www.newcitystage.com: For as long as there has been theater, dance and music, sound amplification and modification has been an integral part of art and entertainment. Music archeologists discuss the evidence of prehistoric humans using sonorous objects and spaces—like conch shells and caves—to amplify music and voices.
4 comments:
The way that environment shapes sound is not always taken into consideration but it’s a crucial aspect of any live performance. Something that I found incredibly fascinating is the historial evidence of humans using object and location to amplify sound as long as performing has been around. Things like caves and conch shells were probably used in the past. I’ve never thought about it before but humans finding a way to amplify sound always is somewhat beautiful to me. The understanding and need to be heard has always existed. There is a connecting thread throughout history of sound designers (tho not always called that) and engineers trying to make people be heard. Considering all this, I liked hearing about the ways that current sound engineers and designers attack different spaces and the techniques they utilize to makes sure that everyone in the audience has the same experience. I can’t wait to be a part of the fray working on life events and creating a soundscape for the audience that enhances their experience as a whole.
Thinking about the role of a designer and engineer in live events is super interesting because their job is mostly to amplify and almost be invisible to the audience. I think a sound designer/engineer in live events is most successful when no one notices that there is someone amplifying and modifying the sound. This article makes me wonder how the role of the sound designer differs in different veins of the entertainment industry. It also makes me wonder what skills are transferable in these different fields and what makes a good designer in live entertainment vs. studio recording or some other kind of sound application. I feel like this article also makes me think about how what I’m doing here at CMU affects my future and how I can apply what I’m learning here in different fields and professions. Overall, this was a super enlightening and informative article that I enjoyed reading about.
Most of my background is in audio, and I have to say, most of my job was never getting creative or making artistic choices, it was just making sure everything worked. But I guess that is high school theater? I think I would have a lot of fun with sound engineering if I wasn't always worried that something would break or a computer would lock itself randomly when I was supposed to be playing tracks. After that experience, I learned to always have a printed out list of tracks that couldn't possibly go anywhere, as long as I taped it to the wall or desk or something. I think the idea of needing to be heard is very interesting. I think that naturally, people are drawn to certain voices, or believe that certain voices have more weight or are more important to listen to than others. For example, a stereotypical masculine, loud voice. I don't know about you, but if you have ever tried to compete with a loud guy with a deep voice for airtime in a conversation, its nearly impossible. I don't really know why that is, maybe we are naturally drawn to deeper sounds, or maybe it's entirely a societal thing. If I ever went into audio engineering (fat chance, but I appreciate the art form), I would keep cultural and societal nuances like that in mind.
I often wonder about how lighting and sound was done pre-modern technology. A few years ago I found a book at a used bookstore that was about theater practices but it was written some 100-odd years ago. It was interesting to see some of the stuff mentioned in the book also mentioned at the beginning of this story. Cartwright’s approach to mixing sound, “adjusting a band’s sound to match the audience’s expectations”, is very similar to the approach that I was taught. I was taught to try to mix and EQ sound to make it sound as close to a recording as possible. I’d like to say I’ve gotten close, but it’s incredibly impressive to hear it done really well. I know how to mix the voices and the instruments of my high school’s ensemble and band, but it’s a huge skill to be able to do it for so many diverse sounding musicians. The attention to detail and tone that Cartwright gives reflects how much he cares about his job and I have a huge amount of respect for that. I tend to face the same problems with instruments overpowering voices and it takes a lot of practice and work to get it blending just right. Alvarez’s technique with productions also shows that amount of attention and care.
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