Curriculum Information

For success in the music industry, a producer should
ideally possess both an understanding of theoretical concepts and highly developed critical listening skills related to sound recording and production. Each recording project has its own set of requirements and engineers and producers cannot rely on one set of recording procedures for every project. As such, it is often the ability to navigate the subjective impressions of audio that allows engineers and producers to successfully improve on sound quality. Critical listening skills remain as important as ever, especially as we see audio quality decline in many consumer audio formats.

This module will encourage critical listening from the outset and employ verbal and written techniques for students to critique their ideas. It will disseminate productions from various genres and look forensically at the make-up of modern and historic music production. The module will encourage research-as-practice and foster confidence in giving presentations, taking part in discussion and debating ideas as students embark on a path of lifelong learning.

A series of masterclasses and listening workshops, delivered online or face to face, will introduce the underlying concepts and historic developments in critical listening. The historical and theoretical issues will be explored in weekly lectures where students are given the opportunity to read and discuss selected materials. Students will be introduced to a range of musical perspectives through weekly seminar sessions and encouraged to develop their own critical voice through engagement and debate in the subject area.