Sound effects |
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Part of Richard's work is concerned with the College's theatres and generally assisting with the staging of drama here. Always interested in developing new skills, he finds the manufacture of sound effects for plays etc rather rewarding. "I want an air raid!" was one request recently, this time for a production of The Silver Sword (Ian Serraillier). Thinking that to be an easy thing to download from the internet, work started... and quickly stopped when absolutely nothing could be found. So individual sounds were sourced (Lancaster bombers, air raid siren, crump of bombs, explosions, all clear siren) and carefully put together. The effect in the auditoriom was really rather good, with the planes seeming to fly overhead (the sound moving seamlessly from backstage speakers to auditorium speakers) and fade into the distance. And when the "planes" were overhead there's this almighty explosion... For Wind in the Willows we had to find a steam train starting, stopping and exploding (Destructive lot, Drama teachers), and again all was pieced together and the correct relative volumes achieved. The result was quite believable and enhanced a really good performance by Hurst's talented Prep School pupils. A similar service is offered......to amateur and semi-pro theatre groups. Professional theatre would probably be outside my league, but I'm happy to help if asked. We have a large library of sounds, the software to alter, stitch and concoct, and an interest in doing so. Costs are negotiable depending on the investment of time involved but please do make contact. How we play the effects at Hurst... (click here)We use an application called Sound Cue System. Their website will describe all its many useful features, but its main uses, in logical order, include -
...and many more uses. It's quick and easy to set up and use, offers drag and drop re-ordering of SFX and renumbering of cues. Output is through the computer's sound card or cards (that's how I did the backstage - auditorium split for my air raid). You can also output via USB to an external sound card which gives possibly better quality. Highly recommended. Our main theatre has a desktop computer with two sound cards plus an external card for really special SFX - when we have the three PA systems to go with them. Our other venues cope with just a laptop. Each sound channel from the computer is routed through the sound desk for fine and immediate control. If you want, we can prepare a file for use with Sound Cue System, so all you have to do is copy it and the sound files onto the computer on which you have the appropriate version of Sound Cue System running, and away you go. |