Gareth Owen (sound designer)


Gareth Owen is an eight-time Tony & Olivier Award-winning/nominated sound designer specialising in musical theatre in London's West End, on Broadway and internationally.

Early life

Gareth John Owen was born in Sheffield, United Kingdom, a son of two teachers, both of whom specialised in special needs education. At the age of nine the family, now including a younger sister, moved to the Cayman Islands where Owen attended Cayman Islands Middle School, while nurturing a life-long love of the ocean. Upon returning to the UK the family, missing the warm weather and sea air, moved to St. Ives in Cornwall where Owen attended both Mounts Bay School and Penwith Sixth Form College before heading to Plymouth University in Plymouth, to study for a bachelor's degree in underwater science.
At various points, Owen has worked as a grocery packer, marina fuel attendant, milkman, Quasar attendant, commercial boatman, pool lifeguard, thai-boxing instructor, and beach lifeguard. He also worked extensively in nightclubs as a lighting jockey, doorman, disc jockey, promoter and production manager.

Career

Owen initially began working in live sound when the Penzance nightclub he was working at started to present live bands which Owen was asked to mix. From here he secured work with Birmingham's SSE Audio Group which lead to an early career in rock & roll, working at festivals such as Glastonbury, Reading, Party in the Park, and T4 on the Beach; and mixing acts such as Def Leppard, The Stereophonics, B B King, The Spice Girls and The Rolling Stones.
Owens theatre career began in earnest when he was invited to mix musical The Blues Brothers which was running at what is now the Trafalgar Studios in Londons west end. About this time, Owen is quoted as saying in an interview "I didn't have a lot of money so I bought a tent and lived in the bands garden". From here he was offered a job as sound designer for the UK tour of Stephen Schwartz' musical Godspell, beginning a collaboration which would continue until the present day. From here, Owen went on to design a number of shows in a freelance capacity, before joining London's Orbital Sound as a full-time sound designer. In late 2009, Owen parted ways with Orbital Sound and set out to form his own company, Gareth Owen Sound.
Since 2010, Owen has worked directly with many of the world's greatest living composers, including Alan Menken, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Stephen Schwartz, Björn Ulvaeus, Glen Ballard, Max Martin, David Bryan, George Stiles, Alan Silvestri and Stephen Sondheim. Owen has also worked extensively creating musicals based on the music of pop icons such as Michael Jackson, Donna Summer, and The Beatles; and is a regular collaborator with many top directors including Robert De Niro, Christopher Ashley, Jerry Zaks, Des McAnuff, Laurence Connor, Christopher Wheeldon, Terry Johnson, Scott Schwartz, Michael Arden and Sir Trevor Nunn.

Broadway theatre

Owen has worked as sound designer on the following Broadway productions in New York City:
Owen has worked as sound designer on the following West End productions in London:
Owen has worked as sound designer on the following productions around the world:
In 2009, Owen joined a steering committee that would eventually go on to form the Association of Sound Designers – an organisation that eventually went on to represent the majority of sound engineers working in British theatre. He served as a full committee member for the maximum possible term of five years, from 2012 to 2018.

Selected awards