I'm starting up my old website blog again, but this time with a little more purpose.
When I started this website, I intended it as a catalog and reflection of my work from 2019, when I first started exploring being a sound person in New York. Back then, I was just an intern away from school for a summer, trying to process what was, and would become, my career. Four years later, I'm a full-time freelancer working in New York City.
Today, most of my work is as an Associate Sound Designer, a role that —for better or worse — is scarce outside New York. Its a broad role, but in its most basic form the associate bears the brunt of things like paperwork, communication, and nitty gritty system specifications on behalf of the show’s Sound Designer. From rack drawings, to cabling, to assisting with sound effects, the associate knows the ins and outs of the sound design and its systems. The role is central to the function of the sound team and it's often the first job fresh college grads interested in sound design take when they move to the city. And yet, being an associate is the bulk of many careers for even seasoned sound designers.
And yet, I often tell people that almost everything I know about being an associate in New York I didn't learn at school. For the end-all-be-all of the American theatre world, Broadway — and New York City — operates so uniquely compared to the rest of the country. Everything we do, from how we talk about shows to how we build them, is so different to the rest of the world, and yet for the biggest stages, we make up only a tiny fraction of the theatre industry. So, few colleges have the resources, or even incentive, to teach students how things operate here, a tiny fraction of career possibilities, and the most extreme scales. Why teach your students about HD video or million-dollar sound systems when most regional theaters —or colleges— can't even afford them?
But that leaves us with a dilemma. In the wake of labor shortages, high show turnover, and a flood of post-pandemic creativity on the market, there is rarely an incubation period for those entering the industry. And there wasn't much of one before. Coupled with a lack of education in large-scale system design and broadway-niche, newcomers must scramble to fill the gaps or end up in the deep end.
So, how do we fill those gaps ahead of time? If it's sink or swim, how can we smooth this transition to the New York stages? One of the better ways is through internships and apprenticeships. Unfortunately, these opportunities are few and far between, and those that exist are frequently underpaid and inaccessible for many.
It happens, then, that we rely on those already seasoned in the industry to help us. One generation of associates must pass on their knowledge to the next. And so, the reason for this blog. In many ways, I want to create something I wish I had when I started: a place to learn from and glance into the New York sound industry from someone who is also learning as they go.
I don't know what form this will take—some mix of technical concepts, methods, and reflections. At the very least, this can serve as a catalog of what I think might be valuable for someone coming up and deciding if this is the path for them. If some topics or questions might be of interest, I'm open to exploring them all.
In the meantime, you can check out my bookshelf, where I catalog books in and out of the industry that I have found helpful for my career. And you can keep a lookout for more posts as they come.