Sound Design and Audiovisual Practice

The Sound Design and Audiovisual Practice program of the University of Glasgow provides advanced training in creative practice with sound and audiovisual technologies. The program offers topics relevant to practicing musicians, artists, and the creative industries, such as sound shaping and design, audiovisual composition, field recording, creative and experimental approaches to technology.

Key facts

• We are Scotland’s leading research centre in Music, with a mutually supportive community of scholars and practitioners.

• You will benefit from studying in the city of Glasgow, the UK’s first UNESCO city of music, with its vibrant and exciting music scene. Festivals abound, such as Sonica, Counterflows, and Tectonics, as does grass-roots sonic activity such as the Lights Out Listening Group, and a huge range of venues for creative sound work, including the Old Hairdressers, Tramway, Mono, SWG3, and City Halls, all of which have hosted our students’ work. The presence of ensembles such as the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, RSNO, Scottish Opera, Scottish Ensemble, and experimental music ensembles such as the Glasgow Improvisers Orchestra provides a rich context for your studies.

• We work with the city’s cultural program (Glasgow Life), and in collaboration with local arts houses and organisations such as Cryptic, to bring leading sonic artists to Glasgow, with associated workshops and collaborative opportunities for our students.

• Your work can be showcased in our annual postgraduate event Sound Thought, which takes place at the Centre for Contemporary Arts (CCA).

• Your work can also be showcased at the Glasgow Electronic and Audiovisual Media (GLEAM) Festival.

• At the Sound Design and Audiovisual Practice program of the University of Glasgow you can experiment with building devices for making and controlling sound, enhanced by the presence of prototyping facilities in Glasgow such as Maklab, through our Creating with Technology unit.

• You will benefit from access to our facilities including an audio lab, three studios, the University’s Concert Hall with Genelec and D&B sound diffusion system, seminar and practice rooms.

Career prospects

The attributes you gain will be attractive to employers from the creative industries, and are particularly relevant for contemporary music, sound design and sound production, games, theatre, film and television. Many of our graduates undertake successful portfolio careers as artists and sound practitioners in their own right. The program also offers an excellent foundation upon which to progress to PhD studies and an academic career.

Courses include:

• Sound Shaping and Design

• Creating with Technology

• Field Recording, Sound and Place

• Audiovisual Composition

• Sonic Art Performance

• Sound Art in Dialogue