One of Scunthorpe Little Theatre Club’s sound engineers, Alan Needham, tells us why he loves his role.
I am told that as a young child I insisted that I watch Dr Who but always hid behind the furniture when that theme tune started – the BBC Radiophonic Workshop has a lot to answer for, Delia Derbyshire in particular!
Have you ever watched a film where a character walks along a gravel track or through dry autumn leaves, the sound you hear is almost certainly added in after filming; doors creaking, rain falling, cars whizzing by, all fakes! In film and TV this job is done by the Foley department. Sound effects and background music are so important to creating an atmosphere in storytelling but if done well go almost unnoticed.
Theatre plays also have sound effects and background music which need to be found, sometimes created from scratch, each one needs to be started at the right time and volume during each performance. Some shows also use microphones for the cast which need adding to the mix as required.
I sit behind the audience at the mixing desk with a computer to play the prerecorded sounds, usually listening on headphones for any instructions from the stage manager or maybe there is a lightning flash requiring a ‘bang’ sound that I must synchronise with the lighting guy sat high above me, always following the script, and watching the play for visual cues: a doorbell button is pressed… now!
It might take weeks to collect and edit all these sounds, rehearsals need to be attended to let the cast get familiar with them, I must practice just as the cast do – we are all ‘live’ for a show, there can be no retakes!
I have always loved sound (I blame Delia) and music. It can get a bit stressful during prep for a play but when a show goes well it feels like nothing else, adrenaline gives way to endorphins! – I only add some ‘background texture’ for the actors and it shouldn’t be obvious but just think what it be like without that two-second of telephone ringing or some other sound effect you spent a week hunting for or stood in the street recording members of the cast giggling like children!
I haven’t been with the Little Theatre Club for very long and no prior theatre experience, but everyone has always made me feel like ‘one of the family’, I expected to just help with set-building and maybe, one day ‘progress to backstage’ but somehow quickly got asked to do sound. We are a small gang and so there is always space for more helpers and guidance is always available when trying something new and we all help each other anyway. Have a go at set-building, prop-making, backstage for scene-changes, even acting if you dare!
Do you fancy trying your hand at something new?