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Audio Developer
Jagex

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Sam J

00.01 My name is Sam J, I work at Jagex Games studio and my job title is I’m an Audio Developer. On a day to day basis I typically come in and play through a new quest or something that’s been created by the content team and I go through, dream up new sounds for these imaginary creatures or I kinda write music for areas within kinda the quest specific content.

00.28 I think I probably got my first guitar when I was about six. And fell in love with it and just played it all the time. And really enjoyed it. When I was doing my A levels I just kind of decided music was what I do for fun and I was going to go and be a physicist or something like that so go and study maths and physics. I basically found out that I could potentially go into a route which incorporate maths, physics and music together, and so at that point I then took music and stayed on and did an extra year of A levels, basically because I had to start my first year of music in my second year. And then I got onto a University course call the tonmeister course, which means sound master. And then, through them was lucky enough to land a placement at Air Studios, which was a recording studio in London where I learnt my trade. My responsibilities were things like rigging microphones, an engineer would give me a set up, you know how he wanted the orchestra positioned in the, in the recording venue, I’d then kinda set it all up. The projects that spring to mind were things like the Casino Royale, Pirates of the Caribbean three. I think the Bourne Ultimatum was the first one that I actually managed to get to the cinema and go along with my friends. Everyone wanted to leave at the end of the film, but I made them stay, I made them watch, to squint just to see Sam J come up in lights at the end. Which was great.

01.53 Probably the reason why I moved from films to games was there’s not really much of a work life balance there. I was kind of loosing touch with my family and friends. And I didn’t really like that very much. I was lucky enough to find this job just on a jobs website, you know, Monster.co.uk or something like that. They actually advertised which was great.

02.15 My entire family are nurses, my sisters a nurse, my brother in laws a nurse, both my parents and all my aunties and uncles are nurses, so I’m a little bit of a black sheep. My dad always worked really hard and I always respected that. My mums brilliant she thinks I could be an astronaut tomorrow if I tried, she, she believes in me which is great. And at times when I didn’t believe in myself, she’d yeah, turn that around.

02.37 My family, they’re not musicians in the slightest. But they are music lovers, they absolutely love music. They are big folk fans actually. And I remember growing up, and they’d always take me to folk festivals, you know there are stories of them kind of their partying until like you know the early hours, I’d fall asleep and they’d just put me to sleep under the stage, and maybe that drummed it into me, maybe that kind of force fed me musicality or something, I don’t know.

03.06 I play quite a few instruments, primarily anything stringed is my forte as it were. I like to play a lot of folk instruments, so I’m learning the fiddle at the moment which is quite good fun. On paper probably the thing that I’m supposedly best at is singing, I’ve got my grade eight at singing but I am a little bit out of practise.

03.29 It’s quite rare that people get to do something that they really genuinely enjoy on a day to day basis. You know the grass is always greener, you always, you sometimes forget actually what a luxury it is that you know, kind of you walk into work, have a good laugh and yeah, make some great music, it’s yeah, it’s easy to forget that but I guess actually taking a step back, I’m incredibly lucky.

Sam J works at Jagex Games Studio as an Audio Developer, dreaming up new sounds for the imaginary creatures or writing music for areas within the games. Since getting his first guitar at the age of 6 Sam has loved music, but kept it as a hobby until the second year of A levels. He went on to do a specialist course at university and got a placement working on films such as Casino Royale and The Bourne Supremacy. Sam left films to go into games and joined Jagex, he describes himself as “incredibly lucky” to do something he loves as a job.

More information about TV, video and audio engineers

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£31,720
average salary

The UK average salary is £29,813

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48
average weekly hours

There are 37.5 hours in the average working week

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100%  male 

The UK workforce is 47% female and 53% male

Future employment

Future employment?

Description
? TV, video and audio engineers service and repair domestic television, video and audio appliances.
Qualifications
Entrants typically possess GCSEs/S grades or an equivalent qualification such as an Intermediate GNVQ/GSVQ Level II. Training is provided off- and on-the-job and may be supplemented by short courses delivered by manufacturers. NVQs/SVQs in Domestic Appliance Engineering are available at Level 3.
Tasks
  • Examines equipment and observes reception to determine nature of defect;
  • Uses electronic testing equipment to diagnose faults and check voltages and resistance;
  • Dismantles equipment and repairs or replaces faulty components or wiring;
  • Re-assembles equipment, tests for correct functioning and makes any necessary further adjustments;
  • Carries out service tasks such as cleaning and insulation testing according to schedule.
Employment by region
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Top 10 industries for this job
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Specialised construction 3398
Retail trade 1653
Broadcasting 1201
Employment status
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