MSc Sound Environments

Institution University of Edinburgh
Method At the institution
Location Edinburgh
Type Masters
Course fee By request

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MSc Sound Environments

Objectives This programme aims to develop skills in sound design and spatial design, promoting the themes of ambience, sound generation, temporality, voice, control, synthesis and a consideration of the whole sensory field as spatial determinants.
Entry requirements This degree programme is for graduates of architecture or related disciplines who wish to extend their design abilities, and investigate the craft and theory of spatial design in which sound has an important and formative role. The programme is for professionals who seek an architecture sensitive to sound, and who are able to work in teams, advising on the sonic possibilities of spaces, and the spatial characteristics of sounds.
Academic title MSc Sound Environments
Course description Sound environment specialists will be in a position to consult with architectural and engineering acousticians on the creative uses of sound and space, work with programmers, artists and audio technicians, and design art intallations, exhibitions and displays that explore the relationships between sound and space. Such professionals will be skilled in a wide range of digital media appropriate to the simulation and design of sound environments.

The MSc in sound Environments promotes an architecture of sound that

• makes the most of the ambient sounds of spaces
• acts as a sound generator, as well as a container for improving, augmenting and attenuating sound sources
• treats spaces as large-scale musical instruments and sonic devices, to be modulated and played
• exploits the detailed sonic qualities of materials, devices, human and animal activity, organic processes, machinery, networks, systems, and surfaces
• recognises that the sonic qualities of spaces mellow, decay and accrete over time and throughout the work and leisure cycle, depending on activity and environmental conditions
• promotes calm and harmony where appropriate, but also commotion and discord
• promotes the embodied and disembodied voice as a spatial variable
• exploits sound synthesis, electronic mediation, algorithmic technique, and the physics of sound in the design of spaces
• acknowledges the factors that are beyond instrumental control in the design of sonic environments
• redresses the privilege accorded to sound over sight, promoting an architecture of the whole sensorium

The design of sonic environments is assisted by

• tools to create interactive environments in which touch, sensory feedback and control can contribute to the design of physical environments
• 3D simulation tools in which sound sources can be attached to objects and surfaces to simulate the sonic properties of spaces
• technologies for recording, mapping and registering sounds in the environment

Teaching is through lectures, practical work and studio projects, integrating the extensive use of digital media with theoretical inquiry. Student of the MSc in Sound Environments work alongside students of

• Design and Digital Media
• Sound Design
• Digital Composition and Performance
• Acoustics and Music Technology (School of Physics)
• Music in the Community
• Advanced Architectural Design

Admission to the degree is open to candidates with a University degree or equivalent in spatial design, such as architecture, interior architecture, landscape architecture, or urban design, and who already have a basic understanding of architectural acoustics, and wish to develop skills in creative design for sound environments. Candidates may be admitted with other qualification deemed appropriate by the Head of School.

Learning Outcomes

Graduates will be conversant with appropriate technologies and with the practices and social contexts in which these technologies are developed and used.

The programme will impart practical skills within the framework of a critical appreciation of the impact and influence of audio and digital technology.

How You Will Be Taught

Study is project-based and heavily structured in the first semester along a series of related practical studies involving the design of computer applications together with an essay course. The second semester provides greater opportunity for students to pursue their specific interests, in the context of public display or exhibition.