Behind the scenes — meet our Resident Sound Designer, Andrew Howard
We’re introducing you to the special team of people responsible for making theatre at State Theatre Company South Australia. Here, we catch up with our Resident Sound Designer and Head of Audio, Andrew Howard.
Who is Andrew Howard?
I am a father, husband, and a super, super music nerd. Probably a bit like Rob from High Fidelity, but successful in a relationship.
What did a 16 year old Andrew want to do with his life?
I just wanted to play in bands, really. My first instrument was drums — I started at seven years old. As I got older I realised I would prefer to keep my hearing, so I ended up following a career in sound design and composition.
How did you end up here?
I was working in record stores for about four or five years, then went to study film at Flinders University. I thought I wanted to work in film but I didn’t find it that interesting. I got bored with the sitting around aspect of location sound. But it was during my uni years that I started an experimental theatre company (The Border Project) with a bunch of friends including actor Amber McMahon (Dance Nation) and Cameron Goodall, and started writing music. A friend and I had written the music for Geordie Brookman’s grad show and it was actually at the after-party than I met an ABC sound engineer, who said I should chat to Jane Rossetto, Head of Audio at Adelaide Festival Centre. I went in asking for work experience and just got put straight on the books. I was the last person I think to be employed there as a technician that didn’t have any AC Arts qualifications or training — all my training was teaching myself the software. I worked as a sound and light operator and was working as a main operator at the Dunstan Playhouse in 2016 when Geordie and Rob Brookman brought me on board and I’ve been here ever since.
What is sound design?
Sound design, particularly in theatre, involves a lot of technical knowledge. You have to be able to choose your speakers and microphones, know exactly where to put them for best coverage and be able to do all your CAD drawings before you even get to the artistic side of the design. Once all that is done and you get into building the show, you’re then responsible for the overall aural aesthetic of the show, whereas composing is about writing music. Overall the intended goal is for sound design not to be noticed, unless it specifically needs to be noticed. To use a recent example, in Dance Nation there was no silence in that show at all, from the open to the end of the curtain call. There were always subtle tones and things going on to help drag people into the location, so those room tones would shift depending on where the scene was located. That’s completely something I came up with in that situation — it worked more on a subliminal and psychological level than it being something that’s noticed. But when you take it away, its greatly noticeable. Sometimes it’s good to have those things happening and have people not knowing it’s there, then you take it away and it gives the feeling that it was really quite loud, when it wasn’t.
“ …in Dance Nation there was no silence in that show at all, from the open to the end of the curtain call. That’s completely something I came up with in that situation — it worked more on a subliminal and psychological level than it being something that’s noticed.”
What’s been your favourite show to compose so far?
Most recently I would say Animal Farm and Jasper Jones were two of my favourites. Mostly because I am always trying to get better with every show.
Apart from reading the script, how did you get into the mindset to compose Animal Farm?
I watch a lot of movies generally, which is always a good thing because I’m constantly listening to the best of the best and taking influence along the way. Also I often sleep with a movie playing in the background, so while I sleep I feel like it subtly sinks in! I guess with Animal Farm I was already familiar with the story, and having that background knowledge gives you the direction, but it also needs to fit into the visual aesthetic of the show. That’s where the design presentations come in. With this adaptation, the set was more like a black tomb, so that pushed it in a different position than if it was a farmhouse. I watched a bunch of stuff like The Social Network and Bird Box. I love the work of Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross. They’re a fairly big influence on my work in general. The fact these two guys from Nine Inch Nails have won an Oscar for their work is a real inspiration to me. It shows you don’t have to be a composer that writes for orchestras to get to that point.
Who are some of your other musical inspirations?
Aside from Nine Inch Nails, definitely Tool. And David Lynch and Angelo Badalamenti. It was such a huge thing for a show like Twin Peaks, which was so off the wall, to be on primetime TV with Angelo scoring and David directing. All his movies are a big influence.
Howie shares one of his favourite albums, Interiors by Brad.
What’s been the biggest lesson of your career?
Be nice! Be a good person to work with. And sometimes, accidents are good. I remember doing a show for Flinders Uni about a decade ago and they had this moving set that was really noisy and had creaked when this big swinging wall closed, so I put a microphone on it and turned it into more of an effect, and it turned into something better.
What’s special about live theatre?
The one thing I like the most about it is when the show is finished, it’s gone. There is nothing to capture it. You can’t record a vibe of an audience. I don’t keep a lot of record of my music generally; once the show is done, it’s gone. I don’t personally tend to keep it for more than two years because it should just be part of that experience of the theatre. That’s the magical part of it, being in that room, at that time. That experience is out in the universe, just floating around.
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