Last updated: July 8, 2023
Advice about the live sound effects used in Tony "Sparx" Palermo's radio-on-stage adaptation of Frank Capra's It's A Wonderful Life. In my script, I've crafted special bits to exploit the wildly inventive SFX I've used in over 900 radio shows. If your troupe is using some other adaptation, you may want to have them look over the PDF sample of my script.
I do all live SFX and trigger all pre-recorded SFX from on-stage using a "sound truck"--an enclosure on wheels with a mixer and a playback device (CD player or SD chip player). Some troupes may wish to have a booth technician trigger the pre-recorded SFX--and the pre-recorded music tracks. While that can work, there's more control and better timing in having all triggered sounds come from the stage. It also requires less rehearsal.
For theatrical shows, I suggest trying to render as many sound effects as possible with mechanical means--even if the result is not perfectly real. (In my line, "Reality is not what it's cracked up to be." We need to expressively convey meaning, not offer documentary-style realism. In fact, a pathetic live sound effect can get a laugh, where a perfect sampled one gets nothing.) Also, theatre audiences consider the SFX artist as a magician; one who is letting them look into the magic hat. The live SFX artist is what differentiates a radio show from a "staged reading."
You will need 2-3 mics for live sound effects--at least one for feet and one for the SFX table. I use a mic stand with a boom over my 72"x28" table. I position and re-position the boom continually in order to control volume and the “placement” depth-wise, of a sound within a scene. I use shock mounts (see: www.shockmount.com) on all my SFX mics to allow me to quietly re-position them during a show.
While performing SFX, I wear headphones. The headphone mix contains exactly what's going out the P.A. speakers to the audience--voices, music, plus the live and pre-recorded SFX. The SFX artist must be able to clearly hear what's going on so as to properly time his performance. On stage, the acoustics can be murky, so headphones are essential.
This was a single-man SFX gig, but two or three people can work this show--if they use the SFX "station" method, where the script is divided up between the artists and certain cues are color coded. For example: Blue highlighting any cues using the door and footsteps, Orange highlighting for the splash tank, Pink highlighting for the squeaky wheelchair, etc. Then those devices needed by the "Blue" SFX artist are grouped together into a "station." This way the artists aren't tripping over each other.
Under he umbrella, the script--enclosed in plastic sleeve protectors with the pages back-to-back--is located central to all SFX devices. The SFX table mic is on a boom and is swiveled to the devices as needed. The "sound truck" nearby holds a mixer which controls volume to all mics--and can be muted when no SFX are being played.
The door and splash tank share a mic. A floor mic--lower center--is positioned near the walk-board surfaces of wood and tile.
Above, composer/accompanist Jonathan Green sits at the radio-organ shell we built to house his modern MIDI keyboard, a VOCE V-3 theatre-organ simulator module and a long music rack for his script and sheet music. To build your own, you'll need to first measure the actual keyboard you'll be seeking to hold. Make sure the shelf sets the keyboard at a height that is comfortable for your musician. As an alternative to using a live keyboardist, I suggest you build the shell but have the audio technician for the show have a mixer and whatever playback devices they'll be using. This way they can appear to be playing the music when they are actually just triggering the pre-recorded music tracks for the show.
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