The Sound Engineer for the Benvenuto Players has a challenging job and these are some of the things they are expected to do:

• Read carefully through the script to get a feel for the show.
• It’s very important to attend every rehearsal so that the actors become used to taking their cues from the Sound Effects (S FX for short!).
• Note any places where there should be extra S FX.
• If the Director hasn’t specified exactly what sound effect they want, something suitable then has to be found on line.
• During the rehearsal, the Director often changes their mind about the type of S FX which works best, the length, the volume and so on. If possible, the SFX has to be changed there and then.
• One or more S FX often have to be combined using sound software. For example, maybe someone wants to hear a glass smashing during a thunderstorm.
• Keep up to date with new software that may be better for the kind of effects needed.
• Be aware of copyright issues when choosing SFX.

This is what John Balducci, our Sound Engineer, has to say about his job:

The Sound Engineer at the Benvenuto Players has the exciting role of putting on the right sound effects at the right time and the right music whenever a dance, or new scene starts and also when the play starts and finishes. It is all very rewarding because sometimes I get to create my own sound effects to match what is happening in the play.

I particularly liked the starting music of horses neighing and clopping during The Three Musketeers.

We are doing Alice in Wonderland next so it should be fun having so many different sound effects like the one of Alice dropping into a very deep hole.