Ken Cameron was the undoubted star of British sound engineering. A kilt-wearing Scotsman (incidentally brother of famous journalist James), in 1938 Cameron was tasked with replacing the GPO’s antiquated sound equipment, honing his craft as he learned from the manufacturers of new equipment. Cameron later masterminded the soundtrack for a range of Crown classics: Watt’s Target for Tonight(1941) and Jennings’ Listen to Britain and Fires Were Started (1943) were among many others coming audibly to life under Cameron’s influence.
In 1944 he journeyed to Hollywood to study multi-microphone techniques. His 1940s books Sound in Films and Sound and the Documentary Film became industry bibles. Cameron co-founded the Anvil Film and Recording Group in 1952. Operating from Beaconsfield Studios, over some 30 years it was both a documentary unit (busy for sponsors like the COI and British Productivity Council) and Britain’s foremost sound recordist for shorts and features alike. Val Guest, Lindsay Anderson and Richard Lester are just three of the feature directors who sought out the Anvil sound.
His brother was James Cameron, broadcaster.
