Gareth Owen is one of theatre's busiest and most sought-after sound designers, routinely working on four or five musicals simultaneously. His current portfolio includes Hell's Kitchen, the Alicia Keys Broadway musical; MJ: The Musical; Come From Away and the musicals The Devil Wears Prada and Back to the Future.
At any given time there are up to 70 technicians of varying nationalities working on his shows around the globe and, of that number, about half work exclusively for Owen. ‘I don't actually employ people, but they are close associates,’ he says.
‘We have very strict guidelines on how we put shows together, so that any one of us can walk into any theatre and know that they're set up and cabled in the same way. It means I can be in New York one day and London the next, and know precisely how each show is configured. It's all about forward planning and everybody pulling in the same direction.’
Growing up in St Ives, Cornwall, Owen got into performance tech in his mid-teens, bluffing his way into a local nightclub as a lighting expert. In truth he knew nothing about it. ‘I bought Peter Buck's book Live Sound and taught myself the basics. Then, I bought a mixing desk, some microphones, some cable and some effects boxes, and I was ready to go.’ During the day he was a lifeguard on the beach; at night he was mixing the sound for live bands at the club.
Later, at university, he blagged his way into working part-time for a company that provided sound for rock and pop festivals throughout the country. Somebody he worked with asked Gareth if he would cover for him on the West End musical Blues Brothers while he went on tour with the band Deep Purple. Owen finished up as head of sound on Blues Brothers, and proved so efficient that the musical director recommended him for a UK tour of the musical Godspell.
‘I was in my mid-twenties, and I still didn't have a clue about basic things like upstage and downstage; I learnt as I went along,’ he says, ‘I didn't get into theatre to do sound effects, I went into it because I love music. I decided I should concentrate on the thing that I enjoyed the most.’
Clearly one of Gareth's greatest strengths is his genuine enthusiasm for the job and his love of music. ‘I really enjoyed doing shows like 42nd Street, Top Hat and Singin’ in the Rain, but my first love is big, loud rock ’n’ roll shows like Memphis, Hairspray and Sister Act, so getting to work on Bat Out of Hell and bringing Jim Steinman's music to the stage was an honour for me. I treated it like a rock concert.’
Owen says he and his team are constantly pushing sound technology forward as it is a vital component of any musical show. With the wonders of digital technology, he can create sound effects for other members of his team – and for other shows – from the other side of the world. ‘We regularly update the software we need in order to work on several shows at once. It's a common model across musicals – a senior creative working on a new show while his associates look after replica shows.
‘People's expectation of sound has altered dramatically since digital downloading, and musical theatre was slow to respond. Now, slowly but surely, we're catching up. The sound designers who can deliver that level of clarity and quality are the ones taking musical theatre forward.’
A self-confessed workaholic, Gareth says he is trying hard to limit himself to six months away from home once a year, so that he can afford to spend quality time with his wife and three children the rest of the time. What advice would he give anyone thinking of following in his footsteps? ‘Some people make a lot of money from sound design, but not many. You should be prepared for an intense lifestyle. You really need to love it. Liking it isn't enough. You need to want to do sound engineering and theatre at your very core because otherwise you'll seriously regret it down the road. I wouldn't do anything else, and neither would the people I work with.’ He adds, ‘Consider a degree course in something transferable – network engineers, for example, are highly useful in the theatre, and you'll never be short of work.’
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