Theatre Design & Technology - Fall 1996 - 43

10-81
RECORDING
A

NEW

FRONTIER

PLAYBACK
TECHNIQUES

AND

THEATRICAL

SOUND
BY

DESIGN

RICHARD THOMAS

For visual artists, the use of space in executing the design is typically a
dominant concern. For auditolY designers, time wants to dominate. However, in
recent years, visual designers and auditolY designers, in endless attempts to push
the boundaries of their design areas, have experimented with the other area.
Lighting designers found a new sense of freedom in
lights that could move in time, and scene designers discovered that not only could scenery move, but it could
move "musically." Conversely, space is the next frontier
for sound designers.
So we're always looking for new and unique ways
to use space in our sound designs. Arecent production
of Les Liaisons Dangerenses offered up a wonderhll
aesthetic opportunjty to incorporate some forwardthinking technology. Here was a play about a society that
had draped itself in elaborate outer layers and mannerisms, but inside was being eaten away by the velY passions and desires the outer layers were meant to
suppress. 'I e wanted to manipulate the audience to experience the size and strength of those inner desires,
and by contrast, understand the smallness of the facades
constructed to keep those passions in check.
To accompHsh this, we chose two contrasting musical styles of the period: the small intimate sound of
harpsichord pieces by Haydn versus the large, majestic
orchestrations of Mozart's Requiem. The harpsichord
pieces would serve as scene changes and underscores in
the poHte "society" scenes where manners and style predominated. 'I e "deconstructed" the Requiem, pulling
apart Mozart's great work to find an incredjble array of

underscoring possibiHties. Though the harpsichord
themes would stay "Hvely" and "hill" throughout the
show, the Requiem, would grow from very simple single
Hnes, through more complex combinations of parts, to a
reasonably full statement of the "Dies lrae" at the cHmactic moment of the play, Merteuil"s declaration of war.
Thjs was followed by a final statement of the
"Lacrimosa" (which Mozart was said to have written on
his death bed) underscoring Valmont"s inevitable death.
In a final scene, the same light and Hvely harpsichord
theme we heard at the top of the play returns to underscore the re-estabHshment of the same societal order
that existed at the beginning of the play. )low, however
the audience is hopehilly aware of the facade and the
paradox of that society, perhaps in some part due to the
contribution of the sound score.
The contrast between the size of a harpsichord,
and the size of Mozart's orchestra helped to convey the
struggle of society to "civilize" itself. However, this difference in size could easily be lost if the physical size of
the music did not match. Imagine both sounds emanating from a 5" unbaffied loudspeaker! So to communjcate
this difference in size to a modern audjence, we tried to
push the mass and space of these two types of music to
opposite extremes. We wanted to make the harpsichord
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