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Research themes

See a full list of all our music and media academic staff.

Currently available Institute of Sound Recording research supervisors are:

Research support

The professional development of postgraduate researchers is supported by the Doctoral College, which provides training in essential skills through its Researcher Development Programme of workshops, mentoring and coaching. A dedicated postgraduate careers and employability team will help you prepare for a successful career after the completion of your PhD.

Throughout the project, you’ll get regular guidance through meetings with your supervisor(s). Your progress will be reviewed formally twice a year, and you’ll benefit from internal seminars to share and discuss findings with other research students.

Your training needs will be identified and met by the University's internal postgraduate research training, modules from the University's taught degree programmes, external courses or guided reading.

Postgraduate research students are strongly encouraged to work here at the University. We have shared office space for all our research students, and it can be very valuable to work alongside others with similar interests and complementary expertise. It’s also useful to be close to the Institute of Sound Recording's academic staff, our technical facilities and the University's Library and other learning resources.

Depending on the nature of your research project, however, it may be possible to undertake much of it away from the University, as long as you stay in regular contact with your supervisor(s) and attend research seminars and progress reviews, which happen twice a year.

Facilities

PhD students have access to office space, computers and a range of research tools and resources, from transcription equipment to data analysis software. The facilities in our Performing Arts Technology Studios have recently been upgraded and complemented by our new £1.7m state-of-the-art production and media suites. They include state-of-the-art recording studios, edit rooms and a listening room.

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´¡±«¸é°¿¸é´¡Â³ (Anechoic and Universal Research Observation Rooms for Audio, Acoustics and AI) is a national research facility hosted by the Institute of Sound Recording and co-led with the University’s Centre for Vision, Speech and Signal Processing (CVSSP). Its anechoic chamber is tailored to spatial audio research, with a spherical loudspeaker array capable of reproducing complex acoustic environments. Its world-first variable acoustics room combines adjustable wall panels with a moving wall system, so that both room volume and reverberation time can be precisely controlled.

Together they allow fast, accurate and reproducible acoustic measurements and listening experiments, and the collection of the large, high-quality datasets needed for machine learning. ´¡±«¸é°¿¸é´¡Â³ is open to ºÚÁÏÉç staff and students as well as to researchers from academia and industry worldwide.

Edit rooms

The edit rooms are used for a wide range of audio post-production tasks and our ITU-R BS.1116 critical listening room and audio laboratory (designed and built by Munro Associates) are used by students and researchers to undertake experimental work involving audio measurement and subjective listening tests.

Listening room

Our listening room is air-conditioned to provide a comfortable working environment and is equipped with a flexible range of reproduction systems from stereo to multichannel including elevated loudspeakers. This enables listening tests on multichannel surround sound to be carried out effectively.

The room contains a loudspeaker mounting system that can be rigged with a large number of loudspeakers. It is usually configured for 22.2 reproduction, using 22 Genelec 8330A loudspeakers and two Genelec 7350A subwoofers. The system includes distributed bass management and built-in time alignment and equalisation of level and frequency response. The system is flexible enough to allow almost any multi-channel loudspeaker arrangement, and additional loudspeakers can be added for any format (up to 72 Genelec 8020 loudspeakers).

There is also a pair of B&W 801 loudspeakers with a Chord amplifier for two-channel stereo, and a set of five Genelec 1032A loudspeakers and a Genelec 1094A subwoofer for 5.1 surround sound.

Equipment

The Institute also has a wide range of test and measurement equipment that can be used in the listening room or around campus, including:

• Prism DScope 3 audio test system
• Audio Precision 2700 audio test system
• MLSSA measurement equipment (running on PC)
• B&K 2033 real time audio analyser
• Neutrik Cortex MK2 binaural recording and measurement system
• B&K acoustic test equipment and microphones
• Neutrik Acoustilyzer acoustical analysis system
• Lindos MiniSonic MS20 audio test system
• A selection of scopes, oscillators, audio test sets.

We own a large range of professional quality microphones that can be used by our students. The extensive range covers all the major brands from classic valve microphones to the latest designs. As the choice of microphone is vital in recording, we pride ourselves on having a range of microphones which let our students achieve the highest possible professional standards.

Audio network

All studios, edit rooms and acoustic rooms in the new space are linked by a new Dante digital audio network, providing audio interconnection between each room, plus video interconnects for flexible configurations of the recording spaces and studios.

English language requirements

IELTS Academic: 6.5 or above (or equivalent) with 6.0 in each individual category.

Selection process

Selection is based on applicants:

• Meeting the expected entry requirements and providing all relevant documents including a satisfactory research proposal
• Being shortlisted through the application screening process
• Completing a successful interview
• Providing suitable references.

After registration

Students are initially registered for a PhD with probationary status and, subject to satisfactory progress, subsequently confirmed as having PhD status.