Responsive Environments: New Technology and Theatre sound

Sound design is sometimes described as the “bastard child” of the theatre world. The term sound designer did not surface as an official job title until 1968. Since then, the term has most commonly referred to the individual who is responsible for locating and assembling a series of sound effects that are of absolute necessity to tell the story of a given play. Because of this primarily utilitarian definition, sound design is often marginalized in the collaborative process and is not regarded seriously as a discipline that may be used as a medium for artistic expression. The author argues that before the existence of recorded audio, this was not the case. Prior to the twentieth century, the locus of the body of the sound designer was in rehearsal, and effects were produced by the means of live foley. This allowed the designer to make real-time expressive choices. The advent of recording technology moved the job into the studio, distancing the designer from the collaborative process. He goes on to propose that technology has evolved to the point where the sound designers can re-introduce themselves to the rehearsal process, taking on a role in the construction of a play more similar to that of an actor, than that of the other designers.