Awards Season

Really happy to see three projects I was fortunate enough to work on were listed as nominees for the 2017 IFTAs.

An Klondike

An Klondike

An Klondike has garnered a stunning 10 nominations including Best Drama, Best Direction, Best Script and Best Music. It was a fantastic show to work on and fully deserves the attention.

Smalltown

Smalltown

Smalltown has earned 3 nominations including Best Drama. It was wonderful to work on and to be part of a show that sees Pat Shortt deliver such an amazing dramatic turn.

Tomato Red

Tomato Red

Juanita Wilson's Tomato Red is up for 4 awards including Best Film and Best Sound. I was delighted to work as Foley Editor on this picture and the sound team of Niall Brady, Steve Fanagan, Garret Farrell and Ken Galvin are fully deserving of a win  for crafting such a gorgeous soundscape. 

Georgie's Vision

We all know about Maud Gonne, but have you ever heard of George, aka Mrs. WB Yeats? Tune in to “Georgie’s Vision”, to learn more about this extraordinary but self-effacing genius who was the catalyst for her husband’s greatest poetry, yet said “thank-you for leaving me out”. Featuring Professor Margaret Mills Harper, official biographer Ann Saddlemyer, grand-daughter and harpist Caitriona Yeats, Benedictine Monk Mark Patrick Hederman, poet John Montague, Olwen Fouere, Ingrid Craigie, David Heap, and Pat Laffan, among others.  A Deirdre Mulrooney production for RTE Lyric FM with the support of BAI Sound and Vision Scheme.

The incomparable Olwen Fouéré provided the voice of Georgie Yeats, reciting the words from A Vision that Georgie channeled in her automatic writing, providing creative inspiration and guidance for W.B. 

I had a lot of fun on this creating some very atmospheric sounds for readings to try and create a suitably occult listening experience!

Georgie's Vision will be broadcast on RTÉ Lyric FM on September 30th 2016 at 7PM

Pro Tools Edit Window for 'Georgie's Vision'

Pro Tools Edit Window for 'Georgie's Vision'

The Impossible Address on Inisheer

Last weekend Martin Sharry, Timmy Creed and myself gave a special performance of The Impossible Address on Inisheer island, the place that inspired the work.

 

The weekend began on a fraught note, with me making the last ferry from Rossaveal with only 10 minutes to spare, thanks to several delaying incidences. 

To try and further develop the ideas in the show, we decided to  hold a sound walk on the island before the show. The intention behind it was primarily that it might 'activate' the listening of the participants before the show, and hopefully allow them to engage with the show more readily. 

Myself and Martin carried out a recce of the route on the misty Saturday morning. Even though there is a stillness to the island, we identified three particular acoustic atmospheres to the route. Looking across the Foul Sound between Inisheer and Inishmaan we could see Galway Hookers sailing in the mist. 

The weather, unpredictable by a factor of ten this far west, didn't work in our favour for the sound walk. After a beautiful afternoon, the curtains of mist descended again. The first half of the walk was an isolating experience. I had asked everyone to walk with some distance between them and the person in front, and to refrain from talking. This silent march was made more sombre by the rain, wind and almost total absence of bird song. 

We stopped at tobar Éanna, a well that in folklore has the power to heal. We made the decision to turn back due to the weather, which of course, once we had set on our way back, cleared and provided some glorious sounds and sights. The most interesting contrast was the bursting back into life of the sound of the island. Once the wind had died down and some shafts of sunlights had broken through the cloud, the birds began to sing loud and in multitudinously. I handed my recording gear around to allow people to listen through the microphones, and note the difference in perception.

We arrived back to carry out the performance of The Impossible Address which for various reasons had an intensity that wasn't present at the previous performances at the Collaborations festival. It was a good experience, though probably left some of the audience feeling uncomfortable. Not necessarily a bad thing either.