Catalyst - Institute for Creative Arts and Technology
Master of Arts in Creative Production (Music)
Berlin, Germany
MA
DURATION
2 years
LANGUAGES
English
PACE
Full time, Part time
APPLICATION DEADLINE
EARLIEST START DATE
Sep 2026
TUITION FEES
EUR 6 / per semester **
STUDY FORMAT
On-Campus
* Please visit website for deadlines in more detail!
** Scholarships & Funding available
Key Summary
Explore your ideas through focused artistic work and critical reflection.
This one-year (or two-year part-time) Master’s programme is for musicians, producers, composers and sound artists who want to deepen their creative practice through hands-on research. It offers a structured yet flexible space to pursue your chosen area of interest, desired specialisation, or passion project – with guidance from experienced mentors and support from a creative international community.
Whether your focus is technical, conceptual, interdisciplinary or genre-specific, the course centres on your own self-directed project. You'll work through a process of making, testing, reflecting and refining – learning how to connect your artistic work with broader ideas and questions that matter to you.
Alongside your individual project, you’ll take part in seminars, workshops, one-to-one mentoring, and collaborative exchange with peers. You'll gain a solid grounding in practice-based research, build confidence in presenting your work and develop a deeper understanding of your creative process.
What is creative production?
Creative production, as we define it, isn’t tied to one discipline or outcome. Instead, it’s about the relationship between practice and reflection – a way to explore ideas through sustained creative work.
Within music and sound, this might include:
- Composition, performance or live production
- Studio-based music production or engineering
- Sound design, field recording or sonic art
- Audio for media, games or installation
- Instrument building, programming or experimental practice
- Research into sound, music or artistic methods
Your project will evolve as you experiment, collaborate, and develop your ideas over time.
What you’ll do
- Define and develop your own project based on your artistic interests
- Use Catalyst’s studios and facilities to create and test your work
- Learn research methods specific to creative and sound-based practices
- Present and discuss your work in regular critique and feedback sessions
- Collaborate across disciplines, or work independently with tailored mentoring
- Build a portfolio that reflects your identity as a creative practitioner
A collaborative, international environment
Located at Berlin’s historic Funkhaus, Catalyst is home to a diverse postgraduate community. You'll study alongside musicians, filmmakers, performers and researchers from around the world – each bringing different perspectives to shared conversations around music, sound and creative practice.
This setting encourages peer learning, critical thinking and cross-disciplinary exchange, helping you challenge your ideas and stay connected to a broader cultural context.
By the end of the programme, you’ll have created a substantial body of original work, developed your own methods of practice and reflection, and gained the tools to continue evolving as a creative professional – in music, sound, or wherever your path leads next.
Here are a few reasons why people decide to take our MA programme:-
- Developing and growing your own individual project, creative concept, or musical idea
- Strengthening and refining your creative vision and approach
- Deepening the relationship with your work within and beyond your own parameters
- Establishing your own distinct approach to creative production with research
- Expanding your understanding of other creative pathways
- Navigating between different aspects of musical inquiry and concepts
- Engaging in independent practice-led research
- Developing new and innovative production techniques
- Receiving mentorship from the field and industry experts
- Realizing the full potential of your creative work
- Joining a progressive learning community supported by a dedicated team of experienced facilitators
- Living and working in Berlin, the most exciting city on the planet for music makers
- Collaborating with an artistic community of like-minded people from 55 different countries
The programme is directed towards helping you bring new expertise and modes of thought to your choice of project. There is no single career pathway that the programme prepares you for. That said, in recent years, some graduates have taken their mixing and mastering business to the next level, created a music label and begun a new career combining food and music as a direct result of their MA project.
Practice-based learning
Explore your ideas through hands-on research and creative production.
The Creative Production (Music) MA is built around a simple principle: we learn by doing. You’ll develop your own creative project over the course of the year (or two years part-time), combining regular making with structured reflection, feedback and discussion. This is what we mean by practice-based research – a method that allows your artistic work to lead the way.
You’ll have the freedom to choose your focus, whether that’s composition, production, performance, sound design, or something cross-disciplinary. Your work will be supported by a clear academic structure that includes:
- Weekly seminars and workshops
- Ongoing individual supervision
- Access to professional studio facilities and equipment
- Regular peer discussions and feedback
You won’t be asked to follow a set curriculum or adopt a specific creative approach. Instead, you’ll be introduced to practical tools and research methods that help you ask useful questions and build a stronger, more grounded creative practice. You’ll also develop a wider understanding of the ideas and contexts that surround your work.
A year of focused exploration
The MA is a chance to take time for your practice – to reflect, explore and experiment. You’ll shape your own project, test out ideas and respond to feedback from tutors and peers. The goal isn’t to arrive at one final answer, but to go deeper into your creative process and learn how to work with clarity and intention.
You’ll be part of an international group of artists and musicians, each following their own line of research. This community offers a space for shared learning, collaboration and honest conversation about creative work.
What you’ll take part in
Skills sessions
These workshops introduce useful tools and techniques based on student needs and interests. Past sessions have included:
- Studio basics and multi-channel audio
- Field recording and site-specific sound
- Analogue modular synthesis
- Audio processing and Max/MSP
- Techniques for installation and interactive sound
Thinking in sound
These discussion-based sessions bring in listening, reading and reflection. Together we explore work by artists, theorists and musicians, such as:
Pauline Oliveros, Éliane Radigue, Pierre Schaeffer, Oneohtrix Point Never, King Sunny Adé, Roland Barthes, FKA Twigs, David Sylvian, Stewart Lee and others.
Guest presentations
Visiting artists share their work and process. Recent guests have included:
- Nicolas Collins – composer and hardware hacker
- Sabine Vogel – flautist and installation artist
- Bob Ostertag – synthesist and theorist
- Insa Langhorst – filmmaker and anthropologist
Student backgrounds and project examples
Students join the course from a wide range of musical and artistic backgrounds – including electronic music, folk, jazz, sound art, improvisation, songwriting and more.
Past projects have explored:
- Field recording and sound mapping
- AI and music
- Voice, spirituality and ritual
- Sampling and popular culture
- 4D spatial sound composition using MONOM at Funkhaus
- Performance systems and sound installations
Submitting your MA proposal
As part of the application, you’ll be asked to outline your area of interest and suggest a direction for your project. It’s okay if this isn’t fully developed yet – you’ll revisit and revise your proposal as the course begins.
We recommend reading a little about artistic or practice-based research to understand how creative work and academic thinking can come together. You don’t need to have all the answers now – just a clear motivation to explore, reflect, and produce work with care and curiosity.
We offer a range of funding opportunities and scholarships to support your studies. From national options like BAföG to scholarships of up to €2,000, there are several ways to make your time at Catalyst more financially accessible.