Panel Discussion – Beyond the Sweet Spot

A discussion led by Dr Angela McArthur with Emma-Kate Matthews (Bartlett School of Architecture), Natalia Mamcarczyk (Audioscenic), Tom Slater (Call & Response Studios) and Jack Reynolds (BBC Research & Development Department)

Emma-Kate Matthews

Dr Emma-Kate Matthews (b. 1986) is an architect, composer, musician, digital artist and researcher working at the intersection of sonic and spatial practice. Her research centres on what she terms “spatiosonic practice”: the poetic and practical reciprocities between making sound and making space, explored through site-specific, spatialised audio-visual works, custom instrument design, and architectural research.

Her compositions have been performed internationally at venues including the Basílica de la Sagrada Família, the Southbank Centre, the Barbican, Brighton Festival, and most recently at URANIA in Zagreb, where Betwixt & Between received its world premiere performed by Ansambl Synchronos in 2025. She composed for the London Symphony Orchestra’s Panufnik Composers’ Scheme and has released electronic-classical works as a solo artist on labels including Algebra, NMC and Accidental Records. Her music has been broadcast on BBC Radio 3, Resonance FM and Tokyo Radio.

Under the series Resonant Bodies, she designs and fabricates her own instruments using advanced digital modelling and manufacturing methods. Her work has been nominated for the Lumen Prize and the Aesthetica Art Prize, and exhibited internationally at the Royal Danish Academy, the Royal Institute of British Architects, York Art Gallery and Make Southwest. She founded her transdisciplinary practice EKM Works in 2012.

Her research has been published in Nature HSSComms, Drawing: Research, Theory, Practice, and Organised Sound, and she has been profiled by the World Economic Forum, BBC Classical Music Magazine and Clot Magazine. She received Highly Commended honours at the Sound of the Year Awards in both 2022 and 2023.

She completed her PhD at the Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL in 2025 and is currently Associate Professor and Director of Fabrication and Design Collaboration there, teaching on the MSci Architecture and MEng Architecture and Engineering programmes. She is lead editor of The Routledge Companion to the Sound of Space (Routledge, 2024), co-organised the CMMR 2025 conference with Yamaha and the V&A East Storehouse, and hosts a monthly radio show on RTM.FM.

In March 2026, her audiovisual work ‘Chroma Zone’ will be exhibited at Heni gallery as part of Peter Cook’s solo exhibition ‘Art of Architecture’.

Natalia Mamcarczyk

Natalia is a sound artist, composer and audio engineer, specialising in spatial and immersive audio – format-agnostic, and committed to transcoding and delivering spatial audio across all platforms (Dolby Atmos, Eclipsa, 360 Reality, Ambisonics, VR, XR). Recently awarded by the UK national ‘Immersive Arts’ fund to develop a spatial audio based, interactive XR documentary.

Currently Natalia represents strategy, partnerships and audio content for Audioscenic Ltd, and holds extensive training in innovative technologies, spanning VP Volume, Unreal, camera tracking, and audio for film. Natalia has delivered specialist consultancy in immersive sound installations and 3D microphone recording, theatrical Dolby Atmos SOP, VR audio-visual implementation, and binaural production.

Through a MyWorld-funded residency at Real World Studios, Natalia explored multiple 3D microphone techniques for soundscape realism and envelopment. During 2021–23 at Hypha Studios, created a public immersive audio performance and installation space supporting a range of spatial formats.

Since 2019 Natalia has lectured across various HE institutes, with focus on research and Spatial Audio; she also has a strong record in artist development and mentorship — supporting music producers with field recording, soundscape and spatial audio implementation, funded through British Council, PRS Foundation and ACE.

Tom Slater

Tom Slater is the founder of Call & Response Studios, an immersive audio production space he established in 2019. He completed his PhD in Audiovisual Technology and Virtuality at Falmouth University in 2014.

Tom specialises in sound design and composition for spatial audio, working across artist-led projects, commercial creative productions and major public institutions. His practice spans immersive installations, live experiential projects, spatial music, XR, Dolby Atmos and ambisonic production and systems design.

Tom has produced spatial audio shows and experiences for cultural organisations, studios and brands including the Barbican, Artangel, Squint/Opera, Jon Hopkins, Tkay Maidza, Aphex Twin, Apple, NTS Live, Givenchy, Dior, Harrods and Field Day Festival. Recent projects include lead spatial sound design for the Barbican’s Feel the Sound, sound design and spatial system work for Dreamachine, a 36-speaker audiovisual experience, a Dolby Atmos mix for Tkay Maidza as part of Apple’s AirPods campaign, and an Ambisonic mix for a 360 video of Aphex Twin live at Field Day Festival.

Website – https://callandresponse.org.uk/ LinkedIn – www.linkedin.com/in/tom-slater-7702a717

Jack Reynolds

• Founder of Reynolds Microphones
• BBC R&D Development Producer
• Spatial Audio Lecturer UCL

Jack Reynolds founded Reynolds Microphones in 2016, following a diverse and accomplished journey through the music and audio industry.

He began as a performer, composer, mix engineer, producer, and studio owner. At just 20, he achieved major label success with the band Jocasta, signed to Sony Music in 1996. Their single Go was A-listed by BBC Radio 1, followed by appearances at major festivals worldwide.

Alongside his musical career, working with artists such as Kieran Hebden and others, Jack studied music production at Islington Music Workshop, worked as recording engineer, producer, guitarist, and composer at Wendyhouse Studios, EQ Studios, Fire Records and his own facility, JackInTheBox Studios in North London, in 2008

In 2010, he launched the OM7 Multipattern Valve mic via Opal Microphones Ltd, which led him to pursue a degree in Electronic and Electrical Engineering at University College London, where he won the Advanced Entrepreneurathon, a milestone that led directly to the founding of Reynolds Microphones.

In parallel, Jack founded Soho VR Audio Ltd in 2016, delivering spatial audio productions for clients including Sky VR, Google, and Nokia, while also completing the BBC Research and Development Graduate Programme.

Today, Jack leads the development of innovative sound capture technologies at Reynolds Microphones, hand-built in Hertfordshire with a strong focus on precision and quality. The company has developed a range of high-end microphones, including the R-Type valve series, RM1-V condenser models, and the latest ambisonic A-Type range. Designed for immersive sound capture in virtual reality, 360 video, post-production, and field recording, and upcoming releases include the O-Type and C-Type miniature omni and cardioid condenser microphones, as well as the S-Type spaced arrays.

Jack is also a Senior Lecturer in Spatial Audio Production at University College London, where he contributes to research in immersive audio, live performance in the metaverse, and next-generation sound production, helping to inspire the next generation of audio practitioners.

All of this is balanced alongside his role leading immersive media production as Development Producer for BBC R&D’s FWD Team, including recent projects such as The Portal, a series of live volumetric video music experiences for BBC Radio 1’s New Music Show.