Name: Alan McDermott
Job title: Audio Manager
Location: Evolution Studio

How and when did you join the company?

I was originally the audio manager for Evolution Studios which was bought by SCEE in 2007/8

What does your role involve?

My role involves being ultimately responsible for all audio for all titles produced within the studio group north west. This includes Evolution, Studio Liverpool and bigBIG. On a day to day basis, I work in sound design, Music supervision (basically picking thelicensed tracks that go into our games), developing tools that are geared towards making audio implementation more intuitive for the sound designers, the management of external agencies, and writing briefs for outsourcers, among various other possibilities!

What skills did you need to get started in this industry?

A love for games! Thats pretty much about all you need to get into the games industry. That and the ability to become an elitist about the subject of games when talking to anyone not in the games industry.

What tips do you have for anyone wanting to enter your area of the business?

Audio is a particularly tough area to break into. Experience often being the overriding factor as to whether you get a foot int he door or not. If you're just starting out, make sure you have a really good showreel together, bearing in mind that often the easiest way to prove your abilities in sound are to take something recognizable, such as a movie trailer or clip from a movie, remove all sound and replace it with your own. The more original you can make something sound, the more impressive it's going to be. Just putting a load of sound effects and some songs on a showreel won't get you very far. Replacing the sound in the trailer for The Lord of the Rings with your own sound demonstrates the ability to take something and improve on it whilst showing that you have a good understanding of what certain media require from sound.

Describe your gaming prowess in three words ...

I own j00!

What would be your 'desert island' game?

"Mass Effect"