44 l July 2012 livefeature Aspirations always
exceed budgets when it comes to staging a major production
Show time
Theatre is working under tighter and tighter deadlines. And that, Gez Kahan discovers, has a great effect on the products sound designers are choosing
WHAT, DO you imagine, is the big must-have for today’s theatre sound designers? The answer may surprise you – especially if you’d expected a flurry of mentions for new products and technologies. To a man, those we interviewed began by saying ‘nothing really, at the moment’, but as they warmed to their subject, one must-have came across loud and clear. Time. And sound designers aren’t getting enough of it because, as we all know, time is money. That isn’t to say that theatre is
in trouble, although there are some worries about the effect the London Olympics will have on the West End (see panel, page 46). But budgets certainly aren’t getting bigger, and that not only impinges on the purchase of new gear but squeezes schedules and therefore the amount of time a sound designer can devote to experimentation. “People’s aspirations always
exceed the producer’s budget,” begins Chris Jordan, head of sound and theatre for Blitz Communications. “Shows are tending to use the same sort of kit and stick with their choices until something revolutionary comes along.”
And though there’s been a
revolution in audio during the past decade or so, there doesn’t seem to be one happening now. That’s not to say there hasn’t been gradual change. “We’ve seen the end of any analogue desks,” Jordan says, but adds that for a real revolution you have to look away from sound. “Video has undergone a
revolution during the past few years,” he believes. “Advances in media playback and so on have transformed things – look at Ghost the Musical, where an illusionist was part of the design team, even being credited for the Tony Award. Sound hasn’t gone through that.” That, incidentally, isn’t because video is creaming budget off from the audio department – although audio folk always do suspect they come second when the money’s being doled out. Economics are a factor, but the real squeeze is on time. “Everything we do has greater time constraints,” Jordan says. “A day’s labour with 100 people on set and venue rental on top is serious money.” One of the top items on the wish list of Duncan Bell, financial director of Autograph Sound (and
“Standards are rising at the same time as production times are being squeezed, so the software needs to be quicker and more flexible. We’re often having to use two consoles at the same time – one for live and one for programming.” That has an inevitable effect
“Regional theatre buys, while the big shows rent, and will be likely to have sound designers who want to use the latest of
everything” Tom Byrne, Orbital
an accomplished sound engineer), is flexibility and speed of programming. “With production budgets under pressure, and using busy freelancers, we need to be able to program on the fly.
on innovation, because the shorter the lead time, the more likely you are to go with tried and tested solutions. And that in itself reinforces the status quo. “There are always sound designers who are pushing,” Bell says, “but it’s difficult for a busy freelance to spend enough time getting to grips with new technology. Plus some people think they have already invested enough time on changing from analogue to digital.” And that leads to another consideration. The big revolution – in terms of equipment – has pretty much happened, and there inevitably has to be a period of consolidation to follow. “I don’t like the idea of the
business plateauing – and it won’t last forever,” says Bell, “but it’s a cycle in business.” And it’s not necessarily a bad thing. With less time to spend messing around with new toys, designers will get to know their current faves better and learn how to get the most out of
them. Plus there’s a change in the way of thinking that comes with the changeover from analogue to digital, and that won’t have come easy to traditionalists – although there are fewer and fewer of them around. “There’s a generation now getting to learn how to use digital and get the most out of them,” says Chris Headlam, MD of Orbital Sound. “They’re a generation who never knew analogue – they’re more likely to come from a PlayStation background – and they see this as a whole, a surface. And we’re now getting very interesting sound design ideas. “Everyone used to chase
the naturalistic sound – but that’s boring. Using a 3D space is more involving, more exciting. So I’m quite positive about this. And because the technology is really good, that means now they can play with the dynamics.”
WHAT’S HOT Tom Byrne, sales director at Orbital, points out an important distinction between big production shows and regional theatre. “Regional theatre buys,” he says, “while the big shows rent, and will be likely to have sound designers who want to use the latest of everything.”
www.prosoundnewseurope.com
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