Overview
Ranging from music production to sound engineering and studio recording to sound design for visual media, our project-based undergraduate and postgraduate degree programmes help you find and develop your sound and prepare you for a career as a music or sound professional.
Our courses will hone your creative and technical skill set, while challenging you to strengthen your critical thinking and problem-solving skills, all guided by industry-acclaimed experts. You’ll also have the opportunity to collaborate with students in our film and acting schools.
Undergraduate courses
Develop your own creative voice as an audio storyteller and sound designer across film and a range of visual media in this interdisciplinary, project-based and collaborative programme.
Become a pioneer in the world of electronic music production with our project-based curriculum, in which bold experimentation and risk-taking are key to your success.
Discover your sonic fingerprint as a music producer or sound engineer in a programme that combines vocational technical training, creative practice and critical thinking.
Postgraduate courses
Reshape your music practice and pursue your chosen area of interest, desired specialisation or passion project through practice-based artistic research.
Summer short courses
Level: Intermediate / Advanced
Course length: 4 weeks
Our 4-week Advanced Modular Synthesis course is for experienced electronic music producers and sound designers looking to deepen their expertise in modular synthesis. You’ll master complex modular systems and push the boundaries of sound design through hands-on experimentation and iteration.
Level: Beginner
Learn the fundamentals of recording and producing bands, soloists or electronic artists in a professional studio environment.
Level: Beginner
Learn the core principles of the craft of the electronic music producer and hone your skills to express your creative ideas.
Level: Intermediate / Advanced
Advance your creative and technical approach to refining and finishing your tracks as an electronic music producer.
Level: Intermediate / Advanced
Already started your journey in electronic music production? This short course is for the artist or producer who is ready to stretch their capabilities and take their work to the next stage in its evolution.
Level: Beginner / Intermediate
Course length: 4 weeks
Our 4-week Music & Sound Design for Visual Media course is for those passionate about building and developing skills as a musician or sound designer for visual media. You can join as a beginner in your professional journey or an experienced interdisciplinary creative.
Learn by doing
You won’t find any “traditional” classrooms, lectures or exams at Catalyst. It’s hands-on from day one and you’ll be collaborating with other motivated creatives on projects. You’ll produce work under challenging creative and logistical constraints that will both stretch and empower you. You’ll use this momentum to form a foundation of technical skills and theoretical understanding, then build upon it with expert guidance by our tutors.
Cutting-edge facilities
Based at the iconic Funkhaus, our riverside campus is part of the historic building that was once home to the GDR’s broadcasting station and was one of the world’s largest multi-studio complexes during the Soviet era.
It’s a technological playground with cutting-edge facilities, including 29 studios and production suites for music and sound (five of which are vintage), an electronic music performance space with stage and spatial sound and multiple computer labs. You’ll also get your hands on several tons of bookable audio equipment, including mixing consoles, musical instruments, synthesisers, drum machines and sequencers, effects pedals and microphones.
+29 Studios & production spaces
Industry-standard consoles
Dolby Atmos suite for spatial sound design
Analog and digital instruments
Synthesisers, sequencers and more
Production labs with DAW
Taught by experts
Our courses are delivered by a team of expert tutors and internationally-acclaimed visiting industry professionals, with a genuine passion for passing on their specialist knowledge to others.
They'll ask the difficult questions you've been avoiding, set challenges that stretch you in ways you didn’t know you were capable of, provide insights into new ways of thinking, heap praise where it's due and prepare you for professional opportunities.
