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Course
Overview

BA (Hons) Sound Technology Course Overview BA (Hons) Sound Technology  Course Overview

Our course takes a wide view of what working with sound means, to create the next generation of audio professionals able to work across the entire audio industry: recorded sound, live sound, film and TV, gaming and emergent technology.

In your first year you establish the solid foundations required to develop and progress throughout the course. From the second year onwards as your skills advance and you use more sophisticated technology you select areas of study that reflect your aspirations, strengths and interests.

Accreditated By:

Accredited by JAMES

What You Will

Study

  • Year 1
  • Year 2
  • Year 3
  • Student

    stories

    "It teaches you how to best prepare for life after university, what to expect from the industry, how to communicate with clients and fellow professionals and understand career paths you can expect to take."

    Will Miller - Re-recording mixer, Twickenham Film Studios (Graduated 2014)

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  • Student

    stories

    "The course is absolutely brilliant at teaching the tech, however, where LIPA excelled was in preparing me for working with others. I had the opportunity to work with not just musicians, but actors and dancers which really helped me develop my communication and team working skills."

    Purvi Trivedi - Frontend Engineer, Potato (Graduated 2013)

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  • Student

    stories

    "LIPA was very good at ensuring that there were enough group-based tasks to allow us to develop our team working skills. This is vital in something like broadcast, which is such a collaborative effort."

    Tom Munno - Sound Engineer, NEP UK (Graduated 2017)

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  • Student

    stories

    "It is a very rounded course, which has been really useful. If I’d just studied music technology a lot of that would now be out of date because software has changed, but because I learned about sound and have a broader technical knowledge I can now apply that to any situation."

    Steph Marziano - Producer, mixer, writer (Graduated 2013)

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  • Student

    stories

    "Although most studios have their idiosyncrasies, my training means I’m able to break these down, follow the signal path and get things moving efficiently. Could I have learnt this without coming to LIPA? Yes, but it condensed ten years of learning into three.   "

    Matt Taylor - Sound Engineer. Winner of MPG Awards Rising Star 2022 (Graduated 2019)

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How You Will

Study

  • Workshops
    Workshops
  • Practical Production Work
    Practical Production Work
  • Lectures
    Lectures
  • Tutorials
    Tutorials
  • Seminars
    Seminars
  • Independent study
    Independent study
  • Group Work
    Group Work
  • Masterclass
    Masterclass

How You Will Be

Assessed

You will be assessed through exams, written papers or presentations, practical production work and continuous assessment. In your third year, you complete a research project in an area which is of interest to you and relevant to your intended career path. Practical work forms the largest percentage of your assessed work.

Practical/written work ratio

65% practical work / 35% written assignments/exams

Validation

LIPA aims to have probationary degree awarding powers from September 2025 (subject to Office for Students approval). This is an exciting step, allowing us to take full control of our curriculum and course portfolio. In the unlikely event LIPA does not achieve probationary degree awarding powers, our degrees will be validated by Liverpool John Moores University.

What Our

Graduates Do

LIPA graduates work across the entire audio industry, including live sound, recorded sound, film and TV, gaming and emergent technology. Their career achievements have included:

Abbie Shaw (2021)

Junior Sound Editor, Boom Post

Joe O'Halloran (2020)

Sound assistant, Phaze UK

Ben Harper (2019)

Studio engineer, Motor Museum Recording Studio

Xena Kirby (2019)

Assistant sound effects editor, Soundbyte Studios

Matt Taylor (2019)

Sound Engineer. Winner of MPG Awards Rising Star 2022

Rob Davidson (2018)

Foley editor & recordist, Twickenham Film Studios

Will Stanton (2018)

Assistant re-recording mixer, Formosa Group

Joe Wyatt (2018)

Assistant engineer, Abbey Road Studios

Henry Bentham (2017)

Broadcast engineer, Gravity Media

Jake Boulter (2017)

Team manager, Formula One for RIEDEL Communications

Calum Gilmore (2016)

Sound guarantee, NEP

Django Holder (2016)

Lead audio production coordinator, ARK360

Jake Smith (2016)

Sound engineer, RSC

Andrew Watts (2016)

Head of Technical, AdLib

Joss Walker (2015)

System technician (Pharrell Williams, Liam Gallagher, Take That)

Dan Wishman (2015)

Game sound designer, Game sound designer, Rock Steady

Jamie McIntyre (2014)

Consultant (Theatre Design), Charcoal Blue

Alex Baranowski (2005)

Sound designer, composer, arranger (True Things, Staged for BBC, The Windermere Children for Warner Brothers)

Robin Schmidt (2002)

Mastering engineer

Mike Crossey (2001)

Producer (Arctic Monkeys, The 1975, Jake Bugg, Ben Howard)

Entry

Requirements

112

UCAS tariff points required from level 3 qualifications

For example:

  • A Levels at grade B, B and C or above
  • BTEC Extended Diploma: DMM  
  • BTEC Diploma: D*D*
  • T Level: M 
  • International Baccalaureate Diploma: Pass including 112 points from Higher Level subjects

You also need 5 GCSEs grade 4/C or above, these should include Maths, English Language and Physics/Science Dual Award or Level 2 equivalents.

Mature applicants (aged 21+): if you do not hold the qualifications listed but have relevant work experience, you are welcome to apply. Your application will be considered on an individual basis.

5.5

IELTS or above

You need to meet our English language requirement - a minimum of IELTS 5.5 for each of the 4 individual components (Reading, Writing, Speaking and Listening). We also accept other English language examination equivalents. You can find out more about English Language requirements here 

You also need academic qualifications at the same level as UK applicants. You can find out more about qualifications from specific countries here

Mature applicants (aged 21+). If you do not hold the academic qualifications but have relevant work experience, you are welcome to apply.  

Educational qualifications are important but limited in what they can tell us about you.

Your natural ability, your fit with what and how we teach, your growth and your potential are also key factors in our admission process. We can’t evaluate these solely on your educational achievements, so no matter which course you are applying for, we look for the following attributes on your application and at the interview stage.

Key

Attributes

1

Knowledge, Ability and Experience

We’d like to hear about your experience in at least one of the following areas: music recording, live sound work, sound design in theatre, sound installation work or sound post-production. Tell us about the roles you’ve played and what equipment you’ve worked with. If all of your experience is using computer-based systems at home, please include details of the software and hardware tools that you’ve been using. We want to see that you have an appreciation of music and other forms of audio production. You don’t need to be a musician to study Sound Technology, but if you have any experience of playing music, we’d be interested to know.

2

Commitment

Tell us about the sound projects you’ve been involved with outside of your school or college work. This may still have been at your school or college, but on an extra-curricular level. Maybe you’ve volunteered to work in a studio, venue or radio station or gained paid-for work experience. We know that it can sometimes be difficult to find this experience because of distance or cost, so we’d be interested to see how you’ve pursued these opportunities.

3

Ability To Work Effectively with Others

While you’re with us (and in your professional work) you’ll work with a range of people – students, teachers and industry professionals, so it’s essential that you can work well with others. We’d like to see that you can take direction and feedback well, listen to others and offer support and constructive feedback.

4

Broad Interest and Engagement

We look for evidence that you are curious about the world around you and want to engage with all aspects of the course you’re applying for and the wide range of opportunities we offer.

5

Self-Awareness

We’d like to know why you’re applying to us and how you think the course you’re applying for will help you to grow and achieve your career aspirations. We’d like to see that you understand your strengths and weaknesses and how we can support you.

6

A Spirit of Enterprise

We want you to be able to work on your own initiative and see that you’re interested in creating your own opportunities. You may have been involved in creative projects which weren’t part of your regular school/college curriculum, or if you haven’t had the chance to do this, you might have ideas and ambitions which you can tell us about.

  • "Students at LIPA are trained on some of the most up-to-date equipment by some of the most highly qualified instructors in the country.  "

    John Leonard
    Award-winning Sound designer who works extensively in the West End and Broadway

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  • "LIPA graduates, I’ve had the pleasure of working with, have never failed to impress me with their knowledge, relentless enthusiasm, and eagerness to learn the tricks of the trade."

    Trevor Horn
    Producer and songwriter and winner of the Ivor Novello Award for outstanding contribution to British music

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  • "LIPA students are by far the most savvy and qualified students that we have. The standard is fantastic."

    Maria Walker
    Chief operating officer at Twickenham Film Studios

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  • "I’ve been absolutely overwhelmed by the total scope of what’s being done here. To see it in action where you have all of the arts integrated is so rewarding, the arts should be integrated like this. Too few schools are so specialised and that is a problem. I think what LIPA is doing is wonderful. "

    Eddie Kramer
    Producer, engineer (Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones)

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  • "Year on year I find myself amazed at the quality of graduates from LIPA. These graduates are naturally well rounded and entirely capable but, more importantly, they have the extra poise and confidence to make their way in the modern music industry."

    Tony Platt
    Managing Director, Music Producers Guild

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  • "The amount of people in the industry that have come from LIPA is testament to the training and the quality of people who leave there. The environment is very creative, working with the other disciplines, creates a more rounded individual."

    Dan Bennett
    SSE/Wigwam Hire Manager

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Course Changes

For information on possible changes to course information, see our course changes information

View the programme specification on the LJMU course catalogue here