MSc in Digital Music Processing

The Masters programme in Digital Music Processing is taught by members of the world-leading research group,
the Centre for Digital Music (c4dm). c4dm has about 35 researchers and a current research budget of more than £3M. With the aid of a major investment by Queen Mary, the Centre now has a state-of-the-art Listening Room, which can be used for research and for recording and performance. Additionally, there is a 32-processing computing cluster.

Based on our MSc in Digital Signal Processing programme but incorporating specialist modules and a specialized project, this Masters will help to you to understand not only how today’s audio and music technology works, but also to become a leader in developing the next generations of these technologies. Graduates of this programme have gone on to study for a PhD, work for a startup, and a major audio technology company.

Students will have the opportunity for an internship-based project with one of our industrial partners. Currently that includes: Creative Labs in California, Sensaura/Creative in London, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe in London, Sonaptics in High Wycombe, Philips Research Eindhoven, fxPansion in London – this list is growing all the time.

Several lectures are also available as podcasts, enabling students to go through the material again at their own pace, wherever it suits them – on the tube or in their study bedroom . Students are also invited to attend the regular research seminars offered by the Centre. Because seminar speakers are leading experts from other universities and from industry, students are exposed to the very latest technologies and applications in Digital Music.

Also, as of 2007, the DMP programme will be available in Distance Learning mode.

College and other scholarships are available for this programme for exceptional students.

Programme structure

Further Details

The fields of audio and music production, audio engineering, broadcasting, recording and sound engineering are becoming increasingly reliant on digital signal processing methods for encoding, analysis, transmission and manipulation of signals. However, education in these fields is primarily in the media arts field. Such degrees provide insufficient background for a detailed understanding of the technologies involved or to tackle the interesting challenges that arise with the introduction of new digital technologies. This degree typically instructs students on how to use the audio-related tools, but not how to develop them.

Thus there is a serious and growing technical skills shortage in industry. Engineers with a high level of training in advanced music and audio technologies and an understanding of digital signal processing are in high demand. Students with the necessary skills have excellent career prospects.

The MSc in Digital Music Processing is intended to respond to this skills shortage. It is aimed at people who would like to develop the technologies utilised throughout the audio and music production, audio engineering and broadcasting industries. It is demanded by students for whom a traditional audio production degree is found lacking in the technical engineering skills necessary for understanding the underpinnings of audio and music processing, analysis, and transmission.

It is highly suitable for those employed in industry in music and audio-related disciplines, who wish to obtain a formal qualification or better understand the signal processing used in their work. Furthermore, it is a suitable stepping stone to PhD level research in music processing and related fields.

The Digital Music Processing MSc offers a broad range of study in methods of processing, analysis, synthesis and manipulation of musical signals. It uses established and specialised data analysis and signal processing techniques, an understanding of acoustics and basic music theory, and of standards, formats, broadcasting and transmission methods, and multimedia systems. The programme addresses fundamental principles and advanced techniques and provides students with directly applicable knowledge and skills. Students are taught how to analyse and modify any musical audio signal. The students gain an understanding of modern technologies that they use on a daily basis, such as internet-based audio formats, streaming and compression, and signal processing in CD players and stereo systems. Graduates will have the ability to develop the tools used by musicians, producers and broadcasters.

Application

Applicants should follow the guidelines that can be found at http://www.elec.qmul.ac.uk/study/msc/msc-stud.htm