Sound Designers
As with
lighting, a good
sound design can contribute vastly to the artistic success of a show despite rarely being consciously noticed by the audience. At a minimum, most shows will require finding orcreating a few effects. There’s a fairly good chance common noises can be found in a
sound effect library such as those at the ADC Theatre or the Cambridge Central Library (in Lion Yard). Failing that, a number of
professional sound effect websites exist although these tend to be pricey. Recording specifically for the production is another alternative, but may be impractical depending on the
sound required. A test of a good
sound effect is to play it to someone who doesn’t know what it’s meant to be. If they can’t tell what it is (it’s often surprising), the effect is probably no use. A list of some online
sound effect suppliers is available at
Sound Effects.
Being able to perform some basic
recording, editing and manipulation is a big advantage in creating the
sound desired, particularly for longer, more complex “atmosphere” effects. This is normally done on computer – even a basic model is capable of
recording and playback of sufficient quality for use in theatre. There are some great tools available free of charge, particularly the editor Audacity . Other commonly used (but expensive) editors include Wavelab, Adobe Audtion (formerly known as Cooledit) and Cakewalk Pro.
Once the effect is created, it typically needs to be transferred to another medium (such as minidisc or CD) for playback during the show. Overlapping effects need to be premixed, or if the timing of the second is important, replayed from separate machines on the night.
Some shows such as musicals require live amplification to achieve a better balance or just to make them louder! Many learn the specialist techniques required for this by working as an assistant
sound designer before designing their own shows.
Last edited Tue 5th Feb 2008 by Alex Brett
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