Garth MacAleavey specializes in concert amplification and sound design for both traditional and experimental music performance.
He cut his teeth (or ears) as an engineer on the New York City contemporary music scene (le Poisson Rouge, VIA, BMP, MATA). An avid musician since his youth, Garth was strongly influenced by his time as a student of avant garde percussion at UCSC under the tutelage of Willie Winant. Coupled with the music department’s emphasis on contemporary and experimental music, this set him on the path he is on today. He is technical director for National Sawdust. Recent credits include the sound design for “FLEXN” with Peter Sellars at the Park Avenue Armory, engineering Jeff Zeigler/Andy Akiho/Roger Bonair-Agard at the Prospect Park Bandshell for Celebrate Brooklyn and mixing Alarm Will Sound with Dance Heginbotham in Seoul, Korea. He has worked with Kronos Quartet, Philip Glass Ensemble, Terry and Gyan Riley, David T. Little, Steve Reich, Paul Simon, Atoms for Peace, Erykah Badu, the Brooklyn Philharmonic and many more. He was the sound engineer for Dog Days, presented by LA Opera at REDCAT in 2016. After that work's 2012 premiere as part of the Peak Performances series at Montclair State University, the New York Times wrote: “Unseen but felt: the sound engineering, by Garth MacAleavey, is aggressive, and at times bombastic, in ways that complement the work. Amplified voices grow strident at peaks. The opera’s ending comes awash in electric distortion.”
