BSc (Hons) Live Sound and Lighting Technology

What’s the course about?

Core modules studied in live sound and lighting technology alongside practice modules, develop students’ techniques and approaches using a range of sound technologies, as well as fostering professional and industrial contextual immersion and awareness, and experience with specialisms within connected audio and sound related fields. 

BSc (Hons) Live Sound and Lighting Technology sits within the overarching Music & Sound Technology Programme.  There are four-degree awards within this programme: BSc (Hons) Music Production, BSc (Hons) Music and Sound Design Technology, BSc (Hons) Audio Recording and Production, and BSc (Hons) Live Sound and Lighting Technology. All courses share the same ethos, and you’ll have opportunities to work alongside our music composition and music industry management students too, ensuring you benefit from teaching and experiences within a large community of musicians, composers, technologists and performers. 

Within the wider school of creative arts at UH, there are opportunities to collaborate with students from other creative areas, including animation and film and TV, allowing you to network with a broad range of creative industries.

Year 1

Live sound and lighting technology students learn the core principles and layout of our consoles, specifically our Midas Pro Series audio console and our Avolites lighting consoles. Live sound reinforcement is covered in detail, as is training your ear to enable you to dial into what makes a clean mix. In this first year you will also learn to patch, operate and programme our Avolites lighting consoles. 

In addition to your live sound pathway specific module, with our music and sound technology programme core modules you will also gain a solid grounding on a number of major DAW packages, as well as develop your creative and technical skills in mixing and effects processing, studio work and making your own virtual instruments.  In order to develop your technical knowledge of connected audio specialisms, you’ll investigate acoustics, psychoacoustics, audio and Midi protocols and a number of sound projection systems whilst also using lab time to develop an understanding of audio electronics through building your own synthesizer for your own creative output.  Music Business is also introduced where you’ll investigate various music business modules and contexts that connect what you are studying to the music industry. 

Year 2

In year 2 you’ll gain a solid understanding of sound signal routing and also look into the basics of system design (which is further honed, in year 3).  You’ll will develop mixing strategies using a broader range of consoles and also investigate advanced projection mapping systems and the requirements and practicalities of audio reinforcement from a broadcast perspective.  Event management projects, working alongside Audio Recording and Production students under the guise of event management will task you with supporting the delivery of large-scale live events, undertaking various lighting and sound technical roles. 

In addition to your live sound pathway specific module, music and sound technology core modules in year two place much focus on developing your critical ear, and getting your music out there, with detailed work on developing both mixing and mastering techniques, and approaches to digital distribution and delivery.  In addition, students continue to develop their deep understanding of microphones and sound signal routing, including network-based systems using our state of the art Rednet enabled facilities.  You will continue to hone your studio practice and understanding of the wider music industry.   

Year 3 

In much focus is placed around opportunities to work on more complex live sound and lighting events, as well as gaining a solid grounding in audio system design.  Drawing on the programmes’ industry accreditation links, students also engage with a defined real-life / live project within the area of (or relating to) live sound and lighting technology.  This is delivered and supported by sessions from a range of academic staff in addition to bespoke sessions from industry professionals who feed in external expertise, so as to support the realisation, process and achievement of the project as a whole.  Typical projects include large track count mixing, audio and media work, and as such create opportunities for students to test and validate their live sound and lighting skills to a typically externally defined industry brief, including delivering to specification, deadline and budget.  

By year 3, the vast majority of our students have already formed a number of professional connections, and students are able to make use of these and reflect on their approaches within a dedicated field project.  In addition, there is the final major project which under the supervision of a dedicated tutor allows you to specialize in your chosen area. 

Guest Speakers

Key industry professionals regularly visit us to speak to our students. Recent Guest Speakers Include:

• Dan Lancaster (Music Producer). 
• Olga Fitzroy (Recording Engineer) 
• Isabel Gracefield Grundy (Sound writer, mixing engineer and producer). 
• Marta Salogni (Producer, Mixer, Engineer) 
• Steph Marziano (Writer, Producer, Mixer)
• George Shilling (Mixing & Mastering Engineer, Cellist and Studio Owner). 
• Matt Ingram (Drummer, Producer and Engineer from London, and Co-Founder of Urchin Studios). 
• Alan Branch (Grammy Award winning Engineer, Producer, Writer and Musician). 
• Gareth Jones (Huge modular analogue synth enthusiast, who has worked with a huge selection of artists, including making 5 LPs with Depeche Mode, and another 5 with Erasure). 
• Mike Warriner (Commercial Director at Focusrite). 
• Dan Cox  (Award winning sound engineer, mixer and producer, and an executive Director of the Music Producer’s Guild). 
• Bernard O’Reilly (Sound designer, sound effects editor and FX recordist). 
• Neil Coomber (mixer, producer and engineer)    
• Nick Watson (Mastering Engineer – Fluid Mastering) 
• Richard Pryke (sound engineer / re-recording engineer – best known for his Academy Award for Best Sound for the film Slumdog Millionaire)
• Tony Platt (Audio Engineer) 
• Phill Brown (Sound Engineer, Producer – worked with Bob Marley, Jimi Hendrix, Dido, to name but a few) 
• Alistair Meachin (Acoustics, Audio & AV Consultant – Harmonia Consulting Ltd.

This course is part of the music department in the School of Creative Arts, and a wide range of undergraduate music degrees are on offer.

Check out our facilities

Music students at the University of Hertfordshire have access to a stunning array of well-maintained resources and facilities aligned to industry standards, including recording studios, performance spaces, critical listening spaces, high-spec computing labs and a loan store offering a range of free-to-use equipment.

Your main campus is College Lane   

This is where the creative arts, science and health-related subjects are based. This means you’ll share the campus with future nurses, scientists, artists and more. You can use the common rooms to relax with friends, work out in the 24-hour gym or have a drink in our on-campus pub or cafes. We also have restaurants for you to eat in or grab something on the go. Our Learning Resources Centres are open 24/7, which means you can study whenever suits you best. Want to pop over to the other campus? You can take the free shuttle bus or walk there in just 15 minutes.