The Swell Act One: A Stream Nearby and A Baseball Diamond
www.refractedco.com/the-swell/act-one-a-stream-nearby-and-a-baseball-diamond
www.refractedco.com/the-swell/act-one-a-stream-nearby-and-a-baseball-diamond
A Doll's House Part 2
This Doll's House was set in a museum gallery; the transitions are meant to evoke performance art and people observing/judging.
This Doll's House was set in a museum gallery; the transitions are meant to evoke performance art and people observing/judging.
The Heiress
Original music in the parlor style popular in the 1850s
Original music in the parlor style popular in the 1850s
Machinal
Sophie Treadwell's notes in the introduction of Machinal provide a wonderful jumping off point for the sound design: “Then, there is, also, the use of many different sounds chosen primarily for their inherent emotional effect (steel riveting, a priest chanting, jazz band, etc), but contributing also to the creation of a background, an atmosphere.”
I used these sounds, and others mentioned in the script - office noises, machines, riveting, music, etc - as a base, and built from there. Most of the scenes include ambiences, background noise, and music, which I carried over into the transitions.
Sophie Treadwell's notes in the introduction of Machinal provide a wonderful jumping off point for the sound design: “Then, there is, also, the use of many different sounds chosen primarily for their inherent emotional effect (steel riveting, a priest chanting, jazz band, etc), but contributing also to the creation of a background, an atmosphere.”
I used these sounds, and others mentioned in the script - office noises, machines, riveting, music, etc - as a base, and built from there. Most of the scenes include ambiences, background noise, and music, which I carried over into the transitions.
Pre-show into opening of Episode 2
The pre-show consisted of 1920s period songs, to establish the setting. A few minutes before starting the show, we began a slow assault on the audience by adding transportation/city sounds that grew progressively louder. As the cast entered and started doing repetitive movements like a human machine, the city faded into a machine, which then faded into the office sounds referenced in the script: "office machines: typewriters, adding machines, manifold, telephone bells, buzzers." These sounds played under the first part of the scene and then cut out. |
Transition to Episode 3
As per the stage directions, this fades from a song playing on the radio at the end of the episode, into a jazz band playing outside and heard from a window. During the transition I used reverb to make the song feel distant and then come into focus. |
Transition to Episode 4
The music from Episode 3 continues into the transition, and then fades into riveting (from outside a hospital window) which underscores the following episode. I again used reverb effects, as well as effects to make the music sound slightly more digital. The machine comes back here, to serve as a bridge to the riveting. |
Transition to Episode 5
This starts at the end of Episode 4, where I built up the riveting underscore with babies crying and the machine sounds, through the transition into the following scene. Here the stage directions call for music from an electric piano in the bar. In the transition, I added electronic noise and an effect to make the music sound more electronic. The piano music plays softly throughout the episode. |
Transition to Episode 6
The music from Episode 5 continues into the transition. It switches to a MIDI-sounding, digital version of the song, with electronic noise added.. It fades into Cielito Lindo, which is mentioned in the script. This song plays throughout the following episode, between the Young Woman and the man whom with she is having an affair. |
Transition to Episode 7
Cielito Lindo fades up for the transition, and then into a slower, sadder, and more sparse version of the song. Episode 8 is the only scene without any underscore sounds mentioned in the stage directions, so I wanted to transition to something more peaceful and quiet before fading all the way out for the scene. |
End of Episode 8 into Transition
This episode ends with the voice of the Young Woman’s lover, as well as other voices, and we decided to record these lines. I added underscore and effects. Cielito Lindo returns here, as a distorted memory. |
Electrocution
This is the build up to and the moment when the Woman is electrocuted at the end of the play. I added the sounds of the machine and the digital noise to tie those themes into the electrocution. During this moment the stage filled with bright lights and 1s and 0s. |
Gorey
Underscored animated sequence. In the production an actor interacted with the animations.
animation: Jon Narun
music: Cubes & Monday by Jon Brion, Milord by Edith Piaf
animation: Jon Narun
music: Cubes & Monday by Jon Brion, Milord by Edith Piaf
The King Stag
A magical moment of transformation - when characters turn from human to stag and back again. In three variations.
A magical moment of transformation - when characters turn from human to stag and back again. In three variations.
Tigers Be Still
Original music for transitions.
Original music for transitions.
These Shining Lives
A song montage that opened the play, to transport the audience from the present to the more hazy past.
A song montage that opened the play, to transport the audience from the present to the more hazy past.