Top Sound Designer Matt McCamley Insists on PMC Monitoring For His Studio
Accuracy without colour that isn’t fatiguing – that, says Sound Designer Matt McCamley, is exactly what he was looking for when he was choosing audio monitors for his studio in Australia.
To meet that criteria, he opted for a 5.1 surround sound system based on PMC result6 compact nearfield monitors, which were supplied by Interdyn in Melbourne and installed by Interdyn’s Tom Jolly.
“I was already familiar with the sound of PMC products having used PMC AML1 and TwoTwo Series monitors at previous studios,” Matt McCamley explains. “I was drawn to the result6 series because of the similarity they share, especially with the TwoTwo range. They definitely sound like PMC’s, and not a PMC ‘Light’ series, that’s for sure.”
McCamley adds that, if your room acoustics are correct, PMC monitors tell you where you are going with a mix – and make it very clear if you are going wrong.
“A lot of manufacturers claim their monitors are being honest and translate to the real world, but there aren’t too many around that can back-up that claim. PMC can,” he says.
Based in Brisbane, Matt McCamley specialises in Sound Design for the computer games industry, working for both AAA and Independent publishers. After 10 years in the UK where he was an in-house Senior Sound Designer at Rocksteady Studios (London), Ninja Theory (Cambridge) and Creative Assembly (Horsham), McCamley returned to Australia and set up Focus Audio, a games audio outsourcing company.
“My main focus is sound design that is both creative and technical – cinematics and dialogue,” he explains. “I also spend a lot of time in the field and studio, recording bespoke content for client projects,as well as recording source material for my own libraries.”
McCamley mainly works ‘In The Box’ and uses a Mac for design work and a PC for games development work. His Focus Audio studio has a healthy selection of old and new hardware synths for source generation, Apogee I/O, specialist microphones and field recording kit.
“I use Audient ASP510 for its multi-input surround and down-mixing functionality so that I can quickly and seamlessly switch between multiple computers, development kits and consoles,” he explains. “This is all managed by a server that hosts all of my sessions for both Mac and PC.”
He adds that the combination of great room acoustics and great monitoring is what makes his studio really special.
“Without both of those working in tandem, your efficiency and trust of playback goes out the window,” he says. “I spent time making sure the room was sounding as good as possible before putting in the result6’s because the best monitors in the world will never reach their full potential in a poor sounding space.”
McCamley is currently working on a number of projects that are too new to be made public but recent projects that he can talk about include sound design for Total War: 3 Kingdoms and the upcoming Troy. He has also worked on franchises such as Devil May Cry, Alien and Batman, as well as multiple Total Wars and new IP’s.
“I am very happy with my studio, and especially with my choice of monitoring,” he says. “PMC’s give you a reason not to upgrade – unless it’s to another PMC!”
About PMC
PMC is a UK-based, world-leading manufacturer of loudspeaker systems, the tools of choice in all ultra-critical professional monitoring applications, and also for the discerning audiophile at home, where they provide a transparent window into the recording artist’s original intentions. PMC products use the best available materials and design principles, including the company’s proprietary Advanced Transmission Line (ATL™) bass-loading technology, cutting-edge amplification and advanced DSP techniques to create loudspeakers that present sound and music exactly as it was when first created, with the highest possible resolution, and without coloration or distortion. For more information on our clients and products, see www.pmc-speakers.com.