After "Cat's Eye" & "Merchant", we had a one week break for Easter. During this time, two major things happened. First I went to the Harry Potter Studios Tour!! It was amazing and I completely geeked out. Here I am at Hogwarts!
However, the many White Card Models on display reminded me of my other task: my model box. The project was due in June, but I knew I'd thank myself for doing it over the break rather than trying to fit it in during shows!
When I returned from "Hogwarts", my world revolved around blue and silver paint. My flatmates were very forgiving of my monopolizing the coffee table. I was able to finish it over the break and my future self did thank me for it! More on the finished project later... :-)
Back from the break, I took on my next rep: Sound. Yikes!
I came to LAMDA knowing that Sound would be my biggest challenge. It's a tricky thing, because I like it when I understand it, but understanding it does not come naturally to me. Plus, when Sound goes wrong, you can't hide it. I'd learned in Film that Sound can make or break a project. People can tolerate a grainy image and good sound, but not a good image and poor sound. And of course, the best take would have a sound issue. It's the worst. I know how important sound is, so I was eager to face that challenge in theatre and conquer it.
The two shows for this rep were "When the Rain Stops Falling" and "Her Naked Skin". There were two Production Sound Engineers from the second year and three of us first years as Sound Assistants. Myself and another were assigned to the more "sound heavy" show, "Her Naked Skin", and the other assisted on "Rain". The two PSE's worked together to design a sound rig that would work for both shows, selecting speakers and amps that were appropriate, and laying out a plan for their locations, as well as cable runs etc.
While the SM2s designed the rig, we Sound Assistants sourced and prepared the sound effects for the shows. This included rifling through LAMDA's Sound Effects collection on CD and Vinyl, as well as their digital database from the BBC. (I listened to so many clock ticks and clock chimes, I was hearing them in my sleep....) In some cases, we recorded live sound effects. For example, "Rain" went out to record actual rain, and we made a studio recording of our actresses singing the suffragette song from the play, as well as the actors shouting as MPs. The shouts were played in between live dialogue as cues, and we edited the song into a ghostly reverb to be played at the end of the show.
Though the Sound Assistants sourced for their individual shows, we all worked as a team to prepare the hardware for both. We gathered the appropriate cables, as listed by our PSE's and tested each one before packing it. The time spent testing is always worthwhile and is much preferred to fault finding once the cable is installed in the venue! I liked the cheeky reminder on our cable tester :-)
Before we packed everything for the theatre, we set up our sound system in the Linbury Studio at LAMDA to be sure everything was working correctly, and to familiarize ourselves with the cable runs. The PSE's created a rig plan on paper, but putting it all together at LAMDA would make a huge difference when we got to the theatre. We then packed up our flight cases and were ready to go to The Greenwood Theatre!
The Get In is always an exciting time. I've really come to look forward to this insanity and The Greenwood Theatre was a fun new venue. It's a "flying" theatre, which means that it has counter weighted flying bars in the grid which can be "flown" down to the floor of the theatre, where lights, speakers or set can be rigged, and then flown back out. It was a great opportunity to learn and work with this system. For me, working in these various venues is one of the many benefits of being at LAMDA. It'll be great when they have their own theatre again, but I quite enjoy working out in the city.
The first two days of the Get In are reserved for Lighting and Sound to hang all of the lights and speakers. Then the set is brought over from the workshop and everything starts to take shape. As a Sound team, we then carry out the Sound Balance. This is a few hours for us to focus the speakers in the right direction and adjust levels to ensure the correct "surround sound" effect. It was really interesting to go through this process and discover how little tweaks change the effect. And how we all heard it just a little differently! That's the beauty of Sound - and theatre in general - it's all subjective!
As I've said, Sound can be a frustrating beast, and it wasn't long before the inevitable issues reared their ugly head. However, we pressed on with good humour and decorated our Sound desk accordingly. We even got ourselves a little Smurf mascot!
Our Production Sound Engineer did the programming with the Director during Technical Rehearsals and operated on the first Dress and Opening Night. We split the other shows between us two assistants. The Mixing desk is an intimidating one and I was nervous that my first time ever operating a show would be on this beast.
The dress went fine and, as such, I was feeling OK about my first public show, which I knew was not a good sign. With my PSE, I tested the system and the backup before the house opened. We then muted the system so I couldn't accidentally turn anything on while people were coming in. She asked how my nerves were and if I had any questions and then went to the green room to be show cover. The show begins and I hit GO on my first cue, which is a low rumble. I can't hear it, so I pull my headset away to listen and double check my screen. It's playing, but I still can't hear it. My next cue is called and I hit GO. A very distinct song should be playing and it's not. Something is definitely wrong. I realize that the system is still on Mute. I press the button and the song plays. I pray it ends at the right time and I haven't messed it up in my panic. It's fine and I make many apologies to my DSM. But that wasn't all. Later, an alarm sounds as it should, but the cue to stop it doesn't work. The scene change ends, the actors are settled to start speaking, the alarm is still going and I don't know why. Giving up, I hit ESC which stops all of the sound effects, apologizing that the clock tick that should be now be going is not. I realize immediately after that I could have selected it on screen and stopped it individually from everything else. Investigating later, we discover it was a programming issue. So, one was my fault and I reacted poorly to the second. But, I have learned two very important lessons! Ah, the beauty of live theatre :-)
Despite Sound being my most intimidating field at LAMDA, I think that I enjoyed it most of all. My PSE's/SM2s were great HoD's (Head of Department) and my tutors were helpful, patient and good humoured. My fellow SM1s were fun to laugh with as we made mistakes, learned together and helped each other.
It's summer now and I know that I'll be a Production Sound Engineer in my second year. When my tutor said he'd be happy to have me back as an HoD, I said that his confidence that I could do it was enough for me. It seems I'm still on my way to conquering this mountain and I'm excited to see what mistakes I learn from next year!
+.jpg)
