MSc Audio Engineering

Why choose Herts?

Why choose this course?

MSc Audio Engineering is designed to provide a highly-focussed, industry-relevant post-graduate education aimed at forming creative professionals for the audio, production, and post-production industry.  It is perfect for those who wish to pursue careers as creative Audio Engineers within recording, production or live sound settings, who wish to develop the high-level technical aspects of their own music creation, or plan to engage with studio design and acoustics as a career path.

Students take hands-on sessions in the University's state-of-the-art facilities, including top-class Neve studios, guided by dedicated tutors with significant industry experience. The postgraduate curriculum covers all the most relevant and current skills of the field, and sessions and assessment are designed to reproduce, as far as possible and appropriate, the realities of the commercial environment.

We are one of the most dynamic music departments in the UK, offering a rich portfolio of forward-looking music programmes uniquely designed to develop the most relevant skills in the current industry. The environment is friendly and supportive, and students benefit from being part of a large community of creatives in all fields: from film, to new media, performance, and fine arts.

Our top-class facilities include:

• a large recording studio featuring a 32-fader Neve Genesys Black analogue mixing console (with Neve 1073 mic-preamps + 88R and 1084 EQ) / 64-channel Protools HD MADI system / PMC IB2S-A midfield monitors / Neumann surround monitoring / two racks of high-end analogue and digital outboard compression, EQ and effects (Neve, Focusrite, Drawmer, 1176, LA2A, Pultec) / UAD DSP processing with full suite of plug-ins
• medium-size studio featuring a Neve Genesys / Protools HD system with RedNET and Neumann 5.1 monitoring
• acoustically-treated, surround-equipped, iMAc mix/production spaces with Slate Raven Mti touchscreen control and REDNet, and Kawai acoustic pianos
• live recording booth/spaces
• monitoring spaces for surround sound mixing
• dubbing suite for A/V work (foley, ADR, etc.)
• dual-monitor Apple iMac labs (each with a large range of s/w - including Logic, Ableton Live, Reason, ProTools, MaxMSP, Native Instruments Komplete, East West Composer Cloud)
• a state-of-the-art performance venue with Soundcraft vi1 console and full RedNET integration
• outboard including Digidesign Pro Tools, Lexicon TLAudio, TC Electronic and Focusrite
• top-quality dynamic, condenser and ribbon microphones, including Soundfield, Neumann, AKG, Coles, Shure, Audio-Technica, Beyerdynamic.

What will I study?

Lecture, seminars and tutorials are typically scheduled over two consecutive days a week, plus some extra sessions for particular workshops, performance and recording. In addition to scheduled sessions, students are expected to engage in continuous self-directed study and studio practice.

Key staff

Bruce Aisher
Programme Leader for PG Music, Bruce is a music producer, songwriter, composer, remixer, sound designer, and tech journalist. His work features on over 100 tracks, including a US Billboard Club Chart No.1, a Platinum album and TV shows. B.aisher@herts.ac.

John Brough
John is a freelance producer/engineer known for hit records. Formerly chief engineer at Metropolis Studios, he has worked with major artists like Queen. He specialises in studio recording, mixing, surround sound, and immersive formats.

Dr Kyriacos Michael
Dr. Kyriacos is a multi-instrumentalist, composer, songwriter, and music director. He's founded bands such as Nova Neon, and worked with BoohooMan, BBC & Discovery Channel. He teaches songwriting, composition, and research, focusing on Immersive Music.

Rob Wright
Head of Music, School of Creative Arts.

Further course information

Student experience