PARADISE BY DESIGN

California Institute of the Arts

Directed by Martin Acosta

Written by David Gaitán 

Tools: Logic, Max MSP, QLab 3, Surface Transducers, Live Sound Reinforcement.

     Three individuals commit political suicide by building a contraption that will kill them all with a single bullet. The story existed in three parallel realities represented by those who committed suicide, a troupe of performers, and travelers exploring their brains.

     The sound design was all about surprise, to keep the audience on the edge of their seat when a new part of the adventure was about to happen. Surface tranducers placed in filing cabinets shook the set, and subwoofers under seats shook the audience. My goal was to use low frequencies to build a dangerous environment that at times felt comfortable. That sense of comfort set the audience up for the next sonic surprise. This sequence - creating comfort, then unexpected explosions and other sonic surprises - repeated through out the show and provided great momentum to the story.

There was also some fun technical hacks in this show! I used Max MSP to connect between an iPhone hidden in a prop and QLab. When the actor moved the prop, the iPhone sent data from it’s accelerometer to trigger different sound files depending on where he held it.