I am Alan McKinney, a professional sound designer and field recordist who has been recording and designing sound effects since 1997. In that time I have recorded over 110,000 sound effects all of which you’ll find here under my artist name ZapSplat. My sounds have been used in thousands of games, movies, commercials and more including one of my personal favourites, Archer on Netflix.
ZapSplat.com started as a passion project back in 2015, a place for me to release my sound effects for filmmakers, game developers, podcasters and other creatives to use. Since then it’s grown into a hugely popular sound library used by almost 3 million people.
How it all Started
In 2004 I completed a Bachelor's degree in Music Production at Brighton MET which equiped me with a solid skill set in sound production and recording and advanced knowledge of the music and sound industries as a whole. I knew at this stage that I wanted to pursue a career in professional audio and embarked on networking with industry professionals to gain as much experience as I could.
Leaving Brighton MET I met and worked for a short time with David Ferguson, one of the UKs leading music composers for TV and film, having scored the soundtracks for Cracker, Rebus, Bravo Two Zero, and Auf Wiedersehen Pet. At the time, David was the chairman of the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors: now called the Ivors Academy.
In 2012 to 2014 I worked as a freelance sound designer for Hasbro, producing sound effects and music for their many commercial toys and games, from over 400 music midi files for a game called Name that Tune, through to button beeps, buzzers and many other sounds.
Wanting to use the skills I had learned and further my career, I moved on to become a Pro-Tools engineer in the London Studio CKUK, engineering recording sessions for commercials and other projects for the likes of Audi, Sky, BBC and more. It was my time here that I realised my passion for sound effects, prompting me to invest in professional recorders and microphones and work full-time on producing sound effect libraries.
To this day I spend countless hours in the studio and on location all over the world recording sound effects, all of which you’ll find here. Feel free to connect with me on LinkedIn, or follow me on Facebook. I can also be found lurking on Stage32 if you’re in the film and TV industry and want to connect.
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