June 2021

With nearly 20 years in the games industry, Aldo Sampaio is now Audio Director at Ubisoft Montreal, Canada.

Aldo has worked on a wide range of AAA game franchises from Assassin’s Creed (including BAFTA nominated Assassin’s Creed – Black Flag), and The Division to Prince of Persia as Sound Designer and Audio Director. His latest work includes Assassin’s Creed – Valhalla, as Audio Director.

Let’s find out more…

MASA: It would be great to hear a bit about your career path to date… And what attracted you to the world of audio?

ALDO: I’ve been at Ubisoft since 2009 having worked on most of the Assassin’s Creeds including the BAFTA nominated Assassin’s Creed - Black flag, Prince of Persia – Forgotten Sands, Watch Dogs 1 and the Division. I have been in the game industry for the past 19 years having worked at Pandemic Studios in Brisbane Australia, shipping franchises like Destroy All Humans and the Mercenaries series. I completed my studies in Masters of Design Science (Audio Design) at the University of Sydney, Australia.

I’ve always been fascinated with the world of audio. I was surrounded by music and sound equipment at a young age and over time, I had a very keen interest in how sounds were created. I’ve been in many audio shoes over the years, whether it was recording music bands and voice talent; being on film sets as a boom operator and sound recordist; recording ambiences, weapons and sound effects for games; or setting up for recording orchestras on a scoring stage.

I first started out in the film and TV industry in Australia before transitioning to a sound designer in the games industry. As an avid gamer, I was really interested in how you can develop audio systems to create dynamic soundscapes and how one game experience can sound completely different from another. This was what really drew me towards making audio for games and the transition from linear to non-linear medium.

MASA: You were Audio Director on Assassin's Creed Valhalla, one of the highest rated games last year. Using it as an example, can you give us an insight into the main audio processes involved on a project from initial brief to completion.

ALDO: The game was a huge undertaking involving many Ubisoft studios and people across the globe. One key process was ensuring everyone in the audio team had an alignment on the global audio vision and message throughout the project. The tone of our game was one of “Harsh Romanticism”. Harsh as in the Viking way of life was hard with scarce resources in the awe-inspiring Norway fjords vs the bountiful resource-rich England. The sound team’s key message was “What does it sound like to be a Norse in a foreign land?”. We thought and researched very hard on what the native sounds were within Norway at the time, for example, the Old Norse language, the flora and fauna, the musical instruments used etc. And in contrast we blended this together with the Anglo-Saxon way of life through their own sounds and unique activities and how these two cultures came together to form the rise of England.

Another process I also wanted to put into place in Assassin’s Creed Valhalla to the audio team was this notion of the player sonically changing their world while progressing through the narrative. An example of this is the exploration music which actually changes mood into a more resolved tone as the player completes the territories story arc. We also unlock the skalds sung by Einar Selvik when the player arrives on the Drakkar (longship).

MASA: Was there any audio you were particularly proud of in AC Valhalla?

ALDO: A tough question because I’m particularly proud of all aspects of the audio! The music is a particular strength in AC Valhalla of which I’m proud of thanks to composers Jesper Kyd, Sarah Schachner, and Einar Selvik. They brought out such a power force of music which leaves me breathless every time I hear the pieces.

Something that doesn’t get too much of a mention but I’m quite proud of, is the dynamic walla (crowd noise system). We implemented a system which dynamically adjusts the walla crowd noise sound in respect to what is around the player in terms of crowd size, crowd ethnicity (Old Norse vs Anglo Saxon), the time of day and even gender percentage. All these sounds are running dynamically in the background to give the player a truly immersive feeling.

Another part of the audio I’m proud of is actually the wind system that in the 3D space we are able to detect cliff faces and are able to play a chilling wind sound the closer to the edge the player gets. Also the weapon sound system is quite something. The sounds of the weapons get more visceral and brutal as the player upgrades while feeling very satisfying to play.

MASA: And any that was particularly challenging to create?

ALDO: The walla sounds were pretty challenging to create in that in a Covid environment, we could not gather in crowds to record these types of sounds. So we had to figure out another solution to capturing crowd sounds of various sizes. In the end we used an innovative plug-in tool could Sound particles which can create highly complex sounds to be simulated in a 3D audio environment.

MASA: Generally in the AC franchise, how much field recording takes place Vs use of sample libraries?

ALDO: We try to record as much unique material as we can. On Black flag for instance, the sound team went to the jungles of Costa Rica in order to record unique jungle ambiences. On Valhalla we recorded authentic instruments of the time period by Einar Selvik and even going to the length of going to the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul to record impulse responses for the Assassin’s Creed – Revelations. Whenever possible we try to go the extra length to give the authentic feeling for the player to be transported back in that particular place and in that particular time period.

MASA: How has Covid affected work practices?

ALDO: Covid drastically affected production as recording studios were forced to closed and we had to think outside the box as we were still shipping! Everyone in the audio team worked from home and we communicated daily through Microsoft teams. Recording the voice talent in their home context brought in huge audio cohesion challenges as every space was different. So we had to A-B every voice talents recording space to ensure there was not too much background noise or unwanted echo in the takes. A huge kudos to the audio team for getting the job done at still a very high level of quality.

MASA: Last but not least, the readers I’m sure would be very interested in hearing what you’ll be looking for when judging The Music+Sound Awards…

ALDO: It is quite an honour being a judge for these awards, so what I will be looking for will be a great attention to detail and technique. Also the idea of what the music and sound can bring to the game being judged on and if that idea and certain emotions were successful in giving me goosebumps and an immersive experience 😊

MASA: Aldo, thank you so much for your time here. This amazing insight into what’s involved in making these gaming masterpieces is such a treat for us all!