PROFILE
Janet " PJ " Pascual
By Michael Raine
With her ability to appreciate audio from both an artistic and technical perspective , and the winding journey she took into the industry , Janet “ PJ ” Pascual credits who she is and where she is to her boisterous , close-knit family . From the Philippines to California , then to Canada , and now back in the U . S ., her current destination sees her working as an associate sound designer for Riot Games , one of the biggest names in video games and esports .
Pascual was born in the Philippines capital of Manila , but her family moved to the U . S . when she was just two years old . In South Pasadena , CA , near Los Angeles , she grew up as the youngest of three kids .
“ I like to say that since I ’ m the youngest , I got all the pieces of my personality from my family ,” says Pascual , noting that her father encouraged her love for all forms of art , while her mom championed education and fostered her desire to excel at whatever she learned ,“ even though I was not the best and brightest student . My brother and sister have always been supportive of my weird endeavors and are probably responsible for my outlook on life . They both took up medical professional fields , which allowed the pressure to be the stereotypical Asian who was good at numbers and medicine to be off my back . Whenever there was a family reunion or event , I knew I would take part in it somehow . Usually it involved singing with my dad and other relatives , making a slideshow for the songs we would sing , putting on performances with my cousin , making videos , etc . When everyone was together , we bonded over musicals , Broadway , and watching all the special features on the second disk of DVDs . We weren ’ t the coolest family who got to go skiing in the mountains for every vacation , but what we did , we did together . I just remember my childhood being unusually loud — laughing , yelling , just very boisterous .”
It was during a post-production class at Pasadena City College that Pascual caught the audio bug . Her professor asked the class if they knew what makes sound different from other forms of media , the answer being that sound is the only form of media that can physically move you . “ Ever since then , I just noticed it everywhere ,” Pascual says .
With a desire to pursue audio and also see Canada , Pascual ’ s search led her to enroll at the Ontario Institute of Audio Recording Technology ( OIART ) in London , ON , in her late 20s . “ I was determined to really follow the dream that I had put on the backburner for years ,” she explains .
At OIART , Pascual threw herself into the work and took her professors ’ advice to heart . “ The advice my professors from OIART kept cramming into our heads was : make connections because the audio industry is huge , but small and everyone knows someone ; find a mentor ; be humble about your beginnings ; have integrity and say yes to the opportunities you get because they won ’ t come as often as you think ,” Pascual recalls . As such , she took on short-term , unpaid jobs for live sound events in Woodstock , ON , reached out to professionals in the industry and bought them coffee so she could pick their brains , and she joined the Foley Artist Group on Facebook . She also did an unpaid internship for HiFi Foley in LA and even listened to audio-focused podcasts and contacted the people she resonated the most with .
The hard work paid off when Mark Vogelsang at OIART saw that Riot Games was hiring for an entry-level position and suggested that Pascual apply . “ I polished my application with the help of my brother and Vogelsang and somehow made it through a month of ongoing interviews with Riot . They ended up loving my background , my eagerness to work , my passion for sound , and because I worked with HiFi Foley ( who they worked with before ), it was another thing that got me through the door . Everything my professors deemed significant rang true ,” she attests , saying she still feels like a novice in the industry . “ I ’ m still in disbelief some days that I get to say that I ’ m an associate sound designer at Riot Entertainment for Arcane . I can say that I love my job for the very first time and I have the best mentors I could ’ ve asked for : Brad Beaumont
and Eliot Connors . Both are giants who have done incredible work in the audio industry in games / titles like God of War and Pacific Rim . I wish I could say that recording and creating cool sounds was enough , but you really have to meet people and earnestly receive the advice they give you .”
In terms of what she likes to do outside of work , it clears why Pascual has been a great fit at Riot Games .
“ I love being a soundie , but I don ’ t want to put myself in that box ,” she says . “ I really love playing video games to unwind or watch TV shows / movies when I just finished work . RPGs ( role-laying games ) are my favorite games to play and I ’ m currently playing Horizon Zero Dawn and Stray . I just started boxing lessons to help me stay active and wait for traffic to die down for my commute home . One thing that ’ s great about Riot is that my coworkers are a bunch of passionate nerds , so we share a lot of common interests . My favorite team bonding activity so far is karaoke . Trying to keep my soul happy by giving as much balance to my life as I can .”
Michael Raine is the Editor-in-Chief of Professional Sound .
18 PROFESSIONAL SOUND