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[0:00] Nevin Steinberg: So we have Nevin Steinberg, a sound designer who has worked on Broadway productions of Hamilton, Dear Evan Hansen, Tina, Hadestown, The Cher Show, Bandstand, Bright Star, Freestyle Loves Supreme, and many, many more.

[0:14] Mason Bray: Hi, Mr. Steinberg.

[0:16] Nevin Steinberg: Hi, Mason.

[0:17] Mason Bray: Good to meet you.

[0:18] Nevin Steinberg: Good to meet you too.

[0:19] Mason Bray: How are you?

[0:20] Nevin Steinberg: I'm good. I'm good. Uh here in New York City, hunkering down for the uh what I like to call the hiatus and uh, you know, just trying to stay positive and productive.

[0:30] Mason Bray: How are you?

[0:31] Nevin Steinberg: Good, thank you.

[0:32] Mason Bray: Would you like to tell how you got to where you are?

[0:35] Nevin Steinberg: Uh sure. Uh I grew up uh playing music as a bass player uh and did a lot of theater as a as a school kid and uh all through high school and even into college uh playing bass for the shows uh on campus in college and and before that uh in my high schools and middle schools and even around towns, neighboring towns. So I got into theater as a musician and then transitioned into technical theater as a volunteer, uh started doing lighting first and then uh kind of made my way into sound, which I found out I had interest and uh aptitude for and kind of never looked back. I started doing sound in college, uh, even got my first paying sound jobs as an operator on shows uh at the main stage of the American Repertory Theater where I went to college and um and then started doing some sound design projects for their institute, which was their grad school for directors and designers.

And uh after college I went right into working as an assistant sound designer at a regional theater in Providence, Rhode Island, which was my first job out of college, and really that's that's been my career. That's all I've been doing uh since college is is professional sound.

[1:45] Mason Bray: What would you include in a description of your job as a sound designer?

[1:49] Nevin Steinberg: Well, really, you kind of start starts very broadly with anything you hear in the theater is my job. Uh my job is to manage and uh and kind of uh guide an audience through what they're hearing in a theater, whether it be pre-recorded sound effects like things that are called for in a script, like door knocks or doorbells, or dog barks or crickets or uh ambient realistic naturalistic sounds for a drama or abstract soundscapes that might include tones and winds and uh things that don't necessarily have a uh a naturalistic feel, um, just setting tension and mood. Um, it might also include curating uh and editing pre-recorded music, uh either music that exists in the world already or original music that's written for a production.

Uh, and then on musicals, uh, it also will involve amplification, extensive amplification of the uh of the musical or the play uh to all seating areas in an auditorium. So it's really anything you can imagine that has to do with audio uh falls under my uh responsibility as a sound designer.

[3:03] Mason Bray: So, how do you create a sound environment in like making the audience feel like they're part of the show?

[3:09] Nevin Steinberg: Well, it's the you know, first starts with the script, uh just like everything we do. Um, so part of it is trying to understand maybe a location or an emotion that that you're in, um, and then imagining how you how how that might sound to you, how it might sound to an audience, how it might sound to the characters on stage and uh and the environment that you're looking at. It often is a it's a response to the visual environment that might be scenic design, costume design, the lighting design, or the projection design as well, and collaborating with them to match what they're doing or collaborate with them in creating an environment that just isn't audio but also involves all the senses that we use in the theater to immerse an audience in that feeling.

So for something like Bright Star, which you mentioned, that play took place, that musical took place in North Carolina, and uh a lot of it took place outside, or parts of it took place outside. And so some of those environments were uh had uh soundscapes that actually were created with North Carolina in mind. They had North Carolina birds and North Carolina insects and sort of snapshots of those times of day and different locations in North Carolina. And I in fact went to uh different locations in North Carolina to do some what we call field recording, which is to take my recorder out into the into the wild and actually capture some of those environments, both to use them in the play, but also as models for things that I would make using other uh elements, pre-recorded elements, elements from sound effect libraries or stuff that I recorded myself.

So that's one way to do it. We create create actual locations. Um another thing we might do is in Hamilton a bullet gets shot out of a gun but then stops because we're stopping time. So using uh sound effects editing software, I will take maybe the sound of or maybe multiple sounds of gunshots or even thunder claps and use those to create the sound of a bullet and then reverse them to sort of give a kind of sucking sound back that stops abruptly, but then has some reverb on it and gives you the sense that maybe something has been interrupted and stopped. So it's uh lots of tools and lots of imagination uh and some technology as well.

[5:28] Mason Bray: What is the most important part for you to do in the development phase?

[5:32] Nevin Steinberg: Uh in the development phase of a musical, you mean or a play?

[5:36] Mason Bray: Either one.

[5:38] Nevin Steinberg: Yeah, um, I think the most important part is to is to listen and talk. I think that any designer, sound designers or or designers are in any discipline, your best tools are your are your are listening and and dialogue and speaking. And so before you even uh set down to decide how something's gonna sound or what sound effect to make or what soundscape to create or how you're gonna amplify something, the best thing to do is to really listen to it and to experience the play or the musical as it is without any technology and without any design elements and let it let it wash over you and examine it for its central themes for the things the characters uh that are important about the characters or that are important about the the places and the settings, uh, and then to have long talks with directors and choreographers and music departments and your other design team members to decide in which direction you're gonna go and what the tone of the things that you're going to be asked to create are going to be.

[6:42] Mason Bray: What happens when the show opens? Are you there every day?

[6:44] Nevin Steinberg: No, uh I usually as a sound designer I'm there supervising uh all the way through opening night. So when we're when we're running, you know, technical rehearsals and in previews, I'll be there pretty much every every day and every night. Um, but once the show opens, uh the crew uh who are employed by the production are responsible for doing the show eight times a week. Uh and I tend to stop in and check in on those shows uh pretty frequently just to say hi, or maybe watch an act, or maybe watch a whole show and take some notes and sort of keep everything kind of between the lines.

[7:19] Mason Bray: So did you start out doing work and then people would seek you out? Or did you have to formally apply for all these shows?

[7:32] Nevin Steinberg: In in show business in my experience. But you know, some shows I do uh I do interview for. They might be members of the creative team or the producers that I don't know from previous productions. And I'll be contacted by a general manager or production manager, and I'll have meetings or phone calls with people that I I otherwise hadn't worked with or known in other in other areas. And we'll have uh we'll have an opportunity to get to know each other and talk about not just the the project that we might work on together, but just get to know each other a little bit because you want to make sure that your styles are at least compatible, if not matched. Um so uh but uh more often than not these days I get a lot of calls from people that I've worked with before who who, you know, thank goodness want to work with me again. So it's a little bit of a combination, but uh I certainly have done my share of uh interviewing and uh that doesn't really ever stop.

[8:31] Mason Bray: So do you have any tips for anybody who wants to be on Broadway as a sound designer or a designer in general?

[8:38] Nevin Steinberg: Well, I think that you know the best thing to do is in this case is to is to practice is to just design stuff. I know that sounds crazy because it's you know, on Broadway, there's there it's obviously rarefied air, right? Like it's it's you know, we're doing it with all of the resources and uh and all of the time uh at this level. But the truth is you can design a set or sound or lighting or costumes or even projections now, you know, on your laptop or on your tablet or on a big sketchpad, which is sometimes the way I do it, and you know, get involved with people who want to make theater or make a play or make a musical and practice the craft, you know, take a shot. It's um it's certainly it is something you can study.

Um, there are ways to learn about it. There's lots of resources both online and in person and through degree programs. So there's there's a lot of paths to becoming a designer, but really the best way to learn about being a designer is to design things is to have these conversations that I was telling you about, and then actually put pen to paper or get on your audio editing software and try and make something that sounds the way you imagine it. Uh, and that's the first step into actually practicing the craft.

[9:54] Mason Bray: What is your favorite part of the job?

[9:56] Nevin Steinberg: That's a good question. I think my favorite part of the job is actually imagining myself as an audience member and trying to either improve the experience or create a detailed experience for myself as that audience member. So sitting in an audience full of people and really thinking about how what I'm hearing makes me feel and what I can do as a designer and as a professional to improve that experience and to make it richer and more interesting and more connected to what's going on in front of me.

[10:35] Mason Bray: What has been your favorite show to work on?

[10:38] Nevin Steinberg: Well, that's tough. You know, they're all they're all great. You named so many good ones right at the top, and I'm so proud of all of them. So, you know, it's hard to name a favorite. They've been most of the time when I have a favorite show, it's about the people more even than the show. And of course, my you know, my Hamilton family are people I've known for a long time. That's a that's a group of colleagues that I've been lucky enough to work with for many years and on a lot of different shows. Um, so that's definitely high up there. Uh in the Heights for the same reason was a great was a great show in my career. Um and I loved working on Bright Star, also some great people and a great project. So, you know, they're all they're all fantastic, and uh certainly, you know, some are tougher than others and they're all a little bit different. But you know, that's that's the fun part of my job is the variation.

[11:28] Mason Bray: So, do you think education or experience is more important in your career path?

[11:34] Nevin Steinberg: I'd have to say that you know, it really depends on the person. I think that, you know, I I wasn't educated to do sound, I did sound kind of as a hobby for a long time, and uh and then became quickly became a professional without really getting any formal audio education, and but I had a very good broad education, so I think that maybe the combination is is good, and I think the balance of those two things depends on the kind of person you are and what kind of career you want to pursue. Some people really enjoy academics and really want to get inside the the theory and the reading and the the teaching of something, uh, and other people just want to kind of get out there and do it, and I think both paths are pretty valid, and um I do think that in general education is good, um, not necessarily sound education or audio education, but having an educational experience is something I try to encourage you know for young people who are looking to get into the business even if that means going to a university if you can do that or if you can afford that um and getting a a broad educational experience about a lot of subjects and also encounter a lot of people uh from different backgrounds and different places because those kinds of educational experiences while they're not leading to degrees necessarily or specific career paths are very enriching and will help you become a better theater artist.

[12:59] Mason Bray: What are you doing during quarantine?

[13:01] Nevin Steinberg: Well uh trying to keep busy with uh some work we have some projects that are coming up in 2021 that I'm starting trying to stay ahead of so there's some planning for those um I do a lot of uh I run uh distance run as a as a way to keep in in shape and also keep my mental health in good shape so I do a lot of that um I've been doing some cooking uh which is nice I'm spending a lot of time at home with my wife which is something I don't often get to do because I'm I'm traveling a lot for work so that's been that's been pretty great too. So a little bit of everything I'm also taking some online courses doing some professional development trying to take advantage of the time that I wouldn't otherwise have and reading which I also enjoy.

[13:39] Mason Bray: Before we go I do want to compliment you one thing I noticed in Dear Evan Hansen is the news reporters talking about Evan Hansen during "You Will Be Found" and I just wanted to say that is an awesome ad to the show.

[13:54] Nevin Steinberg: Oh thanks you know that's actually uh that's an amazing bit of scripting on the part of the writers and then sort of a very determined and painstaking assembly of very small clips of dialogue and and placing them very carefully. It was a big team effort with music and with the writers and the director and uh also the uh projection designer Peter Negrini and everybody involved to try and make that uh that storytelling work and and be dynamic and exciting. So thank you for that. We're we're very proud of it.

[14:25] Mason Bray: Well, thank you so much for being here.

[14:27] Nevin Steinberg: My pleasure.

[14:28] Mason Bray: Nice talking to you.

[14:29] Nevin Steinberg: Hey guys, it's end of the season, Mason.

[14:33] Mason Bray: This is my last episode interview for this season. I'll be back in a few weeks. Just taking a couple of weeks' vacation just to breathe and stuff like that. So thank you so much for listening to my 10 or 11 interviews. And I'll see you next season.