Electronic Music and Sound

Electronic music and sound is a discipline that treats the technology of sound production, manipulation, and reproduction as both a creative medium and a subject of critical enquiry. It spans composition for electronic instruments and synthesisers, sound design for film, television, games and interactive media, audio production and engineering, and the study of how recorded and electronic sound has transformed music and culture over the past century. Students are typically drawn to this field by a desire to create with sound as a primary material, and by curiosity about the technical and cultural systems that shape how we hear.

At the University of Brighton, this three-year full-time programme develops your skills in music production, synthesis, sound design, recording, and mixing alongside engagement with the theory, history, and critical analysis of electronic music. You will work with digital audio workstations, analogue synthesis, field recording, and a range of sound design tools, developing practical creative skills through studio project work. The programme includes a sandwich year with a work placement, giving you the chance to work professionally in the sound, music, or audio industry and bring that experience back into your final year of study.

Graduates from electronic music and sound programmes work in music production, sound design for games, film and television, audio engineering, live sound, and music technology education. The combination of creative and technical skills is also valued in advertising, interactive media, theatre, and arts organisations. Some graduates pursue postgraduate study in areas such as sound art, music technology, or audio engineering, while others build portfolio careers combining different aspects of their professional practice as producers, sound designers, and artists.