BSc (Hons)Live Event and Audio Engineering

Core modules

The Real Time CGI

The Real Time CGI module is a fantastic chance to experiment with some very up-and-coming technology. Game engines are no longer just for games. They’re revolutionising industries with real-time rendering capabilities that now rival, and often surpass, traditional methods. This module invites you to dive into this rapidly evolving technology and apply it to a project of your choice. Whether you're creatively inclined or technically minded, you'll find this module both challenging and rewarding. You'll gain hands-on experience with real-time tools while developing essential skills in areas such as visualisation, scripting, optimisation, and immersive technologies like virtual, augmented, and mixed reality. From tackling technical challenges to visualising polished outcomes, you’ll explore the full pipeline of real-time production. Along the way, you’ll also engage with relevant theory and choose a research focus that aligns with your interests - be it VFX, interactivity, or beyond.

Video Production

This module introduces you to the inner workings of TV studios, from equipment setup and system operations to the roles involved in production. You'll gain hands-on experience by creating a short TV programme, learning single-camera techniques for inserts and comparing studio workflows with outside broadcasting, where many of our graduates go on to work as video or audio engineers. You’ll explore how video and audio signals function within a broadcast system, with sessions held in labs, studios, and edit suites to give you a full understanding from signal flow to content creation. Alongside technical skills, you’ll also develop key academic and professional abilities, including research, teamwork, and effective communication.

Audio Production

Audio engineering is the art and science of recording and reproducing sound. To succeed in this field, whether designing loudspeakers, mixing music or creating sound for film and games, you need a solid grasp of both creative techniques and technical processes. This module provides a strong foundation in audio production for both studio and live music settings. You’ll explore how audio production technology works, from the differences between microphone types to the impact of recording settings in a Digital Audio Workstation (DAW), and how audio effects shape sound. You’ll also learn practical techniques for recording and mixing music in both studio and live settings. Most importantly, you’ll discover how a deeper understanding of the tools and processes can directly enhance the quality of your productions.

Computing and Networking

Modern media relies on computing, from creating and editing content to transmitting it. This module won’t turn you into a programmer, but it will give you the essential knowledge to understand how computers work, communicate effectively about tech and use computing tools more efficiently in your academic and professional life. You’ll explore how computers are built, how they process data, and why they’re so fast at some tasks but struggle with others. You’ll also learn about common digital issues, how data is stored and manipulated, and why systems like binary and hexadecimal matter in media workflows. Through hands-on sessions and real-world examples, you’ll gain a practical understanding of computing fundamentals that underpin modern audio and video production.

Outside Broadcast

In a world shaped by digital technologies, it's easy to overlook the dynamic, hands-on reality of producing live events. This module introduces you to the essential role of outside broadcast (OB) in both live events and television production. Whether it’s a music festival, sports event or studio-based live show, OB teams are the crucial link between events and audience. This module provides hands-on experience in live production settings and ensures you can identify and perform the various technical and creative roles involved in a live broadcast. This module is structured around experiential, practical learning in a simulated live broadcast environment. You’ll take on a variety of roles found in professional outside broadcast (OB) set-ups, working both individually and as part of production teams. The focus is on learning by doing, allowing you to apply theoretical knowledge directly in realistic scenarios. Key topics include OB workflows, signal flow from camera to transmission, and the operation of core broadcast tools such as cameras, vision mixers, and audio equipment. You'll also explore cable types, connectivity, and the teamwork required to deliver a successful live broadcast.

Physics and Signals

Media technology draws on concepts from multiple disciplines, including physics and mathematics, even if we’re not specialists in those fields. This module distils key engineering concepts and applies them to real-world media and entertainment scenarios. You’ll gain a practical understanding of how systems work, why they fail, and how data is stored and processed - all through examples tailored to media production. This module introduces key physical principles through a media lens. You’ll learn how to model and analyse real-world phenomena using equations, graphs, and functions like sine and logarithms. We’ll explore mechanics and wave theory as a foundation for understanding vibration and sound, then move into light, optics, and how signals are captured, stored, and manipulated in media systems.

Core modules

Audio Systems

Audio engineers must understand how system components interact and how these interactions affect performance and suitability. This module builds on core audio principles introduced earlier during your studies and develops them into the core structure of simple audio systems. You’ll learn to interpret technical specifications and make informed decisions when designing sound systems to meet a brief. Topics include small room acoustics, electroacoustic transducers, and key elements of professional audio systems, including Audio over IP. Emphasis is placed on understanding interfaces between components and applying this knowledge in practical system design.

Audio Post-Production

This module brings together the elements of the audio workflow you've explored in earlier units, focusing on how they connect within real-world post-production contexts – i.e. music, film, broadcast and games. You’ll deepen your understanding of signal flow, workflow terminology and creative principles, while expanding beyond stereo mixing into advanced post-production techniques. Assessment is based on media submissions and written reports that demonstrate your technical and creative decisions.

Live Sound Techniques

Working with live audio presents unique technical and operational challenges. This module introduces best practices for setting up, configuring, and operating audio systems in music and live broadcast environments. You’ll develop practical skills and gain an understanding of the many factors involved in live sound reinforcement and recording. By the end, you’ll be able to select appropriate tools and techniques for a range of real-world scenarios.

Event Technology

As live event systems grow more complex, technicians need strong theoretical knowledge and practical skills in system design, setup, optimisation and operation. This module prepares you to work across a range of technologies, not just a single specialism, boosting your versatility and employability in the audiovisual (AV) industry. You’ll explore key factors in live event production and learn to choose appropriate tools and techniques for different contexts. Focus areas include lighting design, screen and projection technology and system integration for varied live scenarios.

Project Management

This module develops essential project skills, from research and applying the scientific method to teamwork and delivering well-presented results. While you'll be guided through key processes, the emphasis is on taking ownership of your project and meeting your outcomes. With a focus on group work, you'll learn how to communicate effectively, organise information and manage challenges. These skills will support your final-year project and boost your employability in collaborative, real-world environments.

Optional modules

Please note: Not all optional modules are guaranteed to run each year.

Virtual Production

This module offers a hands-on introduction to virtual production (VP), explored through the lens of your chosen specialism. You’ll apply your existing skills in a collaborative, interdisciplinary environment, gaining insight into how VP workflows operate across different contexts. Starting with an overview of the VP pipeline, you’ll examine current industry practices and evaluate how your role fits within them. Applications may include VP shoots, extended reality, remote collaboration, digital scouting and live events - as the technology continues to evolve.

Media Formats

Media consumption has shifted rapidly toward file-based, on-demand formats. This module explores the technologies behind that shift, focusing on signal coding, container formats and compression codecs used in audio and video production. You’ll learn how to evaluate and select formats based on their attributes and suitability for different applications, including emerging delivery methods. Topics include digitisation and storage of audio, metadata, streaming technologies, hardware/software for media delivery and digital rights management. By the end, you’ll have a broad understanding of current media formats and streaming workflows, along with key academic and professional skills such as research, communication and teamwork - essential for both study and industry.

Core modules

Project

Project work is central to careers in both technical and creative industries. Whether you're designing a new audio tool, managing a live broadcast or collaborating on acoustic design, success depends on your ability to plan, execute and manage projects effectively. This module allows you to showcase both your technical expertise and project management skills, while shaping your degree around your personal interests and career goals. Your project could involve hardware or software development, experimental design or research, such as 3D audio for gaming or the impact of noise on task performance.

Digital Signal Processing

This module offers hands-on experience in applying digital signal processing (DSP) to audio and video. You’ll explore the basics of digital media, including analogue-to-digital and digital-to-analogue conversion, and learn how filters are used to shape sound and image. Through practical exercises, you'll gain a working understanding of filter design, their limitations, and the creative possibilities of DSP, preparing you to tackle evolving challenges in media technology.

Systems Integration And Acoustics

This module develops your ability to select, configure and integrate audio components for AV installations and media entertainment systems. Building on your previous audio engineering studies, you'll work with specialist equipment and techniques to solve real-world design challenges. You’ll explore methods and principles to analyse acoustic environments, design suitable sound reproduction and control systems, and evaluate component choices for specific applications. You will examine the operational requirements and appropriate solutions across diverse environments, from multi-purpose venues to transport hubs and theme parks. The module also highlights the growing influence of AI in system design, with opportunities to apply and critique AI tools where relevant. By the end, you'll be equipped to design coherent, standards-based systems that meet professional requirements.

Live Sound Technology

The increasing complexity of live sound systems requires audio designers, technicians and operators to have strong theoretical knowledge and practical skills in the design, assembly, optimisation and operation of large-scale sound systems and their control systems. This module places emphasis on problem-solving and the use of modelling and prediction software in system design and implementation. You’ll gain an understanding of the many factors involved in specifying, configuring and operating professional sound reinforcement systems, and learn to select tools and techniques suited to a variety of contexts, setups and scenarios.

Optional modules

Please note: Not all optional modules are guaranteed to run each year.

Sound For Games

In this module, you’ll explore how sound is recorded, produced, manipulated and encoded within video games. You’ll study key systems and technologies used in game audio production and examine the factors driving innovation in this field. You’ll learn core principles of recording and editing sound effects, with a focus on how approaches differ between games and traditional media like film and TV. The module also covers the evolution of game audio technologies and how to apply this knowledge to improve performance and efficiency in modern games. Through practical work, you’ll apply audio and acoustic principles to create immersive, interactive soundscapes, while developing skills in industry-standard software used in game design and audio production.

Sound Design

This module explores the art and science of sound, focusing on its creative and functional use across TV, film, games, and beyond. You’ll gain tools and techniques to shape perception, persuade audiences and enhance media experiences. We’ll examine the growing influence of AI in sound design, both current and emerging, and, where relevant, use AI tools to practise techniques and critique outcomes. The module begins with the conceptual contrast between reality and fantasy in sound design, then moves through methods of sound capture including Foley, field recording, Automated Dialogue Replacement (ADR), and dialogue. You’ll explore synthesis in two stages, followed by creative approaches to repair and restoration. The module concludes with mixing techniques for TV, film, and games, including immersive formats like 5.1 surround and Dolby Atmos.