Renowned theatre sound designer Andrew Bruce leads F&W in an exclusive exploration of sound in musical theatre – its history, past and current technologies, and the rigours of rehearsing and mixing a major West End or Broadway show.
From Cadac’s A to DiGiCo’s T, he follows the development of mixing consoles dedicated to the very specific needs of the theatre. And from script learning to line-by-line mixing, he charts the painstaking work of the theatre sound man – including learning all of the actors’ scripts. Welcome to the secret world of the musical...
‘I said I’d done some work with Soundcraft and Cadac, and had a big folder of information. Would they be interested in evolving something specifically for the theatre?
‘James put me in touch with the people who write DiGiCo’s software. They came to London and we went to see several shows that night – and I watched while the colour drained from their faces…’
Theatre Sound: Towards Digital Mixing
Following an in-depth look at the development of DiGiCo’s theatre-specific mixing software, Andrew Bruce follows the story of the stage and the mixing console, and plots the development of technologies that are now familiar both in the West End and on Broadway.
Although many members of the cast will be familiar to you from their other audio adventures, their roles here may hold some surprises.
Staging a Musical: The Sound Perspective
While centred on the stage, preparations for a major theatre production put sound operators on an equally steep, if not steeper, learning curve than the actors. They need to have every actor’s lines and cues, and all of the show effects in their head and at their fingertips.
Andrew Bruce lifts the curtain on the action at front of house, from first rehearsal to the premier and beyond.
See also:
Heard Not Seen: Autograph's Signature Script (Profile of Autograph)
Pioneering theatre sound designer Andrew Bruce is the founder and owner of Autograph. He began his career at the Glyndebourne Festival Opera before becoming Head of Sound at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. His extensive musical credits include Evita, Cats, Les Misérables and Miss Saigon.
