“Stand-by SQ 01, monthly theme… monthly theme Go!”
Ok, so this month we’re going to be taking a look at the world of sound for live theater. This is the world where many argue the term “Sound Designer” found its first use. A world where multi-channel discreet sound systems going into the hundreds of speakers could be found long before film. Where the dynamic, adaptive and often unpredictable nature of game audio could be experienced long before the digital age. This is a world where use of props to create sound, such as using wooden balls in a gutter system in the “heavens” for the sound of thunder, came about long before Jack Foley began walking his many miles.
Theater as a form of performance goes back over two-thousand years, so I think we all might be able to learn something from the practitioners who still find new ways to use sound to tell stories in theaters around the world. So get cosy with the person next to you, get some ice cream in the intermission and try not to let the partially obstructed view ruin your view… should have known better than to buy from the discount booth!
If you have something to add or something you’d like to see, let us know! Comment below, ask a question in the Designing Sound Exchange, post to Facebook, or start up a conversation on Twitter!
Please email richard [at] this site to contribute an article for this month’s topic. And as always, please feel free to go “off-topic” if there’s something else you’re burning to share with the community.
It would be thrilling to learn about the acoustical considerations within a given space and what makes sound for live theater different than sound for the moving image; can it involve the audience as much as cinema can?