This Saturday the time came again for me to head to the GAN meetup, a group of game sound designers and composers based in the north of England, who meet every two months to chat and network. It was my third GAN, having been twice to the meetup in York and Leeds.

This time GAN was in Liverpool, just a few streets away from LIPA. We were joined by a few students from LIPA, including friends both old and new of mine, who study there. There was the usual group of attendees, plus one special guest; academic and film-maker Karen Collins joined us, and I was lucky enough to chat to her over a few pints. Karen is one of the few academics to write about game audio, and doubtlessly the leader in the field. She’s also making a documentary – BEEP: A Documentary History of Game Sound, which I chatted to her about and she shared some of the process behind the film, due March this year. As always, I made new connections and friendships with fellow sound designers from all over the north of England, many of whom i’m sure I’ll see again in the future.