University of Southampton

The University of Southampton's BA Music runs from the Department of Music on the Highfield campus, a short walk from Southampton Common. It isn't badged as a dedicated production degree the way Solent's courses are, but production is built in from year one: the compulsory Music Production Fundamentals module covers audio, MIDI, DAWs, synthesis and mixing, and years two and three add optional modules including Music and Sound Production 1, Sonic Performance Lab and The Producer as Composer.

Students record in a facility with two control rooms and two live rooms, stereo and 5.1 surround monitoring, Neumann, DPA, Rode, AKG and Sennheiser microphones, and a Mac lab of twenty iMacs running Logic Pro and Ableton Live alongside Native Instruments Komplete and Ableton Push controllers. UK fees are £9,790/yr (2026/27); entry needs ABB to BBB at A-level including Music, plus Grade 8 on a practical instrument or equivalent.

Worth flagging for anyone comparing options: this is a broad music degree with a production strand, not a specialist production or sound engineering course. The university's separate BEng/MEng Acoustical Engineering, based at the Institute of Sound and Vibration Research, covers acoustics and noise and vibration control rather than music recording or mixing, so it isn't included here despite the similar-sounding name.