OT: Computer Music / Sound Design Degrees

Nick Maxwell · Post by **Nick Maxwell** » Wed Jul 28, 2004 10:27 pm

Well, i am going to be graduating with my undergrad in Philosophy soon. Now I want to go to go to school for something that I could actually have a career in. The ideal would be a program that mixes computer music with elements of sound design. Basically, a mix of aesthetics and technology with a focus on computers. I would like for it to be an actual degree program from a real university, not some fly-by-night certficate program (I need not mention names). The kind of thing I want to get into eventually is sound design and scoring for games, film, stage, sound installations, etc.

Anyone have any ideas/experiences? Your input is greatly appreciated, as my future is looking pretty hazy and uncertain right now.

- Nick

David · Post by **David** » Wed Jul 28, 2004 11:03 pm

Hi Nick,

I can only speak from my experience here in the UK (I see your from US). In the UK this course is supposed to be good...it may function as a good guideline as to what you should look for in a course...

http://music.york.ac.uk/postgraduate/pr ... logy.shtml

I know that some of the people who did this course are now working in the games industry as Audio Programmers doing the sound design and composition like your into.

Hope that helps a bit,

David

ryst · Post by **ryst** » Wed Jul 28, 2004 11:06 pm

Nick,

I went to a school in Chillicothe, Ohio called "the Recording Workshop" It is not a "fly-by-night certficate program" like a lot of them are these days. The reason I did only this was because even if I went to Full Sail or to a university, I still would have had to start as an intern or at the bottom of the chain after I got a degree. What I did was get a subscription to all the recording magazines, bought gear and worked on it 24/7. As far as sound design goes, my suggestion is to buy a mini disc recorder, go record any and everything that sounds interesting, put it into Live and manipulate the shit out of it. EXPERIMENT,EXPERIMENT ,EXPERIMENT !!! Sound design is not something you need to go to school for. It's a completely creative field with absolutley no rules or boundries. I am opening my studio for sound design next month for music and film. Mix Magazine has a section every month on film audio for the latest films. There is always stories on how the sound designers created the sounds. It's very interesting and I have learned a lot. I have a lot of resources to point you to if you are interested.

hiveminded · Post by **hiveminded** » Wed Jul 28, 2004 11:24 pm

i have no experience, but i have been seriously looking at this site for a while:

http://www.music.mcgill.ca/musictech/

unfortunately, you'd have to move to montreal. well it's unfortunate if you don't like really low tuition and reasonable cost-of-living, lots of babes, a great night-life, and some quasi-european culture

dirtystudios · Post by **dirtystudios** » Thu Jul 29, 2004 4:53 am

i'll be starting school again next month, and hope to eventually be attending the 'media arts and technology' graduate program at u.c.s.b..

http://mat.ucsb.edu

they have an excellent program, and by the time i'm there, they should have their phd program approved. they have three options and you focus on one, but all three draw heavily from the others.

i also looked at dartmouth's electro-acoustic program and it looked top-notch.

k

Nick Maxwell · Post by **Nick Maxwell** » Thu Jul 29, 2004 12:59 pm

Thanks for your answers, everyone, they were enlightening. Dirty, the MAT program looks like a big possibility. I wonder, do they require you to have taken a music degree as an undergrad, or would they accept a philosophy undegrad with a portfolio of abstract stuff (ambient, field-recording, etc.)?