This is a very brief resume; having worked professionally in sound design and soundscape composition for theatre, art installations, TV, video, corporate events and computer games for over 20 years it would be impossible to list every project I’ve been involved with, (apart from also being pretty tedious!) so here’s just a flavour…
“A creative, artist, designer, manager and team member who is always prepared to take responsibility”
If you require further information about podcast and voice over production, public sound art installations, soundscape compositions, consultant services or, wish to book me for lectures, or workshops then please contact me directly, if you wish to check my availability for theatre sound design projects then please contact Karen at Associated Arts.
Lecture and workshop descriptions and demo cd’s are available on request (serious professional enquiries only please) or, alternatively, you can check out some sounds at MySpace…
Listen Hear Sound Projects, Brighton UK
Designer, consultant
The Royal Exchange Theatre Company, Manchester UK
Head of Sound
The Prague Quadrennial 2011
Sound Design Curator
Organisation Internationale des Scénographes, Techniciens et Architectes de Théâtre
Head of the Sound Design Working Group
The Society of British Theatre Designers
Committee Member
Theatre Sound Design Representation
Karen Baker
Associated Arts
Telephone +44(0)20 8856 4958
email associated arts
http://www.associated-arts.co.uk
Recent Projects include…
Sound Design Project Head for Scenofest at The Prague Quadrenial 2007 –
further details can be found at http://www.scenofest.org and http://www.pq.cz. Conceiving and organising a wide variety of events and projects, leading an international team of sound practitioners in order to achieve and realise these. Amongst the events conceived and realised were Laptop Connections and The PQ Sound Park.
SoundScape Composition for ‘Why Won’t You Tell Me?’ a collaboration Steam Control -
a fusion of original writing, soundscape and visual art that promotes collaborative artistic practice and offers social empowerment through a new and contemporary form of expression and communication. Why Won’t You Tell Me was selected to be part of The X08 Festival at the British Film Institutes National Film Theatre in London and also shown at The Sassoon Gallery, London.
Curation and Design of the Sound Design Exhibit which forms part of ‘Collaborators: UK Design for Performance’ –
showcasing the work of contemporary British theatre designers, this exhibition will contain hands-on activities, installations, set models, costumes, lighting and sound. Victoria & Albert Museum London, 20th November 2007 – 18th November 2008.
External Validator -
MA Theatre Design, Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama.
Selected presentations, workshops and lectures -
Scenofest 2003 – Prague, Czech Republic (Also Scenofest Stage Sound Designer)
2006 – United States Institute for Theatre Technology – Louisville, Kentucky, USA
2000 – 2008 – Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts
2008 – VPT Conference, Rotterdam
2008 – Rose Bruford College – Sidcup, Kent
2008 – Yale University – New Haven, Connecticut, USA
2008 – Purdue University – West Lafayette, Indiana, USA
2008 – United States Institute for Theatre Technology – Houston Texas USA
As Head of Sound for the Royal Exchange Theatre Company, Manchester, over 85 sound design credits which include –
Henry V (2007 Manchester Evening News Best Design Team award winner)., Cyrano de Bergerac, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, Mirandolina, She Stoops to Conquer, The Flags, Harvey, All The Ordinary Angels, Sex, Chips, Rock ‘n’ Roll, Anthony & Cleopatra, Rutherford & Son, London Assurance, Volpone, A Conversation, Major Barbara, Six Degrees of Separation, Knives in Hens, Playboy of the Western World, Twelfth Night, The Seagull, the world premiere of Brad Fraser’s Cold Meat Party, Othello, The Marriage of Figaro, American Buffalo, A Midsummer Nights Dream, The Homecoming, Time and the Conways, Uncle Vanya, the European premiere of Les Blancs by Lorraine Hansberry, Taming of the Shrew, the world premiere of Brad Fraser’s Snake in Fridge (2001 Manchester Evening News Best Design Team award winner).
“THE first thing you notice about this revival of Githa Sowerby’s 1912 play is Steve Brown’s superb sound design. It begins with an eerie, high-pitched singing, like a wet fingertip run around the rim of a wineglass, followed by a deep rasping, reminiscent of breath across the neck of a bottle. Finally, there’s the tinkling shiver of glass smashed into fragments. It is intriguingly menacing.”Sam Marlowe, The Times, Rutherford & Son
Ghosts, Mrs Warrens Profession, Bats (2000 Manchester Evening News Best Design Team nomination), Jerusalem Syndrome, Café Vesuvio, Peer Gynt, Hindle Wakes (1996 Manchester Evening News Best Design Team nomination – 1998 opening production of the refurbished Royal Exchange Theatre), Animal Crackers (1995 Royal Exchange Theatre – 1998 Royal Exchange @ Upper Campfield Market, UK tour and the Barbican Centre BITE season – 1999 west end), the world premiere of An Experiment with an Air-Pump (also Hampstead Theatre, 1998 Manchester Evening News best design team award winner), Much Ado About Nothing (Manchester Evening News Best Design Team nomination 1997), the world premiere of The Candidate, The Road to Mecca, Lady Windermere’s Fan (also UK tour and west end).
Sound design and re-design credits for the Royal National Theatre include –
Leave Taking (UK tour, Cottesloe Theatre), Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (original sound design by Scott Myers). Sound engineer for many productions in the Olivier, Lyttelton and Cottesloe Theatres including – the European tour and London run of the multi award winning Sweeney Todd, the world premiere of Tom Stoppards Arcadia and the record breaking Wind in the Willows.
Sound design credits for the Royal Shakespeare Company include –
Richard III (Stratford, UK tour, Tokyo, Rotterdam, directed by Sam Mendes), Glorianas Garden (UK tour), The Blue Angel (UK tour, west end directed by Trevor Nunn), Measure for Measure (UK tour, west end directed by Trevor Nunn), The Taming of the Shrew (UK tour, Tokyo), Romeo and Juliet (UK tour). Sound engineer for numerous RSC productions including – Macbeth, A Midsummer Nights Dream and The Beaux Stratagem.
Recent freelance sound designs include –
Teatro Strehler, Piccolo Teatro di Milano
Madre Coraggio e i suoi figli
Di Bertolt Brecht
Traduzione Roberto Menin
Regia Robert Carsen
Drammaturgia Ian Burton
Scene Radu Boruzescu
Costumi Miruna Boruzescu
Luci Robert Carsen e Peter van Praet
Sonori Steven Brown
Download programme here
Nathan the Wise
By Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (1799)
Translated by Edward Kemp (2003)
Directed by Anthony Clark
Set Designed by Patrick Connellan
Lighting Designed by James Farncombe
Sound Designed by Steve Brown
Other sound designs include –
Breezeblock Park at Liverpool Playhouse and Burning Issues at Hampstead Theatre.
Sound designs for commercial tours including –
The Boyfriend, My Dearest Ivor, Circus Senso, Lady Windermere’s Fan.
Production engineer for many touring shows and west end transfers including -
Guantanamo, Hamlet, Medea, Arcadia, Collected Stories, The Almeida Malvern Season 1998 and 1999.
Sound designer and engineer for a number trade shows, conferences and product launches. Other work includes sound FX design for several computer games for the Sony Playstation and N64 platforms.
Royal Exchange refurbishment –
In June 1996 the Royal Exchange Theatre was severely damaged when a bomb exploded 150 yards away, as a result of this I was involved with the lottery financed refurbishment of the building. My brief was to specifying all sound, communication, video, and CCTV equipment and also the complex cable infra structure for the main house, studio theatre, production studio and backstage areas. My role as a consultant also included liaising with architects, other technical consultants, acousticians, contractors and builders. I was responsible for ensuring that the theatre was equipped with the most advanced technology available along with several innovations including an automated backstage calls system. The sound budget for this project was around £750,000, the overall budget was £31,000,000.
