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Sound Design / ers


GlenHartley15

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May I veer off onto a totally different tack and say that I suspect the technical advance that has had the biggest impact on theatre sound design is the very small radio microphone.

 

There was a real turning point when suddenly actors didn't have to project as much and orchestras didn't have to keep their volume low enough to hear the singers and actors. This is truly a mixed blessing but has led to totally different expectations from directors, actors and audiences. The directors and actors think that sound reinforcement can do everything and, because we often do a pretty good job, audiences expect cinema style sound from the live stage and have lost the ability to listen to non-amplified shows.

 

Talk of sound effects is interesting but we've had them for centuries, moving from practical machines on stage to reel to reel recordings to CD and Minidisk to computer playback. We've also started playing with surround sound and such--but that's just evolution. Sound effects of a sort have been there pretty much as long as theatre.

 

But radio mics...there's a game changer. Not always a good one but a game changer nonetheless.

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Perhaps you should also think about Foley style sound - real sounds, just not the 'real' sounds? Quite good this topic, because we're all trying to see what fits our own definition of designer?

<coughs...>

 

Didn't I just say that...??

 

:P

 

Ahem! Didn't I just say that?

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Going to my archive and opening a programme more or less at random, I found this. 1962, Joan Littlewood Gerry Raffles at Stratford East.

Ivor Dykes is credited as "Sound Engineer"; I think Ivor is still around.

 

I'm afraid that's all the research I'm going to do on this topic, but if the OP wants to come and trawl through a large box......

 

KC

 

 

http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f184/kclx1/SOUND_zps43e22482.jpg

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