Designing Sound for Antigone

In February 2024, I designed the sound system for Antigone at the Menlo School. My role was to design and build a sound system to bring to life the soundscape and effects created by Brendan Dreaper, in the Spieker Center for the Arts theater.

The play was set in a modern day underground bunker on a military base serving as the seat of government waging a war above. Main elements of the sound system:

• 4 loudspeakers in the corners of the flyspace 20 feet above stage created the sense of the war raging above ground. The sound of aircraft passing overhead, bombs exploding in the distance, tolling bells, air raid sirens, and voice announcements were spatialized and treated to create the sense of being underground and the war raging above ground.

• 3 loudspeakers placed around the 3/4 thrust stage at audience level played music, and voiceover cues.

• 2 loudspeakers at stage level played footsteps, large security doors opening and closing, and other sounds creating the sense of place in the bunker.

All of these system elements allowed for creative placement and treatment of the audio cues and music to heighten and propel the dramatic action of the play.

The Complete Piano Works of Frederic Chopin

From 2010 to 2019, I worked with virtuoso pianist Ian Hobson and producer Samir Golescu to release recordings of every piece of Chopin’s piano music. It took the form of a 16-disc set containing on Hobson’s Zephyr record label, and I worked on volumes eight through sixteen.

This project evokes pride and a bit of sadness for me - I inherited it from Jon Schoenoff following his untimely death in 2010. Jon was a mentor to me in classical/acoustic music recording and production. The recordings had all been previously completed on DAT tapes in Warsaw, Poland. I did a few things on this project:

Audio - I transferred the audio to hard disk and edited takes in to complete movements.

Art/text layout - Placed designer David Colley’s cover art, formatted scholar Ates Orga’s liner notes, created and track information, logos, and barcodes. Overall, a lot of work went in to consistency and coherency within each volume and between volumes. This was especially challenging because the discs were released over several years.

You can listen HERE