Creative Music Production lesson

Creative Music Production MA

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Start Dates

21 September 2026

Duration

1 year full-time 2 years part-time

Recent Awards For Excellence

Performing Arts - QS 2025
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About this course

Overview

Why choose Huddersfield for this course?

  • Create in world-class studios - access advanced production environments designed for experimentation and precision.
  • Balance artistry and technology - combine creative curiosity with technical expertise in recording and composition.
  • Collaborate with active researchers - work with producers and researchers at the Centre for Research in Music and its Technologies.

Accreditation and Professional Links

Recognised connections to give you an extra edge when you graduate. Read More

This course aims to enable producers and musicians to fully integrate their use of studio technology into their musical practice. We strive to develop both your technical and creative potential, underpinning this with scholarly insights into production and the studio as a creative, artistic tool.

This Master's level course is designed for both music and music technology graduates, but also for learners from industry or practitioner backgrounds who are looking to develop their musical and technical skills and knowledge, allowing everyone to explore new ways of engaging with Creative Music Production.

Our aim is to combine the essential qualities of musician and producer to deliver postgraduates who are adaptable, creative and not afraid to push the boundaries of studio practice in the pursuit of innovative artistic goals.

Performing Arts at the University of Huddersfield has an international reputation, and hosts one of the largest postgraduate music communities in the UK. You will benefit from our regular research seminars and workshops, and will be a member of the Centre for Research in Music and its Technologies (CRMT) which provides a focus for popular music research in the department.

Career opportunities after the course *

Audiovisual Technician

Video Editor

Video Producer

Broadcast Engineer

Creative Producer

*Lightcast

Who can apply?

Entry Requirements

You are required to have a minimum of a 2:2 honours degree from a recognised University or equivalent institution. In addition to this, you will be required to demonstrate a good level of technical skill and experience in the field of music production, demonstrated through an undergraduate degree in (or including modules in) this area, or through submission of a representative portfolio of work.

If your first language is not English, you will need to meet the minimum requirements of an English Language qualification. The minimum for IELTS is 6.0 overall with no element lower than 5.5, or equivalent. Read more about the University’s entry requirements for students outside of the UK on our International Entry Requirements page.

What will you learn?

Course Details

On this module you will be introduced to a range of significant and contemporary scholarship relating to the study of music, including that pertaining to music production, composition and sonic arts, and all kinds of performance. You will learn about diverse approaches to music research, and receive training in managing research professionally and ethically. Central to the module is the development of research skills appropriate to postgraduate level work and to your own research interests and creative practices. Attendance at research seminars will offer diverse models for your own research in performance, musicology, or creative music production.

On this module you will professionalise techniques in computer-based music. Focusing on modern approaches to music production, the module will deepen your skills in sound design using original synthesis and sampling as well as recording in a digital environment. This will involve multi-software workflows, the expressive use of hardware controllers and hybrid techniques combining digital and analogue processing  that combine both an ‘inside the box’ approach with outboard dynamics and effects units. You will develop advanced skills in digital audio project data management required for collaborative professional work. Furthermore, you will learn sophisticated editing, mixing and mastering techniques unique to digital music production. As a critically informed production expert you will analyse production concepts using critical listening, and research and apply various information on contemporary music production found in manuals, tutorials, instructional videos and mix-throughs or derived from in-depth case studies.

This module focuses on the theory, processes and tools involved in mixing a range of contemporary music. You will explore mix practice, exploring theoretical and analytical approaches that can be applied in both live and studio environments. Analysis of mix engineer practice will be combined with a systematic technical and perceptual analysis of the impact of processing tools on the musical reception of mixed music. The affordances of established mix workflows will be explored in detail, informing developments in mix practice through traditional and practice led research methods. You will study live and studio approaches.

This module investigates the studio as a creative tool and its relationship to your practice as a songwriter, performer, composer or producer. We will start by exploring examples of novel and unusual practice in the studio taken from both conventional and more experimental musical genres. Over the course of the module we will not only discuss these pre-existing models from a critical perspective but also explore them practically to help you understand the impact they have on aesthetic outcomes. These practical workshop sessions will provide a basis for developing your own bespoke workflow or performance setup which you will then use to realise a piece of compositional, performance or production work.

You will work in a small group of students to devise, manage and realise a practice-based creative project that is relevant to using the studio and/or other music technology and may include a live event or performance. Roles will be clearly allocated to group members with a collaborative approach to the project design and final assignment.

On this module, you undertake a substantial independent creative production project. You can undertake work in any area of creative music production that interests you and guidance will be available through staff supervision. Examples of the kinds of projects that would be relevant are an EP/album length production of one or more artists, a collection of your own songwriting or compositional work, a substantial live production (or portfolio of live work) from either mixing or performance perspectives, or a set of music videos (of your own creative work or that of others). On this module, you will undertake a substantial independent creative  musical project involving composition, performance and/or production work. You can may undertake work in any area of creative music production that interests you and guidance will be available through staff supervision to ensure that the project has an appropriate scope for the time available.  Examples of the kinds of projects that would be relevant are an EP/album length production of one or more artists, a collection of your own songwriting or compositional work, a substantial live production (or portfolio of live work) from either mixing or performance perspectives, a devised performance work or a set of music videos (of your own creative work or that of others).

Teaching and Assessment

Discover what to expect from your tutor contact time, assessment methods, and feedback process.

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Where could this lead you?

Your Career

Graduates of Creative Music Production can progress into a broad mix of creative, technical and community-focused roles across the music, arts and media sectors. Career pathways include positions such as Youth Worker, Community Engagement Officer/Coordinator and Music Instructor, supporting access to creative learning. Many also go on to work in technical and production roles including Audiovisual Technician, Theatre Technician, Studio Assistant or Guitar/Piano (or other instrument) Technician. Production-focused careers such as Video Editor, Video Producer and Composer offer further opportunities to apply your creative and technical skills across live performance, recorded media and digital platforms.

Source: Lightcast data extracted from the Graduate Career Explorer

98% Percentage of the University's postgraduate students go on to work and/or further study within fifteen months of graduating.

* HESA Graduate Outcomes 2022/23, UK domiciled.

£38.5k The average salary of our postgraduates fifteen months after graduating.

* HESA Graduate Outcomes 2022/23, mean salary, UK domiciled, full-time UK employment as main activity.

How much will it cost?

Fees and Finance

£9,265 per year

This information is for Home students applying to study at the University of Huddersfield in the academic year 2026/27.

Please note that tuition fees for subsequent years may rise in line with inflation (RPI-X) and/or Government policy. 

For detailed information please visit https://www.hud.ac.uk/study/fees/

£772 per 15 credits

This information is for Home students applying to study at the University of Huddersfield in the academic year 2026/27.

Modules credits can range from 15 to 60, dependent on the content of the module. Read more about total credits required for a range of degrees, to allow you to calculate the potential total cost.

Please note that tuition fees for subsequent years may rise in line with inflation (RPI-X) and/or Government policy. 

For detailed information please visit https://www.hud.ac.uk/study/fees/

£18,700 per year

This information is for international students applying to study at the University of Huddersfield in the academic year 2026/27.

Please note that tuition fees for subsequent years may rise in line with inflation (RPI-X) and/or Government policy. 

For detailed information please visit https://www.hud.ac.uk/international/fees-and-funding/

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What does the University offer?

Gallery

See below for a glimpse at some of our facilities

Image of the Richard Steinitz Building

The Richard Steinitz Building

Creative Music Production studio facilities

Studio facilities

Students in the group work facilities in Barbara Hepworth

Group work facilities

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Music at the University of Huddersfield

Curious about what it’s like to study Music at university? Explore how a Music degree could help you build a future in performance, composition, teaching or the wider music industry.

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