The sound design for this production of Misery was very involved.  A major part of the design was finding appropriate music to underscore scenes, cover transitions, and be “played” on an onstage record player.  The character, Annie, lovers Liberace, so most of the music comes from his repertoire.  In order to add a sense of realism to the action of Annie playing a record, I layered the digital audio files with sounds that would come from a record player, such as the sound of the needle being set on the record and the cracks and pops that underscore the audio when played from a well-worn record.  The audio was also adjusted to reflect the sound of an older speaker.  Here are a few example of songs where the audience sees the actress play a record:

 

 

Speakers were placed as close to the record console as possible so the sound felt as if it was truly coming from the record.

 

The sound of a TV playing in the other room was used to indicate the presence of a character offstage and also to establish the time period of the play (early 1980s).  I found the clips and also edited in commercials from the period.

 

 

 

Other Sound effects included the sounds of a typewriter, which was played through a speaker near the typewriter, the sounds of fire, played from speakers near the “fire” sources (a grill and a trash bin), various versions of Annie’s car coming and leaving, and the sounds of the winter storm that is still in effect at the beginning of the play and subsequent stormy weather that allowed the accentuation of moments in the play with lightning and thunder.  Here are a few samples:

Annie Arrives in her car:

 

Annie leaves in her car:

 

Annie leaves in her car, angrily:

 

The sound of the typewriter, recorded from the actual prop, that could be played through a scene change while the actor was not actually using it:

 

Fire, beginning with a whoosh that reflects the fire starting rapidly on gasoline-soaked papers.