Understand the constraint
Picture, build, or brief first. Platform, deadline, deliverable list, references, and whoever has final say. The awkward questions get asked here, while they are still cheap.
About
I make audio that arrives finished.
Sound designer, composer and mixer based in Montreal. Twenty-seven years in music and audio production, ten composing for screen, five in game audio — and I hand back sessions, stems and assets that drop straight into the pipeline.
The long version
Music and sound, built around the way a production actually runs.
Most audio problems are not taste problems. A cue is two seconds late for the cut. A creature layer is beautiful and unreadable over the mix. A perfect asset arrives named in a way no one can implement. I spend as much attention on those details as on the writing itself, because they decide whether the work survives a real deadline.
I have been making records since 1997 — first as a guitarist and producer, co-producing Bactérie's Repos Sur le Hasard and playing, mixing and mastering my own instrumental record end to end, then for screen. In 2011 I contributed to the score of Steve Balderson's The Casserole Club, which took five awards at Visionfest New York. By 2015 the screen work had grown enough that I left teaching to compose full time, and that music has since been carried by Netflix, the BBC, Prime Video, IKEA, Cartoon Network and History.
In 2021 I went back to school on purpose — Berklee, then a DESS in film music at UQAM, then Wwise certification — and it pulled me into interactive work. Since 2024 I have shipped audio on six VR and XR titles for Meta Quest, Galaxy XR and Meta Horizon. Working in both worlds changed how I approach either one: linear work taught me that the emotional job of a scene is decided in a handful of frames, and interactive work taught me to build audio as a system, with naming, structure, loop points and headroom planned before a single asset is exported.
I teach as well — four courses at Recording Arts Canada, and sound production at UQAM's École des médias since 2026. I work in French and in English, from Montreal, on anything from a single licensed cue to full audio direction on a title — and I would rather be told the real constraint early than be handed a brief that has been smoothed out for me.
How I work
Four steps, and no surprises in the last one.
Agree on the sound before building it
A short direction pass — palette, references, sonic identity, and what the audio is meant to do dramatically. Approved early, it saves whole revision rounds later.
Compose, design, and cut to picture
Writing, sound design, editorial, and dialogue work against the actual cut or build — not a proxy. For interactive work, assets are structured for implementation as they are made.
Mix, document, and hand off
Final mix in the target format, plus stems, alternates, loops, metadata and naming that your editor or engine can use without a call to explain it.
Composition, sound design, dialogue editorial and final mix for programming, documentary, lifestyle, factual and campaign work.
Sound design, adaptive music, spatial audio and implementation-ready assets built for Unity, Unreal, Wwise and FMOD pipelines.
Catalogue cues available through PremiumBeat and Atomica Music, with stems, alternates, cutdowns and custom adaptations.
Studio
The tools are boring on purpose. The output has to be portable.
Composition & capture
Score, cue and theme writing with virtual orchestration, synthesis and field recording feeding the same session discipline.
- Pro Tools · Cubase · Logic Pro · Reaper
- Virtual orchestration and hybrid writing
- Field recording and sound library building
- Synthesis, processing and voice design
Interactive audio
Audio designed as a system: states, variation, loop logic and asset structure planned with the engine in mind from the start.
- Wwise and FMOD implementation
- Unity and Unreal Engine integration
- Adaptive music and runtime variation
- Documented, engine-ready asset libraries
Mix and delivery formats
Final mixes prepared for the format the project actually ships in, with the stems and alternates post will ask for two weeks later.
- Stereo, 5.1, 7.1 and Dolby Atmos
- Binaural and ambisonic spatial mixes
- Stems, alternates, loops and cutdowns
- Metadata, naming and delivery documentation
Credentials
Claims you can go and check.
SOCAN-documented placements
Music placed and aired across television, streaming and entertainment programming, with documented usage available on request.
PremiumBeat and Atomica Music
License-ready catalogue cues published and available to editorial teams directly. PremiumBeat catalogue Atomica catalogue
Released games and XR titles
Audio shipped on published titles for Meta Quest, Meta Horizon, Galaxy XR and mobile, with studios including CurlyBlue, Squido and Goose Byte.
DESS in film music, UQAM · Wwise certified 101–301
Graduate work in advanced virtual orchestration, studio recording and synchronisation, and ambisonic 3D audio, plus Berklee Online coursework in contemporary composition, film scoring and game audio. Pro Tools certified 101 and 110.
SOCAN · SPACQ · SCGC · ACTRA RACS · Quebec Video Game Guild
Member in good standing of the Canadian rights, screen-composer and video-game industry bodies.
Recording Arts Canada · UQAM École des médias
Four courses in the audio production program at Recording Arts Canada since 2023, and pedagogical animator in sound production at UQAM since September 2026.
Broadcasters, platforms and brands
Work carried across a documented list of networks, streamers, studios and brands — the full list lives on the credits page.
Quick answers
The questions that come up before a first call.
Who is Martin Riopel?
A Montreal-based sound designer, composer, mixer and audio artist working across television, film, trailers, branded content, games, XR/VR and music licensing.
What kind of projects fit best?
Broadcast and streaming programming, film and short-form picture, game and XR titles, announce and launch trailers, branded campaigns, and license-ready music for editorial use.
Can the work be handled remotely?
Yes. Montreal-based, working with teams across Canada, the United States and remote production pipelines, in English and in French.
What should a first message include?
Project type, target platform, deadline, reference links, the current cut or build, and the deliverables you need. That is enough for a real answer instead of a range.
Contact
Send the cut, build, scene, or brief.
Include the project type, target platform, deadline, reference links, and required deliverables.