Chapter 1 The Evolution of Sound Design

1. Chapter 1The Evolution of Sound Design Sound and Music for the Theatre Deena Kaye & James LeBrecht

2. “We exist in a universe of sound.” • “The trouble with life is that, unlike movies, it doesn’t have background music. We never know how we’re supposed to feel” -Lewis Gardner, 1985

3. BERNARDO 'Tis now struck twelve; get thee to bed, Francisco.FRANCISCO For this relief much thanks: 'tis bitter cold,And I am sick at heart.

4. In a play, not a single word is arbitrary. • Sound design works the same way. • The silences - as well as the dog barks or musical underscoring - are determined by specific aesthetic decisions. • Meaning and purpose are attached to everything you do as a sound designer.

5. Sound Design - defined • Sound design is the creative and technical process resulting in the complete aural environment for live theatre

6. Development of Sound Design • Since the beginning of recorded time ritual has been accompanied by music • The ancient theatre of India and China depended little on scenery and props, but was always underscored by music. • Medieval drama, developed nearly four centuries ago, served as a proving ground for many of the theatrical conventions commonplace in the Italian and English renaissance.

7. Development of Sound Design • Commedia dell’arte employed abundant musical support of the action • Shakespeare’s play used sound as a necessary element of design

8. Development of Sound Design • In the Elizabethan Theatre, music functioned to create atmosphere and to effect transitions. • Dumb show with accompaniment which did as much to convey the message of the players as did the action • Stage directions from early prompt books described the tone of the music, “recorders doleful”, “bells strange and solemn” or “the pipes sweet”

9. Development of Sound Design • Production books indicate that many musicians were hired for Elizabethan plays • Scripts called for “noises off”, bells, alarms, clocks, whistles, thunder, storms, gunshots, cannons, wolves, crickets, the crash of armor, ship’s bells, hunters with dogs

10. Development of Sound Design • As Restoration, Neoclassical, and Romantic periods of theatre evolved, emphasis on offstage sound and music went in and out of style. • Introduction of gas lighting in 1820, production values changed dramatically. Scenery became a “set”, with emphasis on realistic settings and conversational dialogue.

11. Development of Sound Design • The use of prerecorded sound effects was limited until the mid-1930’s, when sound effects recordings for the stage became readily available. • Bertolt Brecht incorporated sound recordings into his productions in the 1930s, but cited Piscator’s 1927 production of Rasputin as being the first to make use of such recordings(a speech by Lenin)

12. Development of Sound Design • 1948 introduction of the long playing record • 1952 tape recorders began to replace turntables for general use in theatre • Many Broadway Productions of the 1950s made an attempt to incorporate sound like Hollywood

13. Development of Sound Design • First credited sound designer was Dan Dugan, who was producing designs for the American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco for the 1968-69 season. • That same year the Broadway production of Hair included the credit, “Sound by Bob Kernan” • 1971, Abe Jacob, first to receive “sound designer” billing on Broadway for Jesus Christ Superstar

14. Development of Sound Design • Reel-to-reel, cassettes, CDs,synthesizers, samplers, computers, and high-quality speakers, MIDI(musical instrument digital interface), mini-disks, DATs, and DAWs have become the standard fare of the contemporary sound designer