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In this episode of Sound Design Live I talk with sound designer and composer Steve Brown about the 2013 World Stage Design and how he went from high-school drop out to head of audio at the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester. We discuss the best exhibitions to show your sound design work, new software for live performance, and why your show should rely less on automation and more on skilled operators.

I’ve made every mistake a sound engineer, a sound technician, a sound designer can ever make, but I think the important thing is that I only made them once.

A good operator is as much a part of a performance as a good actor.

1. All transitional audio elements in this podcast by Steve Brown
   1. Helsinki Barrel Organ
   2. The Comedy of Errors – Opening Cue and Underscore
   3. Lost at Sea – commissioned by Dody Nash – The Listening Shell at the V&A Museum, London
   4.  T1 T2 T3  – commissioned by Jen Hingley – Synaesthesia exhibit, Manchester
2. Steve’s sites: Homepage, Twitter, Scoop, SoundCloud, Podbean, LinkedIn
3. Steve follows: Martyn Ware, Scanner, Des Coulum
4. Theatre:  Royal Exchange, The Boy Friend, Royal Shakespeare Company,
5. Hardware: UPM-1, MSL-2, UPA-1, USW, Control-1, Akai S6000 Sampler, Korg Kaoss Pad,
6. Software: AudioMulch, MaxMSP, Pure Data, Waves Plugins
7. Groups: International Organization of Scenographers, Theatre Architects and Technicians, World Stage Design, United State Institute For Theatre Technology, Prague Quadrennial
8. Designers: Dinesh Yadav, Daniel Belton, Bassam Yaqout, A K Azad, Vinnie Olivieri, Brad Berridge, Joe Young, Nick Hunt, Rachel Nicholson, David Budries, Olivera Gracanin, Adrian Curtin
9. Sound Libraries: Sound Dogs, Sound Snap, Aporee