PARTERRE SOUND · ABOUT
Creative sound, carefully engineered.
Parterre Sound brings a theatrical perspective and a technical approach to sound design, audio systems, and location recording.
A considered approach to the performance, the room, and the people listening.
Mitchell Sulkowski
Sound Designer & Audio Consultant
A background in theatrical sound and a B.S. in Software Engineering from Rochester Institute of Technology inform a methodical approach to design, troubleshooting, and console programming.
The work brings creative decisions and technical detail together, with attention to how a performance reaches the audience and how easily a system can be operated.
Selected experience: Prior work includes Shakespeare in Delaware Park, SUNY Niagara, Historic Palace Theatre, and North Tonawanda High School.
01 · DESIGN PHILOSOPHY
Sound in service of the performance.
Sound design begins with the performance. Parterre Sound’s approach is to convey its meaning, emotion, and subtle detail to the audience, preserving the intimacy of dialogue and the energy of music. Every decision should support the story and strengthen the audience’s connection to the stage.
That creative work depends on understanding how sound behaves in the space. Room acoustics, loudspeaker coverage, system alignment, and mix balance all shape what the audience hears. Careful design brings these elements together so the technical system supports the performance naturally.
The same attention carries through to system optimization and recording: understand the intent, identify what stands in its way, and make practical improvements that preserve clarity and detail.
02 · WORKING PRACTICE
A practical way of working.
01
Listen first.
Understand what the production and its operators need. Listen in the audience area and establish what is working before changing it.
02
Measure the problem.
Use inspection, measurement, and modeling where they help explain a problem. Distinguish a prediction from a measurement and a listening observation.
03
Make it usable.
Simplify routing, build practical showfiles, and explain the changes. A system should be understandable to the people who run it.
Based in Western New York.
Working with theatres, schools, colleges, performance venues, and recording clients across the region. Projects elsewhere are considered by arrangement.
Project conversations begin by email, with the scope shaped around the venue, the schedule, and the work required.