For those in NoVa - Sound design for theater

[theshaggyfreak]

So, a number of you know that I do volunteer work some of the local community theaters in the Northern Virginia area. The one I primarily work with is in Reston and I've been slotted to do sound design for a show in April of 2013. While I'll most likely do much of the preliminary work, I'll be out of the country during most of the actual shows.

Since Kate and I will be touring Northern Europe, I don't be able to sit in the booth and do my thing. My loss is your gain! If you live in or near the Northern Virginia area and would like to get some experience working with a rather large sound system, I'm going to need an assistant to train so that they could run the show while I'm gone.

Believe it or not, this can be a pretty big task. The theater we work in has a 128 channel 5.1 sound system with an extremely complicated digital mixing board. Granted, you probably won't be using more than about six channels but it's still a beast to work with. You'd be responsible for triggering sound cues, setting up any wireless mics that are needed and trouble shooting any issues that might come up.

Now, this IS volunteer work and you will not be paid. The experience you'll get, though, is quite worth it. The theater you'll be working in is probably one of the best mid sized theaters in the area and they have a lot of very nice equipment. The place is also set up to run concerts as well which is the reason for the giant sound system.

The most difficult part is that there is a period of two weeks where you'll need to be there every night from around 7pm-11pm. These are when the final rehearsals are done and the show is tightened up. This is also one weekend where you'll be spending a great deal of time working on things. Other than that, you'd have to be there to help run the show which lasts for three weekends. It's just not something you can flake out on since a great number of people will be counting on you.

On a side note, they'll also be needing someone for this show who has a good deal of knowledge with projectors. There will be many on stage projections and they will certainly need someone who has had experience with such things.

Now that I've said all that, please let me know if you might be interested. Again, this will be a great experience for anyone looking to learn something about theater sound design or sound design in general. The DC Metro community theater scene is huge and people do take notice of a job well done.