The sound engineer of a
play,
concert, or other kind of
show, is the person
responsible for making sure that any
sound reinforcement, or
recorded effects sound good. On a smaller
play, where there may only be a couple of short
recorded effects, this job isn't a particularly taxing one, but on larger
shows, where there is a lot of
sound reinforcement to do, there is a lot of
skill required, and a good
ear.
One of the basic
responsibilities of the sound engineer is to eliminate
feedback. This can be caused by
sound reflecting off
surfaces in the
venue, and being picked up by
microphones and
amplified by the
speakers again. This can cause a
loop whereby a certain
frequency gets
louder and
louder. It is the sound engineer's job to make sure that it does not get to this stage.
On shows with more
microphones, there is also the job of balancing the
levels, so that the
audience feels that the
sound levels are
natural, rather than one source coming over a lot
louder than the others (unless, of course, this is the desired
effect)
If you're after any other theatre tech information, then do take a look at '
Everything you ever wanted to know about theatre tech, but were afraid to ask'