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From Highschool Dropout To Head Of Audio

By Nathan Lively

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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.

sound-design-live-steve-brownI’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.

sound-design-live-steve-brown-royal-exchange-theatre-inside

  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 Pluginssound-design-live-steve-brown-royal-exchange-theatre-layout
  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
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  3. Circus Touring with 21 Channels of Sim 3 Audio Analyzer

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Comments

  1. admin says

    September 24, 2012 at 14:36

    Please read Steve Brown’s response to this interview on his website where he goes into more detail about his early education – https://listenhearsoundprojects.wordpress.com/2012/09/16/an-explanation

    Reply
  2. John Leonard says

    July 8, 2013 at 08:19

    I’m very sad to report that Steve died on Sunday, having succumbed to cancer. He will be very much missed in the world-wide community of sound designers in which he played a major part.

    Reply
    • Nathan Lively says

      July 8, 2013 at 09:51

      Wow, I had no idea it was that bad. I was expecting a full recovery. How sad. So glad I had the chance to share some time with him.

      Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Sound Design Live Interview … | listen hear sound projects – news, views and info. says:
    September 16, 2012 at 01:17

    […] sounddesignlive.com/steve-brown-fr… a little interview with me, a few of you on here get a mention. #notmediatrained #sounddesign 1 hour ago […]

    Reply
  2. The Five Most Popular Sound Engineering & Designing Posts of 2013 says:
    January 9, 2014 at 15:52

    […] From Highschool Dropout To Head Of Audio: An interview with the late Steve Brown about his journey from high-school drop out to head of audio at the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester. […]

    Reply

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