COURSE OVERVIEW
Sound design is the emotional heartbeat of a film, TV show or game.
A soundtrack has the ability to make you feel scared, to be uplifted, to bring you to tears, to build tension and release joy. At the NFTS, we marry together training in the technical skills of sound design with a passion for telling stories through sound.
Content Tabs
At the NFTS, you’ll get to work in industry-standard facilities and learn all aspects of audio post-production, developing the techniques and creative awareness required to work as a professional sound editor, sound designer and dubbing mixer.
You will also have the opportunity to use your skills to tell real stories, collaborating with students including composers, production sound, editors and directors on a range on genres across film, television and games.
COURSE FACILITIES
NFTS Sound Editing suites are fully equipped with Apple computers, Protools, key industry plugins, LCR or 5.1 monitoring from PSI, and S1 mix controllers. Our Dubbing Theatres are kitted out with Industry standard Avid S6 and S4 mixing consoles. The studios are Dolby approved, with JBL Monitoring and ProTools Digital Audio Workstations. Our largest Dolby Atmos dubbing theatre is based in the original Anvil recording studio, where many famous scores were recorded, including those for the Hammer Horror films.
We also have a dedicated Music Recording Studio for recording live music and foley.
We are excited to announce this MFA course is part of an innovative slate of new qualifications from 2025/2026. Our A Fresh Take page tells you all you need to know!
You’ll explore, in detail, the components of the soundtrack – dialogue, atmospheres, Foleys, ADR and designed FX - in our industry standard post-production facilities. With a firm emphasis on storytelling, you’ll develop an aesthetic awareness integrated with technical expertise, being encouraged to be a collaborator from an early stage in all productions and throughout the whole post-production process.
The course represents a steady progression beginning with the basic technology and skills that underpin and support the creative process and ending with the responsibility for sound design on a range of graduation projects, including fiction, documentary, animation, science and natural history, TV, and games. At each stage skills are added through workshops, to provide you with a comprehensive education that is of great value in understanding, and communicating with, other industry professionals.
We are looking to assemble a group of students with diverse and varied backgrounds. There is no 'typical' student or perfect candidate who conforms to a mandatory list of qualifications. Applicants are likely to have some industry experience, or training in their chosen field. Your background may be in the arts or other media, you might be looking for a further professional qualification or wish to broaden your knowledge of sound post-production, taking you to a higher level of work.
While many applicants will have a degree from a British or overseas university, we will consider applicants who do not have a degree if they have an impressive portfolio, a creative track record or an alternative qualification.
International students Visa and English language requirements
If you have any questions, please email info@nfts.co.uk
The following item(s) should accompany your online application:
- During the online application process, you will be asked to download a video file, to then submit with your own complete sound design.
Due to the time it may take you to complete this, we advise you to start your application as soon as possible to access the video file so that you can return to the form with the required links, by the deadline date.
In addition, you will be asked to submit one other piece of work, preferably a short film that you have worked on, or alternatively an audio only piece is also allowed - maximum of 10 mins.
All files should be submitted as Vimeo links.
Applications will close at 23:59 on the day of the deadline, shown at the top of this page.
Funding Available
The NFTS awards more scholarships and bursaries to British students, relative to the size of our student body, than almost any other educational institution in the UK. If you’re successful at gaining a place on the course, you will be contacted by our funding team with details on how to apply for one of these scholarships.
Upcoming Events
Student Showcase
Brutal (trailer)
2022 graduation film
Director/Writer - Jordan Chandler
Producer - Richard Priseman
Sound Designer/Dubbing Mixer - Dan Hibbert
Production Sound Mixer - Max Riches
1st Assistant Sound - Zac Dixon
Brutal has been nominated for Outstanding Achievement in Sound Editing – Student Film (Verna Fields Award) at the Motion Picture Sound Editors (MPSE) Golden Reel Awards 2022.
Do Not Feed the Pigeons (trailer)
2021 graduation animation
Director - Antonin Niclass
Producer - Jordi Morera
Sound Designer/Dubbing Mixer - Joe De-Vine
Composer - Fabio Amurri
Do Not Feed the Pigeons won the award for the Postgraduate Craft Skills, Sound category at the Royal Television Society Student Awards.
Build Me Up (trailer)
2021 graduation animation
Director - Steve Lawson
Producer - Emma Hanson
Sound Designer/Dubbing Mixer - Grace Wong
Composer - Moritz Wanger
Build Me Up was the seventh consecutive win for NFTS at the Motion Picture Sound Editors (MPSE) Golden Reel Awards, winning the Verna Fields Award for Student Filmmakers in 2021.