The Sound of London Below.
When Scott contacted me to let me know that his proposal for Neverwhere had been accepted into the Sacred Fools season, my first thought was, âWell, I should probably read this play.â
 Exactly two pages into reading the play, I thought, âWell, I should probably read this book firstâ
 So, last spring over the course of several weeks, I cheated, and during my morning walks, I listened to the Neverwhere book on tape (or ipod, rather). Incidentally, this was read by the author himself . Best book on tape Iâve ever heard. Apparently, Mr. Gaimanâs talents are rather limitless.
 Though not necessarily an imperative stage of the design process, I am so glad that I decided to read the book before diving into the play. Obviously, a stage version of this epic story has to be streamlined to avoid a play lasting what I imagine would be several weeks. But in reading the book, you naturally get a much more extensive and vivid picture of the universe Gaiman created. As I became progressively drawn into the intricate and magical world of London below and increasingly amazed by the extensive detail of each element of the story, one thing became abundantly clear to me: The was going to be the largest design Iâve ever worked on.
 Listening to the book, I remember specifically one passage that really lodged in my mind.  It was the first description of the Great Beast of London during one of Richardâs nightmares:
 âIt is huge. It fills the space of the sewer: massive head down, bristled body and breath steaming in the chill of the air. Some kind of boar, he thinks at first, and then realizes that that must be nonsense, no boar could be so huge. It is the size of a bull, of a tiger, of a car.â
 What a BRILLIANT description of a monster! And what a challenge! I knew I would have my hands full on creating the innumerable components of the underworld. Individual sounds would not work in creating any fragment of this place. Each piece of the world would have to be textured and layered. The beast would have to be a combination of animals (and machines), and each area of this sprawling world would have to be peppered with hints and tastes of different places. After all, the story tells us that London below is composed of people who have fallen through the cracks, and the labyrinth where the beast lives is described as â⌠a place of pure madness, built of broken fragments of London Above. It is a world of the lost and the forgotten. Sewers and marshes and corpses and stone and mud.â. For me, I wanted the underworld to sound not necessarily like any place immediately identifiable, yet maintaining hints of the world weâre all familiar with.
The process of building Neverwhere was an often tedious and tiresome one. Pulling the sound elements alone to build the design took several weeks. I found myself more exacting than usual in find just the right sounds that would work.  When I couldn't find them in my sound library, I went to different design websites I know.  When I couldn't find them there, I went to youtube to try to find just the right sound.  Once building began, a brain scrambling process took over.  I had created a separate folder for each effect of every scene. With each different effect, I would throw every element I pulled into one of my sound programs (either Audacity and ProTools) and begin an extensive audition process of trial, error, and process of elimination.  Sounds would be discarded and replaced.  Shifted to different effects in other scenes.  Levels raised and lowered ad nauseum.  Tempos adjusted, pitches changed. Pieces sent through filters, given flange, reverb, echo, or any number of effects. Here is an example of the LOOK of the sound of London Below. The Floating Market:
This is just the file for the general ambiance of the scene. It contains none of the details like Old Baileyâs birds or the drone underscoring his monologue or the echo of the Beast. You can, however, see the hint of London above we tried to texture in at the bottom of the file where we textured in just a touch of the muzak from Herrodâs (âGirl from Ipenemaâ and âWaveâ)
The only real general note I tried to keep in mind concerning the whole of the play was that I wanted London above to sound much more like a haze to Richard and London below to sound music more specific and clear and almost musical to him. even in its most horrific places. This process was made easier by the addition of the glorious score by Ryan Johnson, whose work I found blissfully mirrored in tone with almost everything I created. I wanted London itself to sound more like static to him, from the streets to his apartment to his office. But below should be an absolute wonderland to him. Hereâs a look at his office:
Noise. All those elements you may find in any office anywhere. But I wanted it to sound like it was all piled up in Richardâs cube.
After 2 straight weeks of rising at 8 and going to bed at 2, the design was complete, and we began the process of creating the show in the computer at the Fools. When I was in high school, all my aptitude tests told me that I should go into engineering, and itâs truly during the show building process where all the mathematical elements of those aptitude tests come home to roost â especially during this project, when we decided to put all of the sound, music, video, and lights into one program. Because of this, all fades, crossfades, starts and stops had to be painstakingly run over and over and over and over again to make sure the timing was juuuuuuuust right.  Add 2.3 seconds of fade here, take .7 seconds off a delay on a cue there, etc., etc., etc. In other words, a whollllllle lotta math. Each blast of magic sound I created for Door using the family powers to enter any particular place had to be synced within a hair to Matt Richterâs kaleidoscope of lighting effects and Ben Rockâs and Anthony Backmanâs video projections to create just the right overall feel. I feel that I understand the process that classical composers go through a lot more now, because the individual designs alone are really nothing. Itâs only when they all come seamlessly together that you get a symphony.
And ultimately, the last and most important stage of this process lies in placing all this chaos underneath the story being told by the actors. For as fun as all the pops and whistles we create can be, theyâre worthless if they override the story. Weâre ultimately there to shade and fill out color and support. This cast was incredibly game and willing to work with everything we threw at them. They were uniquely patient as we tried to find levels and timing to match up to the groundwork they had already laid down. And for me, as a designer, the most fun part is when you see an actor USE an element you built to enhance their actions. Julia Griswold and Donnelle Fuller have been magical in incorporating the rat and pigeon and Beast sounds into their work. And all of the cast have found places where they can use sound elements to their advantage. As someone who is primarily an actor, myself, THIS is the part of the design process I enjoy most; when you see an actor recognize and embrace the knowledge that youâve given them toys to play with.
Without a doubt, this is the hardest Iâve ever worked on a show. But the reason I was so motivated to push myself so hard is because I have never been around so many people who have put so much toil and effort and heart and guts and determination into bringing their A game to a project. It has been a creative process of true artists and professionals. You can never know how an audience will respond to your work, really. You can think youâve done a good job, but itâs all such a crap shoot at the end of the day. However, I can tell you as someone whoâs a pretty relentless perfectionist, I am genuinely proud of my work on this show, as well as the work of everyone else involved.   I would hope that everyone who comes to this show can understand the Herculean effort that was made by so many people in bringing this project to life. Thatâs not just theatre club. Thatâs love.
Mind the gap. And enjoy Neverwhere!
blakekathryn
ellievsbear
stormborns
snowghoul
pixelskylines
dailybridgerton
