For over 90 years, LEGO has been a universal tool of creativity and imagination. With this project, LEGO and Akcelo were looking to push the limits of sonic engineering, online world-building and Google Voice Assist. In fact, the brief was more ambitious than we realised. What began as a few sound queues ended as a carefully choreographed sonic library.

SOUND DESIGN AT SCALE

LEGO Playwaves was an audio-only experience, so the sound design had to be spot-on. Not just immersive but technically seamless. It would also require pioneering integration between a custom-built effects library and LEGO’s system, queuing an auditory adventure that kids could follow in real time.

Initial briefing notes

Playwaves bespoke sound examples

EACH WORLD REQUIRED DOZENS OF BESPOKE AMBIENT TRACKS AND SONIC EFFECTS, CAREFULLY MAPPED TO HUNDREDS OF VOCAL TRIGGERS.

A WORLD-FIRST FOR GOOGLE

We recorded more than 2500 sound effects and 11 ambient tracks, all synced to 200 individual voice commands. The next step was figuring out how to package sound files that could be queued in Akcelo’s backend system. Physical sounds. Ambient spot effects. Bespoke music beds. It was the biggest library we’d ever built, and a world-first for Google Voice Assist.

LEGO PLAYWAVES SPOKE TO OUR CORE BELIEF: THAT SOUND AND STORY ARE THE SAME THING. ONE FEEDS AND NOURISHES THE OTHER.

Playwaves bespoke sound examples

BUILD WITH YOUR EARS

“Hey Google, talk to LEGO Playwaves.” With this voice command, children could enter an entire universe of story. From the emptiness of space to the rustling grass of an African safari. Each adventure featured over an hour of cumulative sound design, with every effect and ambient track synchronised perfectly.

LEGO and Akcelo knew what they wanted to make, but not how to make it happen. Our job was to scale up the systems, overcome technical hurdles, and translate their vision into sound.

FUN MISSION SAMPLES