2026-03-24 –, Half Room
This talk will present a framework to help game designers and audio professionals better translate the aesthetics of their audio direction into a final mix that clearly communicates to players the feedback they need to hear.
Creating a proper audio mix that will delight players is a gigantic mountain to climb. If you’ve ever produced music, you probably heard the phrase “a good mix starts with a good musical arrangement”. The same is true when talking about game audio. But what is a “good arrangement” when it comes to video games? What even is a “good mix” in the first place?
This talk will explore how to shape a game’s soundscape so that the audio mix clearly communicates to the player the feedback they need to hear. By analyzing existing games, as well as an in-development project, this talk will discuss how to establish a more objective audio vocabulary, clearing the fog that exists between the aesthetics of the audio direction and the final mix players will listen to.
Attendees will leave this talk with a clearer understanding of what makes a sound stand out versus blend in the background of a mix. Attendees will also leave with a framework they can use to help them shape their game’s audio direction.
Caio Miguel Jiacomini is a video game sound designer and audio developer. Comfortable with the whole game audio pipeline, he has worked doing everything from creative sound design to audio programming for several titles, from indie to AAA. He has been a gamer since he got a PlayStation One for Christmas as a child, falling in love with the profound impact that audio has on a game’s emotional experience.
He currently works at thatgamecompany as an Audio Designer on Sky: Children of the Light, creating a wide range of sound effects for the game and developing internal systems and tools for the audio team. On top of that, he’s also an Assistant Professor at Berklee College of Music, teaching game audio courses.
Previously, he worked at Psyonix designing and implementing sound effects for Rocket League and even developed proprietary audio software for the game. Beyond that, he has worked with teams of all shapes and sizes as a freelancer, both as a contractor within larger studios to help them meet their milestones, as well as collaborating with indie developers to help them build their entire audio vision from scratch.
Caio was born in São Paulo, Brazil, where he started studying music at the age of ten with an acoustic guitar handcrafted by his grandfather. In 2017, he moved to the United States to pursue a Bachelor's degree from Berklee College of Music in Boston, where he still lives.
He also develops his own synthesizers and audio tools for fun. When he's not being a massive audio nerd, Caio likes to sit outside with a good book while watching over the packs of menacing geese that roam the streets of Boston.