I worked for the last 22 years in community theatre. And, for the past six-and-a-half years, in dinner theatre. Both have their similarities, and their differences.
Community theatres do dramas, comedies, mysteries and musicals. The musicals almost always have live musicians, although I have worked on musicals that had only one guy with a keyboard. Or just a trio or quartet. Dinner theatres do mostly farces and comedies, with the very odd mystery or musical.
Farces, comedies and mysteries never have an orchestra in community or dinner theatre. In community theatre almost everyone is a volunteer, but not the musicians. Nice union they've got, eh?
In dinner theatre, everyone is paid. The actors, the director, the stage manager and yes, even the light and sound guy(s). So, musicians, four extra guys to pay? No, it's not in the budget.
So that's where I come in. I select the music for the preshow, the intermission, the curtain call and the exit. And usually whenever the lights go out between scenes. In the background in party scenes. And lots of sound effects.
I like when a show has a theme, because I can choose music to that theme. Shows that are set in the past are great, because you can play the hits from that time period. The show I'm doing right now is called Prisoner of Second Avenue, by Neil Simon, and it's set in the early seventies. So I chose a window of 1968 to 1972 and all the music I am using is from that time period. I try to intermix the music that you hear all the time on oldies radio (California Dreaming, Lookin' Out My Back Door) with hits you don't hear so much these days (Cry Like a Baby, Gypsies Tramps and Thieves).
Even if the show is set in the present it may have a theme. Especially in farces there seems to be a lot of shows about doctors so I'll usually use Bad Case of Loving You, Good Lovin', Doctor My Eyes, etc. The first two are especially great for the curtain call, which has to be an upbeat number. If it's about love, well, there's millions of songs you can use. If there's marriage you can always use Love and Marriage by Sinatra.
Speaking of Sinatra, he's my best friend when it comes to choosing music for a show. Frank recorded so many songs you have one for just about every situation. The Beatles are a close second.
And then there's sound effects. As far as I'm concerned, if you can make the sound on stage, don't ask me to do it. It's not laziness, it's that sound effects just never sound real. For one thing, they're coming out of the speakers on the sides, or above the stage. Sometimes you have to have effects for atmosphere--crickets chirping, thunder, traffic. But a ringing phone or a door bell sound fake coming through the speakers.
There's lots of sound effect records (CDs) out there. And now, lots of websites where people upload their own sounds. These are all very helpful. Sometimes you find the perfect sound, and use it. But most of the time they need a little tweaking. And sometimes you just have to record your own. I have a microphone and a mixing board that plug right into my computer and I am frequently carting the whole thing somewhere to record some sound for a show.
I still do sound design for community theatre once in a while, if I can fit it into my schedule. A few years back a theatre was doing The Mousetrap by Agatha Christie and asked me to do the sound. The producer then said it was an easy one--all the sounds that were needed were listed in the book. Specific music, BBC News Reports, etc. I told them they didn't need a designer, they just needed someone to go fetch all the music at the record store. The big downtown music stores, not the Walmart. I just didn't have the time.
But I did a little research and discovered that the publishing company that sold the scripts and the rights to the show also offered the sound plot on CD for $75.00. I told the producer, it was added to the budget, and we ordered it right away.
It wasn't perfect. They must have lost the rights to a few pieces of music and they were missing from the CD, replace with similar public domain stuff. I found the original pieces the author asked for on the internet and we used them. But the sound effects, and the fake BBC stuff were perfect!
A couple of years later the dinner theatre also did the Mousetrap. Ha, I already had the CD, although legally we were probably supposed to buy another one. But we didn't and used the same one and again, it was perfect. I wish I could have said the same for the show, which is not one of my favourites...
Thank goodness I can use a computer for sound, even at this antiquated theatre. The light board is a relic from the 1970s, back when the theatre first opened. It still works, so it's staying. It has no memories, and only two presets. While the lights are up for one cue I can set the next cue on 24 channels. When I go to that cue I can set the next one on the other 24 channels. It can get pretty tough when there are a lot of light cues. Fortunately, farces and comedies don't usually require much, just lights up and lights down.
But sound is much more complicated. I, fortunately, never had to use vinyl records at the theatre. When I started we were using cassette tapes. It worked pretty well most of the time.
CDs were nice when they first came along. But at first you still had to use tape as well, since you couldn't make your own CDs. Sound effects worked so much better on CD though, when you could find the perfect one on CD. Then, when you were able to burn your own CDs we were finally able to get rid of tapes.
Now I don't even bother with CDs, except for backup and archives. All my sound is done on computer now. I found a really nice theatre sound programme, SoundCueSystem from Australia, that works perfectly. You can run multiple cues if necessary, you can programme sounds to run on one of your keyboard keys if you want (just touch the "T" and get the traffic sound, for example). Sound cues automatically advance to the next cue, you can programme cues to start automatically, you can adjust volumes, fade in and fade out, etc. It cost me $100 but it was worth it--I've been using it for about seven years. They tell me there's a free programme for Macs that is just as good, but I don't know. I use Windows, and I'm quite happy with SCS.
I do have an archive in my home of all the shows I've done, since I've been able to burn my own CDs. It has come in very handy. In twenty-some years I've done the same shows a couple of times, and I can usually use the same sound plot in most cases. Sometimes a different director has different ideas so there may be a few changes but basically, it's the same. And, if I need something specific, like a gunshot, or a helicopter for example, I can find it in a show I've done before many times. If I remember which show.
I really have to start taking advantage of the preshow and intermission music that I've previously used. It seems I make a new one every time, and I really don't have to. No one, but me, is going to remember that I used exactly the same intermission music five years ago.
I'm about to begin the sound work for "Self Help" by Norm Foster. I've had a bit of recording to do--there is some business with an intercom that I've decided to record rather than hook up a microphone backstage and have the actress do it live. This frees her up from having to do something when she's not required on stage, and I can play with the sound and make it sound like it's coming from an intercom. Plus there's a couple of swear words that get cut off (for comedy effect). I had the actress say the swear words so I can cut it off exactly when the script calls for--I think it will sound better that way. As well there's an announcer that I had my wife do. Usually I'm the voice for all these things, and I think the audience is beginning to recognize my voice. Especially since I do the announcement before the show--you know, shut off your cell phone, etc.
The play is set in the present, so no help there. It's about a couple of con-men who work as motivational speakers, and that's not a whole lot of help either. My wife has suggested "Walking On Sunshine", and that'll work for the curtain call anyway. Any suggestions?
Anyway, I'll have more to say about theatre in the future I'm sure. If you have any thoughts, please leave a comment below. I'd love to hear from you.
Michael
No comments:
Post a Comment