Duration:
2 years full-time | Top-up available

Location:
Confetti Nottingham Campus, NTU

UCAS course code:
W377

Institution code:
N91

Quick! We have some places remaining for this September. Check out the entry requirements below.

On this foundation Music Production course, based in the creative heart of Nottingham, you’ll explore music creation from a technical and creative standpoint and discover and nurture your own creative path.

You’ll learn practical music theory and apply it to your own compositions, whether that’s individually or collaboratively in your work in employable fields such as media or songwriting.

You’ll understand and work within commercial parameters to ensure you graduate with the best chance of working within music, but you’ll also be encouraged to explore the more experimental ends of recording, production and composition to truly find your own identity.

You’ll have plenty of opportunities to put your learning into practice, through live projects, masterclasses and guest lectures. You’ll also benefit from being assigned an industry mentor in your final year.

This course is for you if:

  • you have a passion for experimentation and creating high quality music 
  • you enjoy creating electronic music and commercial songwriting
  • you are excited by using recording equipment

Progression route

Top-up your degree to a full BA (Hons) qualification in Music Production at Confetti in Nottingham or London.

Clearing 2024

  • 48 UCAS points from up to three qualifications;
  • GCSE – English and Maths Grade C / 4

2025 entry

  • 64 UCAS Tariff points; and
  • GCSE – English and Maths Grade C / 4

To find out what qualifications have tariff points, please use our tariff calculator.

You will also have at least one of the following music qualifications:

  • A level or other level 3 qualification in a related subject such as BTEC Extended Diploma in Music Technology or Production (or similar, e.g. RSL Awards)

We welcome suitable applicants without standard entry requirements. Once we receive your UCAS application we may be in touch to request you evidence your relevant experience and interest in using Music Technology in this straight forward way:

  • A short 2 – 3 minute video where you talk through a production you have been involved in on a DAW or where you have recorded live instrumentation

Other qualifications and experience

We may also consider credits achieved at other universities and your work/life experience through an assessment of prior learning. This may be for year one entry, or beyond the beginning of a course where applicable, for example, into year 2. Our Recognition of Prior Learning and Credit Transfer Policy outlines the process and options available for this route.

Meeting our entry requirements

Hundreds of qualifications in the UK have UCAS tariff points attached to specific grades, including A levels, BTECs, T Levels and many more. You can use your grades and points from up to four different qualifications to meet our criteria. Enter your predicted or achieved grades into our tariff calculator to find out how many points your qualifications are worth

How to apply

This degree is validated by Nottingham Trent University. You can apply through UCAS.

Apply now

Preparing for the financial side of student life is important, but there’s no need to feel anxious and confused about it. We hope that our fees and funding pages will answer all your questions.

Fees & funding

Introduction to The Studio (20 Credit Points)

Begin your journey into the studio environment by developing your understanding of the fundamentals of recording. You’ll learn about large format consoles, signal flow, connections, microphone types, and DAWs to record audio.

You’ll be able to apply these skills whether you’re in a traditional studio or have a small home set up: get this right now, and it will set you up for all of your future studio work.

Studio Practice (20 Credit Points)

Discover the magic of recording various artists using different styles of recording such as multitracking and overdubbing, in session and in your own time, to form a portfolio of studio work.

DAW Skills (20 Credit Points)

Digital Audio Workstations (DAWs) are the digital canvases you will need to navigate to put down, cultivate, and develop musical ideas throughout your career. In this module, you will learn and apply different DAW techniques to create and arrange music through a series of set tasks, thereby developing a skills portfolio that you can apply throughout your course and career. You will build upon these skills to support your song writing module, generate ideas, and understand their role in a wide range of applications.

Creative Music Technology (20 Credit Points)

In this module, you will explore the fundamentals of synthesis and sampling, and make a track/tracks entirely from your own self-sourced and generated sounds: a key step into defining your own sounds and world of originality.

Music Composition and Theory (20 Credit Points)

This module will teach you the fundamentals of music theory such as rhythm, harmony, melody, accompaniment and arranging, enabling you to communicate emotions and feelings through your compositions. You’ll demonstrate your understanding of key principles through portfolio tasks and apply them in a completed final composition (or compositions).

Your Industry (20 Credit Points)

Explore contexts of working in the international world of sound and music and how you might establish a career by exploring the flow of money through the industry and relevant current and emerging trends. You’ll assess your current skill set and discover what you need to do to improve your chances of success on your employable journey.

You’ll choose work like briefs lasting at least 80 hours to enable you to experience working opportunities in a field of interest, then reflect on your learning to set you up for the rest of your course in an employable mind set. Your future starts now!

Studio Production (20 Credit Points)

Explore digital, analogue, and hybrid studio technologies, developing recording and processing techniques to take on a variety of productions over the module: this could be using traditional studio environments (on-site or external) or your own DIY production set ups.

Collaborate with performers, artists, and other students to work on a wide base of genres, selecting a range of your productions for a portfolio that should be approaching commercial standards.

Mixing (20 Credit Points)

You’ll work to client supplied briefs as well as your own self sourced material, engaging in technical and creative post production and mixing processes to create a portfolio of work. You’ll critically compare your mixes with industry outputs from around the world and learn approaches to help you meet commercial benchmarks.

You’ll cover techniques with compression, effects and automation with additional production skills such as vocal editing and production, drum production and other genre specific approaches of additional production through a range of projects.

Music for Modern Media (20 Credit Points)

This module focuses on exploring the exciting world of composing for media. Building on your compositional and DAW skills from year one, you will utilise them in a variety of real-world scenarios to create music for media use. These may include jingles, genre-based library music, and music for film and other media.

You will examine and research these areas, gaining insight into how best to apply your current DAW knowledge with other tools and techniques and expand on that skillset by successfully completing example scenarios. Composing for media is a substantial part of today’s industry and an area in which you should be well prepared to engage.

Contextual Studies in Music Production (20 Credit Points)

The history of music technology has informed where we are and where we might go next. In this module, you will be exposed to decades of key recordings, technologies, events, artists and the movers and shakers involved in shaping modern popular music as we know it.

You will choose your own specific area of interest in music technology and production and explore how it’s impacted creativity and the development of the wider world of music within an essay, accompanied by practical assets to illustrate your understanding.

Creative Music Technologies 2 (20 Credit Points)

This module focuses on the creative use of music technology hardware in the production of original work and recreation of key historical techniques. You will learn the particulars of hardware production techniques, investigating module, patchable instruments, drum machines, hardware sequencing, synthesisers and sampling. You will take a creative, experimental approach to creating and manipulating sounds, using a range of vintage, vintage-inspired, and contemporary technology, and create a track using these technologies.

Industry Practice (20 Credit Points)

This is where the reality of being a freelance practitioner really comes into focus. During this module, you will source and manage appropriate self-directed projects of at least 20 hours in an area that aligns to your career aspiration,, working individually and collaboratively, applying the research, knowledge, and skills learnt throughout the course in common real-world scenarios.

You will also be given a further 80 hours of relevant industry briefs over the year to complete and reflect on. The aim is to develop your overall professionalism and provide you with the knowledge and resources to begin a career in the creative industries which are increasingly defined by freelance and self-employed models of work. Projects can cover a wide range of scenarios, and you must be able to adapt quickly, spinning a number of plates at once. You will need to work under pressure to strict deadlines and learn how to manage your time and resources effectively whilst looking after the wellbeing of yourself and your collaborators. You’ll explore relevant legal frameworks such as copyright and intellectual property and examine how money flows in your particular are of interest so you’re best place to exploit your talents for financial sustainable gain.

Do It For Real

Industry Week

Studying at Confetti you’ll take part in Industry Week where you’ll be able to meet a range of professionals within your field of interest as well as other areas of the creative industries. 

Past guests include Fumez The Engineer, Frasier T Smith, Susan Rogers, Sylvia Massy, Tony Visconti, Andrew Schepps, Steve Albini and Steve Lillywhite.

Student work

Our Talent Development team works closely with course leaders to link students with opportunities across the industry. Music Production students have previously worked with and visited leading companies, such as:

  • Notts TV
  • Spool
  • TV Workshop
  • Nottingham Panthers

Study a Music Production degree with us and you’ll learn in our very own live music and events venue, Metronome. You’ll have access to:

  • Audient Heritage Console
  • SSL Duality 48 Channel Super Analogue Console
  • Neumann Microphones
  • EMT 140 Plate Reverb
  • Outboard from TubeTech and AP, DAWs (such as FL Studio, Ableton, Pro Tools, Logic, Reaper) 
  • Studer A827 2 inch 24 Track Tape Machine
  • Plug Ins from Sound Toys, Arturia, SSL and Slate Digital

Courses

Each case will be considered individually, but upon successful completion you’re automatically entitled to enter into the final year of our BA (Hons) Music Production at either our Nottingham or London campus to gain a full BA qualification.

Career options

What roles do our graduates go on to?

  • Mix Engineers
  • Artists
  • Sound Engineers
  • Music Producers
  • Composers for Film
  • Composers for Sound Libraries
  • Mastering Engineers
  • Audio Post Dubbing Mixers
  • Podcast Audio Production
  • Sample Library Creators
  • Sound Designers
  • Mixing for TV
  • Location Recorders
  • Songwriters

NTU Employability support

Our support doesn’t end when you graduate. As a Confetti and NTU student you will be entitled to dedicated graduate employability support for up to three years after you complete your studies. You’ll have access to exclusive events, initiatives and work experience opportunities to support you in the early stages of your graduate career.

NTU Employability Support

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