Design: Sound

Not so many years ago, sound in the theatre was fairly simple. If the director wanted some pre-show music, you got some records and approximated the mood and spirit of the play and played them over the auditorium public-address system for about ten minutes before the curtain went up. You might get daring and play them again during the intermission.

If the script called for special sound effects such as doorbell or a telephone ringing, you either made the sounds live or consulted your sound-effects library, composed of low-fidelity 78-RPM records. If you used library effects, you either recorded them on you wire or tape recorder, or you cued the records up and played them just the way a disc jockey would.

Sound in the theatre has changed substantially since the bad old days. Instead of being an afterthought, sound is now frequently an integral part of the production concept. Increasing numbers of productions are giving credit to sound design as well as to the more traditional scenic, costume, and lighting design.

Theatre sound can be subdivided into three categories: music, effects, and reinforcement. Music is often used to reinforce the mood or atmosphere for a play. Effects create an aural backdrop of appropriate sounds for the environment of a play. Reinforcement is used whenever there is a need to boost the loudness level of actors’ voices, as when the acoustics of an auditorium are not good or during musicals when the singers can’t be heard over the orchestra.

(Introduction adapted from Theatrical Design and Production by J. Michael Gillette, 2000)

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