
Creative Music Technology BA(Hons)
Develop the creative and technical abilities needed to thrive in the music and sound industries.
Course overview
Guided by industry professionals, expert academics and technical tutors, on this Creative Music Technology degree you’ll learn about music, production, electronic music and sound design alongside developing your own specialist practice.
You’ll gain transferable and cutting-edge skills in creating music and sound tailored around your personal interests. You’ll also refine your professional practice through collaborating with your peers on your course and in AMATA, as well as with other specialists from across the University on interdisciplinary projects.
This highly practical degree also develops your ability to research, think critically and communicate effectively, setting you up for a successful career in the creative industries.
You will:
- Become an industry-ready artist with strong creative, technical and professional attributes
- Gain practical and academic expertise within music production, electronic music composition and interdisciplinary working
- Study in a vibrant performance centre with high-spec studio facilities and a wide range of industry standard hardware and software including PA systems, cameras and lights, and portable recording equipment
- Collaborate with musicians, filmmakers, gaming artists, dancers, animators and designers
- Gain business, marketing and entrepreneurial insight, boosting your employability
- Develop transferable skills such as project management, problem-solving and communication skills
Course details
On this Creative Music Technology degree, you'll have the opportunity to gain a BA(Hons) degree over three years or study Creative Music Technology BA(Hons) with a professional placement option.
This music technology degree supports your professional journey by giving you the essential technical and industry knowledge, as well as the opportunity to experiment in an inspiring and supportive environment, so that you can accelerate your career after university.
You'll develop essential skills in composition, critical listening and collaborative practice, learning to apply these skills to music production, sound design and electronic music.
You'll become immersed in the wider context of music and sound contexts and culture, and learn how to communicate your understanding as an individual and as part of a team. You'll also become industry-ready through developing your knowledge of music business practices such as copyright, intellectual property and contracts, and through increasing your awareness of equality, diversity, inclusion, sustainability and healthy working practices.
With technical and artistic guidance from staff and specialists, you will become equipped with foundational knowledge, skills and experience in music and sound theory, music production, sound design and electronic music.
You will receive small-group tuition to help you identify and work on your specialist creative practice, while gaining practical experience using industry-standard software and hardware tools and techniques. You will also develop your essay writing abilities through studying music and sound contexts and cultures.
Modules
Designing Sound
You’ll be immersed in the creative possibilities of sound design for different visual media, including film, TV, animation and games. Over the course of the module, you will be introduced to new concepts, techniques and workflows and encouraged to explore the ways in which audio can be sculpted to create new sonic forms.
Electronic Music
In this module you will develop a theoretical and practical understanding of contemporary electronic music tools, techniques and creative practices.
Expanding Musical Vocabularies
This module will introduce you to a range of musical terms, theories, techniques and notations before helping you to apply them in creative and practical scenarios.
Specialist Music Practice 1
In this module, you will increase your knowledge and skills in your area of specialist practice and develop co-creation, collaborative and communication skills through collective music making and studio practice sessions.
Music and Sound: Context and Cultures
You’ll examine key concepts and debates in music and sounds studies whilst thinking critically about the relationship between music, sound, and culture.
Studiocraft
You'll learn to record, edit, mix and master audio in a recording studio environment using microphones, audio interfaces, mixing desks and digital audio workstations (DAWs).
In your second year, you will expand your subject knowledge, focusing on both practical and academic areas including music business, multimodal creation, composition, immersive technologies and experimental performance.
You will continue to experiment in cutting-edge areas, push your creative potential and create a wider variety of work through collaboration and open assessment briefs.
Modules
The Art of Production
This module explores the role of the contemporary music producer. This involves collaborative and interdisciplinary working as well as technical and artistic knowledge and skills development. You will work creatively, acting as both composer and engineer.
The Business of Music & Sound
You’ll be introduced to intellectual property regulations and the subsequent risks of exploitation across multiple areas of the creative industries. You’ll learn the necessary business skills to work sustainably within the music and sound sectors with confidence.
Specialist Music Practice 2
Building upon the work undertaken in the Specialist Practice 1 module in your first year, you will continue to increase your knowledge and skills to further develop co-creation, collaborative and communication skills through collective music making and studio practice.
Music & Sound: Resonant Futures
In this module you will question and explore the relationship between music, sound, technology, context and culture in ways that seek to imagine and speculate on the future of music and sound.
Optional modules - Block 1
Immersive & Interactive Audio
You’ll be introduced to a range of technologies, techniques and applications of immersive and interactive audio. The module is highly interdisciplinary and relevant to film sound, game audio, digital arts and experience design.
Resounding: Situated Songwriting & Composition
This module encourages you to think about how your practice is entangled with various places—geographic, imaginary, speculative, utopian, abstract and psychological. It introduces you to new critical frameworks and artists who process complex issues like the Anthropocene, the internet, dark ecology and the climate crisis through their music.
Advanced & Experimental Performance
This module aims to develop your abilities in the art of musical communication, flow, interpretation, expressivity, experimentation and versatility in performance. You’ll be introduced to improvisational and creative techniques to advance your practical skills and ideas.
Voice and Listening: Life, People and Planet
The module will develop your vocal and listening skills alongside your creativity and in relation to an increased awareness of concepts in voice studies and relevant contemporary social, political and environmental themes.
Optional modules - Block 2
Composing Music for Media
You’ll develop a critical understanding of music-image relationships and conduct practical work across a range of media. You’ll also enhance your composition and production skills through being shown industry-standard workflows and techniques.
Session Musicianship
In this module you will develop an understanding of the skills, techniques, communication methods and working practices of session musicians in a variety of genres and contexts.
A/V Radical Artistry & New Media Aesthetics
This module unleashes the potential of multimodal creation, encouraging you to re-imagine your artistic identity by exploring the rapid acceleration and monumental shifts of the contemporary media landscape. You will explore the dynamic creativity of social media, vlogging, AI, TV, music videos, advertising, and graphic design.
Enterprise: Innovative Music Business Practice
Within the context of the ever-changing and shifting music business, this module enables you to approach your practice with agile, innovative, sustainable and ethical business skills and knowledge; from legal to financial, marketing to planning.
You can choose to take an optional professional placement after your second year on this three-year programme. Choosing this option will enhance your industry experience and skills while studying.
How you’ll study during your professional placement
You’ll spend time working in a professional context, as part of a business or organisation. This can be in one role, or up to three, and must be for a minimum of 24 weeks. You’ll develop in-demand workplace skills, deepen your insight into industry and grow your network of contacts, all of which could help you get ahead in your career after graduation.
Over the course of this year, you will complete one module whilst undertaking your placement and compile a reflective portfolio of your experiences. During this year you’ll be supported by the University employability team, with continued access to student support and wellbeing services and academic supervision from a named module leader.
The University will support students to find and apply for opportunities, but we cannot guarantee every student will be successful in securing a placement.
Your final year is geared towards solidifying your artistic and professional identity, knowledge, skills and networks in line with your chosen area of creative music technology specialism. You’ll develop your showcase portfolio, enhance your entrepreneurial practice skills and explore career options as you prepare to take your first steps into industry.
Modules
Music & Sound: Dissertation
In this module you will expand on your music and sound subject-based intellectual skills developed in your first and second years through an independently-driven written research project.
Professional Development
This module enables you to continue developing your specialist skills, contextual knowledge, experience and entrepreneurial mindset in preparation for the Showcase Portfolio module, careers and/or artistic practice beyond your degree.
Your Future
This module enables you to understand, develop, practice and analyse skills pertinent to your chosen career path in sustainable ways; both now and in the future. You will further develop legal, financial, marketing and digital skills that relate to specialist areas of the music sector and be able to critically analyse trends and future opportunities that relate to your career.
Showcase Portfolio
You’ll produce a professional portfolio of creative work that showcases your specialist skills and artistic practice developed over the last three years, ready to take to industry.
The modules above are those being studied by our students, or proposed new ones. Programme structures and modules can change as part of our curriculum enhancement and review processes. If a certain module is important to you, please discuss it with the Course Leader.
From module information to course aims and assessment criteria, discover the full course details:

" I think the biggest skill I've developed that will help me is being super comfortable in an industry-level space and getting in as much studio time as possible. "
Facilities
The Academy of Music and Theatre Arts (AMATA) is a purpose-built live performance venue on Penryn Campus housing an assembly of flexible theatre spaces, performance, rehearsal and recording studios, a box office and exhibition areas. As a Creative Music Technology student, you’ll have access to:
Audio/recording equipment
From enhancing live performances to creating immersive music recordings, you'll be working with professional-standard audio equipment, including:
- Purpose-built sound studios incorporating the best analogue and digital technologies, including SSL and Audient consoles, fully accessible from your own laptop.
- Classic and contemporary synthesizers and outboard equipment.
- A wide range of professional studio software, hardware and one of the UK's largest collections of microphones in higher education.
- The SONVA-x 10.2 Genelec surround system for mixing and performance.
Rehearsal spaces
Our rehearsal spaces provide professional-standard facilities and equipment. Key features include:
- High-spec performance studio designed for acoustic music.
- High-spec studio designed for amplified music.
- Recording studio complex.
- Music practice rooms for bands and solo work.
- 12 practice rooms.
- 700m2 of fully sprung dance floors.
- Seminar, exhibition and display spaces.

Performance Facilities
The Academy of Music and Theatre Arts (AMATA) is a purpose-built live venue housing an assembly of f...

Library Facilities
Offering extensive collections, our two libraries provide a wealth of digital resources, magazines, ...

Sports Centre
Our Sports Centre, on Penryn Campus, includes a spacious gym with up to 90 of the latest, new statio...
Stories from our community
Explore student projects, graduate successes, staff news and industry insights

Benjamin Woods on his Cornwall-born music project The Golden Dregs
15 March 2023
We recently chatted to Falmouth graduate Benjamin Woods about his new album On Grace & Dignity, the ...

Student secures internship with legendary recording studio
07 June 2022
Second year Creative Music Technology BA(Hons) student Kalev Villem has secured an internship at leg...

The Soundery: Graduates making big sounds for big brands
02 February 2022
Graduates Luke Brown and Liam Iliffe set up their audio composition agency The Soundery in 2017. Tod...

Students swap Italy for Falmouth to follow music career dreams
28 May 2021
Second-year Creative Music Technology students Giulia, Giosuè and Andrea – aka electro-pop group ...

Harri Named Track of the Week
28 April 2020
Creative Music Technology Student, Harri Bettsworth, had her music played and named track of the wee...

Work Experience with Established Producer
10 February 2020
Creative Music Technology student Jack O'Hea recently had the pleasure of work experience with music...

VIP Industry Guests at AMATA
31 January 2020
Students and staff were captivated by industry guest masterclasses during Enhancement Week at AMATA ...

Music Lecturer Named in List of Top Female Composers
11 June 2019
Dr Norah Lorway, BA(Hons) Creative Music Technology lecturer, has been recognised as a top female co...

Meet AMATA’s Homegrown Music Industry Experts
15 April 2019
Musicians are the face of the music industry, but behind them stands an army of professionals that p...

Meet AMATA’s Homegrown Music Industry Experts
15 April 2019
Musicians are the face of the music industry, but behind them stands an army of professionals that p...

Determined Music Graduate Lands Coveted Internship
14 March 2019
Florence Bird always knew that she wanted to work for a record label. She chose Falmouth University ...

Determined Music Graduate Lands Coveted Internship
14 March 2019
Florence Bird always knew that she wanted to work for a record label. She chose Falmouth University ...

Graduate Composes Music for New BBC Drama
14 February 2019
Music graduate Joe Donohoe has composed additional music for Baptiste - the new BBC One drama s...

Music Graduates Set Up Recording Studio
01 August 2018
Equipped with only his industry insight and entrepreneurial drive, just two years after graduation, ...
How you'll learn & be assessed
Alongside lectures and practical workshops, you'll receive academic, technical and artistic guidance from staff and specialists. Lectures will introduce you to key information, concepts and examples. Workshops enable you to apply the ideas to your own practice and develop your skills through practical exercises. Seminars and tutorials facilitate deeper discussion and questions around lectures, workshops and assessment briefs. These also involve giving feedback on your work towards module assessments.
As you progress through the course, you will have more flexibility in terms of what you choose to study, who you collaborate with and how you respond to the assessment briefs.
At Falmouth, we use a 'digitally enhanced learning and teaching' approach. Your experience will always be predominantly in-person. Video materials and online meetings are used where there is a clear advantage to do so, for example short one-one meetings or instructions on using the recording studios. You can read more here.
There is a variety of assessment methods used on this course. These all have relevance to professional practice and include:
- Portfolios of practical work.
- Learning journals documenting your work using text, video, photos and audio recordings.
- Written assignments such as project reports, essays and, in the final year, a dissertation.
- Presentations
- Studio-based assessment of practical work.
Staff
You’ll learn from composers, performers, producers, sound artists, sound designers, audio engineers, and musicologists, as well as our associate leading instrumental tutors, composers and songwriters. What’s more, our industry contacts range from Yamaha to Island Records to the Philharmonic Orchestra. Our regular industry guest lecturers have included producer Gil Norton (Foo Fighters, The Pixies, Patti Smith), Eric James (Philosopher’s Barn Mastering), Jana Winderen, and Robert Curgenven.

Dr Simon Waite
Course Co-ordinator & Senior Lecturer
Si Waite is a songwriter, producer and educator. He has written, recorded and performed as a solo ar...

Dr Antti Saario
Head of Music
Dr Antti Sakari Saario is an award-winning post-acousmatic composer, sound and audio practitioner, r...

Dr D Ferrett
Associate Professor in Music, Sound and Culture
Dr D Ferrett is Associate Professor of Music, Sound and Culture and the Research Lead for the Academ...

Dr Simon Poole
Course Coordinator & Senior Lecturer: Music, Theatre & Entertainment Management
Simon has been making, selling, collecting, managing and writing about music for 30 years. During th...

Will Parker
Lecturer in Popular Music
Will Parker is a lecturer, researcher and composer specialising in technology and aesthetics - ...

Samuel Murray
Senior Lecturer in Music
Samuel Murray is a guitarist, researcher and lecturer whose current projects include playing guitar ...

Frankie Stevens
Lecturer in Music
Frankie Stevens is an operatic soprano, metal musician and academic. She has a diverse range of...
Some members of staff only teach on specific modules, and your course might not feature every staff member who teaches on the course.
Careers
This Creative Music Technology degree will prepare you for a wide range of career opportunities, including:
- Musician
- Music producer
- Sound engineer or designer
- Audio editor
- Media composer
- Location sound recordist
- Digital artist
- Music industry professional (e.g., label management, events management)
- Music educator
- Digital content creation
Research methods, critical thinking and development of specialist skills embedded throughout the modules could allow you to successfully progress into postgraduate study in related fields.

Whether you want to perform on stage or behind the scenes, a degree in Music combines specialist teaching with entrepreneurial skills in self-promotion to prepare you for industry.
How to apply
Ready to join us? You can apply for September 2024 through UCAS. You'll need to reference the course and University code (F33).
Course route | UCAS code |
---|---|
Creative Music Technology BA(Hons) three year degree | W390 |
Creative Music Technology BA(Hons) with professional placement | PY02 |

Application advice & interview information
Go to ToolkitWe consider all applications on their own individual merit and potential. We invite all applicants to an interview day or audition to give them the opportunity to demonstrate this along with what inspires and motivates them in their field. Applicants will also be able to show their portfolio or give a performance depending on the course. We welcome applications from all subject backgrounds, whether you’ve specialised in STEM, the arts or humanities.
Course route | Entry requirements |
---|---|
BA/BSc(Hons) three year degree | 104 – 120 UCAS Tariff points |
BA/BSc(Hons) four year degree with professional placement | 104 – 120 UCAS Tariff points |
Check the title of your course to see if it's a BA or BSc award. UCAS Tariff points will primarily be from Level 3 qualifications such as but not limited to A-levels, T Levels, a BTEC/UAL Extended Diploma or a Foundation Diploma.
For applicants whose first language is English we require you to have or be working towards GCSE English Language Grade 4 (C), or equivalent.
If English is not your first language you will need to meet the same standard which is equivalent to the IELTS Academic 6.0 overall score, with at least 5.5 in Reading, Writing, Speaking and Listening. We accept a range of in country equivalencies and approved tests.
If you need a student visa to study in the UK, you may need to take a recognised language test. You can read our English Language Requirements for more information.
For starting your studies in 2024
UK applications: 31 January 2024 (for equal consideration)
Applications after the 31 January will be considered on a first-come, first-served as long as there are places available. Apply for this course now.
International fee payers
International fee payers can apply throughout the year. But we recommend applying as early as possible, to make time for visa and travel arrangements.
What we're looking for
This Creative Music Technology degree is for students who wish to study the creative use of a range of music and audio hardware and software to produce music, sound art and sound design.
We are looking for applicants who are passionate about music and sound in a variety of genres and want to explore the creative potential of music technology. You may already have studied music and be creating and/or producing music using typical music production software but may also come from a more traditional music-making background, having developed your skills in your own time.
Above all you will be motivated to expand your creative practice through learning new techniques, working with new hardware and software and collaborating with others.
Fees, costs & funding
Tuition fees
Annual tuition fee | Student |
---|---|
£9,250 per year | Full-time UK |
£17,460 per year | Full-time EU/international |
£1,850 per professional placement year | Full-Time UK and EU/international |
Annual tuition fee | Student |
---|---|
£9,250 per year | Full-time UK |
£17,950 per year | Full-time EU/international |
£1,850 per professional placement year | Full-Time UK and EU/international |
£1,385 per study abroad year | Full-Time UK and EU/international |
Tuition fees are set annually and are subject to review each year. The University may therefore raise tuition fees in the second or subsequent years of a course, in line with inflation and/or the maximum permitted by law or Government policy. Students will be notified of any changes as soon as possible.
The figures above don't include accommodation and living costs
Typical course costs
- One-off costs for the duration of the course
- £500+ - Laptop/computer able to run professional Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) software
- Monitoring headphones - approx. £80 - £100
- DAW software – approx. £60 (we currently provide access to Ableton Live Sute 11 for free).
- Live @ AMATA pass - £25
- Physical file storage (at least 1TB) – approx. £60
Funding
For information about funding available, please visit our student funding pages.
Ask a student
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From course details and academic support, to the social scene and settling in, our students are ready and available to answer any questions you might have. Simply set up your account, send them a question and they'll get back to you within 24 hours.
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