A lot of people do not know exactly what I do. I've been asked this so often that I've gotten the answer down to two sentences that say the same thing. I tell them I am just like a costume designer or a lighting designer, I take the text of the play and I support it through sound effects and music. In other words I try to tell the story through sound. And that works mostly...but it doesn't truly give them the full experience.
For a while I've been trying to figure out a way to show them what I do without it getting boring or bogged down in technical detail. Radio Lab from WNYC has achieved this for me in their show titled Making Radio Lab. in it they go over the philosophy behind sound and how it applies to their show and what they do to achieve that.
I recommend that anyone who is even remotely curious in what a sound designer does to check this out. The way they described how sound enhances the interview is the exact same way sound enhances a live show the only difference is the words are not from the interviewee but from the playwright.
