The Theatre School's Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) degree in sound design trains students to be successful sound designers and engineers in all levels of the theatre and entertainment industries. Students learn techniques for sound editing, recording, and composition using the hardware and software that are the industry standard. Students get practical experience designing and rigging sound through their collaborations with directors, other designers, and our professional production staff.
Student Spotlight
"My name is Anna Jackson and I am a sound design major from Columbus, IN. For two summers I worked at the Bregenzer Festspiele, produced by the Vienna Symphony at Seebühne (lake stage) in Bregenz, Austria. My role included coordinating wireless microphones for 73 vocalists, monitoring microphones, and ensuring waterproofing due to water on the stage for "Der Freischütz." I'm grateful for the training and mentorship in the BFA Sound Design program at The Theatre School, especially for complex work such as this!"
BFA Sound Design Curriculum
First Year
Second Year
Third Year
Fourth Year
Featured Faculty
Students learn from a distinguished and award-winning faculty of professional designers, artists and technicians both in the classroom and through individual guidance and advising during production work. Students receive formal and informal feedback from faculty through portfolio presentations and exhibits of their work each year.
Liberal Studies
In addition to the major's requirements, students complete 52 quarterly credit hours (13 courses) in the university's Liberal Studies Program. Courses are taken in theatre history, writing, quantitative reasoning and technological literacy, philosophical inquiry, religious dimensions, scientific inquiry, understanding the past, multiculturalism in the United States, and electives. These liberal studies courses are scheduled during the first three years of the program.