String and Tins Promotes Culum Simpson Creative Director

The multi award-winning sound studio String and Tins, announces that sound designer Culum Simpson has been promoted to creative director.

Culum joined String and Tins in 2020, having previously worked at Grand Central and Jungle Studios.

Culum has worked with some of the world’s top brands: Amazon, Coca Cola, Pepsi, Lexus, Mercedes, Sky, DirecTV, and many others. His sound design work has been recognised globally at awards ceremonies, notably contributing to 2 x D&AD Yellow pencils, British Arrows Gold Arrow, Silver Cannes Lion and 6 Creative Circle golds. 

Culum Simpson said, "The industry has been kind to me. Giving me a second chance at success after a relatively short career as an actor. As a result, I see it as a duty to nurture juniors and give them the best possible footing in an industry that is becoming increasingly complex."

Mike Bamford, founding partner at String and Tins said, “As a long term fan of Culum’s sound work, we’re thrilled to have him represent String and Tins’ at the highest level. I’m also excited about him bringing his modular synthesiser into the studios so we can all have a play.” 

Culum started life trying to break into the performing arts industry but in between the auditions, pub shifts and playing gigs across london, found interest in recording demos for bands in Camden in 2009. It was there his interest in audio was sparked. Wanting to still be in the entertainment business he made the quick hop over form music to post.

Culum said, “I'm not ashamed to admit that I was a bit of a Ghostbusters superfan when I was a kid. I had the car, the backpack and the lunch box. So working on this would have made five year old me very proud. Being let loose with the official SFX from the franchise was a dream come true, and having to craft (and in most cases perform) the voices of the ghosts was a truly excellent time!”

Culum said, “Every engineer has a job that they dip back into from time to time to pinch a bit of design for a current job - Babel is that for me (and others, so I'm told). The slow mo lightning in the middle section is about as sharp and punchy as it gets. The hyper designed style of the film allowed us to turn the drama all the way up. The way the lightning hangs in the air posed a problem in how to keep the sound of the crackle moving without detracting from the punch of the attack...a problem that was ultimately solved by cracking an ice cream cone...wafer of course.

Culum said, “I loved working as part of the team on this. Having to change head spaces for each of the settings whilst making the work feel cohesive posed an interesting challenge. The creative was great, the execution was great, and it was a pleasure lending some considered sound design to the proceedings.