Talking Heads - Sound Design

My design started by taking Strauss as source material. These three tracks are taken from the second half of the show, the monologue Soldering On. The mellow piano arrangement uses the opening melody of Strauss’ Wine, Women and Song. This is seen in the example ‘TH Mellow Piano Arrangement’ which augments the rhythm and underpins the tune with parallel fifths, creating a warm yet despondent atmosphere. The voicings are open and give a sense of space. The rest of the design grew out of this feeling and it became a great starting point for experimentation.

The design drew a narrative line throughout and worked alongside the performer to draw contrast in the most upsetting and heartbreaking moments in the text. The dissonance between what we were hearing and how the performer was directed to play the lightness of her struggle was very successful.

Throughout the play underscores evolved and developed, adding texture and heightening silent moments. This was emphasised through manipulating room atmos, building in and out throughout the show. We created a feeling of zooming in and out of the characters world through moving sounds onstage and off with an hidden practical unit, using different reverbs to bring us in and out of the space.

This project was a great opportunity to be part of the rehearsal room, and despite having less than a week of rehearsal we managed to create a coherent and subtle design that lifted the world we were creating.