Music and Sound - Semester 2 Highlights

As we round off another exciting academic year, we wanted to share some of the fantastic work that took place across our Music Production and Sound Design undergraduate programmes.

Across both degrees, students have produced an impressive range of projects, from original music productions to immersive audio experiences and sound design work for film and games. The quality of work being created continues to impress staff, visiting professionals, and industry partners alike.

We are incredibly proud of the dedication, creativity, and professionalism demonstrated by our students. Their willingness to experiment in the studio, collaborate with each other, and push their creative boundaries reflects our vibrant learning community.  We celebrate our new graduates and look forward to welcoming the new cohort into the studios in September.

Celebrating Music Production student success

Watching students grow from experimenting in the studio to producing fully professional, release-ready work is one of the most rewarding parts of what we do, and this year's Music Production Level 5 and Level 6 students delivered in a big way.

This year's standout final projects spanned an impressive range of styles and sounds:

• Petter Stromsvik — vocal-driven productions with real emotional depth
• Ben Harrison — thunderous, dancefloor-ready electronic tracks
• Josiah Nolan — heartfelt heavy metal songwriting and production
• Jamaine Brown — summer-ready drum and bass
• Joel Zmiko — soulful, self-penned songwriting
• Kirsten Vaughn — polished, hyperpop production

Each of these projects reflects not just technical skill, but a clear creative voice.  Exactly what we hope every student leaves the course with. We couldn't be prouder of the dedication, experimentation, and professionalism on display.

Listen to the full playlist on SoundCloud

Sound Design: bringing stories to life

Our Sound Design students have been just as busy, producing imaginative and technically accomplished work across film and games. A few highlights from the year:

Foley in Focus.

Students took part in hands-on Foley workshops, learning to build custom sound effects using two very different case studies: Pixar's Luxo Jr. and the opening sequence of Ad Astra. Working across both projects gave students a real feel for how Foley shifts between disciplines,  playful, exaggerated sound design for animated character movement versus grounded, high-intensity work for large-scale, live-action drama. It's this kind of contrast that helps students understand not just how to create sound, but why certain choices work for certain stories.

The Beast Within.

Using a clip from the television series Fallout, students explored how the most powerful instrument in a sound designer's toolkit, the human voice, can be transformed into terrifying, expressive creature sounds through processing and layering techniques used by professionals.

Frankenstein's Monster

In a fast-paced, collaborative exercise, students built the sonic world for scenes from Guillermo del Toro's 2025 film Frankenstein. Split into teams, each group designed a specific sonic layer before passing their work to the next team to build on further.  A brilliant simulation of the handoffs and iteration that happen in real production pipelines.

Students inspired by industry insights

If there's one thing that consistently elevates our courses, it's direct access to working professionals who are actively shaping the audio industry today. This semester's guest lecturer series was no exception, and the impact was felt well beyond the lecture theatre with conversations regularly continued into the studios (and yes, often the pub) long after sessions ended.

Barry Watson led workshops on acoustic recording techniques and creative skill-building. As a former Audio Associate at Canada's prestigious Banff Centre, he's worked with artists across rock, jazz, and classical genres, and writes regularly for leading industry publications including MusicTech and Sound on Sound. His sessions gave students a rare blend of hands-on technique and industry-level critical perspective.

Tom Gittins, studio owner at Monochrome Productions, delivered a masterclass on pre-production and mixing strategy, showing students how to identify the essence of a track early and shape their production decisions around it.

Sam Bloor, local studio owner, producer, and one of our own alumni, delivered a recording and tracking masterclass focused on getting the best performances out of musicians. Students put his approach into practice immediately, recording drums, bass, and (quad!) guitars for a heavy rock excerpt -  a great example of theory turned straight into applied studio craft.

Dave Walker, a leading figure in hip hop production with credits on releases for Universal, EMI, Warner Chappell, and Red Bull Music, plus placements in Oscar-winning films, the UEFA Champions League final, and Netflix documentaries.  Dave shared his professional workflows and top sampling techniques with students.

Kate Hibbs returned to share her extensive experience as a freelancer across music production, sound design, media, and the arts. Her session gave students an honest, practical insight into building a sustainable independent career, covering everything from finding clients and managing projects to negotiating fees and staying creatively motivated. She followed this up by running a professional photoshoot in our studios, giving students high-quality promotional imagery for their portfolios, press kits, and social profiles.

Sessions like these are more than guest appearances — they're a core part of how our students learn to think and work like professionals. Hearing directly from people actively working at the top of the industry gives students context, credibility, and connections that simply can't be replicated in a classroom alone.

Congratulations are also due to key lecturer Alex Hough, who was invited to contribute a chapter to a forthcoming academic book series following his conference presentation in London on the use of podcasts in education. His chapter examines the critical and conceptual foundations that make podcasting a valuable teaching tool, and offers guidance on integrating it across different educational settings. The book is due for publication in the autumn.

Major studio upgrade: Dolby Atmos coming this Summer!

We're excited to share a significant investment in our facilities: this summer, our main control room will be upgraded from a 5.1 surround sound environment to a fully configured Dolby Atmos studio.

Dolby Atmos is one of the most exciting technologies currently transforming music, film, television, gaming, and immersive media production. This upgrade means our students will train on genuinely industry-relevant tools from day one. The new environment will support advanced teaching in immersive audio production, spatial sound design, mixing, and critical listening, keeping our programmes firmly aligned with where the industry is heading.

Between the calibre of student work coming out of our studios, the continued generosity of the industry professionals who give their time to teach here, and a brand-new Dolby Atmos facility on the horizon, next year is shaping up to be one of our most exciting yet.

We're proud of what our students have achieved this year, and even more excited about what they'll build next. We look forward to welcoming the next generation of Music Production and Sound Design students,  and to seeing you in our studios soon!