The bulk of my professional career has been spent at Shakespeare Festivals, which are also (as a whole or in part) repertory companies. That means designing doesn’t just take in to account the needs of a single show, but all those that will be performed in repertory -- usually two or three shows, every now and then more.

This may or…

When I started as a sound designer, the idea of hiding a speaker was finding a space for a 5" x 10" box somewhere off set or behind a wall - somewhere as close to the action or object (breaking glass, magic trick, radio) as I could get it with the assistance of the carpenters or - if I was lucky - hiding it in an oversize piece of furniture. I did a little bit of experimentation with smaller home or computer speakers,…

As a sound supervisor, I've remounted several designs for productions by other designers who, for one reason or another, weren't able to come with a remounted production, or weren't available for a later version of a show. I've also remounted my own designs for productions at my own theatre. (I talked about this in a past post,…

Collaboration. To collaborate.

According to Merriam-Webster:

Definition of COLLABORATE

It's that time of year again... time to hire. Time to post, time to read resumes, to interview, contact references, and (God willing) hire someone.

This year the process is a little different - in that I only have a position for part of the season and am getting to the game late. (I thought I had someone lined up for the job, but that…

My first response to this question usually starts like this... "Uhhh... well.... I do sound for 90% of the productions at ASF..."

One would think with as many times as I've had to answer this question... (which is the one that comes after: "Where do you work?") that I'd have a better response.

But I don't.

There are few times where I am as reminded of how intangible sound design is... not only as a design element, but as a concept.

A good friend of mine used to…

When I first started sound designing "back in the day" I quickly developed a huge dislike for pre-show music. This dislike was largely spawned by disagreements with directors over what should be used, if it should match or contrast music within the show, if it should be instrumental only or contain lyrics, or if it should be all of one artist or genera. I was also aggravated by directors simply not liking anything I suggested, but…

As I am wont to do, I got side tracked with other topics, and didn't get back to the promised blog about the tech process for The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. Why this process is a little more blog worthy than most - is that I was my own engineer and mic tech.

That said, even though my days were long - I had a…

For starters... What's the difference between a soundscape and well... a sound design? A sound design is the complete set of music, sound effects, and reinforcement for a production. A soundscape is an on going environment created by sounds. Sound designs may include several small soundscapes, or they may BE one continuously running effects…

As part of my on going detailing of mounting The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee I thought I would bring up a piece of paperwork that I have a love hate relationship with... and that is an audio system's signal path visualized: a block diagram.

When I started in audio, this was the piece of paperwork I believed absolutely…

From last week's post - I described how I broke down the cast list and orchestra pit line-up to put together a list of what I would need and the number of input and output channels to mix the show.

Here's what my FOH position looked like:…

In my last post, I talked about my design process for the show. The next phase, is planning and equipping for operation. In other words, choosing my gear and configuring it to best achieve what the director wants, the musical director expects, and what will best serve the show and the engineer. (In this case, me.) Engineering for yourself is a very mixed blessing... but more about THAT later...

The first step for me in this is to look at the line up. How many actors on stage need a…

This week, we finish loading in ASF's next production, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. This post and the next few following will detail the audio components of the show - design and…

Coming off of Nanta is anti-climatic in it's own right... but facing a musical on my own in it's wake is a new level of daunting.

And that's exactly what's next on my plate: the proverbial soup to nuts design and engineering of the next ASF production: Putnam County Spelling Bee.…

A precious and underutilized commodity in my world is "down time." By that, I don't mean "dark time" where nothing is going on in my theatre, but time when my body isn't demanded to be working in the theatre space (or any specific space, for that matter.) Typically my down time comes right after a play opens, or a few days after a musical opens and I can step away and give the show to my engineers.

And point of fact, I have just hit down time with the opening of our rep season to the…

Recording sound effects. As a sound designer, like most of my fellow designers, I've run into situations where sound effects collections, cd's, libraries etc. fail to provide the effect I need at hand. (I talked about this at length in an earlier blog: …

This past weekend, I taught several sound sessions at the Alabama Thespian convention - an organization for high school students and teachers that put on a conference once a year do workshops, put on performances, do improv sessions, network,…

The words "on time and under budget" were the favorite of a former colleague and good friend to give a simple and accurate report that her shop was in good shape, and that she didn't foresee any problems with costumes being ready by first dress or any major emergency or cash hemorrhage on the horizon. I have to say, I really miss hearing those words, as it seems that these days, the time is impossibly short and the money incredibly thin.

And isn't that always our goal as theatre…

There are lots of things I like to tell people who are or want to be sound designers, technicians, and engineers. One thing I've said before, is that you ought to do some music when you get the chance - a band or a concert. What I've decided over the past few days, is you (sound people) NEED to mix some live…

This post marks my one year annivisary as a "blogger." I say it a lot - and no matter how cliche it is, it's really true - time really does fly.

A long time ago I made a new year's resolution: to give up making new year's resolutions. It's the only resolution I've made and kept - not only for a year but many. Since I'm a girl who likes traditions, what I do instead is every January is recap my year - look at both the good and the bad. I like to look at what different…