Sound design is usually challenging because a show is BIG. It has lots of cues, lots of microphones, lots of, well, something.
My next project is a challenge for the exactly the opposite reason: it has to be simple.
The show in question is a touring version of Romeo and Juliet. The production is part of our educational program at ASF and is designed to tour to regional schools, with the aim of being both education and instructional - offering a combination of a gentle introduction to Shakespeare and offering workshop options with instruction on the Bard and theatre, acting and being an audience. The touring group will perform in a variety of venues - from traditional high school theatres and cafatoriums, to gyms, classrooms, and school courtyards. Part of the parameters of the tour include a condensed script - it has to be short enough to be staged in about an hour. While it needs to be a complete production - the tech support that accompany it must fit in a trailer and can be set-up by the minimal touring company: 8 actors/technicians and a stage/tour manager.
The sound system that travels with the tour (as you might imagine,) has to be both portable and simple - I've been sending out a portable "all in one" system of lightweight powered speakers and on board mini mixer. Playback has traditionally been a single deck - in short, whatever sound is used has to be very simple .
The challenge before me is how to make sure the effects and music chosen for the show meet two very high bars: interesting and dynamic enough to capture an audience used to movies and video games with elaborate sound, and yet be practical and simple enough to be executed in a handful of tracks.
Step one: what is absolutely critical to the show? What sound do we need? While I don't yet have a final script to answer the bulk of that question in terms of effects or transitions - the two things I know I need: music for the beginning - the public brawl that begins the action of the play - and curtain call.
Step two: finding the "right" music for these sections. If you're a composer (which I am not) you can write that music. Since that's not in my skill set, I have to find the pieces I need. It has to be appropriate, exciting, dynamic. Luckily, the days of hunting through CD's in a library collection or buying albums to choose from are over. The internet makes searching for, listening two, and eventually buying music so much simpler.
Step three: fleshing it all out. Once the essentials are down and the music is chosen, I can fill in the spaces with underscore, sound-scape, or the embellishment to flesh out the show. Just because the show needs to be simple, doesn't require it to empty. That said... I may discover that it needs very little help from me when it's said and done.
Finally: editing and mix down.
Unlike a show playing back on computer, I can to overlays or fade in's with some programming - which means it has to be done on the track in an edit.
Back to the Basics
by Richelle Thompson
Aug 20, 2013
Sound design is usually challenging because a show is BIG. It has lots of cues, lots of microphones, lots of, well, something.
My next project is a challenge for the exactly the opposite reason: it has to be simple.
The show in question is a touring version of Romeo and Juliet. The production is part of our educational program at ASF and is designed to tour to regional schools, with the aim of being both education and instructional - offering a combination of a gentle introduction to Shakespeare and offering workshop options with instruction on the Bard and theatre, acting and being an audience. The touring group will perform in a variety of venues - from traditional high school theatres and cafatoriums, to gyms, classrooms, and school courtyards. Part of the parameters of the tour include a condensed script - it has to be short enough to be staged in about an hour. While it needs to be a complete production - the tech support that accompany it must fit in a trailer and can be set-up by the minimal touring company: 8 actors/technicians and a stage/tour manager.
The sound system that travels with the tour (as you might imagine,) has to be both portable and simple - I've been sending out a portable "all in one" system of lightweight powered speakers and on board mini mixer. Playback has traditionally been a single deck - in short, whatever sound is used has to be very simple .
The challenge before me is how to make sure the effects and music chosen for the show meet two very high bars: interesting and dynamic enough to capture an audience used to movies and video games with elaborate sound, and yet be practical and simple enough to be executed in a handful of tracks.
Step one: what is absolutely critical to the show? What sound do we need? While I don't yet have a final script to answer the bulk of that question in terms of effects or transitions - the two things I know I need: music for the beginning - the public brawl that begins the action of the play - and curtain call.
Step two: finding the "right" music for these sections. If you're a composer (which I am not) you can write that music. Since that's not in my skill set, I have to find the pieces I need. It has to be appropriate, exciting, dynamic. Luckily, the days of hunting through CD's in a library collection or buying albums to choose from are over. The internet makes searching for, listening two, and eventually buying music so much simpler.
Step three: fleshing it all out. Once the essentials are down and the music is chosen, I can fill in the spaces with underscore, sound-scape, or the embellishment to flesh out the show. Just because the show needs to be simple, doesn't require it to empty. That said... I may discover that it needs very little help from me when it's said and done.
Finally: editing and mix down.
Unlike a show playing back on computer, I can to overlays or fade in's with some programming - which means it has to be done on the track in an edit.
Who knows where we'll end up?
Until next time cats and kittens,
Cheers!
~R