Sound design students have a lighthearted moment.

When Rick Thomas was a kid, he used to entertain his family and neighbors with backyard spectacles. Now that he’s a professor at Indiana’s Purdue University, he has retained the same enthusiasm for theater, plus gained a lot more experience, knowledge and resources. Professor Thomas teaches sound design. If you’re interested in learning a highly technical yet subjective aspect of theater, consider Professor Thomas’ program.

Purdue is a world-class technology and engineering school, and those fields mesh brilliantly with sound design. Many students come to sound design with an appreciation for its aesthetics. At Purdue, appreciation is coupled with a solid technical foundation. As student Kyle Ridenour says, “Rick convinced me I would be a better designer if I knew what tools were at my disposal. He was right.”

Thomas was recruited by the university in 1976. He built the sound design program from scratch. At that time, opportunities for educational study of sound were next to nil. (Now there are six schools that offer MFAs in sound design: CalArts, University of Missouri-Kansas City, Purdue, University of Cincinnati’s College Conservatory of Music, North Carolina School of the Arts and Yale.)

Thomas recommends graduate programs for those wishing to make a career in theater. “I think that theater education is a seven-year experience,” he says. “There’s so much to learn—not just sound, but all of theater. To think you have an expertise that is marketable in four years is foolish.” Thomas believes that a four-year liberal arts background is necessary to “have something to say. Once you’ve developed interests like reading, writing and communication, then you’re ready to start focusing on a specific area.”

Rick Thomas and Purdue grad student Kyle Ridenour co-designed the sound for the recent Purdue University production of Into The Woods seen here.

Sound design can be broken down into three categories, according to Thomas. The first is composition. This type of specialist usually has a degree in music, plays several instruments and knows music history. Having developed a passion for the stage, a theater composer knows how to analyze plays and has possibly done some acting. Thomas says, “Because music is a time-based art, composers know about acting beats and how to break down the larger piece into moments.”

The second type is the sound reinforcement designer. The best designers in this category are typically found working on Broadway or in Las Vegas. Their job is to make a live performance not only audible, but pleasant and well-balanced.

Sound reinforcement designers know how to accommodate the wide range of output in acoustical instruments, creating something that transcends the normal compact disc home experience. In a concert setting, they have to manipulate various technical paraphernalia on a moment-to-moment basis. Things change quickly and unpredictably in a live performance, and sound reinforcement designers need “superb ear/hand coordination,” says Thomas.

There is a tremendous amount of equipment on the market, which is constantly being revamped and upgraded. Sound reinforcement designers need to stay abreast of the latest technical trends. However, the most important quality, according to Thomas, is the ability to listen.

The third type of sound designers are sound score designers. Often composers, they design what Thomas calls acoustical landscapes. Their technical knowledge is in recording studio systems, sound playback and computers. Thomas says, “Sound score designers work closely with scenic designers, light designers and directors on articulating a vision. They have to work well in a team environment.”

Teamwork is the principle that guides Thomas. “I like the collaborative environment,” he says. “I like people who know that if they share and rely on each other, they’ll get a better experience than if they’d gone into it all by themselves.” Student Cory Kent says that Thomas’ strength is his willingness “to teach in a mentoring relationship. Other programs feature famous faculty—so famous that you can’t find them because they are always working somewhere else!”

Thomas has few illusions about the common perception of sound design, which he calls “the bastard step-child of theater.” Sound design, according to Thomas, rarely gets the budget and respect it deserves. Thomas, who is as involved in the professional world as he is in academia, says that sound designers are often required to bring their own equipment to the job. “A costume or lighting designer doesn’t bring their own shop, but the sound designer has to bring his own recording studio. When producers say that sound costs more than the costumes, sets and lights put together, my response is ‘Yes, that’s right’—because sound is half the experience.”

Sound design template for Into The Woods

With uncommon facility and ease, Thomas freely communicates his passion for sound design to his students. Grad student Ian Hunter says, “Rick is constantly pushing students to think in new ways, and take ideas to the next level.” Kyle Ridenour, who recently completed the program and is working as a consultant in media design, agrees. “Professor Thomas sincerely cares about the art and craft of audio design in the theater,” says Ridenour. “He’s a dedicated teacher.”

Although 95 percent of the sound design students at Purdue are men, “there is nothing about the field that would prevent women from being wonderful at it,” says Thomas. He is very proud that one of Purdue’s female grads now heads the sound design program at the University of Arizona.

Thomas’ classes most commonly attract freshmen who did sound in high school and think design would be fun. Often, some realize that the fun was in the friendships they formed and not in sound design, which prompts them to drop the focus. This does not displease Thomas, who reflects that his objective “is to help people accomplish what they’re trying to accomplish, not to mold more Rick Thomases. I consider that to be as successful as producing a really great sound designer.”