Theatre Design & Technology - Fall 1996 - 47

create a "through-line" of spatiality that reinforced the thematic ideas of the production. In the beginning of the play,
the harpsichord was a fun, yet proper emotional reinforcement of social mores of the society. The audience was not
aware of the smallness of the music spatially, as they had
nothing with which to compare the acoustic "size" of the
harpsichord. As the repressed passions of the characters begin to push through the fragile trappings of this society, little
bits of Mozart's Requiem began to be heard in simple
underscorings, and acoustically larger environments. As
these passions grew and threw the world of the play out of
balance, the physical size of the auditOly perspective of the
Requiem also grew. Finally, in the climactic scene, both the
repressed music and the acoustic size of the listening space
exploded into an unrestrained grandeur of unbridled passion. All of the characters "paid" for this outburst in the
resolution (e.g. Valmont's death, Merteuil's demise, etc.),
and the world of the play returned to the "proper society"
the audience had experienced at the beginning of the play.
However, when the opening theme heard in the first scene of
the play was repeated on the harpsichord, there was now an
"emptiness" to it that could only be understood when one
had experienced the size, both emotionally and spatially of
the inner passions of the characters through the orchestrations of Mozart's Requiem. It was in tltis way that auditol)1
"space," made possible by employing M-S recording and
playback techniques, could be used to support the thematic
elements of the production.
Since this production, I have come to rely on these
techniques as "the standard" way of setting up a sound score
playback system. Certainly, evelY production will provide me
with "exceptions" to the rule, but I am velY grateful to Tom
Mardikes for giving us such a valuable addition to our
"sound designer's tool kit." What may get lost in the superlatives, however, is the fact that this was all accomplished with
extremely modest sound equipment. It is the techniques that
make M-S loudspeaker playback wonderful-not having really expensive equipment. Surround loudspeakers do not
have to be extremely expensive, most reverb processors will
allow you to set an initial delay, and the playback is stiLi from
two tracks! As Tom stresses "1I)1 it, and above all, experiment." You'll be amazed at what you can accomplish.*:.

i~~~_l

I
I
I

I
!"
"

Stagecraft Industries Inc.
Manufacturing and Installation of Quality Stage Equipment

o
o

c~~:~~:6:'lld

Stage
Tracks
Counterweight Rigging
Motorized Rigging
Portable and Retractable Staging
Lighting and Dimming

Projecfs include: MGM Grand; Las Vegas & Reno Nevada.
King Kahalid Auditorium; Saudi Arabia.
Sandcastle Hotel; Guam. I Hardrock Cafe; San Antonio, Texas.
Walnut Creek PAC; Walnut Creek, California.
Maui Arts & Cultural Center; Maui, Hawaii ....

Seattle

Portland

San Francisco

1-800-727-2673
5051 North Lagoon Avenue
Portland, Oregon 972 I7
Sustaining Member of uS/IT

LoOKING FOR
SOMETHING?

Ricbard Tbomas is USITT Souud Co-Commissiouer
and professor oftbeatre at Purdue Universit)'.
I. For further reading on ~l-S ~\icrophone lechniques, see john
Eargle's Sound Recording (New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold
Company, first edition, 1976),53-5 .
2.

YOU'LL FIND

IT HERE!

~IlDI-based

sequencing and sampling is often neCeSSal)' in
theatre sound score design to allow production teams the flexibility to change sound cues quickly and easily during the
rehearsal process. Recording and re-recording cues with live
musicians would be prohibitively expensive.

ID&1

ALL

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Theatre Design & Technology - Fall 1996