If you are planning a career in recording, editing or producing music, then a musical background is essential. From the basics of being able to read scores and understand musical terms, through being able to arrange and orchestrate for a range of instruments, to highly developed listening skills such as being able to spot errors in musical performance are all useful. A high level of competence in all these areas will improve the way in which recording sessions run, and will give you a great deal of flexibility in the roles that you can undertake.

Even if you do not wish to go into an operational role, a musical background is useful if you wish to develop or support tools for musicians and engineers, as experience of the musical process will help you to understand how the equipment may be used.

You will be given an opportunity to develop these skills as part of the Tonmeister course, but the music modules assume that you have a basic musical background - in other words a reasonable level of musical performance ability - and good theoretical knowledge and understanding of music.

Everything to do with recording and reproducing sound is based on principles of physics, from the production of sound, through the design and use of equipment, to the methods used to store the audio information. To position your microphones in the optimum place you need to understand how musical instruments radiate sound, how sound propagates, and how sound waves interfere with each other. To select the optimum microphone for each situation you need to understand how microphones work, how they convert sound to electricity, and how the different design parameters affect the recorded sound. To get the most out of analogue signal processing and find faults in equipment you need to understand how electronic circuits work and what each component does. To get the most out of your monitoring system (the loudspeakers and room) you need to understand how loudspeakers turn electricity into sound, how the different design parameters affect the reproduced sound, how the loudspeaker is acoustically coupled with the room, and how various acoustical treatments work. All of these factors are covered as part of the course, and all are based on fundamental physical principles that you will need to understand to make sense of it all.

A number of the core academic modules on the Tonmeister course (e.g. Acoustics, Electronics, ElectroAcoustics) take A-level Physics as their starting point, and so a student without that level of knowledge would be struggling right from the start. We therefore require a full A-level in Physics, including the AS and the A2 modules, or a direct equivalent.

Firstly, a good understanding of mathematics is important to be able to make practical use of the physical principles mentioned above. In addition, there are a number of other cases in which maths is important. In order to make the most out of digital audio you need to understand the effect of sample rates, wordlengths and dither. In order to specify a computer for digital recording and editing you need to understand the specifications of components and how they relate to audio. In order to make the most of digital signal processing (DSP) you need to understand how the algorithms work and what processor load it may entail. In order to decode and interpret digital formats such as MIDI, you need to understand binary and hexadecimal numbers. All of these topics are covered as part of the course, and you will need a good understanding of mathematics to be able to cope with them.

Essentially, all of the pure parts, eg. sequences & series, polynomials, algebra & functions, logarithms & exponentials, calculus, trigonometry, quadratic equations, indices, curve sketching. Less important are statistics and mechanics.

These are principally force, acceleration, velocity, elasticity, electric fields, resistance, capacitance, magnetic fields & electro-magnetic induction, ohms law & power, currents in circuits, basic wave motion & properties, SHM, oscillation & resonance. Less relevant are optics, materials, quantum mechanics, gravitation, astro-physics, nuclear-physics, fluid-dynamics and thermo-dynamics.

These are principally classical music history, harmony, analysis and aural skills. Some compositional skills are also useful and performance ability is also a requirement

The A-level examining boards have example and past A-level exam papers on their websites: e.g. AQA, OCR, EDEXCEL. By attempting the relevant sections of these papers, hopefully you will be able to get a good idea of whether you do have the relevant knowledge and understanding. Also, there are a range of A-level tutor books that will help you learn the topics and give you a good idea of the type of questions that may be asked and the associated answers.

(i) Music Technology A-Level. Not as a direct replacement, no: A-level Music knowledge is required and so candidates taking Music Technology will need to have done extra-curricular work to bring themselves up to the required level. Music Technology doesn't include as much of the relevant subject areas (see A6) as the Music A-level does and so Music is preferred. If you were applying with Music Technology rather than Music A-level then you would need to be able to demonstrate on your application form and at interview that you had musical knowledge and ability to a good A-level Music standard in order for us to offer you a place on the course (whereas an applicant about to sit a Music A-level could possibly get by without being quite so musically impressive initially because we would be able to offer the place subject to a satisfactory A-level Music grade). We do have several students on the course currently, though, who have Music Technology A-level rather than Music. In order to decide what, if any, extra work you need to do in order to bring yourself up to A-level Music standard, please refer to A16.

(ii) Music Theory Grade 5. Not as a direct replacement, no: the content is significantly different from that of an A-level in Music. Extra work would be required to bring you up to A-level standard in all of the relevent areas.

BUT the two together - Music Technology A-level and Music Theory Grade 5 - are acceptable as a direct replacement for A-level Music, and we can make offers subject to results in the two of these.

No (except for pre-2001 Physics, since there are essential elements of each A-level which are not covered by the AS specification. However, it is the relevant knowledge that is important rather than the qualification, so it may be possible for you to take relevant AS-levels and independently learn the relevant material from A2. If you do this, you need to make it clear on the personal statement of the UCAS application and if we invite you to interview we will give you tests to evaluate your knowledge and understanding.

Your application may well be worthwhile since, although the vast majority of our students have A-level Physics, we did consider applications with AS-level prior to 2001 (when the A/AS structure changed), provided the topics covered included those which relate to sound recording and the Tonmeister course.

Studying A-level Physics, Mathematics and Music, coupled with your enthusiasm for Music & Sound Recording will make you a strong candidate but I'm afraid there is no way I can give you any guarantees. We get a large number of applicants each year who fulfil all of our basic requirements and it is only during and after the interview process that we are in a position to be able to offer any places. Sorry.

Yes, you can certainly still apply, but your success will depend, in part, on your theoretical knowledge of Maths, Physics & Music. Knowledge of the relevant aspects of all three,  to a good A-level standard, is required and none of the above, on its own, is likely to give you this. In order to get an interview you will have to convince us on your application form that, from some combination of your course / experience / private study, there's a good chance that you have this knowledge. In order to be considered for a place you will have to convince us at interview that you really do. Interviewees not offering Mathematics and Physics qualifications which we recognise as being completely equivalent to UK A-levels will normally be asked to take a short test, based on A-level examinations in these subjects, on the same day as their interview. All interviewees take a short Music test.

It would definitely be worth your while applying, yes, because we are interested in non-academic as well as academic qualities and have, in the past, offered places to applicants who don't quite make the grade exam-wise but who perhaps have other factors in their favour. If you have been working in a relevant field then there is a good chance that you will have improved your knowledge of relevant areas since A-level anyway. You would still need a reasonable academic ability in Maths, Music and Physics though, in order to be able to cope with the 1st Year modules on the Tonmeister course, and so you should check A16 before applying. Your age, in itself, will not affect our consideration of your application.

We consider the Guildhall and Trinity performance grades only to be equivalent to ABRSM. However, while we do consider performance ability to be important, a qualification in musical performance isn't absolutely necessary: we will normally audition candidates to ascertain their performance ability if they do not have grade 7 or 8 from one of the above boards. Candidates taking A-level Music with a performance component will not normally need to be auditioned. Further information about ABRSM grades is available here.

They're all acceptable in place of UK A-levels. Typical offers are:

Scottish Highers: AABBB including Maths, Physics & Music.

Scottish Advanced Highers: ABB in Maths, Physics & Music.

Irish Leaving Certificate: AAABBB at Higher level including Maths, Physics & Music.

International Baccalaureate: 36 points, with Maths, Physics & Music all at Higher level grade 5 or above. (NB Standard level Maths, even with the Further Calculus option, is not sufficient)

They are essentially the same as for home students (ie. knowledge to A-level standard in Maths, Music & Physics), but with the additional requirement, for those whose first language is not English, of evidence of a reasonable standard of English. The standard we ask for is an overall score of at least 6.5 in the International English Language Testing System (IELTS). More information for applicants from overseas is available here.

Look through some GCE A-level specifications to get an idea of what an A-level student would learn. e.g. AQA, OCR, EDEXCEL. See also our Entrance Requirements page.

Study these subjects until you have reached the required standard and then take the relevant exams so that you can demonstrate this. I'm afraid there's no shortcut! By far the best way to demonstrate that you are at A-level standard in a particular subject is to get a good grade the A-level exam. We do not mind at all whether all of your qualifications were achieved at the same sitting or spread over two or three years. We have, on a number of occasions, given places to applicants who have taken an extra year or two to repeat A-levels or to study new ones which they did not take the first time round.

We are probably less particular about this than about any of our other selection criteria but we do feel that it is important for all Tonmeister students to have a reasonable level of performance ability, partly because it allows for a greater understanding of music theory, and partly because we feel that it is important in many areas of the professional audio industry to have an understanding of musical performance.

Unfortunately, largely due to time constraints, we are unable to answer individual queries of this nature. We have, however, included as much of the relevant information as possible on this web site, so that you should be able to determine fairly accurately for yourself whether or not you are suitably qualified and whether or not the course is right for you. Once we receive your UCAS form we will be able to consider your case in more detail.

Not directly no. It may be an early indication that you're not going to get the necessary grades in your A-levels, but then again it may not. It's really only your final A-level grades in the three relevant subjects that we're interested in so AS results are not important to us.

Unfortunately, due to time constraints and the huge number of qualifications available worldwide, we are unable to give specific replies to individual enquiries of this nature. The equivalences of which we are aware are listed elsewhere in this FAQ but other equivalences may exist and my advice to a potential applicant offering alternative qualifications/experience would be to look at the subject areas which we require knowledge of  and decide for yourself whether or not you have covered or will cover the relevant material. We do consider each application carefully in conjunction with the detailed qualifications guidelines provided to us by UCAS but interviewees not offering qualifications which we are able to confirm as being completely equivalent to UK A-levels will normally be asked to take on or more short tests, based on A-level examinations in Mathematics and Physics or on the ABRSM Grade 5 examination in the Theory of Music, on the same day as their interview.

These are approximately equivalent to UK AS-levels, which fall short of the required A-level standard.

None will help you to get an interview with us. In terms of helping at your interview, if you are called for one, the only A-levels which might make a small difference would be Music Technology or Electronics: as part of the Music Technology course you would be making recordings about which you could talk in your interview; studying Electronics may help you to talk about sound recording equipment from an electronic point of view. In terms of helping you once you're on the Tonmeister course, Electronics or Further Mathematics may make some topics in one or two of our first year modules slightly easier for you. If you want to do an additional A-level then my best advice would be for you to do whichever one interests you the most.

No. It is possible that, in certain areas, older students may find it harder to get employment after graduation than younger ones, but you'd really need to discuss this with potential employers to determine whether it might be a problem for you.

Not totally inflexible, but a good guide to what we generally expect. Most of our students have met them, but there are some who haven't (occasionally by quite a wide margin). If we offer you a place then we will normally ask for the grades specified in the prospectus and elsewhere on this website. If you miss the grade though then we may still be able to accept you onto the course, depending on what grades everyone else has achieved that year and on how well you did on your interview day. If you already have your grades when you apply then the lower they are the more outstanding your application form and interview will have to be in order for us to consider you. If your predicted grades are low then we will generally give you the benefit of the doubt but may ask you at interview more about your expected grades.

Whilst there is a lot of competition for places on the course, we don't get that many applications. To give you an idea, we usually get around 150-200 applications, of which we interview 80-100, from which we give around 30 offers for 24 places. In terms of the raw number of applications to places, this is lower than subjects such as Law and Psychology at the University of Surrey. However, due to the uniqueness and reputation of the Tonmeister course, most of the applicants really want to come here, so the conversion rate (offers to firm acceptances) is very high. The bottom line is, if you don't apply, you have no chance, so apply and use your personal statement to convince us that it's worth us interviewing you.

Yes. All applicants, from school, college, university, kindergarten, UK, overseas, or wherever must apply through the UCAS system.

Applications are now mostly made online at www.ucas.ac.uk. UCAS can also be contacted by telephone: +44 (0)871 468 0 468 - or post: Customer Service Unit, UCAS, PO Box 28, Cheltenham GL52 3LZ.

Once we have already made offers for all of the places we have on the course, although we may still consider a late application, it would have to be a particularly strong one. Application deadlines are fixed by UCAS and are detailed here.

Yes. This is the usual procedure: for us to offer places subject to satisfactory performance in final exams.

Unfortunately, for various reasons, it has never been possible for students to enter the Tonmeister course at any point other than the first year.

This is only possible on Open Days (please refer to the main Surrey page for details). We do interview all promising candidates, however, and each interview day includes a tour and a chance to talk with staff and students.

No. If you do not have (passed or pending) ABRSM/Trinity/Guildhall grade 7 or 8 performance, or A-level Music with a performance component, then we will audition you at your interview by asking you to play a short (no more than a few minutes long) unaccompanied piece of your own choice on your own instrument. Choose whichever piece you feel best demonstrates your performance ability (i.e. we'd rather you played a pop or jazz piece well than a classical piece badly).

The test will last about 30 minutes and will help us to evaluate:

• your ability to notate music: notate a 4-bar melody which will be played to you (first bar already notated for you),
• your repertoire and analysis skills: comment on three short extracts of recorded western music in terms of style, period, instrumentation, compositional techniques, etc.
• your harmony skills: either harmonise a short melody, identify harmonic features in a short score extract or realise a chord progression in standard notation

These tests are only for candidates who do not have a Maths / Physics / Music qualification (passed or pending) which we believe to be equivalent to a good UK A-level pass in that subject (see other FAQ answers and Entrance Requirements). Each test will last about 1 hour and will use questions relevant to FAQ answers in the Entrance Requirements section which have been adapted from past and example UK A-level examination papers.

We're looking for people with the right qualifications who have 'engineering' minds (ie. who like to creatively apply their understanding of scientific theory in new situations and who are interested in how things work as well as in using them) and who have sufficient motivation and enthusiasm (for music and sound recording, theory and practice) to succeed on the course. Anything that you can do to demonstrate to us that you fit this description will help. No experience is necessary but if you have performed, composed, made any recordings, built or modified or mended equipment, read about audio, or even just listened critically to recorded music, then, provided you can talk about it intelligently, this can all help to demonstrate your interest. To prepare for the interview, just have a think about whether or not the above description sounds like you: this is what we'll be trying to find out.

We must stress, though, that the first thing we always consider when processing a new application to the course, is "Will this person have the prerequisite knowledge in order to be able to cope with all of our Level 1 modules?". This means that the most important thing for you to do is to ensure that you are at a good A-level standard in Maths, Music and Physics. After that, all of the other information and advice we can offer is here on the website...

We have no strong feelings either way. There are pros and cons to taking a gap year before university and it's never easy to predict which will be the most significant. Some post-gap students have increased maturity and motivation; others have forgotten much of their A-level knowledge and find it difficult to cope with the return to academic study. The personality of the individual and the manner in which the gap year is spent both help to determine the outcome. We apply the same selection criteria to applicants for deferred entry as we do to those for current-year entry. In terms of your chances of being offered a place, there's really nothing in it. You must, however, specify at the time of your application which year you are applying for; once we have made an offer it is extremely difficult for us to change that offer to another year of entry. You must also have met the conditions of any offer we make by the end of August in the year we make the offer, regardless of whether your intended entry point is that year or the following one.

No. It is our policy to not listen to any recordings as part of the admissions process. If you are called to interview, however, then we may well be interested to hear you talk about what you have recorded, how you recorded it, and what you learned from the experience.

All of the advice which I can give is included elsewhere in this FAQ list.

Sorry - no. We are only able to offer places to applicants after an interview and we are only able to interview here at the University. We can usually be flexible with the interview date, though they are mostly between January and March on Wednesdays.

There's a full topic list on the Course details and in the prospectus. Module descriptions are available from the UniS Module Catalogue.

All of the studio, edit suite and mobile facilities are available for unsupervised student use 24 hours a day, 7 days a week (except for approximately 19 hours each week in studio 1 and 6 in studio 2, when these areas are used for teaching and supervised recording). Each student in the second and final years (72 students altogether) has an equal quota of studio time which they can book as and when they need it for unsupervised use. First year students can not book studio time but will be involved in assisting second and final year sessions. Second years are restricted to booking during semester-time.

There are optional components within the course and areas in which you can specialise in your studies based on what you are interested in and what is of use to you, but it is not currently possible to take modules from outside the Sound Recording and Music Departments as part of the Tonmeister degree programme.

It is possible to spend the third year professional training placement in almost any country (subject to certain, mostly health and safety, constraints), and in the past this has included Denmark, United Arab Emirates, Germany, USA, and Montserrat.

Yes. Although there is no longer a specific Piano Skills module, if you take the optional Performance module with piano as your first instrument then you will receive regular piano tuition.

We know of no single foundation course that will cover all areas required (i.e. Maths, Physics and Music) for the Tonmeister course. There are some foundation courses around that will cover the Maths and Physics, if you have a good background in Music, such as the International Study Centre at Surrey. However, it's probably cheaper for you to study the relevant A-levels.

As far as other courses are concerned, I do not know of any other UK degree course with quite the same mix of music and sound recording theory and practice as the Tonmeister course. There are several Music Technology type courses around, with perhaps less emphasis on the recording side of things, and practical Sound Recording courses, with less emphasis on the theory, but I'm not really in a position to be able to recommend any one in particular. Your best bet would be to look through the UCAS handbook, other universities' prospectuses & web sites, and sound recording magazines.

Yes, there are entry scholarships available for the Tonmeister course if you have high A-level grades, as well as bursaries. These vary from year to year. In addition, the Department has a number of music scholarships available (follow the Prizes & Scholarships menu link for details) but note that you would need excellent musical ability (normally ABRSM Grade 8 with Distinction) in the appropriate area, that students in receipt of scholarships will be required to be involved in a number of rehearsals & performances, and that Tonmeister students are rarely able to become Organ or Choral scholars due to demands on time. We are not aware of any other sources of student funding other than the usual tuition fee support from Local Education Authorities. The University Prospectus will list any which do become available.

Yes. See here for details.

None. The course starts in mid-September each year, is four years long (including placement year), and is full-time.

We offer research-based MPhil and PhD programmes in areas related to audio but no taught course.

Unfortunately, for various reasons, this is not possible.

For a full answer to this question you really need to have a thorough read of the website and prospectus for each of the courses you wish to compare, and to think very carefully about exactly what you're looking for. As a brief guide, though, the situation seems to be as follows: other academic degree-level courses in similar areas focus on aspects of audio other than Sound Recording (eg. acoustics, synthesis, signal processing) and few include Music as an integral part; other courses which focus on teaching the operational aspects of Sound Recording to a professional standard do not have the academic or musical content of the Tonmeister course. If you want a broad audio-based academic course with the focus on Sound Recording and Music, then the Tonmeister course could well be the best for you; if you want to be trained specifically in the operational side of recording but not in the theory, not in related areas of audio and not in music, then a non-academic Sound Recording course would probably suit you better; if you want an academic course in audio with the focus on something other than recording, then you should probably consider other Universities.

For students taking Performance, tuition in small groups. For students taking Solo Performance, individual tuition from a professional instrumental teacher.

For all fees information please see the Undergraduate - Investment pages

It all depends on which part of the industry you want to get into...

If all you ever want to do for the rest of your life is be a pop recording engineer then your best bet could well be to volunteer to work for free at a local studio, making tea, cleaning and fetching take-away food. If you've got the talent, intelligence and determination then within four or five years you could have progressed through low-paid tape-op, session assistant, and house engineer for unsigned sessions, up to house engineer for label sessions, and be starting to get freelance work at other studios. This will put you ahead of someone who's spent the same time getting A-levels and a degree, since very few studios seem to attach much importance to academic qualifications. The person with the degree however, assuming it's high quality and relevant, should have the necessary breadth and depth of theory, understanding, skills and experience to be able to progress more quickly through the ranks and also to move sideways into other areas of the industry (or into a completely different industry) if they eventually decide that they would like to see daylight from time to time. If the degree includes an industrial placement year then the student should have professional nouse and a good network of contacts also.

If it's another operational job that interests you (eg. classical recording, editing, post-production, mastering) then something similar to the above will apply: a good, relevant degree will delay your start but should allow faster progress and a much broader range of options.

If you're leaning more towards the research and design side of things, sales, consultancy or teaching, then a degree would be a more obvious stepping-stone and the qualification itself would be more of a definite and immediate advantage - a requirement even in many cases.

If you're not sure which part of the industry you want to end up in, but you're pretty sure that a job something to do with audio will be right for you, then a good, relevant degree will help you to keep your options open, in a way that several years in a specific job would not.

If you want more information on this sort of topic then I would recommend that you talk to someone you hope might one day want to employ you, and ask them what they think is important and which, if any, courses they would recommend.

Unfortunately we can't offer details of any specific openings. It's just a case of phoning, writing to or visiting any studios or similar which are near to you, and being as enthusiastic and friendly as possible. The Yellow Pages is probably a good place to start, or the Music Week Directory provides a full countrywide listing of music industry businesses and contacts. 

A good place to start is the Audio Engineering Society website - particularly the 'Resources' and 'Education' links.