Meet Our Audio Team in Brazil

This week we had a chat with two members of our team in Sao Paulo, Brazil to talk about audio in video game development.

Bruna Ravaglio joined Keywords Studios as Audio Assistant in 2019, and before that worked as a freelancer on several projects.

Felipe Lopes joined Keywords in 2018. He’s now more than a decade into a career that’s involved working on cinema, dubbing and narration.

Here’s what they had to say!

Describe a typical day in your role.

Bruna: I work with the Quality Assurance (QA) of our final material, updating of scripts, and managing and collating the data received from QA personnel.

I deal mainly with audio and script compilation, listening for and solving possible technical and linguistic problems.

What I enjoy most about my work is putting the stories together as projects progress. It’s more of a incidental consequence of paying attention to what I’m listening to than something my role requires, but as storytelling has always been something really dear to me it’s thrilling to see it taking shape.

Felipe: My job is basically to record the actors and actresses. It’s great because I get to work with the director on improving players’ experience by bringing the greatest fidelity to a game’s language.

The areas that I enjoy focusing on most are studio recording, post-production, mixing and mastering.

How did you get into Audio for video games? What inspired your career path?

Bruna: I got into it somewhat accidentally, to be honest. One of the job requirements was mastery of the language [Brazilian Portuguese], which is my original field of work, and I’ve always enjoyed gaming.

I wanted a change in my career and was looking for something challenging. It’s been a case of being in the right place at the right time. Really fortuitous.

Felipe: I always wanted to work with games and audio but there was no market at the time. Seven years after I moved to the area I met Cristiano Prazeres [Studio Manager at Maximal], who was in need of a freelance audio engineer, and now I’ve been here for three years.

My biggest inspiration is to do my best work possible in something that I am passionate about. Being a gamer helps because I know what the final product looks like and what the community expects from the final result.

What do you like best about working for Keywords Studios?

Bruna: Working here and being part of such an amazing team has been a great experience. It’s truly exhilarating. Every day there’s something new to learn and the learning curve has been rather steep – it’s challenging like nothing I’ve done before and it keeps me on my toes.

Felipe: I really love the atmosphere and the respect among the people who work at Keywords Studios. It makes me feel welcome, in addition to feeling very good about having the best offering on the market. I feel valued and I have been able to make many friends that I will carry forever in my heart.

What is your favourite video game and why?

Bruna: My favourite games are the Mass Effect trilogy. I find the story compelling: it has an array of rich and charismatic characters, and the way we see our squad members and friends coming together, improving and becoming leaders in their own right, is so beautifully done. Also seeing them learn tolerance and respect for that which is different is always a positive message. Life is chaotic but we shouldn’t let that cheat us out of the beauty of it.

Felipe: I have two favourite consoles: Master System III that was my first, and then PlayStation 3, which revolutionised the market at the time. I’m a PlayStation collector but I love a Super Nes too.

Tell us an interesting fact that people may not know about you.

Bruna: I’m all for teamwork in the work environment, but most of the time I prefer single-player games. I like to take my time exploring and getting to know the lore as thoroughly as possible. If a game presents the possibility of multiple endings, then I’m going to explore all of them, sometimes more than once.

Felipe: A lot of people don’t know this, but I used to be a director of photography, and analog photography is one of my passions, along with music and bicycles.

And finally what advice would you give to job seekers considering a career in video game audio?

Bruna: Enjoying video games is an important part of working in the field but it’s not all you need: it takes a lot of hard work to bring a project to life and it can be just as stressful as any other career.

If you are a gamer, though, then you know that rage quitting gets you nowhere. Ask questions, be open to learning, try new approaches, rely on your colleagues. Don’t be afraid to get yourself out there. Also, save your progress! 

Felipe: The first piece of advice I give to anyone who wants to get into the field is to love it. Study hard and always seek out opportunities to meet people who can present you with an entry into the world of games. Never give up!