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Sound Engineering with a Foundation Year - BSc (Hons)

Currently viewing course to start in 2025/26 Entry. Switch to 2026/27 Entry

This BSc (Hons) Sound Engineering with a Foundation Year degree, delivered in collaboration with Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, will provide you with the technical skills and knowledge to pursue an exciting career in the world of audio technology and production.

  • Level Foundation
  • Study mode Full Time
  • Award BSc (Hons)
  • Start date September 2025

This course is:

Available with Professional Placement year

Open to International Students

Overview

[00:00:02] Speaker 1: From studio spaces to mastering suites and workspaces. I'm going to show you what it's like to study sound at BCU. So this is the Concert Hall control room. This is where we do a lot of surround sound and get to record the amazing Bradshaw Hall here at the Conservatoire. So this is the SSL Duality Desk. It's one of the largest in the Conservatoire. Here we get to record the Bradshaw Hall and also everything in 5.1 surround sound and stereo. Now going to show you some of our recording studios at Royal Birmingham Conservatoire. let's go explore recording studio one. Here we have one of the control rooms that leads over to the live room here. You can record bands of all sizes. And again, on our SSL desk. We have it fitted with ProTools and Logic, Ableton and those that I can't even name off top of my head. But Play us out... [00:01:20][77.5]

[00:01:23] Speaker 1: Cheers mate. Let's go explore the live room. So here we have one of our biggest live rooms. And here is one of our biggest recording spaces. We've got kind of drum kits on the go grand pianos and mini grands in the studios. We've got Steinway here, Boston Pianos in other recording studios and Yamaha's across concert halls and stuff. We've got a range of great microphones ranging from AKG's to RODE's, Aston Spirits, and as you go through the years, the more better they get. So we don't just have one recording studio, we have multiple and they're all unique in acoustics and apparatus. So we have quite a lot of gear and different outboards to use to cater to your musical preference. We also have a very unique relationship here with the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire students. So, whether it's recording foley or mastering an EP, BCU really gives you the experience you need for the working world. So this is the mastering suite. This is where you take your recordings and make them into masterpieces. So here we've got state of the art speakers, we've got Bowers and Wilkins. We've also got amazing outboard gear from Maselec. We've also got SSL control servers and this whole thing is fitted out with a PRISM audio interface. But my favourite part of this entire room is the tape machine. So over here we have a Studer tape machine. There's not a lot around and we're one of the only universities is to have one. I myself have mastered many of my tracks on tape and it just adds that little antique-y sound and makes it quite clean and also rough at times, depending how you want to master your track. So this is the edit suite. This is where we get to kind of fine tune and make rough edits of our tracks. So as you can see here, this is ProTools and one of our most kind of common editing tool softwares, but we can also record in this facility. So we've got some Focusrite gear, Audient gear as well as ways to make beats. So we've got some crazy synths and sequences that you get to play around with, plug into the system and mix, make your own music really. So next I'm going to show you the Mac Labs. That's where we spend most of our time learning software and kind of having our mini lectures there. So let's go check it out. So this is the Mac lab. We have two of these in the Conservatoire. We have Macs in both, MIDI keyboards and audio interfaces. Here, we'll kind of have 1 to 1 sessions or smaller workshops with your lecturers learning different software like ProTools, Reaper, Ableton and Logic. One thing to note about BCU is the lecturers. They are very passionate about music technology. They give you work opportunities and experiences. Like myself, I had an opportunity to go to the Royal Shakespeare Company for a day and shadow the head sound engineer there, So it's very impressive with how much they care about their students and how much they're willing to give you. Now let's go tour the Millennium Point facilities. Welcome to Millennium Point. Over here we have even more studio space. So in this one we're still fitted out with SSL desks. We've also got a bunch of outboard gears. You've got good pressers, limiters, anything to help you make the best production possible. We've even got some unique acoustic equipment. So over in the studio we have a Helmholtz resonator made by one of our students, which I'll show you now. So over here is a Helmholtz resonator where frequencies and air will resonate in the cavities here. So certain frequencies we like and don't like will resonate, making the space more acoustically appropriate. So welcome to The Orchard - another room filled with Macs where we get to learn ProTools, Logic, Reaper for video games, Matlab for coding. In your third year you get to sound design and collaborate with video game students and make your own video game. We also do a lot of experimental acoustic stuff. So over here we have the drum tank where we will run frequency sweeps through a room, learn how frequencies interact with the acoustics of the space, and just kind of learn how sound reacts to a room. There's a lot of experimental stuff we get to do in our degree, as well as producing and as well as studio time. So together, they kind of go hand in hand and you really learn the whole science of sound. So I hope you enjoyed our tour today and seeing what it's like to study sound at BCU. If you have any questions or want to chat with one of our students, please look at the link in the bio. [00:01:23][0.0]

[77.5]

Do you dream of engineering the future of sound? Our BSc (Hons) Sound Engineering course with a Foundation Year is designed to immerse you in the cutting-edge world of audio technology and production, equipping you with the skills to pursue careers in live sound, acoustics, audio hardware and software development, and studio production. Delivered in collaboration with Royal Birmingham Conservatoire (RBC), this course blends technical expertise, creative flair, and hands-on experience to prepare you for a dynamic career in the world of sound engineering.

The foundation year will equip you with key knowledge and skills to ensure success on your degree.

The degree offers a comprehensive curriculum to develop your skills across several audio disciplines and employment sectors. You will explore the principles of acoustics, live sound, broadcast audio, studio recording, immersive technologies and software development. Alongside practical experience, you will engage with advanced topics, embracing embedded audio systems, machine learning in audio, and multi-channel sound design—positioning you at the forefront of the emerging technologies shaping the audio industry.

Our facilities are purpose-built for innovation and hands-on learning, from world-leading state-of-the-art recording studios at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire to the immersive SoundLab® in STEAMhouse. You will use industry-standard tools such as Logic, Pro Tools, MATLAB, Python, and C++. You will study on state-of-the-art Solid State Logic (SSL) recording consoles, run live sound sessions with industry-standard PA, and utilise our vast array of microphones from Neumann, Brauner and AKG.

STEAMhouse building exterior

Introducing STEAMhouse

STEAMhouse is a centre for technology, innovation, creative thinking, prototyping and business development. Our £70 million pound building is the home for all of our Computing courses.

Find out more

What's covered in this course?

Our industry-aligned modules have been designed and finessed through over 25 years of delivery within the field. You will gain invaluable experience and networking opportunities through our Industrial Mentors forum and annual Innovation Fest, connecting you with leading employers and excellent job prospects. Whether designing immersive soundscapes or audio systems, delivering live events, or mastering production techniques, this course equips you with the skills to excel in the evolving field of sound engineering.

Join us to turn your passion for sound, music or science into a dynamic and fulfilling career in one of the most innovative and exciting industries today.

Professional Placement Year

This course offers an optional professional placement year. This allows you to spend a whole year with an employer, following successful completion of your second year, and is a great way to find out more about your chosen career. Some students even return to the same employers after completing their studies.

If you choose to pursue a placement year, you will need to find a suitable placement to complement your chosen area of study. You will be able to draw on the University’s extensive network of local, regional, and national employers, and the support of our Careers teams. If you are able to secure a placement, you can request to be transferred to the placement version of the course.

Please note that fees are payable during your placement year, equivalent to 20% of the total full-time course fee for that year.

Why Choose Us?

  • World-leading state-of-the-art facilities: From recording studios at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire to the immersive SoundLab® in STEAMhouse
  • Excellent audio employability: access to a network of industry professionals and careers in live sound, acoustics, audio product development and studio production
  • World-class teaching team: 25-years’ experience in audio science degrees at BCU
  • Top 15 in the UK for Music Guardian League Tables 2025

Open Days

Join us for an Open Day where you'll be able to learn about this course in detail, chat to students, explore our campus and tour accommodation.

Next Open Day: 28 June 2025

Book now What to expect

Entry Requirements

These entry requirements apply for entry in 2025/26.

All required qualifications/grades must have been achieved and evidenced at the earliest opportunity after accepting an offer to help confirm admission and allow for on-time enrolment. This can also include other requirements, like a fee status form and relevant documents. Applicants can track their application and outstanding information requests through their BCU mySRS account.

Essential requirements

80 UCAS Tariff points. Learn more about UCAS Tariff points.

If you have a qualification that is not listed, please contact us.

Fees & How to Apply

Please select your student status to view fees and apply
  • UK Student
  • International Student

UK students

Annual and modular tuition fees shown are applicable to the first year of study. The University reserves the right to increase fees for subsequent years of study in line with increases in inflation (capped at 5%) or to reflect changes in Government funding policies or changes agreed by Parliament. View fees for continuing students.

Award: BSc (Hons)

Starting: Sep 2025

  • Mode
  • Duration
  • Fees

(Back to price) * The Government is proposing to increase the cap on full-time regulated tuition fees to £9,535 for 2025/26 and the University is planning on increasing fees to that maximum level once legislation is enacted. Part-time fees are charged pro-rata, where applicable.

International students

Annual and modular tuition fees shown are applicable to the first year of study. The University reserves the right to increase fees for subsequent years of study in line with increases in inflation (capped at 5%) or to reflect changes in Government funding policies or changes agreed by Parliament. View fees for continuing students.

Award: BSc (Hons)

Starting: Sep 2025

  • Mode
  • Duration
  • Fees
  • Full Time
  • 4 years
  • TBC

Access to computer equipment 

You will require use of a laptop, and most students do prefer to have their own. However, you can borrow a laptop from the university or use one of our shared computer rooms. 

Printing 

You will receive £5 print credit in each year of your course, available after enrolment. 

Access to Microsoft Office 365 

Every student at the University can download a free copy of Microsoft Office 365 to use whilst at university and for 18 months after graduation. 

Key software 

You will be able to download SPSS and Nvivo to your home computer to support with your studies and research. 

Key subscriptions 

Subscriptions to key journals and websites are available through our library. 

Specialist software 

You will be able to access free licences for specialist software such as MATLAB.  

Free Adobe Creative Cloud licence 

Students studying on this course can request a free licence to install the entire suite of applications on up to two personal devices. 

Specialist equipment 

Access to all specialist audio equipment and facilities required for the course will be provided. 

Excess printing (optional) 

Once you have spent your £5 credit, additional printing on campus costs from 5p per sheet. 

Personal stationery and study materials (optional) 

Based on the past experience of our students, you might find it helpful to set aside about £30 for each year of your studies for your personal stationery and study materials. 

Placement expenses (optional) 

If you choose to undertake a placement, you'll need to budget for accommodation and any travel costs you may incur whilst living or working away from home. 

Books (optional) 

All module key texts will be in the University library, but in limited numbers. You may choose to purchase a copy. We suggest budgeting approximately £30 for this. 

Memberships (optional) 

You may wish to join a union or professional body related to this course, such as The Institute of Acoustics which is free to students.  

Accommodation and living costs (optional)

The cost of accommodation and other living costs are not included within your course fees. More information on the cost of accommodation can be found in our accommodation pages.

Guidance for UK students

UK students applying for most undergraduate degree courses in the UK will need to apply through UCAS.

The Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) is a UK organisation responsible for managing applications to university and college.

Applying through UCAS

  1. Register with UCAS
  2. Login to UCAS and complete your details
  3. Select your course and write a personal statement
  4. Get a reference
  5. Pay your application fee and submit your application

Course in Depth

Foundation Year

In order to complete this course, you must successfully complete all the following CORE modules (totalling 120 credits).

Year One

In order to complete this course, you must successfully complete all the following CORE modules (totalling 120 credits).

Year Two

In order to complete this course, you must successfully complete all the following CORE modules (totalling 120 credits).

Professional Placement Year (optional)

In order to qualify for the award of Bachelor of Science with Honours Sound Engineering with Foundation Year and Professional Placement Year, you must successfully complete all of the modules listed as well as the following Level 5 module:

Final Year

In order to complete this course, you must successfully complete all the following CORE modules (totalling 100 credits).

In order to complete this course, you must successfully complete at least 20 credits from the following indicative list of OPTIONAL modules.

Download course specification

Download now

How you learn

You will be assessed both formatively and summatively by a number of methods. Formative assessment occurs throughout the programme and involves feedback from peers, tutors and individual reflection.

A range of summative assessment methods are employed involving both individual and group assignments, written coursework assignments and practical project work, laboratory experimentation, tests and examinations (seen and unseen, open-and closed-book). Assessment methods for each module are identified in a module guide and, for coursework, assessment details and criteria are specified in each assignment brief.

In accordance with the University Regulations you will be permitted two attempts at assessments. After your first sit, if you are unsuccessful in any of your assessments, there will be a final resit opportunity for which your mark, provided that you pass the assessment, will be capped at 40 per cent.

Attendance requirements

There are 30 attendance weeks in each academic year.

A typical week on this course will include 20 hours of contact time over four days, plus self study time.

International opportunities

The Centre has a partnership arrangement with the highly esteemed University of Rochester in New York State, USA. This exchange programme offers the opportunity for students to apply to study abroad for a semester in the second year. More generally, this arrangement feeds into the internationalisation of the course with students from the USA joining the cohort at BCU, opportunities for joint research projects and short academic exchanges.

Trips and Visits

Birmingham City University is located at the heart of the West Midlands, with a rich, vibrant music scene. With live venues from intimate jazz bars to rock venues, from festivals such as Moseley Folk Festival to world renowned Symphony Hall there are plenty of chances for you to gain hands-on experience! You will be able to enjoy professional-quality resources and access to highly accomplished musicians from genres including classical, folk, jazz, rock and electro.

Throughout the duration of your course you will be presented with several chances to gain hands-on industry experience, through musical festivals, events and much more. As a Sound Engineering student you will receive the opportunity to undertake trips through the Live Sound Society.

Find out more

Employability

Enhancing Employability Skills

Your experience at Birmingham City University will ensure you’ll graduate as a creative problem solver, with significant experience of professional industry-standard hardware, software and systems. You will leave with a global outlook, primed to engage with the technical and aesthetic issues that will challenge the music and audio industries in the globalised and technologically mediated world ahead.

The Module Industrial Mentors scheme supports the enhancement of graduate employability through on-going engagement with industry specialists throughout the course. This initiative is based on facilitating interactions between students and individuals working across the music technology and audio sector via module-based forums. This innovative approach allows you to explore specific subject areas with experienced professionals working in the field.

You have the option undertake an assessed sandwich year between your second and final year, which will provide you with valuable work experience and give you the real-life skills you need.

The first year Music and Audio Industries and second-year employability, Projects and Management modules have been designed to give you a deeper understanding of aspects of this dynamic sector and offer insight that will help with your career development.

Placements

The Sound Engineering course offers you the chance to take a ‘sandwich’ year, in which you can undertake an industrial placement. This takes place after the second year of study and extends the course duration to four years.

There are a wide range of potential placements that you may pursue such as working in recording studios, record companies, in professional audio and theatres. Previously students have undertaken placements with companies such as SSE, Midas/Klark Teknik (The Music Group) and Dolby.

In the past our students have undertaken year long placements gaining crucial contemporary industry experience. One example is Christopher Savva who undertook a placement at the International Federation of Phonographic Industry. Christopher’s role included anti-piracy work, where he worked hand-in-hand with the major record labels on content protection and the pre-release protection of singles and albums. His work led to him being offered the chance to undertake some work at EMI as well as a week-long assisting role within Sony RCA Records’ marketing department.

Facilities & Staff

Our Facilities

Our facilities are purpose-built for innovation and hands-on learning, from world-leading state-of-the-art recording studios at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire to the immersive SoundLab® in STEAMhouse. You will use industry-standard tools such as Logic, Pro Tools, MATLAB, Python, and C++. You will study on state-of-the-art Solid State Logic (SSL) recording consoles, run live sound sessions with industry-standard PA, and utilise our vast array of microphones from Neumann, Brauner and AKG.

You'll have access to the following facilities:

  • Royal Birmingham Conservatoire (recording, performance and teaching)
  • Millennium Point Recording Studios (eight live and recording spaces)
  • SoundLab®
  • Parkside TV Studios
  • Parkside Broadcast Studios
  • Electronics and Solder Lab
  • Mac Lab

Our staff

Ben West

Course Leader for BSc (Hons) Sound Engineering and Production, Lecturer in Audio Engineering

Ben West is the course leader for BSc (Hons) Sound Engineering and Production and leads the acoustics modules at BCU. Ben was an Acoustic Engineer in the automotive industry for ten years, holds an MSc in Acoustics with Audio Applications from the University of Salford, and is a Member of the Institute of Acoustics (MIOA).

More about Ben

Alastair Jamieson

Lecturer in Sound and Music Technology

Alastair Jamieson is the course leader for the BSc (Hons) Music Technology. With over 20 years of experience in live sound and studio production, he brings extensive expertise from both professional and academic spheres. He has worked with artists including Adele, UB40, Duran Duran, Steel Pulse, and Music for Youth. Alastair designed, built, and...

More about Alastair

Dr Roy Priest

Associate Professor of Computing

Based in the College of Computing, Roy is College Academic Lead for Employability and Mobility. Prior to working in higher education, Roy was involved in various aspects of the music industry, as a professional musician and also working in artist management and legal and business affairs.

More about Roy