LEONARDO A. BARRAGAN
PROFESSIONAL SUMMARY
I am a Creative/Technical Audio Designer, Mixer and Implementer established in Vancouver, British Columbia. Before moving to Canada in 2007, I grew up in Mexico and also lived in the USA for many years. My credits cover a wide range of video games, feature and short films, TV series and commercials. I'm looking to join a team of highly motivated, and talented audio professionals on a project or franchise, at principal level or senior Audio Designer.
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I'm an avid gamer of many kinds. I particularly like open world action-adventure stealth and classic RTS style games. From Assassin’s Creed, Metal Gear Solid, Uncharted etc. I have played lots of Halo, Dawn of War, Company of Heroes and Age of Empires. MMORPG games of all kinds as well. I was an avid Everquest raider back in the day and played a fair bit of World of Warcraft. I am also a lifelong FIFA casual player. I try to balance my life enough to keep up on what's coming out as much as possible and constantly read up on the latest video game news and events as well as industry updates.
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I started my career in audio because I saw a lot of interesting avenues opening up in games in the mid 2000’s, and I have been able to leverage my experience in making sounds for films into games. I strive to bring the highest quality products to every project that I am involve in, and I always try to transmit that to the team around me. I love experimenting and brainstorming solutions to difficult problems, and have demonstrated an ability for creative problem solving in my experience working in games. I love thinking abstractly about how the player encounters different situations, and figuring out what would be a good solution to create something that is impactful and meaningful in a video game narrative.
VIDEO GAMES
Age of Empires 4 - PC - Lead SFX Designer
Dawn of War 3 - PC - Lead SFX Designer
Halo 5 Guardians - XBOX One - Sound Designer
Luigi’s Mansion 2 - Nintendo DS - Sound Designer
Captain America : Super Soldier - XBOX 360/PS3 - Sound Designer/ Cinematics
Ghost Recon Wii - Nintendo Wii - Sound Designer/ Cinematics
Unpublished Action First Person Prototype XBOX 360/PS3 - Lead Sound Designer
AWARDS
2022 Best Sound Design [Nominee]
Issued by Canadian Game Awards · Jan 2022
2022 NAVGTR Award - Best Sound Design [Nominee]
Issued by National Academy of Video Game Trade Reviewers · Jan 2022
2022 The Game Awards - Best Sim/Strategy2022 [Winner]
Issued by The Game Awards · Jan 2022
2016 MPSE Golden Reel Award [Winner]
Issued by Motion Picture Sound Editors · Jan 2016
BEST SOUND EDITING & MUSIC: GAME CINEMATICS - Halo 5:Guardians
2011 Los Angeles International Film Festival- Best Sound Design - [Winner]
The Escape
Issued by Los Angeles International Film Festival · Jan 2011
WORK EXPERIENCE
Senior Sound Designer (Sep 2021- Present) - The Coalition - Microsoft Game Studios
Weapons
Creatures
Destruction
BOOM!
Working on Unreal Engine 5 and several proprietary new technologies at The Coalition.
Worked on Foley and Ambience Sound Design Systems
Working on Mix Systems
Senior Sound Designer (Nov 2015- Sep 2021) - Relic Entertainment - Sega Europe
Led the sound effects effort for Dawn of War 3 and Age of Empires 4.
Worked closely with 2 different Audio Directors to ensure that we had a consistent sound design aesthetic throughout two very different projects.
Onboarded to Relic’s Essence Engine, a proprietary game development engine that was created to make Real Time Strategy games.
Worked on combat audio technology for Dawn of War 3, working closely with the Combat Designers to help unify the audio presentation with the needs of the project.
Created the Mix systems for Age of Empires 4, that included frequency based ducking for combat, using an importance system that was tunable to different unit classes and levels.
Created an ambient playback system for RTS, which detects the dynamic environment underneath the player perspective, and tunes the sounds played under each side of the player, and then pushes the appropriate content out of the right speaker. This system was very useful in Age of Empires 4 which has changing environments per map and that can vary within a single game depending on changing battlefield conditions.
Created different pallets of sounds to be used in Gameplay, Front End and Cinematics and led the aesthetic of the special SFX in the game.
Worked closely with map designers to ensure that audio contributed to the different needs in the game.
Worked closely with the building designers to create dynamic construction and destruction sounds that work dynamically with the changing level and map conditions, as well as different materials and textures.
Was responsible for the overall Mix of the game, and worked closely with the Audio Director and other sound designers, to ensure there was a consistent system of asset delivery to facilitate the process.
Mentored junior sound designers, and guided them through different needs for the sound design aesthetic of the game, as well as Foley recordings.
Led multiple field recording trips and sessions, to record destruction and construction sounds on several materials, horse sounds, archery sounds, farm animals, different ambiences and others.
Created different sound pallets for Gameplay and Front End sounds, using different synthesis techniques.
Sound Designer (Mar 2014 - Nov 2015) – 343 Industries, Microsoft Game Studios
Created a variety of gameplay assets for Halo 5: Guardians. I was responsible for creating all world objects and ambiences for several campaign missions and Warzone multiplayer maps.
Worked directly with the Audio Director and Lead Sound Designer to create a consistent sound aesthetic in the game.
Collaborated with different sound implementers to create the assets for the game that followed a consistent and standardized format for campaign and multiplayer.
Collaborated directly with multiple Level and Narrative Designers to ensure that our sounds pushed the vision of the game forward.
Created original sound assets using various synthesis techniques that created a pallet of sounds used throughout the game.
Participated in several field recording and Foley recording sessions to produce original assets for the game.
Created several Gameplay and Front End UI/UX sounds following the aesthetic developed by the Audio Director.
Did a lot of processing of VO for campaign missions, as well as ensuring that the localization languages maintained a level of quality and had the same aesthetic.
Created sound effect sound tracks for some of the cinematic content used to promote the game.
Created sound effect assets that were used for the Gameplay Cinematics that appear in Campaign. We were lucky to win the MPSE Golden Reel award for best cinematic sound in a video game for that year.
Rerecording Mixer and Sound Effects Editor (Nov 2011 - Nov 2013) – Sharpe Sound Studios
SFX creation, Foley recording and performance. VO, ADR and field recording for feature films and television shows.
Editing of sound effects for different shows in a variety of styles (horror, walk and talk, action, comedy) for network and theatrical release.
Was quickly promoted to be a re-recording mixer for Foley, Backgrounds and Sound Effects.
Recorded hundreds of hours of Foley for television and theatrical releases. Worked directly with experienced Foley artists to find the right props and sounds for a variety of shows.
Collaborated with a variety of clients and worked with them to address their needs and was always willing to experiment with different ideas to find a satisfying solution for all.
Collaborated with a number of experienced sound designers and helped them create sessions that were consistent with the mixing stage requirements.
Responsible for ensuring delivery requirements were met on time and to Network specifications.
Engineered mix sessions for different shows and different mixers to ensure that the collaboration between SFX designers, Foley editors, Dialogue editors and mixers came together in a cohesive way.
Recorded ADR with several actors and Walla groups.
Audio Engineer (Nov 2010 - Nov 2011) – Keystone Entertainment/Western PostProduction
Engineered the Mix and ensured that it stayed consistent between different picture changes.
Worked closely with contract Sound Designers and Mixers, to bring together the different requirements created by the post production coordinator seamlessly.
Created sound effects used in the Backgrounds and SFX stems of the projects.
Recorded ADR with several actors and Walla groups.
Recorded Foley with experienced Foley artists, and made sure we sourced the right props per project.
Vast experience in creating 7.1, 5.1, ProLogic II, DME, M&E Stems as well as helper stems, Choir and Vocal Stems for Feature Films.
Technical skills in post production environments. Responsible for the implementation and general running of the hardware and equipment used throughout the post production studio.
Sound Designer (Jan 2009 - Oct 2010) – Next Level Games
Created original assets for Ghost Recon Wii, Luigi’s Mansion 2, Captain America: Super Soldier, and an unannounced next gen prototype.
Created a Foley playback system used in Luigi’s Mansion 2 that changed dynamically with the changing Gameplay conditions.
Created creature design for the Luigi’s Mansion 2. Recorded several sessions of original material to be used in the game.
Edited sound effects for different Cinematics in several games.
Created UI sound effects for Captain America: Super Soldier and helped test different areas of the game.
Worked closely with the Lead sound effects designer to create the aesthetic of Luigi’s Mansion 2 and Ghost Recon Wii.
Helped develop a dialogue implementation in house tool for Next Level Games, which was used in an unannounced unpublished prototype and in future games.
Post Production Assistant (Oct 2008 - Jan 2009) – Vancouver Film School – Sound Design
Helped students through the material of the program and ensured all their questions were answered in a timely manner.
Created a vast variety of sound effects for the schools films, from Foley recordings and synthesis.
Experience teaching classes in Media Authoring, Foley, ADR, Audio Signal Flow, Microphones.
Worked directly with the program director, to improve the curriculum and create new classes.
Mixed several student films, and collaborated directly with several student directors and school faculty.
Helped design the machine room that controlled the mixing and editing rooms, including soldering dozens of patch points from one room to another and ensuring that the signal flow between patch points worked correctly.
General QUALIFICATIONS
Sound Design and Sound Effects Rerecording Mixer for Film, TV and Game Audio.
Extensive knowledge of synthesis techniques, using various software programs like NI Komplete, Serum, as well as various hardware synthesizers. I have collected several eurorack and rack mounted systems over the years.
Sound Design and implementation for several published video games using in house implementation tools and Wwise.
Expert in digital media environments i.e. Avid Pro Tools, Reaper, Ableton Live, Avid Media Composer, Adobe Audition, NI Maschine etc
Vast experience creating sound effects for video games with developers Relic Entertainment, Next Level Games and 343 Industries for publishers including Nintendo, Ubisoft, Microsoft and Sega.
Vast experience in recording Foley for feature international films as well as recording for creation of original sound effects.
Exceptional organizational skills.
Experience managing, scheduling and operating facilities and teams.
Fluent in English and Spanish.
Experience working with Microsoft Office, JIRA, ADO, on a daily basis.
EDUCATION
Vancouver Film School – Sound Design for Visual Media 2008
FILM PROJECTS
Please visit my credits on IMDB - http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3445627/
FILM STANDOUTS
2013 Valhalla (sound designer/re recording mixer/foley artist), Sweetgrass Productions’ fourth feature film, is the tale of one man’s search to rediscover the freedom of his youth. Weaving narrative driven style with award winning, face melting backcountry ski and snowboard cinematography; Valhalla is a vivid explosion of color, character, snow, and nostalgic soul.
2010 Life Cycles (sound designer/re recording mixer/foley artist), directed by Derek Frankowski and Ryab Gibb. Winner for Best Film the 2011 XDance Film Festival, Best Film 2011 Vancouver International Mountain Film Festival and official selection for several film festivals around the world.
2010 The Escape, directed by James Connolly (sound designer/re recording mixer/foley artist) (Best Sound Design at the Los Angeles International Film Festival)