The Audio Track – it's BACK!
We can hardly believe it – guildford.games Festival 2025 is *just* over two weeks away! Time sure flies when you’re planning one of the biggest UK games industry events, ey?
On February 14th, we’re once again taking over Glive Guildford and we’ve prepared a stellar lineup of dev talks, panels, portfolio reviews, and more! Back by very popular demand is also The Audio Track – presented by Supermassive Games’ Senior Audio Director Barney Pratt!
The Audio Track room will feature presentations, panel discussions and Q&As with some of Guildford’s (and beyond!) game audio talent! Now, without further ado, check out what awaits you and meet the speakers of the g.g Audio Track!
The Audio Track Schedule
- 11:10 - 11:15 Intro to guildford.games Festival Audio Track
- 11:15 - 11:30 How to Use Social Media as an Audio Designer
- 11:30 - 12:00 Getting Into Game Audio: Fresh Perspectives
- 12:00 - 12:20 Confessions of an Audio Professional
- 12:20 - 13:00 Biggest Mistakes, Biggest Learnings
- 13:00 - 13:15 I Know What You Did Last 'Somerville'
- 13:15 - 14:00 Technical Sound Design
- 14:00 - 15:00 The Mix
- 15:00 - 16:00 Surviving as a Composer: Cross Industry Perspectives @ Bellerby Room
Room Host: Barney Pratt, Senior Audio Director at Supermassive Games
Award winning game audio director, passionate for player immersion through sound and music, Barney has worked in Guildford games for over 18 years drawing on previous experience in the music and film industries. With the team at Supermassive Games he has delivered 15 titles in a range of genres and platforms from cinematic to VR, combining technical and creative expertise.
How to Use Social Media as an Audio Designer
11:15 - 11:30
Lewis Thompson spills the tea on game audio's new secret weapon - online networking! Join Lewis as he shares insights into how you can leverage your social media as a sound designer.
Lewis Thompson, Sound Designer at Soundcuts & Co-founder of Airwiggles
Lewis is a sound designer and composer who works for audio outsourcing company Soundcuts. He's worked on 70+ wildly varied projects, ranging from triple A titles to experimental art installations. You can find Lewis frequently popping up at game audio meetups all over the UK, or online over on the social network for audio designers Airwiggles.com, which he co-founded.
Getting Into Game Audio: Fresh Perspectives
11:30 - 12:00
Join Aircon's Lewis Thompson for an informative panel comprised of fresh game audio professionals who will share their experiences getting into the games industry, and tips and tricks for starting out in game audio.
Lewis Thompson, Sound Designer at Soundcuts & Co-founder of Airwiggles
Lewis is a sound designer and composer who works for audio outsourcing company Soundcuts. He's worked on 70+ wildly varied projects, ranging from triple A titles to experimental art installations. You can find Lewis frequently popping up at game audio meetups all over the UK, or online over on the social network for audio designers Airwiggles.com, which he co-founded.
Max Fader, Dialogue Designer at Molinare
Max Fader started his journey in game audio in 2022 at Bafta award winning studio Supermassive Games. After graduating Bournemouth University in 2021 he received his first industry placement as a Junior Sound Designer in the award winning audio team as a generalist working in all aspects of game audio. During his two years at Supermassive he received credits on 'The Dark Picture's Anthology : The Devil In Me' and 'Switchback VR'. After spending 3 months freelancing sound design and music composition he joined the Sound Warriors at Molinare as a Dialogue Designer for Specialist Projects and Sound Designer working on Triple A titles and franchises. Credits and Contributions: The Dark Picture's Anthology : The Devil In Me, Switchback VR, Murky Divers, Golf Clash, COD Mobile.
Angus Fraser, Junior Audio Designer at Dovetail Games
Angus is a Junior Audio Designer at Dovetail games. Currently working on Train Sim World 5, he transitioned from music production towards game sound design after completing studies at ACM in Guildford in 2021.
Eli Forster, Freelance Audio Designer
Eli is a freelance audio designer who has had the opportunity to work on 9 projects over the course of their 2.5 years in the industry. They are incredibly passionate about indie games and the stories they can tell. Some of the titles Eli has worked on include: Soccer Story, Loddlenaut, Tales of Kenzera: Zau, Yes, Your Grace: Snowfall, Mythmatch, and Rogue Piñatas VRMAGEDDON.
Mark Choi, Freelance Composer
Mark is a freelance composer focused primarily on video games. He is a BAFTA Games Connect member with a background as a classical pianist from the Royal Academy of Music, as well as a Masters from Thinkspace Education. His latest work is Tower Five's Empire of the Ants, published by Microids in November 2024 - his first fully live-recorded orchestral game soundtrack which he composed and orchestrated. Mark is also an arranger/orchestrator and a session pianist for remote/in-studio recordings. In 2024, Borislav Slavov commissioned him to create a piano arrangement of "Down By The River" for the Baldur's Gate 3 Deluxe Edition Vinyl OST. He also recorded at Abbey Road for Silver Script Games' The Quiet Things in August and performed live at the Golden Joystick Awards in November.
Ross Stack, Lead Sound Designer at Laced Audio
Ross Stack an audio designer, composer and recording engineer specialising in both game audio and linear media. Ross kicked off his audio career working in post production, but since making the transition to game audio in 2014 he's never looked back. He embraces the day to day challenges of working in video games, whether it be finding novel ways to solve technical problems, optimising audio for a range of platforms, crafting immersive soundscapes or simply telling engaging stories through VO. Throughout his career Ross worked in house, freelance and also as part of an outsourcing team and as such has had the pleasure to be able to contribute to a wide range of fantastic games including As Dusk Falls (INT/Night), Elite:Dangerous (Frontier Developments) and more recently Star Trucker (Monster and Monster).
Greg Lester, Sound Desinger at Soundcuts & Co-founder of Airwiggles
Greg Lester creative audio professional working as a sound designer in the game industry. He co-founded Airwiggles and Game Audio Learning, and wrote a book with a blueprint to help anyone build a sustainable career in game audio. Next to writing, Greg also enjoys making videos, talking or teaching game audio and have had the chance to teach at both masters degree level as well as his own course.
Ross Stack, Lead Sound Designer at Laced Audio
Ross Stack an audio designer, composer and recording engineer specialising in both game audio and linear media. Ross kicked off his audio career working in post production, but since making the transition to game audio in 2014 he's never looked back. He embraces the day to day challenges of working in video games, whether it be finding novel ways to solve technical problems, optimising audio for a range of platforms, crafting immersive soundscapes or simply telling engaging stories through VO. Throughout his career Ross worked in house, freelance and also as part of an outsourcing team and as such has had the pleasure to be able to contribute to a wide range of fantastic games including As Dusk Falls (INT/Night), Elite:Dangerous (Frontier Developments) and more recently Star Trucker (Monster and Monster).
Jay Steen, Technical Director at Sweetjtech
Jay is an audio programmer who has been working in game audio for twelve years, starting out at Guildford's own Criterion Games. While there he worked on the Need For Speed, Star Wars Battlefront and Battlefield franchises. In 2020, left Criterion to help build the audio team at Jumpship and ship their first game, Somerville, and since then has been building modular audio middleware for Unreal Engine 5 as the Tech Director of SweejTech (part of Sweet Justice Sound). When not programming audio, he can be found playing cinematic adventure games and team shooters, running, climbing and attempting to snowboard.
Sian Harris, Lead Sound Designer at Fuse
Sian Harris is the Lead Sound Designer at Fuse Games, bringing over a decade of expertise in sound design, audio direction, leadership and mentoring. Sian has played a pivotal role in shaping the soundscapes of some of the most innovative games in the industry as the Need for Speed, Battlefield, and several Star Wars franchises.
Javier Zumer, Senior Technical Sound Desinger at Supermassive Games
Javier works as senior technical sound designer for Supermassive Games (UK). Coming from linear media sound design and mixing, he was always interested in game audio and started gathering experience on several indie titles. After jumping to games full time, he gravitated towards the technical side of things, fuelled by the need to understand how things work under the hood. Nowadays his time is divided between maintaining and expanding the many audio systems that drive Supermassive games and creating some of the assets used by these systems.
Nathaniel Daw, Audio Director at Fuse
Nat is from Australia and moved to the UK about 12 years ago. He worked at Criterion for most of that time, initially as an Audio Programmer, and is now the Audio Director at Fuse Games. During that time he’s worked on many different games, including several Needs for Speed, Battlefields, Battlefronts, and Jedi games. He loves playing the Tuba, watching Ice Hockey, and buying too many vinyls.
Jay Steen, Technical Director at Sweetjtech
Jay is an audio programmer who has been working in game audio for twelve years, starting out at Guildford's own Criterion Games. While there he worked on the Need For Speed, Star Wars Battlefront and Battlefield franchises. In 2020, left Criterion to help build the audio team at Jumpship and ship their first game, Somerville, and since then has been building modular audio middleware for Unreal Engine 5 as the Tech Director of SweejTech (part of Sweet Justice Sound). When not programming audio, he can be found playing cinematic adventure games and team shooters, running, climbing and attempting to snowboard.
Matteo Cerquone, Audio Director at JUMPSHIP
Matteo Cerquone is an audio director and composer with over 9 years of experience in the gaming industry. His recent work as the audio director and composer for Somerville earned him and his team a nomination for 'Outstanding Achievement in Audio Design' at the 2023 D.I.C.E. Awards. His expertise includes audio content creation, implementation, and mixing, as well as laying the technical foundations and tools for the entire audio team. This involves documenting, testing, and discussing audio tools with audio coders, as well as managing the workflow throughout the project cycle. His credits also include Star Citizen, Dirty Bomb, and Gears Tactics.
Technical Sound Design
13:15 - 14:00
Join Host Barney Pratt and our stellar panelists - Jay Steen, Matteo Cerquone, Taz Brakis, Oberon Buckingham-West, Javier Zumer, Nat Daw - for an exciting discussion about the role of the technical sound designer, how they can help, where they sit in a games audio team, and what resources can they benefit from to grow into that role.
Barney Pratt, Senior Audio Director at Supermassive Games
Award winning game audio director, passionate for player immersion through sound and music, Barney has worked in Guildford games for over 18 years drawing on previous experience in the music and film industries. With the team at Supermassive Games he has delivered 15 titles in a range of genres and platforms from cinematic to VR, combining technical and creative expertise.
Jay Steen, Technical Director at Sweetjtech
Jay is an audio programmer who has been working in game audio for twelve years, starting out at Guildford's own Criterion Games. While there he worked on the Need For Speed, Star Wars Battlefront and Battlefield franchises. In 2020, left Criterion to help build the audio team at Jumpship and ship their first game, Somerville, and since then has been building modular audio middleware for Unreal Engine 5 as the Tech Director of SweejTech (part of Sweet Justice Sound). When not programming audio, he can be found playing cinematic adventure games and team shooters, running, climbing and attempting to snowboard.
Matteo Cerquone, Audio Director at JUMPSHIP
Matteo Cerquone is an audio director and composer with over 9 years of experience in the gaming industry. His recent work as the audio director and composer for Somerville earned him and his team a nomination for 'Outstanding Achievement in Audio Design' at the 2023 D.I.C.E. Awards. His expertise includes audio content creation, implementation, and mixing, as well as laying the technical foundations and tools for the entire audio team. This involves documenting, testing, and discussing audio tools with audio coders, as well as managing the workflow throughout the project cycle. His credits also include Star Citizen, Dirty Bomb, and Gears Tactics.
Anastasios Brakis, Founder at Tazman-Audio
Anastasios "Taz" Brakis is the founder of Tazman-Audio, an audio company renowned for delivering bespoke audio programming solutions to game developers and for creating innovative tools like SoundMaker and Fabric audio toolset. With over two decades of industry experience spanning AAA console and mobile titles, Anastasios has specialized in designing, implementing, and maintaining advanced audio technologies, tools and pipelines. As both an audio programmer and sound designer his work consistently pushes the boundaries of game audio quality.
Oberon Buckingham-West, PhD Researcher at University of Surrey
Oberon is a PhD researcher at the University of Surrey's Centre for Vision, Speech, and Signal Processing (CVSSP). His research investigates how adaptive game engines can utilise audio, along with other modalities such as text and visual cues, to provide contextual and personalised explanations of general game engine functionalities and specific audio implementation techniques. With a background in sound engineering and music production, along with experience in AAA game development as an audio programmer and currently serving as audio lead on an indie project, Oberon is striving toward bridging the gap between complex technology, personalised learning and creative expression.
Javier Zumer, Senior Technical Sound Desinger at Supermassive Games
Javier works as senior technical sound designer for Supermassive Games (UK). Coming from linear media sound design and mixing, he was always interested in game audio and started gathering experience on several indie titles. After jumping to games full time, he gravitated towards the technical side of things, fuelled by the need to understand how things work under the hood. Nowadays his time is divided between maintaining and expanding the many audio systems that drive Supermassive games and creating some of the assets used by these systems.
Nathaniel Daw, Audio Director at Fuse
Nat is from Australia and moved to the UK about 12 years ago. He worked at Criterion for most of that time, initially as an Audio Programmer, and is now the Audio Director at Fuse Games. During that time he’s worked on many different games, including several Needs for Speed, Battlefields, Battlefronts, and Jedi games. He loves playing the Tuba, watching Ice Hockey, and buying too many vinyls.
The Mix
14:00 - 15:00
Is the mix a 'final pass' or built from the inception of the game? What actually is 'the mix', how should we approach it? Join our panel as they take a deep dive and answer these burning questions and MORE!
Barney Pratt, Senior Audio Director at Supermassive Games
Award winning game audio director, passionate for player immersion through sound and music, Barney has worked in Guildford games for over 18 years drawing on previous experience in the music and film industries. With the team at Supermassive Games he has delivered 15 titles in a range of genres and platforms from cinematic to VR, combining technical and creative expertise.
Sian Harris, Lead Sound Designer at Fuse
Sian Harris is the Lead Sound Designer at Fuse Games, bringing over a decade of expertise in sound design, audio direction, leadership and mentoring. Sian has played a pivotal role in shaping the soundscapes of some of the most innovative games in the industry as the Need for Speed, Battlefield, and several Star Wars franchises.
Matteo Cerquone, Audio Director at JUMPSHIP
Matteo Cerquone is an audio director and composer with over 9 years of experience in the gaming industry. His recent work as the audio director and composer for Somerville earned him and his team a nomination for 'Outstanding Achievement in Audio Design' at the 2023 D.I.C.E. Awards. His expertise includes audio content creation, implementation, and mixing, as well as laying the technical foundations and tools for the entire audio team. This involves documenting, testing, and discussing audio tools with audio coders, as well as managing the workflow throughout the project cycle. His credits also include Star Citizen, Dirty Bomb, and Gears Tactics.
Ross Stack, Lead Sound Designer at Laced Audio
Ross Stack an audio designer, composer and recording engineer specialising in both game audio and linear media. Ross kicked off his audio career working in post production, but since making the transition to game audio in 2014 he's never looked back. He embraces the day to day challenges of working in video games, whether it be finding novel ways to solve technical problems, optimising audio for a range of platforms, crafting immersive soundscapes or simply telling engaging stories through VO. Throughout his career Ross worked in house, freelance and also as part of an outsourcing team and as such has had the pleasure to be able to contribute to a wide range of fantastic games including As Dusk Falls (INT/Night), Elite:Dangerous (Frontier Developments) and more recently Star Trucker (Monster and Monster).
Gaetan Lourmiere, Audio Director at Criterion Games
Gaetan Lourmiere is an Audio Director at Criterion Games in Guildford, he began his audio career over a decade ago in linear media, working on everything Audio, from boom operator to studio engineer. Since transitioning to video games, he has managed teams and worked as both a sound designer and technical sound designer on multiple EA franchises, including Madden, Need for Speed, Battlefield, and Star Wars.
Surviving as a Composer: Cross Industry Perspectives
15:00 - 16:00
Join Barney Pratt and a brilliant panel of audio professionals from the games industry and beyond as they share cross industry perspectives and advice on how to thrive in your role as a composer. From licensing to contracts and revenue, this panel provide the essentials to succeed in the role.
Barney Pratt, Senior Audio Director at Supermassive Games
Award winning game audio director, passionate for player immersion through sound and music, Barney has worked in Guildford games for over 18 years drawing on previous experience in the music and film industries. With the team at Supermassive Games he has delivered 15 titles in a range of genres and platforms from cinematic to VR, combining technical and creative expertise.
Jay Dervish, Creative & Licensing Executive at BMG Production Music
Jay is a music and gaming enthusiast who’s all about bringing the right sound to the gaming world. With experience in music supervision and track licensing, Jay has worked with game publishers, developers, and trailer houses to find the perfect music for their projects.
Vince Webb, Composer and Sound Designer
Vince Webb studied music at King's College London, graduating with a first-class degree in 2011. Since then, he has built a successful career as a composer, with a particular focus on gaming and virtual reality (VR) projects. Notably, he composed the score for Jurassic World Aftermath, featuring Laura Bailey and Jeff Goldblum, and Shadow Point, starring Patrick Stewart, which earned a nomination for a VR Award. In addition to his work in gaming and VR, Vince has composed music for numerous television advertisements, serving high-profile clients such as Disney, Cadbury, Clarks, Audi and Vodafone. His other notable projects include the beloved children's television series The Grimes (ITVBe) and the multi-award-winning short film Via. Vince has also written and produced hundreds of production music tracks for independent MCPS libraries including BMG and WestOne. Outside of his professional composing work, he shares his expertise on his popular YouTube channel, which focuses on music theory, audio production and live improvisation.
Lewis James, Founder at La Indiana Sound
Lewis James is Composer and Sound Designer with 23 years experience in AAA games, TV / film. He is the founder of La Indiana Sound, a music and sound design company based in the UK.
Paul Wolinski, Composer
Best known as part of the instrumental, experimental band 65daysofstatic, Paul Wolinski has spent the last two decades releasing numerous studio albums and touring the world. Always eager to explore less conventional ways to make and present music as a band, they also wrote the 'infinite' soundtrack to the video game No Man's Sky and toured an algorithmically-driven live A/V performance Decomposition Theory around Europe. Paul has released several albums as a solo artist, most recently his Telex From MIDI City album (Data Airlines, 2023) under the guise of Polinski. He holds a PhD in popular music, with his research focussed on exploring how hand-crafted generative music systems might be used in the context of bands and popular music. Increasingly operating in the world of game development, Paul is currently working as a composer on a major new title, and has worked in various audio, sound design and programming roles on a number of indie games.
Thomas Quillfeldt, Community and Production Manager at Laced Records
Thomas Quillfeldt is a consultant, copywriter and content creator who has been at the intersection of the video games and music industries for over eight years. He is currently Community and Production Manager at Laced Records (a Keywords Studio), and has overseen social media campaigns and contributed to product design for vinyl and digital soundtrack releases including Halo, Metal Gear Solid, Monster Hunter, DOOM, Street Fighter, Resident Evil, TEKKEN and many more. Laced Records partners include, among others, Capcom, Sony, Microsoft, Konami, Ubisoft, SEGA, FromSoftware, and Devolver Digital. Tom has interviewed many composers and game audio professionals for articles and podcasts. He co-hosts, produces and edits Games X Music (GXM), a podcast about everything from global music artists appearing in Fortnite to the finer details of scoring video games.
Julie Weir, Director at Music for Nations, Sony Music Entertainment
Julie Weir has been in the music industry for over 25 years from humble beginnings in a record store in Leeds in 1992, through to running club nights in the city. After moving to London to do an MA, she began to work in the industry as a merchandising manager for independent label Cacophonous, moving up to label manager. She set up Visible Noise (an independent rock label designed to support and nurture young UK guitar bands) in 1998 and signed acts such as Bullet for my Valentine and Bring me the Horizon. Alongside Visible Noise, she ran Wiseblood Management, worked across sync, publishing and branding, and set up Subverse (the UK’s first truly all ages rock and metal club with live bands…) under her own companies. In April 2016, after many years of consulting for them, she moved to Sony Music to be the Label Head and resurrect the legendary Music For Nations, where she is currently Label Director, working with Artists such as Maruja, Bury Tomorrow, Hanabie, Vlure, Three Days Grace, Tool, Wardruna,, Porcupine Tree, Witch Fever, and Hot Milk amongst others. Julie also works mentoring developing artists and people wanting to break into the business side – and performance - of music.
Kenny Vaughan, Director of New Business & Music Supervisor, Feel for Music
Although he’s a lifelong gamer, Kenny has spent a majority of his career in the music industry. From humble beginnings at the indie record label Naim Records based in Salisbury, Kenny worked with artists such as Sons of Kemet, Neil Cowley Trio, and eventually ran the mercury-nominated campaign for Eska’s Debut S/T album in 2015. Seeking new challenges and broader horizons, Kenny joined Sony Music Entertainment, working with the licensing team and optimising products and strategy to ensure the artists and labels are happy with top-tier products and partners. In late 2023, Kenny connected the dots between his music experience and gaming passion to create the Substack newsletter Between Music & Gaming. This newsletter explores case studies, future predictions, and practical tips for artists and repertoire owners looking to optimise success in the gaming space. Inspired by the in-depth discussions from his Substack, Kenny joined Feel For Music in 2025 as Director of New Business & Music Supervisor. Feel For Music is an award-winning music supervision company specializing in composing and licensing for video games, with work spanning titles such as Life Is Strange, Dead Island 2, and Assassin’s Creed.