ArtsPerforming Arts

Conversations with Sound Designers

Peter Rice

‘Conversations with Sound Designers’ is a series of interviews with Theatre Sound designers about their career paths the artistic process of sound design

Focusing on UK Sound Designers, including a wide range of artists, from established designers to those and the start of their career, from content-based shows to musicals, west end, Broadway and the regions

This episode is kindly supported by Association for Sound Design and Production, The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, and the National Theatre Sound Department.

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19 episodes
Avg 1 hr 11 min
English

Episodes 19

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S4 · E1
October 1 · 1 hr 24 min
S4 E1 : Conversations with Sound Designers - Adam Fisher
Adam Fisher started his career as a sound operator and spent over a decade as Mick Potter's associate. He's worked as a sound designer internationally on Les Miserables, Miss Saigon and Phantom of the Opera, among many other productions. His career highlights include the critically acclaimed productions of Billy Elliott, from Leicester Curve, Lord of the Rings, Watermill, Jimmy Lloyd's reimagined Sunset Boulevard, West End and Broadway, kinky boots at the London Coliseum, The Lost Boys at the Palace on Broadway, and Jesus Christ Superstar in London's Palladium. Adam was also awarded the Olivia Award for best sound design in 2024, What's on stage award for best sound design in 2024, a Tony award nomination for best sound design in 2025.
S3 · E5
April 3 · 1 hr 4 min
S3 E5 : Conversations with Sound Designers - Deanna H Choi
Deanna H. Choi is a sound designer and composer recently relocated to London from Toronto, Canada. Her background is as a classical violinist and neuroscience researcher, and she currently works in theatre, film, dance, and installation. She has collaborated on over 150 productions across 2 continents with companies including Mirvish, the Stratford Festival, Ballet West, the Unicorn Theatre, Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, RADA, Van Gogh Immersive, CBC, Universal Studios, and many others. As an associate and assistant designer she has worked on productions at the National Theatre, Jamie Lloyd Company, Punchdrunk, and Wessex Grove. She highlights strings and vocals in her work, and thrives by playing, recording, and manipulating live instruments in a world saturated by digital creation. She co-created and performed an award-winning cabaret show about Asian fetishism called Love You Wrong Time, now published by Playwrights Canada Press. And yes, she may have been named after a Star Trek character.
S3 · E4
January 3 · 1 hr 14 min
S3 E4 : Conversations with Sound Designers - Dan Balfour
Dan Balfour is an Olivier Award Nominated Sound Designer, whose work explores the intersection of storytelling and form. His practice investigates how aural design, technical craft, and composition converge to shape and heighten an audience’s theatrical experience. Theatre Includes: Winter’s Tale (RSC); Vanya (West End, Lucille Lortel NYC); Dear England (National, West End, Tour); The Maids, The Cherry Orchard (Donmar, St Anne’s Warehouse NYC); More Life (Royal Court); Miss Myrtles Garden (Bush Theatre); Stranger Beasts, I Am Kevin (Wildworks); My English Persian Kitchen (Soho); Make Good, One Of Them Ones, IDYLL (Pentabus); Mrs Caliban (Theatre Technic); Wuthering Heights (Royal & Derngate/ Tour); Les Dawson Flying High (National Tour); Dear Annie I Hate You, How To Break Out of a Detention Centre (Riverside Studios); Private Peaceful, LAVA (Nottingham Playhouse/ Tour); Two Character Play, Wilderness (Hampstead); The Hatchling (Trigger Productions); hang (Sheffield Crucible); Counting Sheep (Belarus Free Theatre); Sugar Syndrome, The Misfortune Of The English (Orange Tree); Operation Mincemeat (Splitlip); Effigies of Wickedness (Gate); The Double Act, Great Apes, Sputnik Sweetheart, I Call My Brothers, Dance Of Death (Arcola).
S3 · E3
Aug 22, 2025 · 54 min
S3 E3 : Conversations with Sound Designers - Niamh Gaffney
Niamh is a Theatre Sound Designer for Autograph Sound. Born and raised in Ireland, After studying Theatre Performance & Production, focusing on Dance & Musical Theatre, Niamh decided her passion lay in production and moved to London in 2017 to study BA (Hons) Production and Technical Arts at LAMDA. Niamh worked as Associate for Autograph Sound Designers Nick Lidster, Ian Dickinson & Luke Swaffield for such productions as Cabaret (Westend & Broadway), Secret Cinema’s ‘Bridgerton’ & ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ and ‘Fiddler on The Roof (Barbican). Working a mixture of theatre genres such as Musicals, Plays and Immersive. Aswell as creating her own journey as a Sound Designer, she has worked on productions such as These Demons (Theatre 503), Fair Maid of The West (RSC) and A Child of Science (Bristol Old Vic), with works as a co-designer along with Ian Dickinson for ‘Waiting for Godot’ (Haymarket, London) and Terry Jardine for ‘The Producers’ (Meiner Chocolate Factory, London).
S3 · E2
Jul 7, 2025 · 1 hr 22 min
S3 E2 : Conversations with Sound Designers - Jonathan Deans
Jonathan Deans is an English sound designer with a wealth of experience whose career has been in the UK and USA. He is a five-time Tony award nominee, winning in 2025 for Buena Vista Social Club,and has won countless other awards. His work spans musical productions on Broadway, West End and worldwide, as well as plays and spectacles, including 16 productions for Cirque de Sole. His recent musicals include: Redwood, Buena Vista Social Club, and Hippist Trip the Soul train musical. His ability to create immersive soundscapes has earned him a reputation as one of the leading sound designers in the entertainment industry. He's known for his attention to detail and ability to seamlessly integrate sound into the production's overall concept, elevating the music and audience's experience. Jonathan has taught and created graduate and undergraduate theater sound design courses at UCLA, UNLV and UCSD and has given lectures at many conventions. In addition to being a freelance sound designer, he's recently started working with Meyer sound to develop future software for the sound industry.
S3 · E1
May 21, 2025 · 1 hr 17 min
S3 E1 : Conversations with Sound Designers - Gareth Owen
Gareth Owen is one of the worlds leading Sound Designers, with a prolific career spanning over 25yrs. His work can be found all over the world including Broadway, Las Vegas and London's West End. He's designed over 250 productions, with over 50 million people enjoying his sound designs worldwide. Gareth is the proud recipient of a Tony Award for MJ the Musical, and Olivier Awards for Come from Away, Memphis and Merrily We Roll Along.
S2 · E6
Sep 10, 2024 · 1 hr 19 min
S2 E6 : Conversations with Sound Designers - John Leonard
John Leonard produced his first sound design in September 1972 for a production of A Streetcar Named Desire at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre Company's Little Theatre. Since then, he has: produced countless soundtracks for theatres around the world; spent eleven years with the Royal Shakespeare Company; worked regularly as a freelancer for the Almeida Theatre, Hampstead Theatre and Donmar Warehouse; written articles and a book about theatre sound and developed a sideline in recording sound effects. He is a Fellow at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, an Honorary Fellow of the Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts and a Companion of the Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts.
S2 · E5
Jul 22, 2024 · 59 min
S2 E5 : Conversations with Sound Designers - Nicola T Chang
Nicola T. Chang is an award-winning composer/sound designer for stage and screen from Hong Kong, now currently based in London. She was the Composer/Sound Designer on the 2020/21 Old Vic 12 and a co-winner of the Evening Standard Future Theatre Fund (Audio Design) in 2021. She started her theatre career in performance, having performed in STOMP! West End and Six the Musical, and continues to perform alongside her composition and sound design work. Most recent theatre credits as composer/sound designer include For Black Boys Who Have Considered Suicide When the Hue Gets Too Heavy (Apollo Theatre/Royal Court Jerwood Downstairs/New Diorama), My Neighbour Totoro (RSC/Barbican) and Kerry Jackson (National Theatre
S2 · E4
May 9, 2024 · 1 hr 12 min
S2 E4 : Conversations with Sound Designers - Donato Wharton
Donato Wharton is a Sound Designer and Musician, he was born in Cardiff Wales in 1976, he grew up in Worthing West Sussex and went to school in Stuttgart in southern Germany. Donato's career as a musician, and his life in theatre began in Stuttgart. Donato's music spanning the genres of Alternative Rock, Hip Hop, Electronica, Digital Ambient and Filed Recording based music has been published on several labels. The first of these releases is from 1995 and his music has been used in radio features, television programs, theatre productions and art installations internationally. Donato trained for Sound Design in Theatre at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama in London, and holds an MSC in Digital Composition and Performance from the Reid School of Music, University of Edinburgh. As a Sound Designer Donato works almost exclusively in theatre, his work has been heard at major theatre in the UK and abroad in Germany, France, the Netherlands and the US. Donato also teaches Sound Design, is a lecturer in Sound Design and Production at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama in London, has also given lectures and workshops at the Royal Academy of Art, the Royal College of Artand the Ruskin School of Art Oxford, amongst others. Donato is a native speaker of both English and German, he lives in Reading, Berkshire and is married and has a son.
S2 · E3
Mar 19, 2024 · 1 hr 15 min
S2 E3 : Conversations with Sound Designers - Carolyn Downing
Carolyn Downing is an award-winning sound designer working in a variety of fields including exhibitions, fashion, theatre and live events. Creativity and collaboration are at the heart of her work from initial concept development with fellow designers through to realisation with technical and project delivery teams. Carolyn’s most memorable projects include Goya And Munch: Modern Prophecies for Munch Museet in Oslo; Life Of Pi with Sheffield Theatres & Simon Friend Entertainment created for West End, Boston A.R.T, Broadway, the UK Tour and beyond, for which she was awarded a Tony in 2023 & nominated for an Olivier in 2022; The Commonwealth Games 2022 Opening Ceremony performed at Alexander Stadium, Birmingham; The Nightwatchman by Prasanna Puwanarajah, a one-woman show with Stephanie Street for the National Theatre; Jean Michel Basquiat: King Pleasure exhibition shown in NYC & Los Angeles; Ness a geo-located audio experience based on Robert McFarlane’s poetical work. Most recently, Carolyn has enjoyed collaborating on Mark Ravenhill’s new play Ben & Imo at The Swan Theatre, RSC.
S2 · E2
Dec 26, 2023 · 33 min
S2 E2 : Conversations with Sound Designers - Alexandra Faye-Braithwaite
Alexandra Faye-Braithwaite is a sound designer and composer working across theatre, tv and radio. As well as bespoke audio projects born in Lancashire and brought up in Yorkshire. She now calls Manchester home she’s worked all across the UK including the The Royal Court, The Young Vic, The RSC, The Royal Exchange , The West End, Sheffield Crucible and more as well as internationally, most notably in Beirut Lebanon
S2 · E1
Nov 24, 2023 · 1 hr 28 min
S2 E1 : Conversations with Sound Designers - The Ringham Brothers
Ben and Max Ringham are multi award-winning Composers, Sound Designers and Dramatists. Over the last two decades they have worked extensively in film, television, theatre, dance and performance.Notable recent work includes:(as Composers/Sound Designers) Prima Facie - West End/Broadway (Olivier Best Sound Design nomination, BWW Sound Design winner), 2022-23A Dolls House - Broadway, 2023 Blindness - a socially distanced sound installation for the Donmar, also worldwide (South Bank Theatre Award nomination, Los Metros Best Design winner), 2020-22Cyrano De Bergerac - West End and Broadway (Olivier Best Sound Design nomination, Drama Desk Award Sound Design Winner), 2019Betrayal - West End and Broadway, 2018 Frida Kahlo, Making Herself Up - V&A, 2018Epic Iran - V&A, 2020 Berberian Sound Studio - Donmar, 2018Bells For Peace with Yoko Ono - MIF, 2018.(as Directors/Writers/Creators) Exemplar, co-created with Dan Rebelatto, 3 episodes as writers - BBC Radio 4 (BBC Audio Drama Awards Best Original Series or Serial winner), 2022The Return by Shahid Iqbal Khan - ETT/StoryGlass, 2021The Curse Of The Crackles, co-created with Ed Stambollouian - STH, 2021ANNA, co-created with Ella Hickson, National Theatre (Olivier Best Sound Design nomination), 2019
Apr 13, 2023 · 1 hr 15 min
S1 E7 (Bonus Demo Episode) - Conversations with Sound Designers - Ian Dickinson
Ian Dickinson is an Olivier Award winning, Tony Nominated Sound Designer for Theatre. He has an extensive catalogue of work, with key and frequent collaboration with The National Theatre, Harper Eliot/ Marianne Elliot, Mathew Dunster and Ian Rickson. He is a resident designer for the London based sound company Autograph Sound, and in the past has been Head of Sound at the Royal Court, the Lyceum theatre in Edinburgh and Deputy Head of Sound at the Royal Exchange theatre in Manchester. He works in both the subsidised and commercial sector across musicals and, more frequently, with content based productions. His most notable success include Curious Incident of a Dog in the Night Time (National Theatre, West End and Broadway), Company (West End and Broadway), Jerusalem (Royal Court, West End and Broadway?), Angels in America (National Theatre and Broadway) and Oceans at the End of the Lane (National Theatre and West End).
S1 · E6
Mar 26, 2023 · 1 hr 10 min
S1 E6 - Conversations with Sound Designers - Anna Clock
Anna Clock is a composer, musician and sound artists working across all forms including theatre, film, radio and installation; as well as composing and performing for other musicians and leading their own projects, they are based in London.
S1 · E5
Jan 24, 2023 · 1 hr 14 min
S1 E5 - Conversations with Sound Designers - Tony Gayle
Tony is a London based Theatre Sound Designer specialising in Musicals, Plays and live music events. Tony has been working in the Theatre industry for over 30 years after entering the industry after a short lived professional football career. He has a City & Guilds in Sound Engineering and a BTEC National Diploma in Stagecraft. Theatre backstage diversity and inclusion activism features heavily in Tony's career. He is currently one of 3 Co-Directors of Stage Sight and founder membee of industry based advisory and recruitment group, The Audio Cartel. He is supported and inspired by his family, who have enabled him to thrive and enjoy his work. Tony is a twice British Black Theatre Award recipient, Alfred Fagan Black Champion and has been nominated for several of his Sound Designs.
S1 · E4
Dec 24, 2022 · 1 hr 11 min
S1 E4 - Conversations with Sound Designers - Tingying Dong
Ting is a Sound Designer, Composer, and Theatre Maker. After graduating from drama school in 2019, she started off creating sound design for fringe theatre and quickly made her way into larger spaces. Her recent work includes Watch On The Rhine at Donmar Warehouse, My Son’s A Queer (But What Can You Do?) at Garrick Theatre, and designing the sound content for The Crucible at National Theatre. As a Theatre Maker, Ting is collaborating with practitioners from different disciplines on a few projects, with topics around cultural identity, existential crisis, eco-system, and languages. She enjoys the process of devising and is interested in exploring experimental, multi-disciplinary, and magical realistic forms. Born and bred in China, Ting studied for an MSc in Behavioural Economics in the Netherlands before moving to London. She trained at the BA(Hons) Production and Technical Arts course at LAMDA.
S1 · E3
Nov 17, 2022 · 1 hr 11 min
S1 E3 - Conversations with Sound Designers - Paul Arditti
Paul Arditti is a sound designer working on plays and musicals. He won a Tony Award for Billy Elliot The Musical on Broadway, and has received several other Tony nominations, most recently for The Inheritance, with his co-designer Chris Reid. Amongst his other awards are four Drama Desks, two Oliviers and an Evening Standard.Following a degree in English and Drama at the University of Hull, Paul immediately started working in theatre. His design career has spanned nearly 40 years, kicking off with three years in the National Theatre’s sound department in the 80s, and eight years as Head of Sound at the Royal Court Theatre in the 90s under Stephen Daldry and later, Ian Rickson.Mostly, Paul has been freelance, with the majority of his work heard in the theatres of London and New York. Paul is a founding member of the ASD, and currently an Associate at the National Theatre.
S1 · E2
Oct 11, 2022 · 1 hr 14 min
S1 E2 - Conversations with Sound Desingers - Tom Gibbons
In this episode we meet Tom Gibbons. Tom is a sound designer and composer who works predominantly in live theatre and musicals, and sometimes film. He studied for a degree in Theatre Sound at The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama before starting a career in sound design, living and working in London. Over the last ten years Tom has designed sound on projects at most of the large London theatres including the National Theatre, Young Vic and West End. During that time his work has transferred to Broadway and many European theatres, while also creating new plays and musicals on those continents. He is often associated with, and has designed shows for bold directors such as Robert Icke, Jeremy Herrin and Ivo van Hove. During his career he has been nominated for Tony, Olivier and Drama Desk awards, winning an Olivier award for People, Places and Things at the NT and West End. His home is in London, with his family and their dog.
S1 · E1
Oct 6, 2022 · 1 hr 18 min
S1 E1 - Conversations with Sound Designers - Melanie Wilson
In this first episode we talk to Melanie Wilson. Melanie is is a U.K. based multi-disciplinary performance maker. Her acclaimed work is founded on the contemporary interplay between sound art, experimental forms of composition, language and live performance. Melanie collaborates with artists and companies across theatre, film, opera and installation, creating highly crafted sound works at varying scale from main house auditoria to intimate podcasts. She is a long term collaborator with director Katie Mitchell. Melanie is currently developing a choral work that uses AI to explore the human relationship with non-human species, as part of Sound and Music's New Voices composer programme. Melanie's recent collaborations include little scratch, dir. Katie Mitchell (Hampstead Theatre: score), Unsere Zeit, dir. Simon Stone (Residenztheatre, Munich: score), Extinct, dir. Kirsty Housley (Theatre Royal Stratford East: soundtrack) Current Rising, dir. Netia Jones (ROH: libretto); Where I Go (When I Can't Be Where I Am), dir. Rachel Bagshaw (BBC Culture in Quarantine: score) and Orlando dir. Katie Mitchell (Schaubühne, Berlin: soundtrack). Melanie’s own recent work includes Women of Record (A Woman’s Place Exhibition, Knole House), Opera for the Unknown Woman (Wales Millennium Centre/UK tour) and Landscape II (Dublin Festival/UK tour). Melanie is also the Chairperson of the Association of Sound Desingers

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