This post might be a little shorter and formatted differently because I am going to list and summarize my roles as a senior sound student in my undergrad both fall and spring semesters!
Fall 2022
Slapped!
Assistant Sound Designer and Engineer
I assisted with finding and recording sounds that fit the sound designers’ vision. This show took place in a circus so a lot of the sounds were comedy-based or music! This allowed me to fight the battle of copyright and budget in live theatre which was super informative. I also assisted with the installation and strike of the sound system.
War Brides– S
Sound Designer and Engineer
This was the first show I have sound-designed on my own! Luckily the director was my best friend and wanted to turn a show that didn’t have a lot of sound elements into a show where sound helped tell and shape the entire story. It was an incredibly collaborative experience and to this day the most rewarding show I have designed.
A Year With Frog and Toad
Live Mixer
This was the first musical I had ever live mixed! It had 8 performers and the show was performed using tracks. This was a great introductory show to mixing especially since it didn’t include a live band! It made me realize how important a mix is to a show and how much I enjoy live mixing! I helped program the scenes into the board, edit scenes, and live mixed all techs and shows!
Frozen Kids
Sound Designer and Engineer
This show was outside of my university for my job with the local children’s theatre. I created and edited the Qlab for these shows as well as maintained the Bluetooth speaker system we used! The children’s theatre shows are simple sound-wise because the tracks and sounds come with the purchase of the show!
Spring 2023
Matt and Ben
Sound Designer and Engineer
This show was so funny! It was a joy to design and try to make a script that is already hilarious and funnier with additional sound effects. The show process was short so it was a little stressful but it all came together and was an overall great experience! I also had an assistant on this show which was so much fun! It really helped throughout the design process to have someone to bounce ideas off of and to have a second set of ears!
The Moors
Assistant Sound Designer
For this show, we did a lot of recording which I helped with as well as creating and editing my own sounds. The designer would give me a specific scene to work on and I would come to her with edited sounds that I thought would fit! I did a lot more on my own in this production for being an assistant and it was a super fun process!
Flights of Whimsey (dance showcase)
Assistant Audio Engineer
For this show, I functioned mainly as an extra set of ears for the audio engineer in an unconventional theatre space because this show was performed in a room of all windows. This created an interesting space to engineer for sound! I also edited and recorded some spoken word poetry to music for some dance pieces that I choreographed for the show!
Into The Woods
Audio 1 and live mixer
This was the first show that I was really hired for sound purposes outside of my theatre department. We showed up at the venue and had five days of tech before opening. I programmed the board’s scenes by myself for the most part and created my own cue script which was so rewarding. This was a large show with 18 performer microphones and an orchestra. It was an incredible experience! Plus, once you’ve mixed the opening number of Into the Woods you feel like you can mix anything!
Annie Kids
Sound Designer and Engineer
This was very similar to the process for Frozen Kids! Plus, it was in the same venue which made it even better!
Shrek Jr.
Sound Designer and Engineer
This was also similar to the two kids’ productions I did, however, we were in a different venue where I was the point of contact for the live mixer and I was running sound through a system I had never used before. This was a super cool experience because I really had to be communicative with the workers of the venue that were on our tech crew for the show about my ideas in a timely manner with people who were not familiar with the show or the cast.
Godspell
Assistant Sound Designer and Engineer, Live Mixer
This show didn’t have much design aspect to it. I helped install and strike the sound system as well as programmed the board and created my own cueing script. I did the majority of the mixing on my own because it was my last college show and my designer wanted to make sure I felt comfortable! This show consisted of 16 performer microphones and a five-piece rock band pit.
Those are all the shows I worked on during my senior year! Each show brought different challenges and taught me new things about sound! I took away so much from this year and it truly makes me feel so prepared to start my career in the sound industry!
I hope you’ve enjoyed this post! Thanks for reading!