Colleagues at Manchester's Royal Exchange Theatre are mourning the death of Steve Brown, Head of Sound at the St Ann's Square venue.
Steve worked at the Exchange for more than 21 years and during that time his creative contribution both there, and to international theatre, was remarkable.
Exchange artistic director Greg Hersov said: "Steve was passionate about the role of sound in a production. He did brilliant work on many productions at the Exchange and also inspired many sound designers working today. His presence will be sorely missed by us all. Our thoughts are with his family and friends at this time."
Steve designed sound for more than 80 shows at the venue, as well as being Head of the Sound Design Working Group for the Organisation Internationale des Scénografes, Techiniciens et Architectes de Théatre as well as Board Member of The Association of Sound Designers, and Sound Design Curator for The 2011 Prague Quadrennial.
Heather Cairncross has set up a Just Giving page for the Hospice that took care of him.