Where to study advanced sound design? More inside

Question

I am Sid and I am a Sound Editor/Designer/Recordist from India. I have been working on movies in India for about 3 years and have recently completed some major mainstream cinema films.

I do tracklaying/editing/mixing and have experience in location sound as well. In addition to doing mainstream movies, I keep doing student films/shorts as a way to work on some fresh cinema once in a while.

I have carried out stereo/surround mixes for television and documentaries and have extensively worked in the film pre dubbing stage creating 5.1/7.1/Dolby Atmos dialogue, foley and sound fx pre dubs.

I had applied to 4 places for an MA in sound design for films and television.

This is a permanent link to my current showreel:

Click here for showreel

Now I have an offer from the following places:

1. Bournemouth University - MA in sound production for Film and Television
2. University of Westminster - MA in Audio Production
3. University of York - MA in post-production with sound design

I am from India and dont have much idea about the local standing for these universities. Is anyone familiar with these universities? Has anyone studied any art or design course here? Any information would be helpful.

I have a month from now to make up my mind as to where I want to study.

Thanks, Sid

Answer 1

Interesting question. I can understand your difficulty in making a decision. However I feel that you are overlooking the fact that you probably won't learn a whole lot, simply because you already have learned in practice. Most University courses I know focus a lot on technical aspects, that's not exactly what you need. (That is an impressive list of skills, btw.)

Let me ask you a question: what do you expect from a university course? Whether it's design or art, is not a very big distinction to me. Is it to you? But most importantly: Where do you want to be? (not literally) In which aspects do you need to develop yourself, to get there?

Cheers!

Answer 2

In the UK, Masters level courses in arts subjects -tend- to focus more on theory/concept than the technical aspects; its generally expected that you know those already, and that what you're doing is of a personal research nature. I know that Edinburgh's course is fairly 'conceptually' focussed, for example.

The balance of that may vary among these courses, though, and it usually leans more heavily towards the technical side on those courses aimed at people who have a background in something else.

I'd suggest you have a look at the showreel work for each course, that's often useful.