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I am Sid and I hail from India. I've been working in the bollywood film industry for a while now and want to now move out. I have about 12-15 major motion pictures under my belt for which I served as the sound editor. I was previously all throughout high school and college involved in composing electronic music and was also the boom man for a few short films. I have a bachelors in computer application and all that I've learned about sound until now has been self learning and observation. I have been working professionally for quite some time and want to learn some more advanced techniques and have a formal education in my discipline. The industry here in India is'nt so challenging that I might get to hone my skills to a great extent. I want a more global understanding of how film sound editors deal with sound.

I was considering to undertake an MA in sound design. From all the research I've done, most courses seem to be in UK. I do not want an MSc as I want to explore the storytelling and emotional side of sound and not the technical aspects as much. Also I've seen Sound Arts or sonic arts courses but they are also more focussed on synthesis of sound on its own rather than its relationship with film so thats also something I'm not considering.

Are there any credible MA programs that you people can help me with?

I have right now applied for the Uni of Westminster, Uni Bournemouth and NFTS in the UK. I dont know about VFS and how beneficial it'll be in teaching me things to further my skillset. What other options do I have??

Please help.

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NFTS is the best option in greater london. Avoid sound art courses.

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  • I dont really want to focus only on UK but also others if there are any around the world.. though NFTS did look the best to me as well – Siddharth Dubey Apr 10 '14 at 11:57
  • also what about options like SCAD in the US? – Siddharth Dubey Apr 10 '14 at 12:28
  • I don't know about the US, I live in London. I only know about NFTS from knowing people who have gone there and reading into their courses a lot. Their alumni is great too. You pretty much are guaranteed TV/Film work in the UK once you come out of there because of the affiliation with the college. Be prepared to go backwards though. You won't come out of any university and go straight to dubbing mixer. You'll have to work your way back up. – Edwin Matthews Apr 11 '14 at 15:06
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I currently go to the undergrad program at SCAD.

Besides the faculty and classes, it's a great place to network with other art majors. Because we're in high demand, you often times get the pick of the litter working on animations, films, motion media, ect.

For a number of alumni, they've gotten a lot of jobs from their SCAD connections

The Master's program seems pretty cool. I think the undergrads get a more rounded understanding of sound design because they have 4 years, but the grad program is 2 years with basically similar content and a couple extra classes they don't teach to undergrad.

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Personally, my experience is that formal courses are a poor substitute for real world experience. The best way to improve is to work with those that understand more than you and learn from them. Formal studies can discuss some interesting theory, but for anyone sufficiently technically competent, you can get the same thing out of books.

While I didn't do a masters, I have a Bachelors degree in Electronic Media, Arts and Communications, and while it was more survey than targeted, it did involve a variety of similar kinds of courses and honestly, I didn't learn much from the program that I hadn't learned for myself actually practicing my crafts.

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  • you are absolutely correct and I totally agree and thats how I started working in the first place. But this is an industry where you getting a job depends on the people you know and to break into a totally foreign market for me without having connections is impossible. I figured studies would be a nice way to get my foot in and maybe start from there. Are there any sound editors/designers working on films here on this forum? – Siddharth Dubey Apr 10 '14 at 14:37
  • @SiddharthDubey - in that case, networking is more important than quality of the program. Either take a free internship in the area to make connections (far cheaper and more effective than schooling) or make sure that you go to a school where you are likely to make connections with people working where you want to work. – AJ Henderson♦ Apr 10 '14 at 14:40

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