I'm learning about sound plots.

Over the last few days, Houston and I have spent a large number of hours going over the script to Foul Play in Dapto, identifying all the places that need sound effects and/or incidental music. We spent a couple of hours listening to sound-effects CDs and choosing exactly the door-slam sound (among dozens of variations) we wanted, exactly the scream (among hundreds of variations), exactly the freaked-out-cat sound, exactly the thunderclaps and rain sounds. (We went with the rain on a tin roof, as it's an iconic Australian sound and very apropos to the time period of the play.) We (that is, Houston) pasted sounds together the way we wanted for each cue, figuring out which sounds could go in the same file and which had to wait for their own cue.

Houston's done this sort of thing before, and knows what he's doing. Me, I'm just learning. I'm hoping that this is part of the apprenticeship that will make me a better playwright....