Mood Masters

The band on stage, figures illuminated and accompanied by a balanced blend of melodic sounds. Actors' and actresses' crisp voices, full of emotion, their poignant visages clear and striking. It's not said through the actor's dialogue, but you know the time of day and you sense the mood by the lighting you see on stage, the actors faces still fully visible to you. Enjoying a performance, caught up in the gratifying visuals and sounds, there isn't time to stop and think about how the essential elements of light and sound are shaped and defined by the people behind the scenes. \nSound engineers and lighting designers are the technically and artistically talented people who stimulate our ears and eyes with their embellishments to the stage. With a tough market, unusual hours and demanding tasks, those who work on sound and lights have a more complicated and more rewarding job than you might realize as a simple audience member. \n"I've seen a lot of things, heard a lot of great stuff that most people have never experienced," says audio engineer Ryan Schilling. "I've got to meet a lot of people. There's new faces everyday on the job." Schilling, with 15 years of experience, is the resident engineer at Second Story nightclub and works for Frazier Audio. He appreciates the fun and flexibility that his career in sound brings.\n"I've always been a non-conformist. Audio engineering is the most open-ended, even insane, career," he says, smiling. "I have a very non-traditional job."\nSchilling describes a shift between stagehand and esoteric expert when doing sound. He says first he is required to do the loading and unloading of equipment, running cable, all things necessary for the set up. Then he transforms into the sound technician, adjusting to the players' needs, tweaking the instrument and vocal levels and mixing just right for the performance. The sound technician masters the cable systems, the outboard gear, the speakers and amplifiers, among other things. Then, it's back to stagehand at the end of the show, he says. \nProfessor Rob Shakespeare of the Department of Theatre and Drama says lighting design also has different components.\n"First, there is the art of creating the visual orchestration of a design which enhances the dramatic story told by a production," he says. "Secondly, the implementation of lighting design is dependent on technology and engineering prowess."\nThe theater department helps students develop their light design skills. There are two undergraduate courses and six graduate courses that prepare students for their professional careers in lighting design. Professor Shakespeare is head of the Master of Fine Arts in Lighting Design Program. He teaches the courses and stages productions himself, as well as designing and supervising productions at the Brown County Playhouse. He is also greatly invested in the light and sound dimensions in the new Theatre and Drama Center.\n"Our theaters and productions are our 'labs' and are integral to all of the degree programs we offer," Shakespeare says. His graduate students design independent and University productions.\nRick Todd, a junior, has had the opportunity to be involved in many productions as an undergrad. He says his lighting classes focus on how to realize lighting ideas and express lighting concepts, which can be difficult to explain and convey to the director. There are lighting plots, like blueprints, which are the guidelines for what will be implemented in the production. \nBecky Hardy, a graduate student in the Master of Fine Arts in Lighting Design program, is taking a computer visualization class to help her express her lighting ideas.\n"It's hard to show what you want to create," she says. "We take classes to learn how to portray what we want to accomplish."\nThe development of a lighting design begins with production collaboration meeting which joins the producers of the play with the design team, Todd says. There the fundamental elements are laid out and the designer can begin presenting ideas with pictures and drawings. The design becomes more and more refined as the designers, directors and producers communicate with each other. The designer will go to rehearsals and watch the movements of the actors to relate the lighting ideas to what the actors are doing on stage, he says.\n"You don't want to be obtrusive or step on the talent," says Don Oard of the IU Auditorium. "We have to work with the talent and find what is best for this particular moment."\nLighting can create a mood, set a tone, focus audience attention and build the entire imagery of a scene. The end results are very rewarding, as the designers watch the stage come to life with the lighting they have created.\n"It's amazing how you can motivate responses with light," Todd says. "I like to be able to enhance the performances and control the audience's emotions with light."\nHardy is also exhilarated by what lighting adds to the production. \n"Stage lighting removes the exterior world and creates the inner world of the play," she says. "Without the lighting, it wouldn't be what theater is. It would be normal life."\nThe fields of lighting and sound production can be quite competitive. As Schilling explains, Bloomington doesn't have as many performances as Indianapolis, for example. There is a tight market share and a high cost of living. With an economic recession, the entertainment dollar is the last to be spent. When hired for a show, he is expected to be responsible for any production needs, he says.\nWith the tight market and high expectations, a general knowledge of all stage production aspects is required. Many sound engineers are also required to do lighting, as Schilling also does at Second Story, and lighting technicians must be knowledgeable about all aspects of theater. \n"We all do a little bit," says Oard, a stage master electrician, "There are four full-time production employees at the Auditorium and we all work back and forth."\nOard has been with the Auditorium for 16 years. He stresses the safety factors of having temporary lighting and temporary electricity that is required for each show. With each show that comes to the Auditorium, the in-house lighting has to be coordinated and connected safely and properly with what the production brings. \n"The average electrician doesn't know what we are doing," he says. "It's more dangerous, more potential for injury. Whatever we set up, we have to do so making sure everyone is safe."\nLike Oard, sound and light engineers at a particular venue must connect what the performers bring with what the venue offers. Large, national acts bring their own crews and equipment, but the audio and lighting expertise of the house technicians is needed to make things work with what is already supplied. Local acts and events rely on the house technicians for their needs and give the engineers more freedom in developing the correct provisions.\n"Some bands trust me completely," Schilling says. "They like the way I mix them."\nThe show, the production, the people, the motivations and the requirements change with each assignment for those who work on sound and lights. They are continually evolving players in the world of live performance.\n"Anything has the potential to go wrong," Oard says. "It's a challenge each day to get everything right by curtain."\nAs audience members, we don't see that challenge or realize how the world presented in front of us was created. We can't imagine how bleak and barren the stage, the auditorium, the concert hall and the club, would all be without those who allow our senses to see and hear our favorite performances at the full potential of their talents.