BRANDON REED SOUND DESIGN
  • Theatre
  • Video
  • Podcast/Voiceover
  • Engineering
  • Upcoming
  • About
    • Bio
    • Resume / CV
    • Press
  • Contact
As You Like It
by William Shakespeare
Adapted and Directed by Tia James

PlayMakers Repertory Company
A Recorded Theatrical Performance
January 8th - January 21st, 2022
​
Music: Emily Musolino
Movement Director: Tracy Bersley
Scenic Design: McKay Coble
Scenic & Costume Design: Jan Chambers
Lighting Design: Latrice Lovett
Sound Design/Location Recording/Mix/Post-Production/Mastering: Brandon Reed
Video Editor: Amadio Perez
Director of Photography: Christopher Gerson
Cast:
Touchstone: Sergio Mauritz Ang, Olivier/Silvius: Anthony August, Duke Frederick/Corin: Jeffrey Blair Cornell, William: Zach Eanes, Duke Senior: Samuel Ray Gates, LeBeau: Julia Gibson, Celia: Tori Jewell, Orlando: Khalil Gibran LeSaldo, Musician: Emily Musolino, Amiens: Yolanda Rabun, Adam: Gwendolyn Schwinke, Rosalind: AhDream Smith, Charles: Benjamin Tarlton, Phoebe: Omolade Wey, Jacques: Kathryn Hunter-Williams

In the spring of 2019, I was the sound designer and composer for what would of been the opening production of PlayMakers Repertory Company's upcoming season. In the beginning of the year we were in the first initial design meetings for the show, when what would become the COVID-19 pandemic took place. Like every other theatre across the globe we shut down. The play would go to live in various forms such as monologues in class, and zoom meetings. However, in 2021, as theatres began to discuss how to produce theatre in a pandemic, we sought to once again produce the play. We decided that it was still too soon to stage it in front of a live audience, therefore we decided to film the play as a movie similar to a pro-shot done for productions like Hamilton or Diana. I returned not only as the sound designer, but also as the location recorder, mixer, post-production audio, and mastering for internet and theatrical release. 

The process of recording this production was vastly different than producing a regular theatrical show. The set design was created to transform into the Forest of Arden only once and never go back. The play bounces back and forth between the forest and the interior of castles. Therefore, we decided to film all scenes in interior settings first since we would only get one shot at filming the entrance into Arden. For the first part of the process, I merely acted as a location audio recorder, where I tracked all vocals during every scene. At the time, PlayMakers lacked any digital mixer that could record multi-tracks, therefore I ended up recording every scene as a two track stereo mix. If I missed a line, we had to reshoot the scene. I worked with the costume and wardrobe departments to figure out microphone placement with costumes. I served as my own A2 in addition to recording the mix, which ended up being a smoother process than anticipated given that we did multiple takes for each scene. Since I lacked any support, I didn't have anyone to boom mic the show, so I elected to close mic all the actors with wireless transmitters and lav microphones. The total time it took to track the entire show was about a month (all of August 2020).

After the filming process, I took over the role of sound designer as well as mixer, mastering, and any post-production audio and dialogue cleanup. Once the director and editor chose their shots and got a semblance of a first cut of scenes, they would send me the raw audio and low quality video file. I would then mix these drafts and send them to the director for feedback. If the video was adjusted in anyway, I was sent a new draft and would have to adjust my mix accordingly. Until there was a final cut for each scene. I did some audio cleanup using IzoTope RX to help remove background noise such as air conditioning, and room noise. I mixed and layered in the sound design using Logic Pro X, the design consisted mostly of ambience soundscapes and a few spot sound effects, while all the music was handled by our composer Emily Musolino. Before the recording phase, I assisted our composer by gather her as well as our vocalists into a booth in the theatre and we recorded the singing into Emily's tracks, which I would later mix. Then during the filming process, the tracks were lip-synced to help add believability to the scenes. Once we had a final cut of the film, I then mastered it for both internet distribution as well as for a movie theatre mix. The below examples are the internet mastered tracks.


Chapter 1

Our director Tia James, wanted to add a scene to the beginning of the play that helped add context to why Duke Senior was expelled from his home. The original text doesn't mention why until much later in the script. This was also inspired by the racial tensions in America at the time and helped convey not just explanation to the text, but helped add emotional weight to play that didn't normally have it.

Everything in this clip from the ground up is from myself. Ambience, footsteps, punches, and a mix of Emily's music that was done by me. I also handled location audio recording, and some voice lines were dubbed in post-production given that they were wearing masks.


​Chapter 7

This seen is relatively calmer compared to the others. This is the scene where we first enter the Forest of Arden. We wanted this moment to be magical and empowering for the cast and audience. We also only got the chance to film the transformation of the set into the forest once. This was that result.

Location audio was recorded and mixed by myself. Music was by Emily Musolino, but I mixed it and layered in sound design. It's the first time we enter the forest so i aimed to make it realistic, but magical as possible.



​Chapter 10

This scene was probably one of the most complicated, but was incredibly rewarding because of it. This scene features three musical tracks that were composed by Emily Musolino (the lady with the guitar), in which I had to help record all vocal takes in our studio setup at the theatre. The tracks were also mixed, and mastered by myself. The tracks were played in the theatre with the actors lip-syncing to the vocals. I worked with our video editor to make sure everything sync'ed as best as we could.

Location recording for this scene was time consuming in that we had to continue to move wireless mics around in between takes. This was also just a complicated scene to mix and took me a couple takes in the room.

Back to Video Work
  • Theatre
  • Video
  • Podcast/Voiceover
  • Engineering
  • Upcoming
  • About
    • Bio
    • Resume / CV
    • Press
  • Contact