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.
The play was directed by Julie Ellen and was a pleasure to work on. Sandy’s imaginative writing called for the creation of some interesting effects, including elaborate helicopter and aeroplane soundscapes, air traffic control radio communications and even the sound of bird eggs hatching!
The show features Sandy Nelson, Rebecca Elise and Ewan Donald and is a great show that is packed full of laughs.
“Baltamire” runs from 8th November until 12th November. You can get tickets here.
“Baltamire” by Sandy Nelson.
Directed by Julie Ellen.
Assistant director – Stasi Schaeffer
Featuring Sandy Nelson, Rebecca Elise and Ewan Donald.
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