Course overview
School of Arts & Creative Industries
See what it's like to study at our School of Arts & Creative Industries.
You are immersed in the world of music production, working on individual and group projects and compositions, and developing knowledge and skills which build towards your final portfolio. You experience, composition, new technology, creativity, touring musicians, production, collaboration with industry experts, live client projects, guest speakers, research activities and interdisciplinary working. Using our specialist technical resources, you learn how to create, produce, mix and master stereo and surround recordings in state-of-the-art recording studios. And you get to play instruments too – with electric guitars, amplifiers, acoustic and electronic drum kits, and related sound equipment. You can also make a music podcast.
You graduate with a broad range of experience, knowledge, understanding and skills appropriate to music production. You develop your unique creative voice and produce professional portfolios in both music and sound production in your individual specialism, enhancing employability opportunities. You also get to collaborate with students from other courses through interdisciplinary modules which replicate workplace working. And you can get Adobe-accredited user status to enhance your employability prospects.
This course includes a foundation year - ideal if you need additional preparation or if you don't have sufficient grades to join Year 1 of a degree.
Top reasons to study music production at Teesside University:
- Specialist facilities: practice and learn in specialist spaces including sound studios, recording studios, post-production suites, audio patch bays, technology lab, audio workstations and music technology lab.
- Regional opportunities: recent research has identified a cluster of recording, production and post-production studios in the North East region maintaining a presence in the national music and sound production landscape (Music Studio Market Assessment, Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport, June 2021).
- Expert teaching: our lecturers have backgrounds in professional music production, so you get to learn from people who have made music for a living. 97.6% of design studies students agreed that staff were good at explaining things. (National Student Survey 2024, tees.ac.uk/source)
- Get creative: our course and campus are powered by Adobe and Apple. We’re Europe’s first Adobe Creative Campus and the only Apple-accredited university, equipping you with the digital tools and resources to hone your creative music production skills.
- Work-ready: the course includes short, career-focused modules helping you understand working in the creative industries. You look at how the music production industry works, how to access it, who shapes it and how to grow within it. From industry leaders’ professional wisdom and insight, to accessing professional opportunities and creative coaching, you become an industry insider and leave with a working understanding of the professional community.
Creative UK
Take advantage of our Creative UK membership and help futureproof your career, with networking events, a resource hub to support professional development, and bespoke workshops in partnership with industry leaders and mentors. Sign up for free student membership to get opportunities, events and newsletters sent directly to your inbox.
Course details
Course structure
Foundation year core modules
Explore media fundamentals, including the making of images, video, sound and audio-visual materials. You learn skills in risk assessment for technical equipment, use of digital software and online resources and practical skills in making. Alongside practical sessions, you study professional environments, media theories, critical analysis and audience perspectives. Working with a group, you tackle a brief to develop a creative piece where you are encouraged to experiment and take creative risks.
This is a 40-credit module.
Create original ideas and concepts for your individual project, creating an artefact, report, campaign, comic, product or other form related to the arts, design and media industries. You explore the context and history of the creative arts and use this to inform your project. Learning to research and analyse ideas about art, design and media, you develop your understanding of creative working and the relationship between creativity, society and the environment.
This is a 40-credit module.
Learn the fundamentals of storytelling and its historical, social, cultural and political contexts in relation to media such as TV, marketing, music and writing. Explore visual, audio and written examples of narrative form and construction. You enhance your understanding of the use of plot, themes, character, point of view, visual representation, audio-visual blending, storyboarding, non-linear story and prose. You are guided to develop a story form relevant to your chosen discipline/creative practice.
This is a 20-credit module.
Develop key study skills in preparation for starting your degree, including critical thinking, teamwork, research and delivering presentations. You are introduced to primary and secondary research sources and shown how to use the virtual learning environment (VLE). You also find out about the wide range of student support and learning resources on campus.
This is a 20-credit module.
Year 1 core modules
Enhance your skills in team-working, communication, project management and negotiation. You collaborate with a group of your course mates to produce a small-scale creative project in response to a subject-specific brief.
This is a 20-credit module.
Introduction to Music Production
Develop the fundamental knowledge and skills of music production practice. You learn the theories and practice of how to safely operate relevant music production hardware and software.
This is a 40-credit module.
Introduction to the Creative Industries
With many opportunities in the creative industries sector, learn how to start on your career path while developing vital employability skills such as networking and digital presence. Understand the structure of the sector and the interdisciplinary relationships between art, design and media. Discover how the sector operates locally, nationally and globally – debating the role of policy and the importance of sustainability.
This is a 20-credit module.
Explore a range of music production techniques through the study and creation of music production(s).
This is a 40-credit module.
Year 2 core modules
Develop critical thinking and analysis skills, exploring contemporary issues and debates related to the creative industries. You research a specific area or development within your chosen subject – this may be technical, economic, ethical, legal, cultural, sociological, or a combination. You draw on appropriate academic and industry sources to contextualise your research. You present your topic and initial research within taught sessions, providing an opportunity for peer and tutor feedback.
This is a 20-credit module.
You develop and explore, in depth, a creative industry-based project in your specialist area of design, art, media, music, photography or illustration - relevant to your future professional practice. While forming a professional portfolio of work, you experience real-world business scenarios and challenges, industry competitions and cross and inter-disciplinary activities. You gain skills in project management, applied research methods and collaborative creative work.
This is a 40-credit module.
Further develop your knowledge and skills in music production. Explore the multiple practices of music production by creating a body of audio and written work.
This is a 40-credit module.
Working in the Creative Industries
There are many challenges facing contemporary art, design and media practices. You research the social, political or ecological challenges around us to generate a small-scale project. You develop and reflect on your understanding of enterprise in the context of the creative industries. Contextualise your own professional practice and aspirations through application of critical thinking and problem-solving skills.
This is a 20-credit module.
Optional work placement year
You have the option to spend one year in industry learning and developing your skills. We encourage and support you with applying for a placement, job hunting and networking.
You gain experience favoured by graduate recruiters and develop your technical skillset. You also obtain the transferable skills required in any professional environment, including communication, negotiation, teamwork, leadership, organisation, confidence, self-reliance, problem-solving, being able to work under pressure, and commercial awareness.
Many employers view a placement as a year-long interview, therefore placements are increasingly becoming an essential part of an organisation's pre-selection strategy in their graduate recruitment process. Benefits include:
· improved job prospects
· enhanced employment skills and improved career progression opportunities
· a higher starting salary than your full-time counterparts
· a better degree classification
· a richer CV
· a year's salary before completing your degree
· experience of workplace culture
· the opportunity to design and base your final-year project within a working environment.
If you are unable to secure a work placement with an employer, then you simply continue on a course without the work placement.
Final-year core modules
You produce a self-managed, individual extended piece of independent investigation and/or creative production or portfolio of work. Supervised by an academic member of staff, you take responsibility for the planning and execution of the work, including the consideration of associated legal, social, ethical and professional issues. You explore in depth a chosen subject area, demonstrating your ability to analyse, synthesise and creatively apply your learning, showing critical and evaluative skills and professional awareness.
This is a 60-credit module.
Plan and implement your departure from education to your first or new career, or to further study. You continue your creative practice, developing a portfolio and/or extended piece of work which reflects you as a creative. You explore discipline-specific employability strategies, and engage and network with industry to develop key connections.
This is a 60-credit module.
Modules offered may vary.
How you learn
Think, dream and make: learn through doing, with focused studio time for practice-based creative work, allowing you to develop ideas and undertake larger-scale, more ambitious projects.
Develop your creative voice: you are coached to find and grow your creative voice. Collaboration with industry professionals and your peers gives you new perspectives on developing your practice.
Grow resilience: develop a creative journal, capturing your challenges, milestones and reflections to see patterns in your thinking and linking reoccurring ideas. You learn how to test ideas, explore creative directions, understand pitching etiquette and develop large-scale projects to help you thrive in the creative industries.
Join the creative sector: our intensive, career-focused modules help you understand working in the arts and creative industries. From industry leaders’ professional wisdom and insight to accessing professional opportunities and creative coaching, you become an industry insider and leave with a working understanding of the professional community.
Become connected: access our network of alumni and practising creatives at Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art (MIMA). Benefit from supportive voices, specialist expertise, shared wisdom and new ideas, establishing critical relationships that propel you into your creative career.
Get creative: take part in MIMA Creative Week, a festival of workshops where you experiment with new materials, go on field trips and upgrade your tech skills.
Expand your horizons: collaborate with our international partners in Prague, Dubai and India becoming international creative citizens while developing an understanding of wider global contexts, sustainability and the changing shape of equality and diversity.
How you are assessed
Modules are assessed by in-course assessment of a range of music-related media, written assignments and reports, individual and group presentations and live performances.
Professional placement
Study this course with an optional work placement year, at no extra cost. Alongside this, you can gain valuable experience and engagement with the sector through our shorter work placements, internships and work experience opportunities.Work placements
Our Disability Services team provide an inclusive and empowering learning environment and have specialist staff to support disabled students access any additional tailored resources needed. If you have a specific learning difficulty, mental health condition, autism, sensory impairment, chronic health condition or any other disability please contact a Disability Services as early as possible.
Find out more about our disability services
Find out more about financial support
Find out more about our course related costs
Entry requirements
Entry requirements
Any combination of level 3 qualifications. Each application is considered on a case-by-case basis.
For general information please see our overview of entry requirements
International applicants can find out what qualifications they need by visiting Your Country
You can gain considerable knowledge from work, volunteering and life. Under recognition of prior learning (RPL) you may be awarded credit for this which can be credited towards the course you want to study.
Find out more about RPL
Employability
Career opportunities
Our students follow careers in sound and music production, sound capture (sound engineering), live sound production and engineering (gigs, theatre, events), sound design, processing and control, music for time-based media (film, video), broadcast (radio, television, internet), recording artists, music technology journalism and multimedia authoring.
Information for international applicants
Qualifications
International applicants - find out what qualifications you need by selecting your country below.
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Useful information
Visit our international pages for useful information for non-UK students and applicants.