Sound Designer Michael laird

I had the pleasure of interviewing our first sound designer.  Michael Laird is a sound systems designer rather than a composition designer and we discuss the difference between these two disciplines in the context of live theatre.  Michael is an established designer and operator but he is early in his career so we focus less on his resume and more on developing a base for future discussions with senior designers about sound.  Michael also focuses on live musical theatre reinforcement rather than scoring behind acoustic voices in small theatre so there is still a large world of sound design to explore: this episode has really given me a vocabulary to speak to other sound designers and I am sure you will feel the same.  We also have a discussion about sound designers as collaborators and the removal of the sound design award from the 2014-15 Tony Awards.

This episode is also the debut of both a new theme, composed by sound designer Verne Good with voice over by lighting designer Gabriel Cropley, and the start of our Patreon campaign.  If you like what you hear, go the Patreon Page and find out why it is a good thing to become a patron of the show!

The Trebas Institute

Da Da Kamera Danial McIver

Richard Feren

Evil Dead: The Musical

Ryerson University

National Theatre School

Meyer Sound Education Program

Curvilinear array speaker systems

Example of acoustic design for an opera house

Owen Hutchinson

Garth Helm  Jonathan Deans

The broadway mixer

Timax Soundhub for Aladdin

Love: The Beatles Cirque du Soleil Sound Design 

John Meyer and Meyer sound: SIM

Bob McCarthy

Wall of Sound: The Grateful Dead

Avenue Q at Citadel Theatre

Dayna Tekatch

Don Horsburgh

The Heart of Robin Hood

John Gromada

Collaborator Party

Abe Jacob, godfather of broadway sound design

Sound design and the union

TCP/IP Network topology