Overview

Sound recording equipment,

The Audio and Music Engineering Program is an undergraduate degree offered within the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.

Mission

The mission of the Audio and Music Engineering Program (AME) is to provide a diverse population of students with the knowledge and skills that will enable them to become leaders in the emerging field of audio and music engineering.

Our students will learn the principles and practices of fundamental and applied audio and music engineering while developing their abilities in sonic artistic expression. We will train our students to identify and solve problems systematically, to think creatively in both artistic and technical dimensions, and to recognize the role of engineering in modern society.

Experiential learning, hands-on design, and the creative process are at the core of our Audio and Music Engineering Program. This multidisciplinary educational program combines engineering and applied sciences with audio and music to serve multiple groups of students.

Our students create individual project portfolios before graduating. Built over the course of their undergraduate studies, the portfolios illustrate the design skills and creative abilities they have acquired and developed. Projects opportunities are limitless; a few recent topics include:

  • Building guitar effects pedals and amplifiers
  • Creating and implementing real-time audio DSP effects
  • Recording a CD, sound design for picture and games
  • Developing audio plug-ins and other software
  • Reducing the noise generated by industrial equipment
  • Developing new musical interface devices
  • Design a loudspeaker

Audio and Music Engineering students develop the technical and creative skills to be pioneers in audio and acoustic technology and the sonic arts.

Academics

This program, based in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, offers a BS in Audio and Music Engineering.

Students may also earn a BA degree in the closely allied Digital Media Studies Program (with a concentration in sound and audio), complete a minor in Audio and Music Engineering, choose the music technology track of the BA in Music program, or take one of several clusters in AME.

Graduate programs leading to the MS and PhD degrees in Electrical Engineering with a concentration in Acoustics and Signal Processing also are offered.

The University of Rochester’s AME program is accredited by the Engineering Accreditation Commission of ABET, http://www.abet.org

Career

Career paths open to program graduates span industries and organizations representing many diverse fields including:

  • Audio hardware and software development and manufacturing
  • Consumer product design, manufacturing, and testing
  • Music and audio recording and production
  • Audio signal processing
  • Musical instrument and audio equipment manufacturing
  • Sound design for picture and games
  • Automotive
  • Architectural acoustics
  • Industrial noise control
  • Research and development

AME graduates will be more than practitioners of musical art technology; they also will possess the knowledge and practical skills in acoustics, electronics, signal processing, software design, as well as recording and sound design to lead the way in creating the next generation of sonic technology and art.

Career Outcomes compiled by the Gwen M. Greene Center can be found here.