Audio design

The Electronic Studio of the School of Music (ESB), situated at the heart of the Basel Music Academy Campus, is both an educational institute and a research and production site. It offers a very well equipped recording, production and experimental studio. Furthermore, the ESB organises public concerts, festivals, symposia and workshops.

Besides several high-end recording spaces, the Electronic Studio also has a main control room, two multi-channel studios, a stereo editing station and an electronics workshop at its disposal.

A multitude of electronic instruments and controllers allow for interactive musical and transmedia work and experiments. A flexible, modern sound system enables the Studio to organize all kinds of concerts of electronic music as well as cognitive studies on acoustics and experiments in audio psychology. The Studio also owns several rare, historic electronic music instruments.

In collaboration with the Gare du Nord, the Bahnhof für Neue Musik, the Electronic Studio curates and hosts the NACHTSTROM concert series and also collaborates with other institutions in Switzerland and abroad in the planning and implementation of the most varied artistic productions.
Above and beyond this, the Studio holds its own three-day festival every other year: the dBâle electronic music festival, which features international guests. It thereby also acts as a cultural institution of regional significance.

The Studio thus attracts attention far beyond Basel itself. It creates valuable contacts between students and experienced guest composers who realize and discuss their work in the framework of seminars and workshops.

The central location of the Studio, in the heart of the Musik-Akademie Basel, is a determining factor in its conceptual objectives. Its proximity to the instrumental tradition of the house means that it offers an open, stimulating and inclusive musical environment in which creativity can thrive.. Electronic music is thus not a field for outsiders in an institute of its own, but an integral part of the Academy’s culture and teaching activities.

sonic space basel is a Platform of Basel Academy of Music for composition (BA and MA and MA SP), open creation, contemporary music performance, audio design (BA and MA) and research.
We see ourselves as a laboratory, communication tool and information hub for contemporary music.

The FHNW Bachelor of Arts in Music with a Music Theory major lays the educational foundations for a career as a professional audio designer.
The aim of the study programme is to nurture and produce versatile and multifaceted musical personalities. To this end, students will build on their knowledge of electronics and relevant technologies, as well as acquire sound general music education knowledge and skills. They will also have a well-developed ability to critically reflect on the subject of music and possess the other skills that will qualify them to pursue a career in music. A FHNW Bachelor of Arts in Music constitutes a pathway to postgraduate study, e.g. a Master’s degree programme.

The FHNW Bachelor of Arts in Music is a degree programme aimed at students who have a particular interest in electronic music and wish to pursue a career in creative/sound design.

There is a wide range of career options open to qualified audio designers. Depending on their chosen field of specialisation, audio design graduates go on to work in the independent art and culture scene, create sound installations, compose incidental music for the stage and/or screen, or work as professional electronic or instrumental musician. Others opt to set up their own recording and productions studio, work as freelance sound engineers in theatres or for bands and festivals, or pursue a career as a sound designer in the audio software industry, radio or TV.
Likewise, an audio design graduate may choose to continue along the research or teaching route.

Structure BA Audiodesign  in German valid from 01.09.2024

Core curriculum

Major module (115 CP):
Individual tuition
Seminars
Workshops/guest lectures
Sound studio practice
Programming languages and environments
Electronic music aesthetics and technologies
Ear training, audio design-specific

Complementary courses

Practical module (20 CP):
Choir/chamber choir
Piano (compulsory)
Improvisation
Movement

Theory module, applied (28 CP):
Ear training
Composition
Analysis
Musical form

Theory module (15 CP):
Music teaching
Musical acoustics
Organology
History of music
Music research

Elective courses

Personalised module (2 CP):
Courses/activities chosen from the elective courses available

Detailed module description
Structure

Admission criteria
In order to enter the FHNW Bachelor of Arts in Music programme with an instrumental or vocal major, applicants must hold a school-leaving qualification (Baccalaureate, Professional Baccalaureate or equivalent) as well as they have to have passed the entrance exam and were offered a free place at the Academy (limited places). Applicants who have submitted all the necessary registration documents in time will be invited to play a live audition. For further information on the admission criteria, please see the Studienreglement of the Bachelor of Arts FHNW in Musik.

Language skills
We expect students to have very good German language skills at the beginning of the studies. Students who are not German native speakers must present a B1 German language certificate according to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) at the beginning of the studies.

Entrance exam
The entrance exam is split into several parts.

Procedure
Exam Major
1. Prepared piece
Record a video, upload it onto Youtube and add the link in the registration tool.
2. Record a video in which you play a piece on the piano which corresponds to the level of Robert Schumann´s Album für die Jugend, Nr. 4: “Choral” or Béla Bartóks Mikrokosmos (second edition)
Upload the video onto Youtube and add the link in the registration tool.
3. Practical exam (arrange a given assignment)
On the day before the entrance exam, the candidates receive an assignment by mail which they complete at their studio/ at work and return the results after four hours (e.g. by Google drive, Dropbox, one drive, etc.).
4. The next day
Live meeting on-site with the candidate and the jury and hearing test and piano exam.
5. The compulsory hearing test and the piano exam takes place after the examination interview after passing the examination.
All non-pianists must demonstrate a minimum level of piano proficiency. The piano proficiency will be tested at the beginning of the hearing text (maximum length: 5 minutes incl. cadences and sight-reading). Both, the piano exam and the hearing test, will take maximum 25 minutes. There will be a breakoff after 25 minutes and those tasks which could not be solved by the candidate within due time, will be assessed with “failed”.
Hearing test requirements
Relative pitch test; ability to perform non-instrumental musical processes as well as basic knowledge of music theory: listening to, singing and identifying intervals, note sequences, chords and rhythms; sight-singing of a chromatic and an atonal melody; ability to identify rhythm patterns from sight; vocal improvisation; melodic dictation.
Explanation of the aural test
Example aural test
Piano exam
One piece of the applicant’s personal choice
Sight-reading
Major and Minor cadences with up to two key signatures
Video requirements
The length of the video should be minimum 20 minutes to maximum 30 minutes. It should contain a representative selection of the repertoire requirements.
The single works/movements submitted must indispensably be recorded without any cuts. If applicants submit one straight video with the whole programme, the applicant must set marks after every work/movement so that it is possible for the jury to purposely skip within the video.
Microphone: We recommend using a suitable stereo microphone and place it conveniently. If necessary, you may also use the microphone of a camera, computer, or smartphone.
Please record the video from a fixed point of view. The hands and the face of the musician must be visible. Publicly recorded concerts may be submitted as long as they correspond to the above-mentioned requirements (no cuts) and as long as they are not older than 6 months.
Please upload the video onto Youtube and add the link in the registration tool. Please also add the worklist in the registration tool.

Dates
The live auditions will take place at the end of April. The exact dates may be seen here.

Registration
You may apply between the 15th December and the 15th February.
Along with the registration, it is mandatory to submit the following documents:
A curriculum Vitae, a motivational letter and the school leaving qualification.
Applicants must complete a detailed questionnaire. This information will be used to determine the electronic music experience and expertise that the applicants have acquired to date.
Together with the completed questionnaire, applicants must also submit examples of their own work in text form and/or as sound and video files via webspace (Google drive, Dropbox, one drive, etc.) , as well as an audiogram (issued by an otologist or other hearing care profes-sional) which was performed no more than six months prior to the application. Applicants must also prepare a live performance of an electronic piece of music for the audition (own composition, a piece from the live-electronic repertoire or an improvised work; 5-8 minutes long). Having reviewed the submitted questionnaire, work and audiogram, the head professor may advise the candidates to not take part in the entrance exam.

Announcement of the results
The results will be communicated by mail in May.

At Hochschule für Musik Basel, students have the opportunity to participate in various project and ensemble programmes.
To the overview of the recurring offers.

The following information can be found on the Valuable information about your studies page:

• Study Regulations
• Scholarships and Living Costs
• Studying in Switzerland
• Tuition fees
• Study guide
• Semester dates