Training Courses & Their Web Sites

Centralised sources of information on higher education are few and far between, but the publications of UCAS (www.ucas.ac.uk) are one of the best places to start.

Demand is continuing to grow for training courses in sound engineering and in the business of modern music. Derek Johnson & Debbie Poyser explore some web‑based information sources to help you decide which course is for you.

It's now easier than ever before to get educated in everything related to music technology, audio and recording. Whether you're looking for a short Cubase or Logic sequencing course at one extreme, or want a serious, academically‑accredited postgraduate qualification at the other, the explosion of interest in music technology has ensured that most parts of the country have something to fit the bill.

And the Internet is turning out to be a useful way of doing your basic research; an increasing number of colleges, universities and course providers have informative web sites. As we're just coming up to that time of year when hassled students all over the country are making their choice of courses for further or higher education, what better time to explore education on the Net?

Sites For Sound

AE Technology College (www.sae.edu) is probably the largest single provider of music technology courses worldwide, with training centres not only in Europe and America, but also in India, Asia and Australia.

London's University of Westminster has a well‑constructed web site (www.wmin.ac.uk) reflecting their high‑quality approach to music and technology training. Their BA Honours degree course in Commercial Music is apparently the first of its kind in the country. It's a three‑year, full‑time course with three main areas of study: music production, music business, and music sociology. Students can specialise in music business and law or music production. Westminster stress the strong industry links the college has set up, listing such luminaries as the chair of Polygram UK, John Kennedy, Radio 1's head of music, Jeff Smith, and the editor of industry magazine Music Week, Selina Webb, as members of the course's Professional Advisory Committee. A detailed run‑down of the topics covered is offered on the site, along with a list of the modules which make it up. You can also do postgraduate training at Westminster.

Graduates wanting to sample the delights of Bristol and surrounding area might be interested in the University of the West of England's Postgraduate Diploma in Creative Sound Production (www.uwe.ac.uk/amd/sound/index.htm). This one‑year, full‑time course features four modules dealing with digital media, practical recording, editing and processing skills, and digital synthesis/analysis, and offers strong links with professionals working in radio and sound production for TV and animation. The college has industry‑standard studio and digital‑editing facilities and also runs a student Internet radio station, to which course participants are able to contribute. Like other institutions offering postgraduate training, UWE will consider non‑graduates for admission onto the course if they can demonstrate relevant production or industry experience, ability and commitment.

Long before traditional academic institutions caught on to the potential for teaching music technology in Britain, there was the Gateway School of Recording (www.king.ac.uk/gateway), a venerable name in professional audio training. The school, which is based on the Campus of the University of Kingston, offers a two‑year Higher Diploma in Sound Recording, Music Technology and Music Business Studies, accredited by the APRS (Association of Professional Recording Services). Its aim is to cover the three main subject areas of Recording, Music Technology, and Music Business Studies — topics covered include essential aspects of the traditional recording studio, MIDI and sequencing, synthesis, digital audio, sampling, multimedia, and the history and development of electronic music. Live and theatre sound, and post‑production for film and TV can also be studied, as can multimedia design and CD‑ROM and Internet authoring. The Music Business course module aims to give students a knowledge of negotiating contracts, music marketing, and copyright.

Kingston University (www.kingston.ac.uk), with whom Gateway are allied, also have their own range of courses including a BMus (Hons) with two alternative syllabi, one of which is Music and Technology. Kingston offer a new MA course in Composing for Film and Television, too.

The world's largest organisation devoted to audio training must surely be the SAE Technology College (www.sae.edu), which has comprehensively equipped branches in cities all over the world, including Glasgow and London. SAE offers training ranging from short Cubase VST MIDI sequencing seminars and six‑week DJ Certificates, to an Audio Engineering Diploma (nine months full‑time or 18 months part‑time) and full BA (Hons) in Recording Arts (14 or 22 months full‑time). The latter is available only at the London SAE branch for the UK.

Central Lines

Not all UK music technology training is based around London — the University of the West of England (www.uwe.ac.uk/amd/sound/index.htm), for example, is well‑placed to service Bristol's thriving music scene.

If you're generally in the dark about funding issues, a look at the Department Of Education's higher education student support page (point your browser at www.dfee.gov.uk/support/index.htm) gives information and PDF downloads relating to the financial support available to higher education students.

Another central information site which could be useful is the one run by UCAS (University & Colleges Admission Service) at www.ucas.ac.uk. UCAS are currently developing their site as a source of entry profiles for many colleges and universities, to save you trawling around individual web sites. Just under 20 colleges have course information on the UCAS site at the moment, but by April 2001 the service expects to feature over 100.

Virtual College

Some institutions are using the web as more than an online brochure, taking advantage of its power as an information exchange to explore actual online delivery of course content. The University of London's Goldsmiths College (www.goldsmiths.ac.uk) is currently developing a Distance Learning Certificate in Creative Music Technology, to be offered on a full‑time basis over one year or part‑time for two years. Course materials will be available in networked, and other forms of electronic media and will cover Technology and Notation Studies, Harmony, Historical Studies, and Specialist topics (a specialist paper on a topic to be agreed between student and the tutorial team).

Another institution that has an on‑line element to its training is the late Dick Grove's School Without Walls (see the web site at www.dickgrove.com). Grove was a noted jazz pianist, arranger and educator whose School of Music in LA saw many famous names pass through its doors. SWW could be seen as a distance‑learning version of the original school — while not an accredited university, it offers 'college level' courses for musicians and composers. There isn't a technology element as such in the course work, though the courses in composing, arranging, orchestration, modern harmony and ear‑training could benefit many a bedroom MIDI musician in search of a living somewhere in the music industry. Students are offered a phone help‑line, but this support can also be provided via email, luckily for those outside the USA.