Alice Gilmour Sound Services
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Sound design

Everything I do is about sound

I can write, record and mix sound for your project, using live instruments, samples, or a combination of both. Just tell me what you are looking for – I love a challenge!

Past Projects

  • Sound Design: Suzy Homemaker

    I created the sound design for dancer/choreographer Erica Mulkern’s project ‘Suzy Homemaker’, a full-length dance piece telling the stories of three women. Mixing different pieces of music, the sound design also included the voices of invisible characters, sound effects and width and depth to create a vivid aural landscape for her three characters to interact with.

    Photo Credit: Elly Wel

    Here are a few excerpts from the three sections: Susannah, an aristocratic young woman in the Edwardian era who attends a suffragette march, Miss S a burlesque dancer in the 1920’s, and Suzy, a frazzled 1950’s housewife:

    (December 2022)

     

  • Heavenly Spheres

    I created this track to sound like being up in the stars.

    (January 2023)

     

  • Soundscape for Stitch Away The Stigma

    I created this soundscape for an exhibition for Stitch Away The Stigma at Sunny Bank Mills. I also wrote a blog piece about it here.

    (November 2022)

     

  • Plants

    This soundscape was created for an installation in Leeds Library of plants and botanical drawings as part of the British Library’s celebration of Harry Potter twenty years on.

    (July 2017)

     

  • Music for a children's show

    I wrote and performed music for ‘Where is Fairyland’, a play for 2-6 year olds, using violin, ukulele, flute, percussion and a loop pedal.

    (July 2021)

     

  • The Garden of Unearthly Delights

    I created this soundscape for Space2 for Light Night in Leeds for a dance piece choreographed by Gary Clarke with visuals by Kevin Hickson.

    (October 2015)

     

  • Touch

    I experimented with samples to create some house music tracks during lockdown in 2021.

     

 

Skills

With a background in music, the ability to play and record instruments and a love of using samples and music technology, I love to collaborate with people to create a sound world that either they had already imagined, or that surprises and delights them – it’s the most fun and creative work possible.

 

Equipment

  • Midi keyboard, M-Audio Oxygen61
  • Mics (Neumann TLM 193, Sennheiser E855, SE2200 Condenser)
  • Acoustically treated booth from VocalBooth.com
  • Large array of instruments (violin, viola, flute, bamboo flutes, percussion, Chinese erhu)
  • I mix in Reaper, have also used SADiE and Soundforge, and have a basic knowledge of ProTools and Ableton Live

 

Quotes

 

“Alice was a dream to work with. From our initial interview process I knew she was the perfect candidate to create the soundscape for Suzy Homemaker. Her knowledge and enthusiasm are second to none and I have yet to meet another person who matches my perfectionism like Alice does! Nothing was too much for her and she even assisted on our performance day to ensure the smooth running and to make any last minute changes to the score. I would highly recommend Alice for any of your creative projects and I will certainly be using her again in the future.” 

Erica Mulkern, Dancer/choreographer ‘Suzy Homemaker’

 

“Alice made the most beautiful piece to accompany our latest exhibition for Stitch Away the Stigma. She used the voices of participants who were happy to share their stories and created an incredibly moving soundscape which encapsulated how it is to be the loved one of someone in active addiction. It was both powerful and thoughtful and made the exhibition a completely immersive experience.  I honestly think if you are putting on an exhibition, ask Alice to add some sound – you’ll never know how much it can transform the experience.” 

Natalie Needham, Stitch Away The Stigma

 

“I would highly recommend working with Alice, she brings so much to the table in collaborating with a team of artists; her natural enthusiasm, curiosity, humour, life experience and her musical skills crossing between classical, traditional and electronic.” 

Anthony Haddon, Actor, Facilitator, Director

 

“I have worked with Alice on a number of collaborative projects, and it is always a delight. For the Herbology Room she created the most extraordinary soundscape that made you think the plants were communicating with each other whilst they were growing. For LAND at RHS Chelsea Flower Show, she created a soundscape that accompanied the garden allowing visitors to escape from the bustle of the show… Both times Alice really understood the project and what we were trying to achieve. I can’t wait for our next project.”

Zosia Berkeita-Lewis, The Plant Room

 

 

Clients

 

Experience

After university, I worked in Press and Promotions for ASV Records in London and became fascinated with the live recordings and editing suite, so I took a City & Guilds Sound Engineering course. That led on to a job as a Post-Production Sound Engineer at Ground Bass Productions in London, editing classical music for labels such as Hyperion, Chandos and ASV.

After setting up my home studio for voiceover in 2003, I also began getting involved in more creative projects, mixing tracks for a dance company, and creating soundscapes and backing tracks.  I would say my speciality is mixing classical music with dance music, and using lots of natural sounds.  As well as the samples above, you can have a listen to all my sound projects on my All sounds page here.   And have a look at my Sounds Blog page to hear me ramble on about things that interest me.

I recently completed a course in Advanced Sound Design with the Yorkshire Sound Women’s Network and SIGN, and am currently on a one-year EDM course with Altar Studios in South Yorkshire.