The sound crew does everything sound, which means mics, sound cues and more mics! Their main job is to make sure the audience can hear the music or sound cues in addition to the actors speaking.

They take care of all the mics including: choir mics, floor mics, pit mics, body mics and spot mics.

Some of the crew members are backstage during show. They may help switch one actors mics to another actor as they come off the stage in between scenes.

The leader and assistant leader, meanwhile, are behind the soundboard watching/running the monitors and directing the sound effects. Any noise the audiences hears that the pit wouldn’t play, like the birds chirping at the beginning of “Oklahoma!” are sound effects designed and managed by the sound crew.

The equipment they use are mostly XLR Sigon cables, quarter-inch cables, and mini XLR cables plugged into microphones.

Learning how to work with all this equipment can be hectic, but they have a cheat sheet in the sound tower, the main place where they keep all their equipment.

All the different cables and the names are listed in the cheat sheet so if they forget which is which, they can easily check.

As far as knowing which knob to turn, switch to flip or button to press, there are little stickers on the soundboard to name which switch/button works the designated monitors and speakers. Mastering all of it requires time and practice because there is no time during the production.

Members: The sound leader for the “Oklahoma!” production was Andrew Guardia (12). He made sure all the tasks of the crew were done smoothly, as well as designed the sound effects.

His assistant was Gabs Van Buren (10) and other technicians included Will Crane (9), Collin Fischer (12), Ethan Hughey (12) and Ellie Vanderwater (9).

The sound technicians might help other crews like construction or lights sometimes, but their duties are independent of the other crews with only them doing all of the sound work.

“The productivity on our crew is really good. Everyone works and isn’t lollygagging around we’ll get stuff done on time,” Guardia said. “We’re all like equals and help each other out.”