Alice Gilmour Sound Services
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Audio Description

Translating the visual into sound

I can script, record, edit and deliver live or pre-recorded audio description for your project, helping you reach blind and partially sighted audiences.

Projects

  • Coming up...

    I’ll be providing live audio description for RBO’s Tales of Love and Loss in the Linbury Theatre on 6 May, and Made in America from Ballet Tulsa on 14 May.

    Also, audio description for Opera North’s upcoming The Sound of Music on 23 July and 1 August.

  • Recent work

    I recently provided audio description for The Royal Ballet and Opera for:

    • Oliver Mears’ Rigoletto, March 2026
    • A revival of Turandot in December 2025 and January 2026
    • A new production of Handel’s Giustino in October 2025
    • Jonathan Watkins’ A Single Man with live music from John Grant, September 2025
    • Oliver Mears’ new production of Tosca, September 2025

    And I wrote the audio description for the round-ups of all the daily Winter Paralympic action for Channel 4 in March.

     

  • Dance

    Live audio description on three performances of Glen Tetley’s ballet Pierrot Lunaire to the music of Arnold Schoenberg, for The Royal Opera and Ballet February 2026

    A dancer dressed all in white with white hat swings from the top rung of a white scaffold tower against a black background

    I created an audio introduction that bookers could listen to ahead of coming to any performance, and then created description through the piece that incorporated a couple of lines of the poetry (from the German translation) and descriptions of the dancers’ movements.

    “The audio intro is WONDERFUL!! I want to keep it as a reference for future!! What an amazing thing you have put together.”

    Deirdre Chapman, Répétiteur (or Rehearsal Director), Pierrot Lunaire

     

  • Live Performance

    Live audio description for the three performances for Hagay Dreaming for Tate Modern, March 2025

    Four dancers leap over bright beams of red and orange light in, all wearing white - just shorts for the two men, and shorts and bandeau tops for the two women.

    This collaboration between Taiwanese-American artist Shu Lea Cheang and Truku artist and practicing shaman Dondon Hounwn connects Cheang’s new media practice with Hounwn’s inheritance of tribal ballads and rituals. It combines lasers and motion-capture technology with traditional ways of performing tribal culture.

    “The excellent audio description, music and laser lighting displays made for an absorbing and overwhelming atmosphere. We loved and enjoyed the whole performance and felt privileged to have had the opportunity to attend such an amazing event!”

    Audio description audience member

    “The full audio description was excellent and the audio describer even spoke louder when there was more background noise and music being played.  And the Touch Tour at the beginning was very useful too.”

    Audio description audience member

     

  • Public event

    Live audio description for Rise – the opening event for Bradford’s year as City of Culture, January 2025

    A huge crowd fills Bradford Centenary Square at night - the buildings around it are lite up in blues and greens.

  • Live Performance Art

    Live audio description of ‘F n’ F’ by Burmese artist Moe Satt, October 2024 for Tate Modern

    “Alice is so easy to work with, her enthusiasm and experience are inspiring. She brings a real commitment and passion to her work. A challenge does not faze her, she has a real drive to support AD users throughout the event”

    Demelza Watts, Production Manager, Performance and Participation, Tate Modern Curatorial

     

  • Sporting Events

    Audio description scripts provided for Channel 4 for their evening montages of Paralympics, Paris September 2024.

    The videos, which went out on their YouTube channel, were well received with 20-30k views each night, and Channel 4 has been applauded for how accessible their coverage was.

    Here’s one of the videos:

  • Opera

    Pre-recorded audio description for Tosca – Royal Ballet and Opera, July 2024

    I wrote and recorded audio description for this opera, and working with the surtitle team, linked the audio files to the surtitles using their software from Panthea, so it was available on every performance.

    Audio Introduction

     

    “Alice is the ultimate Audio Describer. I highly commend her commitment, professionalism, and creativity to plan and activate the recorded audio description for Tosca. Alice’s attention to detail is exemplary, ensuring the best possible experience for the end users is always top of mind. Bravo!”

    Paul Adams, Access Project Manager, Royal Ballet and Opera

    Here is a radio piece made by Toby Davey from RNIB Radio about his experience on the touch tour and some interviews with some other people enjoying the tour and the audio description:

  • Opera

    Live audio description for the Royal Ballet and Opera‘s opera Giant by Sarah Angliss, libretto by Ross Sutherland, at The Linbury Theatre, March 2024.

    Audio introduction:

  • Theatre

    Integrated audio description for ‘An Attempt to Lose Time’ – Miranda Prag. Tour, UK and Australia 2023-24

    ‘The show is well-written and well-performed, mixing voiceover with live performance (with very good integration of audio description and captioning to make it fully accessible)…’

    Review by Nick Barlow, Medium

    Audio Introduction (which the performer interacts with live in the performance)

     

  • Opera

    Live audio description for Opera North’s Tosca, January 2023.

  • Live Sporting Events

    Live audio description for Cybathlon, March 2023

    Cybathlon is an international competition where people with physical disabilities (“pilots”) use cutting-edge, assistive technologies to complete everyday tasks. Often called the “bionic Olympics,” it drives innovation in mobility and manipulation devices, focusing on practical, user-centric solutions to overcome daily barriers.

     

  • Musical

    Audio Introduction for Cashy C’s The Musical by Kirsty Taylor, performed in Bradford and Keighley, October 2022.

    Download (MP3, 12MB)

  • Opera

    Pre-recorded audio description for Giulio Cesare, Opera North July 2019

    Here’s a description of one of the characters, Tolomeo.

    Download (MP3, 0.2MB)

 

Skills

I specialise in audio describing opera, theatre, and musicals.  I write and record audio introductions that people can host on a website or send to customers in advance, mixing in music or audio content as required, prepare a through-description of a show, and lead touch tours on the stage before the performance.  For more information, have a look at this page where I go through each option, including rates:

Audio Description Services & Rates

I can also provide pre-recorded audio description (here’s an article I wrote for the RNIB.  And I script and record audio description for films and live events (either remotely or in person), and provide audio description for conferences.

 

 

Equipment

I have a mobile radio system with two transmitters (static, or mobile for conferences / open air performances) and ten receivers (see below).  Customers can either use their own headphones, or borrow some in-ear headphones.

Audio description receiver with white in-ear headphones

Feedback

 

Alice was brilliant to work with from start to finish, equipment was neatly labelled and packed making it really easy to share audio description with audiences. We had absolutely no problems at all with the equipment and would highly recommend working with Alice to make your live events and shows more accessible

Amy Cunningham, Creative Director, Dark Horse Theatre

 

Alice was a joy to work with. Proactive, professional and sensitive to the unique and delicate demands of our production – we would love to work with her again in the future.

Hallam Breen, Director, Northern Broadsides

 

“La Boheme was delightful! I enjoyed it all the more this time with access to the audio description. Michelle and Alice did a fantastic job of describing what was happening at pivotal points with out talking too much over the singing… truly a feat! I spoke [to two members of my group] afterwards and they both thoroughly enjoyed the AD too.  Please pass this on to the team because it really does make a huge difference!”

Sherieda Joseph, Action for Blind People

 

“I would say it is one million times better than the old system. The sound was much clearer and it did not cut off if I or somebody nearby moved at all….Personally, I liked the way you only said what was necessary to help understand what was happening, without interrupting the music.”

Sue Hill, on pre-recorded audio description for Aida, June 2019

 

“Alice was a pleasure to work with when she audio described Blood Brothers for us. She was professional and prepared, providing our audience with a brilliant pre-show audio introduction, and was incredibly helpful and adaptable on the night.”

Sam Longville, Theatr Clwyd, May 2022

 

Clients

 

Experience

I started working as an audio describer in 2015 after training with Di Langford from VocalEyes, co-describing operas for Opera North.  I soon branched out into theatre, pantos, children’s shows and now count myself lucky enough to work on all kinds of projects, including live sporting events, and audio describing films for Hear Say Audio Description. 

For live theatre, I have been researching how to provide audio description in venues without the equipment or space for a describer, by pre-recording it and allowing the customer to control it from their own device.  This research is ongoing and I’m passionate about helping blind and partially-sighted customers have more access to arts, whatever the date or venue.

I’m a member of the Audio Describers Association, and am happy to provide advice and consultancy to all venues / organisations.  Most recently, I’ve been working with TheatrePlan to advise on accessibility tech in theatres.