I recently did a sound design for Macbeth (also known as “the Scottish play”) at Cottiers theatre in Glasgow, directed by Lawrence Crawford for inTheatre. The show marked the 400th anniversary of the Shakespeare classic.
The Cottiers building (originally a church built in 1865) has the perfect atmosphere for the Scottish play and stunning acoustics.
The droning soundscapes I created were based around the sound of oil drums, treated and looped to become endless textures. They were layered to create a moody backdrop that could shift between a single tone and swelling chords. I was keen to have a contemporary feel to the music so I worked with jazz saxophinst Michael Butcher who improvised various harmonic phrases on top. I had fun playing with some interesting echo effects as he was recording.
Macbeth Preshow Soundscape – an overview of the various soundscapes in the show.
The soundtrack was brought to life by the Glasgow Gaelic Musical Association (conducted by Kenny Thomson) who I recorded singing various chords and phrases. Eilidh Davies of the GGMA is also a wonderful clàrsach player and I recorded some of her beautiful playing for the preshow music and banquet scene.
The theme for the “weyward sisters” was based around a little celtic melody that actor Anne Lothian had been humming in rehearsals. Anne has a beautiful voice and the effect of her voice multitracked through “endless” reverb was quite ethereal.
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
Gary Owen‘s superb play comprised of three monologues depicting a variety of times, places and memories. Sound was used heavily throughout the piece to help create these atmospheres.
One soundscape represented a journey – in both a literal and metaphorical sense. In keeping with the drone-like quality of the rest of my soundtrack it seemed that the sound of a vehicle mid-journey would have a suitable quality.
The EXS24 Sampler in Logic Pro.
I used a recording of a Fiat Punto on a motorway and sampled a few seconds of the engine sound. I then created numerous processed variations which I could layer. Using an “endless” reverb effect allowed the textures to decay over a long period of time, creating a stylised representation of an on-going journey. The harmonic quality in the soundscape was created by pitch-shifting different sections.
“Based on the true story of an extraordinary weekend in the life of the young Einstein, spent in Como, Italy in 1900 which changed him forever. The 21 year-old Albert has wild dreams about angels dancing on beams of light and secret passionate love-making, which would lead both to his greatest discovery, and to his greatest secret: the hidden love child whose fate would irreparably break his heart.”
The scenes move back and forth throughout a six year period depicting the courtship between Einstein and Mileva Maric. Director Julie Ellen was keen to incorporate soundscapes to help portray these shifts in time.
For these shifts in time I incorporated the sounds of bells, snippets of Bach and various locations from the play melting together to illustrate the transition from one time and place to another. The sounds were processed to have a doppler effect quality which gives the impression of the sounds approaching and passing the listener by.
Miracle is directed by Julie Ellen and features Finn den Hertog and Ailsa Courtney.
Miracle plays until Saturday 7th May. Further information on the Play Pie Pint website.
Gary Owen‘s fabulous play is set in small town Wales and tells the story of one particularly eventful Saturday night, through the eyes of three different characters. Despite being gritty and violent in places the play also drifts into the fantastical and ethereal and it is my intention to harness this heightened sense of reality in my sound design.
Crazy Gary’s Mobile Disco is directed by Leann O’Kasi and opens at The Tron on Tue 24th May and runs until Sat 28th May.
The show, performed by Tron Skillshops, examined what society would be like if there was no individuality and all young people were identical.
Barcodes became more and more significant as imagery in the piece, which was reflected in the superb set design by Peter Screen.
It seemed only fitting that the sound design should incorporate the beep of a barcode scanner.
This soundscape was made by sampling a barcode scanner sound and playing it back at different pitches.
These sounds were then re-sampled and processed in various ways including delay and pitch shifting. The processed sounds were then layered up to create texture and movement within the soundscape.
The pad and drone textures were created in Logic softsynth Sculpture.
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.
The three performances of Formel by Tim Nunn at Platform have proven to be a great success with some excellent feedback from those who attended.
Directed by Julie Ellen, Formel is a somewhat sensory experience, utilising sparse lighting – often complete darkness – and a constant soundscape to create a sense of space, depth and location . These were based on some excellent field recordings made by Tim during his stay on Islay using a Fostex FR2 LE and a Rode NT4 microphone. I then created additional elements and layered them to create a dense and rich soundscape for the show.
By assigning component parts of the soundscape to individual speakers and positioning them spatially I was able to establish a sense of location and proximity in each scene.
In contrast to this realistic sound there was also a stylised element to the sound in the performance.
Using individual sampled notes performed by flautist Katie Punter I created this minimal piece to punctuate certain dramatic moments. The drone-like quality of the long flute notes was a fitting texture with the constant ambience of the distant sea and wind heard in the soundscape.
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.
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