i am sound

This year’s Enchanted Forest show “Transitions” proved to be another huge success designed by lighting designer Simon Wilkonson and myself.  The new location at the Explorer’s Garden offered several different paths and routes for the audience to explore and this inspired Simon and I to create a show with a similar sense of discovery.

The main event in the show was a 10 minute piece of music accompanied by a beautiful and vast lighting display in the valley.  “The Valley” comprised of several contrapuntal pieces that could be heard individually or as a whole at the finale of the show.  Depending on where you stood in the Valley you would experience a different combination of music and soundscape.

Portal

During the composition and creation of the music for Transitions I was assisted by Joshua Payne who worked on some of the sampled sounds as well as playing keyboards on the Valley piece and preparing sheet music parts for the musicians.  I had mentioned to Joshua that it was my intention to use sampled singing bowls to create an ethereal feeling in the Portal section and he told me he had recently purchased one so he set about sampling various sounds from it.  Some of these sounds were used, along with bells and chimes for the final piece I composed for Portal.

Zoetrope

The Zoetrope was a circular hedge row that acted as the entrance to the site.  The hedge row was brought to life by a series of projected arrows rotating in a clockwise direction.  I wanted to try to create a similar cyclical notion with the music.  In keeping with having no fixed direction for the audience to move around the site I thought it would be interesting to mirror this with a piece that sounded “never ending”.   Zoetrope travels through all 12 keys, continually inverting chords and changing harmonic structure giving it an unpredictable quality.

The sound systems were provided by DM Audio specified by the wonderful Marcin Buzcek – a man who is miraculously able to transfer my crazy ideas into actual physics.  We spent some time on site adjusting positions and angles of the various d&b loudspeakers to get the sound just right. Marcin then calculated the various time delays between different sound sources and made the necessary adjustments to ensure that the entire show sounded in sync wherever your position on site. Marcin was also the recording engineer over the weekend we recorded the various musicians for the show.

Drone Henge

This stone circle area had various entrances and lent itself to an omni-directional sound piece.  Due to it’s proximity to the main show I decided against anything rhythmic and opted for long droning notes.  Given the theme of discovery throughout the show I thought it would be interesting to incorporate drones from around the world, including bagpipes, accordion, saxophone, cor anglais and didgeridoo.

Windchime Chorus

One of my favourite parts of the music for Transitions was the Windchime Chorus, which featured the beautiful voice of Anne Lothian.  This piece was installed within a small wooden pavilion situated in the heart of the Valley and acted as a moment of calming peacefulness within the show.

Oh and anybody wanting a musical souvenir of their Transitions experience can download some of my music here.

Photographs by Julie Bee used with kind permission.

A short sound design I have done for a video ident by Yuva for Edinburgh based digital studio Veemee.

The sound swells and moves with the motion of the 3D logo with a descending scale to accompany the blocks falling into place.

I am currently adding the finishing touches to my soundtrack for the 2011 Enchanted Forest show “Transitions”.

Following the success of “Force Of Nature”, lighting designer Simon Wilkinson, (who beautifully illuminated the forest last year) and myself have brought our creative minds together once again to bring you this years’ show.

The new location at The Explorer’s Garden in Pitlochry offers a different Enchanted Forest experience with different levels and vantage points to enjoy the show.

This year Simon and myself wanted to create a show that had an element of discovery, where the audience could explore their surroundings and the light and sound could transform the space before them in new and exciting ways.

One of the various pathways within the valley.

The musical pieces I have composed are different interpretations of a theme I developed earlier in the year. Although they will be installed at various spaces and distances they play in counterpoint with one another creating a different experience as the audience explore the site.

The music for this year’s show has benefitted greatly from the input of Joshua Payne, my assistant sound designer who worked on many of the recordings for the soundtrack including accordion, didgeridoo, tuned glass bottles and Tibetan singing bowls. Joshua also played keyboard and piano parts in the main piece.

As well as a variety of interesting sounds including foghorns, bells, drones and bagpipes the soundtrack this year features an attractive mix of musical performances including voices, cello, violins, flutes, saxophone and tuned percussion.

Saxophonist Michael Butcher in a recording session for Transitions.

In the meantime here is a collection of excerpts from the music from this years show…. without giving too much away I might add!

The Enchanted Forest returns from 7th – 29th October 2011.  Get tickets here.

I recently did the sound design for Dead Man’s Cell Phone, directed by Stasi Schaeffer for The Arches.

Sarah Ruhl‘s superb play explored our obsessions with mobile phones and how they dominate our lives.

One scene contained a sequence described by Ruhl as a “cell phone ballet”, where a movement piece is performed to a collage of snippets of mobile phone conversations.

The director and I agreed there should be a musical element and I thought it would be interesting to create this entirely with mobile phone sounds.  I made various recordings of the tones from a Samsung mobile phone and then sampled them so they could be played musically.  I used reverb and echo effects to create space and distance within the piece.  I then mixed in various recordings I had made of the acting company, which I treated to sound like phone conversations.

Here is the Cell Phone Ballet:

The Cell Phone Ballet. Photograph courtesy of Avril Scott

Dead Man’s Cell Phone

Written by Sarah Ruhl
Directed by Stasi Schaeffer
Designed by Avril Scott
Sound Design by RJ McConnell
Lighting Design by Alexander Ridgers

I will be giving a workshop on sound design at the Glasgow Apple store on Thursday 17th March at 6pm.

The workshop will explain what goes into a creating a soundtrack for theatre or film and how you can use Logic to create or manipulate sounds to create soundscapes or original music.

I am currently creating music and soundscapes for the Tron Skillshops production Project Branded which explores the differences between individuality and conformity.

I am working on a theme based upon musical rounds that uses a series of identical parts, echoing the subject matter in the performance.

I have just completed a sound design with original music for The Tron’s winter Tall Tales show A Very Cosy Christmas.

The show stars Angela Darcy and Carmen Pieraccini who perform one of the pieces of music on handbells which I specified for the show.

There is a great video from our rehearsals of the girls playing the bells on the Tron Facebook page which I think captures the fun of the piece.

The soundtrack incorporated various chiming sounds including bells, triangles and glockenspiels which created a really magical feel.

A Very Cosy Christmas runs from 4th Dec-24th Dec.

Well all good things must come to an end so it’s time to wave goodbye to The Enchanted Forest for another year.

This year’s show “Force Of Nature” has proved to be a huge success with overwhelming positive feedback from patrons and press alike.

Numerous people have inquired about the soundtrack -  thankyou for your interest!

For those who would like to hear the soundtrack again there is a 15 minute medley that encompasses the most memorable moments of the original sound and music that I created for the show, and after several requests I have also uploaded the popular Firefly Chorus piece in it’s entirety.

You can listen to the 15 minute medley and Firefly Chorus on my Recent Work page.

I hope Force Of Nature has been as enjoyable to attend as it was to create!

For more information on The Enchanted Forest check the official website.

After months of hard work, preparation and design The Enchanted Forest has finally arrived and it is already proving to be a resounding success.

Earlier this year I was approached by Derek Allen, the chairman of the Highland Perthshire Community Interest Company to compose music and soundscapes for this year’s Enchanted Forest show.

After walking the delightful site at Faskally Woods near Pitlochry with the lighting designer Simon Wilkinson we agreed that the natural beauty of the forest itself should be our theme for this year’s show.

After discussing how my musical ideas correlated with Simon’s vision for the lighting we noticed a strong elemental theme developing, with fire, earth, wind and water all becoming strong features in the design. The Force Of Nature was born.

In keeping with the naturalistic feel of the piece I deemed it only right that the music should employ earthly sounds in its creation. Organic sounds such as wind, birdsong, human voice and the sounds of stone slate were played musically as part of an ethereal score that was true to the naturalistic tone of the show.

In one piece entitled “Firefly Chorus” I sampled a variety of bird tweets so they could be played musically and in polyphonic structure. In this piece the evening chorus of birdsong eventually becomes a human choir, as the woodland before them is gradually illuminated in beautiful splashes of light. A moment which I hope sparks the imagination of everybody who sees and hears it.

“Firefly Chorus” was just one of several sound installations requiring very specific placement and type of loud speaker. Marcin Buczek of DM Audio was in charge of installing the various sound systems and his expertise was hugely appreciated by everyone. I would like to thank DM Audio for their superb quality of service on this production.

There will be audio from the show on my recent work page in the next week, so please check back if you would like to have a listen!

“Force Of Nature” opened last Friday and was warmly received by patrons and press alike. It was a pleasure hearing such positive feedback from many of the audience members as they promenaded around the site. It would certainly seem that the decision to create a more naturalistic show has proven to be a huge success!

There are photographs by Graham Smith on the BBC website which I recommend you have a look at.

Force Of Nature runs until the 7th November. Buy tickets here.

It’s less than a week until the Enchanted Forest show Force Of Nature is unveiled to the world and we are all very excited about it.

In the last few days Faskally Woods has been transformed into what seems like a completely different world as sound and lighting have been installed in the forest. It really is quite a magical place to be.

I have been working with Marcin Buczek from DM Audio who has overseen the installation of the various PA systems. I was very impressed with his time-delayed amplifiers in one location which really finished off the sound beautifully. I am using amps and speakers from German manufacturers D&B Audiotechnik in my sound design, and they are sounding great in the charming natural acoustic of the forest.

As well as being delighted with today’s soundcheck it was also great to see some of Simon Wilkinson’s beautiful lighting which accompanies my sound and music, and the combined effect is brilliant!

The Force Of Nature is shaping up to be a truly fantastic show so get your tickets booked!