MFA Plan of Study: Sound Design
The MFA program in Sound Design prepares students for fulfilling careers in professional or educational theatre and the entertainment industry. Students develop technical training and skills in a balanced program of classes, work on realized productions, and individualized tutorials that focus on your artistic exploration and the development of a design process that can evolve and support you throughout your career.
CLASSES
Sound Design Classes
During your studies, you will focus on translating a scripts imagery and emotional depth into powerful auditory experiences that engage audiences both physiologically and psychologically. You will develop a righ aesthetic vocabulary, enabling you to create soundscapes that heighten dramatic action and evoke deep emotional responses. You will develop technical skills in the context of supporting your broader artistic intent, allowing you to seamlessly blend sound with storytelling.
PRODUCTION WORK
System Design and Implementation
During residency, you will create soundscapes for a variety of systems and range of performance spaces, from flexible black-box to thrust to proscenium houses. Venues and productions you work on could include a mix of student, staff, and union crews. Projects might include class exercises, one-acts, student-directed projects, dance compositions, mainstage productions, and touring productions with an emphasis on Broadway-style musicals. A minimum of one realized project is required each semester.
TERMINAL PROJECT
Terminal Project
The culmination of your time at Purdue will come in the form of a design for an extensive reinforcement PA, typically for a large musical. This work will form the basis for your Terminal Project or Thesis.
ASSISTANTSHIPS
Assistantships and Funding
To emphasize the relationship between design and technology, if you are awarded a graduate assistantship you may be employed supervising the audio production studio, supervisiing ad maintaining the theatre sound systems, or as an audio technician by Elliott Hall of Music Productions.
Assistantships provide a modest annual salary and cover full tuition costs. Applicants to the MFA program are automatically considered for an assistantship but are not guaranteed one.
