Media Arts

Audio Engineering at HOFA Online College

HOFA College is a private web college for the study of Audio Engineering to degree level in combination with their affiliated partner university Triagon Academy who have their main campus in Malta.

Audio Engineering encompasses recording sound and also  the representation of natural sound spaces, and or creation of artificial ones. It is a broad church in terms of scientific and artistic endeavour.

Music production or audio engineering is present in all areas of popular music and live classical music recording as well as spoken voiceovers for radio, social media, and TV. It can mean sound production for live shows and events or live deejaying and even the study of room and architectural acoustics of sound spaces. Examples of which include the inside concert halls and how sound leaks from there into the surrounding environment.

It covers designing new sounds using a DAW or Digital Audio Workstation and the use of synthesisers, step sequencers and plugins.

HOFA College offers a range of stackable qualifications that can culminate in a Bachelors degree or BSc Creative Media (Audio Engineering) from Triagon University, Malta. The qualifications start from beginner level and end at advanced laevel. There are three main qualifications which form constituent parts of the HOFA College Diploma in Audio Engineering which I achieved in January of this year. There are also an additional 22 optional short courses in which to specialise or cover. Links to the three main qualifications and the short courses menu are listed as follows:

I've now achieved all three parts of the main course so I have an official diploma in Audio Engineering from the German state. The HOFA Audio Engineering Diploma is based at the old HOFA studios which is a famous recording studio in Germany like Abbey Road in London. It is the most famous college of audio engineering in the German speaking area. They specialise in that one subject as a state sponsored Subject College or Fachsschule. They are based in Karlsdorf, near Mannheim in Baden Württemberg in Southern Germany, not far from the university city of Heidelberg and the financial centre of Frankfurt am Main. This is a link to my online college profile with all my certifications on. I've got all three main courses meaning I am ready to progress to the final year at the main campus in Malta and 13 of the additional short course add ons and specialisms as is demonstrated by my certifications on there. 

3 Main Courses passed with Success Grade or C Grade with an average of 67% over 6 graded mixes and masterings and passing 46 theory exams. That's heading for a 2:2 grade but I might be able to make it up to a 2:1 in Year 3 as the threshold for a 2:1 is 70%.

HOFA Audio Assistant
HOFA Audio Engineer
HOFA Diploma in Audio Engineering

13 Short Courses

HOFA Recording
HOFA Introduction to Digital Audio Production
HOFA Mastering
HOFA Producing Hip Hop and EDM
HOFA Orchestral Production
HOFA Producing Pop, Rock and Heavy Rock
HOFA Harmony, Music theory and Songwriting with Distinction
HOFA Drum Programming
HOFA Music Business
HOFA Academic Work
HOFA Technology in Sound Engineering
HOFA Studies on Instruments and Voice.
HOFA Podcasting

My Certification is available to view on their site. My transcript is on LinkedIN.

Links to the Original Mixes I Remixed

6 Videos

Tini Thern & Lenny Lamal – When It Rains (Official Audio)

3:08

Stranger's Car (Numeo Remix)

3:36

Brenda Blitz - Barbie (Official Music Video)

3:20

das blühende leben - normal

2:58

Florian Grey - Starless Skies (Official Video)

3:58

Sight Set Forward - Home @ Rocktheater Mannheim Bandcontest Dezember 2023

3:35

 My Assessed Electro/EDM Composition 2025 Hélène is my first bit of EDM for my EU commissioner friend as a dedication for the Producing Hip Hop and EDM Short Course Certificate.

My Assessed Rock Song Composition 2024 I live with my 80 year old mum she’s always trying to remind me of how tolerant she is. This is motherly love for the Producing Pop, Rock, and Heavy Rock Short Course Certificate.

 Pass in the Studio Recording Exam 2025
In one of HOFAs most high profile certifications I achieved a pass grade just a couple of days ago. The course is very expensive as a stand alone module so must be quite sought after it costs $1400 on its own so I’m feeling proud!This is the final exam for it. My recording of an acoustic violin for the second practical project playing Twinkle Twinkle Littles star with twin stereo Shure SM58 Dynamic Supercardioid Mikes in AB configuration.

What my HOFA tutors said about me

My 6 Graded Exams for the HOFA Audio Engineering Diploma

Mixing 3 – When it Rains by Leny Lamal 75%

Hello Hugh! Congratulations on your final mix in the BASIC course Mixing 3! You already know the song from the mix documentation in the course – so you know how we proceeded in our mix. It was your task to use your own DAW and your own tools to do this mix.

Conclusion: All in all, you have submitted a great mix in this learning unit – keep it up! You have implemented the processings well and achieved a balanced overall sound. Some details could still be optimized, but you are on a good way.

Mixing 6 – Stranger’s Car by Leny Lamal (Numeo remix)

Practical exam: Exam result:  65 %

Congratulations on passing your Mixing 6 module exam!You have managed points of the task well, although there is still some room for improvement in a few aspects. Let’s take a detailed look at how you handled the different parts of the task. But over the course of your mixing process, you have improved this mix

Conclusion: Overall, you have demonstrated good session management and a clear plan for the mix which results in a solid mix. Your processing ideas are good starting points, but could be improved in some places. You could look at the balance of the drums and bass, while the instruments could be more open and bright, for example the chord-piano. Have fun in your upcoming courses!

Mixing 10 – Barbie – by Brenda Blitz (a 72 track mix)

Practical exam: Exam result: 70%

Congratulations on passing your Mixing 10 module exam!Looking at your mix, we can immediately see that a lot of work and effort has gone into it. You have listened very carefully in many parts and in some places you have been able to translate the sounds of the original very well. Mixing this song is not so easy and has many pitfalls. So, generally speaking, your mix is going in the right direction, but there are still a few aspects we need to address.

Conclusion: All in all, you have done a good job in this unit! You have listened carefully to the original mix and have been able to implement a few aspects in your mix – well done! However, there are some points we would like to discuss. In particular, the dull and resonant sound of the vocals and the guitar. There is still some room for improvement here. All in all, you can build on this mix because it goes in the right direction 

Mixing 13 – Normal – Das Blühende Leben

Practical exam:Exam result: 63%Rating: Passed with success (C)

Congratulations Hugh – one step closer to your DIPLOMA! 

Overall, you have achieved a decent mix that shows suitable approaches, but there is room for improvement in one or the other area. You have managed to form a unit out of the many tracks in this mix and you followed an independent approach. However, there are a few aspects that you could take a closer look at.Overall, your mix is a bit muddy which results in a lack of definition for some sounds, like the drums, guitars and vocals. We suspect that you wanted to create a warm, punchy sound. However, you need to ensure that this doesn’t compromise transparency. While the upper frequencies are weak, a lot of energy is transferred to the mid frequencies. This creates strong competition between the instruments, resulting in an undefined sound. While we understand your idea, the implementation is a bit strong and affects all instruments. Try it out and hear how the sound changes, if you open up the high frequencies a bit. Let’s take a closer look at your mix below.

Conclusion: We think it’s great that you’ve taken on the challenge! You can learn a lot from this experience and broaden your musical horizons. One thing you could try is making the sound a little more open. This would benefit not only the vocals, but also the drums, bass and guitars, which would gain definition and assertiveness. You went in the right direction with your mix, but it is also a bit work to do, to balance the sound. Keep it up Hugh!Mixing 16 – Starless Skies – Florian Grey


Practical exam: Florian Grey - Starless Skies Exam result: 61%Rating: Passed with success (C)

First of all: congratulations on passing your Mixing 16 exam – and thus the last practical assignment in the Mixing topic! Overall, you can tell that you put a lot of effort into this mix, but you also had some difficulties mixing it. This song lives from the drums and guitars, which provide the necessary drive and momentum. So they should play an important role and come across as powerful and present. In your mix, you really put an emphasis on the guitars but you need to be careful that they don’t overlap other important elements like the drums or the vocals.

Conclusion: There is a development in your mixes, and we can see that you put a lot of effort into it. You put the guitars in the foreground and already created a lot of energy, which is a good starting point. But besides, you could have a look at the other at elements like the vocals and the drums which shouldn’t get drowned by the guitars. Keep your motivation up and stay on it, to further improve your skills and it will become better step by step

Mastering 4 – Home – Sight Set Forward


Practical exam: Exam result: 70%Rating: Passed with good success (B)

Overall, you’ve done a decent job with the mastering, which already meets many of the musical requirements and listening habits typical of the genre, but still offers a few opportunities for optimization. Let’s take a closer look.
We’d like to start with the technical aspects of your master. We have no complaints here  The file has the correct file format and was exported with the correct sample rate and bit depth. You’ve also set the headroom appropriately.At 11,3 LUFS integrated, the loudness is too low. In this genre, masters are usually supposed to be quite loud and dense, with values between -8 and -6 LUFS being common. The value you achieved is closer to the guidelines of streaming services such as Spotify’s -14 LUFS. It should be noted that streaming services automatically reduce loud masters on their own. Therefore, you can master as loud and dense as the genre requires. You can also find an interesting article on this topic in our blog.However, we would recommend working with a little more compression in addition to limiting. This would lead to higher loudness while taking some of the strain off the limiter. It would also ensure that the energy level remains relatively high even in the “down parts” to keep the atmosphere on the dance floor lively. From the perspective of sound aesthetics and artistic mastering, it is still recommended to at least compress the material to provide a little more density, which better conveys the energy of the song. The use of a clipper can also be useful here to tame strong level peaks before limiting. If the limiter does most of the work and has to catch strong peaks, the reduction can be quite high and lead to sonic artifacts such as pumping. Here, you can experiment with different control times during the final limiting/clipping or sum compression to achieve a sonically dense result without artifacts. You can find our settings below the analysis.In terms of EQing you did subtle processings which is the right way for this master. Overall, the sound is only slightly thin in the bass and mid frequency area. This results in a slightly weaker kick impulses and the guitars have a little less body. Besides, the upper high frequencies are a bit dull but not that much. As we are working on a master, we need to work quite subtly to achieve balanced result. 

Conclusion: Overall, you have created a decent mastering that shows promise. It is clear that you have put a lot of thought into it and have really engaged with the material. The master could be a bit louder and you could also tweak the EQing slightly, but overall it is going in the right direction. Congratulations!

List of Mixes when I first started on the old V2 Syllabus 2021-22

No Need for Solace by Stuck
Security by Masterbrecords
Mornings
Unter der Haut by Jochen Sachse
Tanzt by Vamerledt
Demons by Sameday Records 
Floor! By Jens Helmis
Hungarian Dance from Symphonic Dances by Johannes Brahms (Orchestral)

List of Mixes on the Current V3 Syllabus since December 2022