Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/1316380
78 I M PS E . O R G L ooking back to how AMPS began, it was a meeting in person at a film studio and an A4 newsletter that brought people together from a close geographic area. Now we use video streaming, social media and sponsored awards events to bring our message to an international audience and work with MPSE and others toward shared goals. I joined AMPS back in 2010 so I am a relative newcomer, with a background in mixing and supervising independent features, documentary, and more recently, four years on the expansive and controversial DAU project of 13 feature films and two series. That also blossomed further into working on a huge sound installation alongside Brian Eno and Stefan Smith which occupied two Paris theatres. I studied at UCLA in 1999, and very much enjoyed an internship at James Cameron's Digital Domain assisting on visual effects shoots for Fight Club and Red Planet. It's also important to acknowledge the privilege of a scholarship I received from David Jacobs, the creator of Dallas who made that year in Los Angeles possible. My heart had always been in sound, ever since the messy joy of putting homemade Walkman tape loops through the filter of a synthesizer fired my imagination at the age of 16. Around that time, the British director Alex Cox (Repo Man, Sid and Nancy) had a late-night film show on the BBC where he introduced his favourite films and that really turned me on to the joys of all different kinds of cinema. I also place some blame for my career choice at the hands of John Carpenter and Aphex Twin, whose field recording, sampling, and pure experimentation left a strong impression. While writing this article, I came across my very first mixer, 4 into 1 mono with a built-in compressor! I like the contrast with the kind of mixers I work with today. THE ASSOCIATION OF MOTION PICTURE SOUND BY ROB WALKER AMPS The Association of Motion Picture Sound (AMPS) was formed in 1989 by a small group of sound professionals at Pinewood Studios outside London, UK. Since then, it has grown to over 550 members working in film, TV, and game sound. Our strength has always been bringing together the various parts of the art and craft of professional sound, production or post, sharing our knowledge and promoting the value of sound. Our members have been nominated for many awards, both in the UK and internationally and include many BAFTA, Oscar, Emmy, MPSE Golden Reel, and CAS Award winners. There's also a good number of MPSE members in our ranks too. My first mixer