MA

Study options: Full-time; Part-time

Facilities

Cadman Music Labs

The Cadman Music Labs host over 50 Mac workstations for professional music composition and post production. These facilities offer access to specialist software such as Pro Tools, Logic Pro and Ableton Live, in addition to hardware peripherals such as Native Instruments Komplete Control A49 and Novation Launchkey 49 USB Midi Controller keyboards.

Cadman Music Studios

The Cadman Music Studios, constructed in 2016, consist of six control rooms and four live rooms. The control rooms contain a variety of analogue, digital and hybrid mixing consoles from manufacturers such as SSL, Audient, Toft and AVID. One control room houses a foley pit. The live rooms host a selection of backline drum kits, amplifiers and instruments from Marshall, Ampeg, Vox, Orange, Fender, Ibanez and more. Every studio support 5.1 surround sound monitoring.

Hands On Learning

A Music & Sound course will give you the flexibility to follow your own interests while developing essential technical, creative, and academic skills. With hands-on experience and excellent support, you will bridge the gap between your ambitions and beginning a career in the fast-growing creative sector that includes the music, film and games industries.

Work experience and careers

We provide the opportunity of work experience for all new students.

This work experience may link to your course, or it could be in a broader field. Our commitment gives you the best possible mix of knowledge and experience.

You can apply to spend a year working on placement in the music and sound industry. With our solid contacts, we'll do our best to help you secure the placement that's right for you.

You'll also have the opportunity to join Phoenix Management. Run by Music and Sound students, it signs, records, and releases material for a variety of artists.

Work experience opportunities

Graduates from our Music and Sound courses have gone on to work for companies such as:

Solid State Logic
Sony Music
Polydor Records
Ditto Music
London Symphony Orchestra
Yellow Fish Studios
Dovetail Games

Cadman Studios Tour - Recording Studios & Live Rooms

Video

Join Alex for a behind-the-scenes tour of our recording studios and live rooms in our Cadman Studios.

You'll prepare for your career by learning from dedicated staff who are active in research and the industry.

They've worked as sound engineers, music producers, performing artists, composers and sound designers. Several have run successful businesses and many present, perform and publish in international academic circles.

Our music and sound courses feature regular input from a wide variety of guest speakers. In recent years these have included Ken Scott (engineer for The Beatles and David Bowie), Dean Humphreys (sound supervisor on The Pianist and Taken 2) and Nick McCabe (The Verve guitarist).

A growing number of our students are choosing to start their own business, or have gone on to work in recording studios, media outlets, and education institutions after graduating.

Employment opportunities

Our graduates have found employment in these areas, among others:

Acoustic consultancy
Artist management
Broadcasting
Community arts
Composing
Digital distribution
Digital marketing
DJing
Education
Events management
Games audio
Instrumental tuition
Instrument making
Interactive multimedia design
Live sound engineering
Music production and remixing
Performing
Postgraduate study
Post production
Radio advert production
Record companies/labels
Record shops
Sample libraries
Sound design
Studio engineering
Studio equipment design and manufacture
Studio management
Technical departments
Venue management

Our students

There have been really good opportunities to record with bands and produce different types of music records, which was great for my development.

Sam Gibbs

Music Production

I graduated with a strong desire to become a sound designer. I landed a full-time in-house position at Radium Audio, a London-based sound company. I quickly progressed to the position of Head of Sound Design and had the opportunity to work on channel idents for Sky 1 and MGM HD. I have since left Radium Audio to start my own company. We're now are currently in the process of opening a second studio in Stockholm, Sweden.

Chris Didlick

Music Technology

The award structures, lecturers and technical staff were incredibly supportive and provided the perfect academic environment for students.

Jay Harrison

Graduate

Our staff

Dr Dave Payling

Associate Professor

Dave teaches audiovisual composition, audio mastering, sound synthesis and music software design. He has a PhD in visual music composition and produces a variety of electronic music.

Dave's profile

Dr Marc Estibeiro

Associate Professor

I teach computer sound, advanced Pro Tools techniques, modern composition and music software design.

Marc's profile

Dave Hickman

Senior Lecturer

Dave teaches studio design, acoustics, studio production and electronics. An active member of the Institute of Acoustics, he is also a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.

Dave's profile

Doug Rouxel

Lecturer

Doug has been teaching since 2006, initially starting his career in the Further Education sector where he specialised in the delivery of Higher Education in a Further Education setting. Since joining Staffordshire University, Doug has been an in…

Doug's profile

Dr Sharon Coleclough

Senior Lecturer

Sharon works across all areas of film and media production, focusing upon specialisms in sound design, editing, acting and performance in film. She is an active researcher with international publications on lighting, sound and representation in film.

Sharon's profile

Dr Mark Mckenna

Lecturer

Dr Mark McKenna is a lecturer in Film, Television & Radio. His teaching is focused on the theoretical and critical underpinnings of film production and draws upon his research which is focused on the film and media industries.

Mark's profile

Our graduates

Dan Crook

Graduated 2016

Dan Crook is a music engineer and musician at 140dB Management, home to some of the world's best producers, engineers, mixers, arrangers and writers.

Dan's story

Lewis Williams