Marco Bustos
I’m Marco Bustos, a senior sound designer based in Santa Clarita, California, with 10+ years of experience building high-impact audio for live, combat-heavy gameplay at scale.
About
I’m Marco Bustos, a senior sound designer based in Santa Clarita, California, with 10+ years of experience building high-impact audio for live, combat-heavy gameplay at scale. I specialize in designing and implementing clear, responsive sound effects that reinforce game readability, timing, and player feedback—whether I’m tuning in-engine audio hierarchy, balancing distance and mix clarity, or iterating quickly based on playtests.
Across my career at Riot Games, I’ve owned end-to-end sound design for champions, skins, and combat systems, and also led sound design teams delivering polished audio for ongoing live content. I’m hands-on with Unity and Wwise implementation, collaborate closely with designers, VFX, animation, and engineering, and provide technical audio support and troubleshooting when needed—while also managing external composers and sound vendors to bring original music and SFX to life.
- 14 years' experience
- Joined September 2026
Skills· 5
Industry experience
- Gaming
- Media & Entertainment
Work experience· 4 roles
Owned end-to-end sound design for live gameplay content, including champions, skins, and combat systems. Designed and implemented magic spells and melee audio to support gameplay readability, timing, and player decision-making in teamfights. Integrated and tuned audio directly in-engine, balancing hierarchy, distance, and mix clarity for scale. Collaborated closely with designers, VFX, animation, and engineering to align audio with mechanics and performance constraints, then iterated rapidly based on playtests and player feedback to polish content post-release in a live environment.
Led a team delivering high-volume sound design for skins, HUDs, and personalization features while staying hands-on with asset creation and implementation. Established sound design standards and workflows to maintain quality and consistency across live content. Directed and reviewed outsourced audio to ensure assets met gameplay, technical, and aesthetic requirements.
Created and implemented sound for gameplay systems, personalized content, VO systems, and experimental features. Designed combat-focused audio emphasizing player feedback, threat communication, and impactful moments. Provided technical audio support and troubleshooting in Unity and Wwise. Managed external composers and sound design vendors for original music and SFX.
Education
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