2012
Course overview
If you are a visual arts or media graduate, or you currently work in the media, and you would like to explore the creative and commercial possibilities of your work, then our MA Media Programme is ideal for you.
The MA Media Programme includes the following awards:
You are able to follow either a popular music production or popular music studies route via a combination of specialist and shared units. The course is therefore suitable for those of you whose first degrees are academic and theoretical, as well as those whose first degrees are mainly production-focused.
The popular music production route is flexible and allows for a choice of focus on live, studio or electronic music production, and you will receive advanced technological instruction in our industry standard digital and analogue multi-track recording facilities and audio production suites. The popular music studies units cover historical, cultural, technological, contextual and critical perspectives on popular music, as well as music production analysis. A key feature of both routes is the ability to focus on your specific popular music research and production interests.
During the third semester you will focus on a major individual project, providing the opportunity to develop extensive research in an area of personal interest, and you will be allocated a supportive supervisor who you will be closely matched with in terms of your interests.
This MA will help you to 'hit the ground running' in the job market. Our national and local music and festival links, high profile guest speakers and experienced course tutors will ensure that you graduate with the knowledge, skills and contacts to excel in a wide range of popular music related career pathways.
Industrial focus
Our tutors endeavour to maintain their industry links and will support you to undertake work experience.
Our undergraduate students have recently completed placements in live sound, theatre sound, recording studios, as well as mentoring college students from the area in a joint Music and Media festival, Solent Sound|.
Course content
Core units
Professional Development and Research Skills
This unit will enhance your research skills, and provides the specific terms of reference for the successful completion of your major project. Emphasis is placed on research methods and techniques that can be used in the development of strategies for employment in the Media Industries.
Masters Project
You will design, execute and present an individually demanding piece of work that deploys a systematic and in-depth understanding of the skills and debates relevant to your particular discipline of study. You will be expected to present a Project that critically synthesises approaches and methodologies within the discipline and demonstrates initiative and autonomy in its execution.
Making Music
This unit will examine contemporary popular music making with a particular emphasis on technological perspectives, providing insights into past developments and emerging trends in popular music production. You will explore the implications for popular music making within these developments, and consider broader debates relevant to the cultural study of music technology.
Popular Music Production route:
Producing Music
This unit will encourage an in-depth exploration of a specific field of contemporary professional production practice. You will identify, develop and create a popular music production project to a professional level. The project can be an original musical artefact, a synchronised production project or be based in live music production. The unit will enable the contextualisation of production practices within current and emerging debates, themes and issues relevant to popular music making, creating music for audio-visual media or popular music in live performance.
Popular Music Studies route:
Critical Issues in Popular Music
The inter-disciplinary field of popular music studies requires knowledge and understanding of a range of theoretical approaches to popular music. This unit will examine theoretical strands that have grown from the field of media and cultural studies, and critical musicology. Alongside exploring social and cultural issues of representation, genre formation, authenticity, scenes, consumption and identity, you will also consider current and emerging approaches to music and production analysis. The focus of the unit will be twentieth and twenty-first century popular music in the UK and US context.
Option units
Which ever route you study, you’ll able to choose one of the following options from across our MA Media courses:
-
Contemporary British Film and Television
-
Contemporary Film and Culture
-
Critical Issues in Popular Music
-
Digital and Multi-platform Storytelling
-
Digital Studio
-
Documentary History, Form and Practice
-
Experimental Film History, Form and Practice
-
Global Popular Music
-
Popular Music and Performance
-
Producing Television
-
Script to Screen.
Assessment
Class contact sessions on core subjects will guide you through a variety of topics and we will be able to advise you on the optional units which best suit your dissertation or project work. Assessment is through coursework in the form of, for example, essays, practical production projects, group and individual projects, learning journals and seminar presentations, portfolios and reflective writing projects.
Key career skills
Problem solving, research and analysis techniques, team work, written and oral communication, and managing projects from initial conception through to final presentation.
Projects/work experience
Where ever possible, you will be assessed in practical ‘real world’ situations, gain experience of completing ‘live’ projects set by industry professionals, and will undertake projects in the wider music production industry.
Solent's special features
-
Industry Links
You’ll benefit from the expertise of our high profile visiting fellows, such as producer Trevor Horn (CBE), Colin Lester, CEO of Universal Music Group, electronic music pioneer John Foxx, Carl Palmer of ELP, Feargal Sharkey, UK Music.
The course enjoys collaborative links with prestigeous national and local live music venues, organisations and some of the UK’s biggests music festivals, with a range of work experience roles available at, for example:
-
Association of Independent Festivals
-
Bestival/Camp Bestival
-
LarMac Live
-
Blissfields
-
Wilderness.
-
Guest Lecturers
High profile music industry practitioners and professionals regularly visit to lecture, conduct workshops, and offer current industry informed feedback on your work and the opportunities for employment. We have recently welcomed; Rob Da Bank (Radio 1, Bestival), Feargal Sharkey (UK Music), Nick Halkes (Incentive Records and Management), Maria Forte (Digital Rights Management), Mark Dempsey (SJM Concerts Tour Manager), Everett True (NME, Melody Maker, Vox), John Brough, (mix engineer for U2).
-
Staff Expertise
Our highly qualified, research active staff are committed to developing your creative futures, skills and talents, and you will work closely with specialist tutors who match your specific research interests.
The Popular Music programme tutors have high profiles in the academic study of popular music and the contemporary music and media industries, and you will benefit from both their academic expertise and practical experience. The team use their professional networks to attract other high profile practitioners, commissioners, agents and academics to engage and associate themselves with the course.
Special facilities
The Faculty of Media, Arts and Society offers a modern, industry standard environment in which you can work to excel.
Our industry standard multi-million pound recording facilities and audio production suites were opened by Trevor Horn in 2008, and provide the specialist environment and equipment for you to experience working at a professional level.
You will benefit from full access to our state of the art digital and analogue multi-track recording facilities and audio production suites, equipped with:
-
Pro Tools HD and Logic
-
3x D-Command control surfaces
-
Audient ASP8024 and TLA valve consoles
-
Neve, Universal Audio and Lexicon outboard
-
Neumann, AKG and Coles microphones
-
Waves and Sonnox plugins.
The University is an Avid Pro Tools Certified training location, offering the following international certifications: 101, 110, 201, and 210M.
Fees
Fees for the 2012/13 academic year are:
Full-time
UK and EU students: £6,500 per annum
Overseas students: £10,000 per annum
Part-time
UK and EU students: £3,250 pa
Overseas students: £5,000 pa
|