In Episode 335, Sean and Andy are joined by Steph Farina, a Chicago-based musical theater sound designer, mixer, and educator who heads the sound design program at DePaul University. The conversation covers Steph’s journey from intern at the Goodman Theatre to in-demand regional designer, the art of transitioning from mixer to designer, and her collaborative approach to communicating with mixers without overprescribing. This episode is sponsored by Allen & Heath and RCF.

The trio dives deep into theater sound system tuning, exploring tricks for naturally sourcing vocals from the performer, delay setting techniques using reference loudspeakers and click tracks, and how even fairly basic auditorium systems can be dramatically improved with some delay work. Along the way, they compare notes between theater and corporate audio worlds, share hard-won lessons about crew collaboration, and tease future episodes on troubleshooting and more theater nerdery.

Episode Links:
Steph Farina, Faculty At DePaul University
Steph’s TSDCA Meyer Galaxy & System Tuning Workshop With Costa Daros
Andy’s TSDCA Workshop On Yamaha DM7 For Theatre
Episode 335 Transcript

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