ACOUSTICS ARE THE CANVAS
ACOUSTICS ARE TO A SOUND DESIGNER WHAT playing space is to a director: both context and canvas for their artistic work on a show. Just as physical parameters constrain staging, not to mention scenic and lighting design, the acoustic properties of a room shape a sound designer’s choices, both creative and practical.
But unlike theatre floor plans or lighting rigs, the aural properties of a space are difficult to specify and accurately describe on paper. Acoustics, or how sound responds to a particular space, can be determined by science but are often best judged by subjective emotion. A designer may flag certain challenges and limitations indicated by a theatre’s layout, though the overall feeling inspired by sound moving through space can only be experienced fully in the room.
Indeed, while much of a design team’s focus will tend toward the physical properties of the playing space—mapping its sightlines, lighting its surfaces—sound design is uniquely attentive to the entirety of a space, or at least what’s considered its . For example, fly space above the stage means rigs and storage for a scenic designer, and likely not much for a lighting designer, since the area can’t be seen. But a sound designer must contend with any space where sound can travel, and what happens when it gets there—including the
