also in photo: Saul Eisenberg
I have over 20 years of experience of creating sound designs for dance, theatre and circus performances. When creating both bespoke scores for live instrumentalists and recorded soundtracks for easy touring, my passion is finding the right soundtrack to make your work stand out on stage.
Alongside my sound designs, I often work as an audio consultant; editing and remixing existing scores to better support the action on stage. The final soundscape is usually a woven fabric of original scores, found sounds, recordings and live sounds.
I work on projects that range from large multi-speaker installations, with dynamic soundscapes moving around the audience, to small intimate plug and play performances perfect for one person shows.
I also work as a technician and production manager, so I often set up and run shows that I have helped create. This lends a linearity and continuity to the production that allows the performance and tech to interact and breath on a deeper level.
If you would like to find out more or discuss possible collaborations please do be in touch via the contact page.
Gallery
Tactile Quartets (2019): Composition, Sound Design, Technical Direction and Production Management – a dance quartet and a string quartet combine to explore the sound of dance and the movement of music. (1h – dir. Vera Tussing – prod. hiros – with Esse Vanderbruggen, Vera Tussing, Yoh Morishita, Zoltán Vakulya & Quatuor MP4 [Claire Bourdet, Margaret Hermant, Pierre Heneaux, Merryl Havard])
Both, Two (2018): Composition, Sound Design, Technical Direction and Production Management – Can we hear a duet? What does it feel like? Costumes with palpable textures, swirling currents of air and sound, and a tactile program note complement the movements of tangibly enfleshed bodies. (1h – creation & performance: Vera Tussing & Esse Vanderbruggen – prod. hiros)
The Time Travel Piece (2018): Composition and performance – a choreographer discovers a time machine and travels into the future. Back in the present, he tries to recreate the performances he has seen. (20mins – chor. Seke Chimutengwende – perf. Kirsty Arnold, Charlie Ashwell, Seke Chimutengwende, Theo Clinkard, Michael Picknett, Eleanor Sikorski, Flora Wellesley Wesley)
Mazing (2016): Composition, Sound Design, Technical Direction and Production Management – Five dancers are set in motion by the audience, creating visible networks of action which emerge from simple social negotiations. This gently destabilizing performance both challenges and strengthens notions of community, re- affirming the power of touch in the digital age. (1h – dir. Vera Tussing – prod. Hiros – perf. Shosha van Kranendonk, Thomas Saulgrain, Vera Tussing, Esse Vanderbruggen, Zoltan Vakulya)
The Kiss (2008): Composition and Sound Design – a technicolour visual treat with a cinematic approach to choreography. Ephemeral images mix with fleeting sounds, everything is locked together in perfect synchronicity. (15mins – dir. Jose Vidal – perf. Julieta Figueroa, Renata Gaspar, Giuliana Majo, Cristóbal Muhr, Montse Ventura, Nick Lawson, Thom Rackett, Seke Chimutengwende)
Medea (2007): Composition and Sound Design – Heiner Müller’s texts interweave with original composition for two ‘cellos and voice as Medea moves through the triptych of her life. (38mins – dir. Jesús Rubio Gamo – perf. Aurea Romero with Jorge Brea, Tom Fell, Kazumi Hirota, Tomasz Pokrzywinski and Juliet Colyer)
Michael Picknett 