Why is a clarinetist writing sound control software?

What we now affectionately call Theater Max got its start back in 2001 with a production of Eugene Ionesco's Macbett, a very strange twist on that famous Danish play of similar name that can best be described as very...well...Ionesco. This was the first production in UCLA's Theater Department to incorporate interactive technology into a mainstream theatrical production. The tracking system itself was quite impressive (authored by REMAP's very own Executive Director Jeff Burke). Through a network of sensors on specific props and actors, this system gave the actors the ability to control and influence various aspects of the lighting and sound design during the performance by their position, gestures, and even behaviour as a group.

Enter the Clarinetist (cue lovely clarinet music...probably the best you've ever heard...seriously...it's really quite lovely). Prior to Macbett, I had no theatrical sound design experience, however I had done quite a bit of work in installation art. And since my doctoral work at the time was exploring relationships between performer, audience, space, sound and music in live performance through the use of immerging technology, I was invited to play the starring role (in my humble opinion) as the brave and courageous Sound Designer for this crazy play. So not really aware of the more traditional tools used by sound designers, I brought along the real-time audio processing tools with which I was most familiar: mainly Max/MSP. For those in the audience who haven't come in contact with Max/MSP (or simply referred to as Max), Max is a powerful, high-level, graphically-based programming language for media applications. In other words, it can do lots of really cool things with sound (and video, if you're into that) in real time, with "code" that looks much closer to a flow chart than the programming language we are probably more familiar with.

The software proved to be a perfect match for taking on the interactive and more performance-driven cues in this production (we are still talking about Macbett, in case you got lost in the rambling). Witches were given supernatural powers over wind, thunder, and lightning, the direction and intensity of which was based on how they handled their giant staves; ghostly kings were given the ability to throw their voices and make themselves sound larger than life based on the position of their hand; and a butterfly hunter (remember we are talking about Ionesco) was given the ability to control the sound mix of his absurd interjection based on where he was prancing about on the stage. Not surprisingly, the software also proved to be a comprehensive tool for the more traditional live and pre-recorded sound cues. With the software I could make changes to levels, mixes, fades, multi-channel panning, and even processing parameters (like reverb, EQ, or some funky butterfly-motivated disco-distortion) at any time during the rehearsal or performance, even, or rather especially, while the cue was playing. In fact the flexibility startled quite a few of the other designers who were quite used to the traditional fixed media used by most sound designers (even today). All of this power was contained within a single on-screen interface, triggered by a keyboard and mouse, with no need for any outboard gear other than the audio cards used to get the sound out of the computer. The beauty was that no matter how complex the cue, each one was executable at the click of a button or the gentle press of the powerful and ever-knowing space bar. This not only gave the sound design tremendous agility in a live environment, it created a much stronger relationship between the sound and the action on stage. An added perk, and I'm speaking to the more seasoned sound designers out there, was that it virtually eliminated board-op error - no more watering down cues because the board-op who has been hired for your gig can't cope with the stacks of outboard gear with so many buttons and sparkly lights and flashing knobs and faders that miraculously move all on their own.

Theater Max has come a long way since this first production, and those who have worked with Max, or any programming language dealing with real-time media processing, know it hasn't always been an easy path. But we prevailed! The desire to have a system that could contain playback, mixing, processing, and control all in a single interface, with expandability beyond the traditional world of sound, combined with tremendous flexibility in all stages of the production process, led us down the path to theatrical-sound-control-enlightenment. The fact that the system can be built as needed for each show from the ground up, with every aspect of its design user controllable, has made Theater Max a solution that is almost without limits, and has really opened the door to experimentation in live sound design. It should perhaps be mentioned at this moment that we are in no way proclaiming that Theater Max (Max/MSP) is alone in this arena. However for us Theater Max provides a very unique solution, and perhaps more configurable and cost effective alternative to other control systems.

Since that production of Macbett many, many moons ago, Max has been incorporated into the core sound design curriculum at UCLA's Department of Theater, is used in the majority of our productions at UCLA, and has been used (and further developed) in dozens of professional theatrical productions throughout Los Angeles and beyond. So what we present to you here has been well road-tested and designer-approved (TM).

So you are now asking: "Sure, that's a lovely story David...but what do I get out of all this?"

A good question, indeed! What we've been affectionately calling Theater Max is a collection of patches (abstractions in Max-lore) for control of sound in a performance environment, and as you will discover for yourself, its usefulness is certainly not limited to theater. This software is offered free and as open source (i.e. patches and abstractions versus compiled applications), but not without some conditions. Please take time to read and understand the licensing agreement (i.e. being minions of the great empire known as UCLA, who only work for the common good of the hive, we decided that if we can't make any $$ selling the software, no one can!), and once you have done that, and of course agree to those conditions, go crazy making Theater Max work for your specific needs!

The following pages explain all the components of Theater Max, hopefully with enough detail that you can be up and running your own show in a couple days, even hours depending on your Max/MSP proficiency. We hope you find these tools useful, and we certainly hope that you will help us further develop this software. Your feedback and contributions are always welcome!

t b b,
David
REMAP Sound Czar

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