Audium-Theatre of Sound

Performing arts theater · Cathedral Hill

Audium-Theatre of Sound

Performing arts theater · Cathedral Hill

1

1616 Bush St, San Francisco, CA 94109

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Audium-Theatre of Sound by shaftomagic (Atlas Obscura User)
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Highlights

Cozy 49-seat theater featuring specially composed "sound sculptures" broadcast on 169 speakers.  

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1616 Bush St, San Francisco, CA 94109 Get directions

audium.org
@audiumsf

Information

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1616 Bush St, San Francisco, CA 94109 Get directions

+1 415 771 1616
audium.org
@audiumsf

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Last updated

Jul 11, 2025

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"Audium is the only theatre anywhere in the world that is constructed specifically for sound movement, utilizing the entire environment as a compositional tool. Audium’s conception and realization evolved jointly with the combined work of its creators, equipment designer Doug McEachern and composer Stan Shaff, both professional musicians. The Audium-Theatre of Sound-Sculptured Space consists of a foyer, main performance space, and what the owners call a sound labyrinth. It’s a building inside of a building, conceived and built specifically for this art form with the help of a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. The show is performed once every Thursday, Friday, and Saturday night. Up to 49 listeners sit in concentric circles in the theatre and are enveloped by speakers built inside of sloping walls, a floating floor, and a suspended ceiling. Compositions are performed live each night by a conductor who directs the sounds through a custom-designed console. The conductor uses any combination of the 176 speakers, sculpting the sound through direction, speed, movement, and intensity.  The lights are brought down during the performance, to the point where all you can see are small lit arrows on the floor to guide you to an exit in case you need it.  There is a short intermission where the lights are brought back up and you can discuss the experience with your friends or neighbors, explore the room a bit more, and try to discern where exactly those odd and intriguing sounds mixed into the performance were coming from. “When the concept of Audium began taking shape in the late 1950s,” the venue’s official website explains of the theatre’s founding, “space was a largely unexplored dimension in music composition. The composer who suspected space capable of revealing a new musical vocabulary found his pursuit blocked by the inadequacy of audio technology and performance spaces.”" - ATLAS_OBSCURA

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Ivy Hutton

Google
This place is so cool. Totally different experience than your typical “show”. The Depths was a sensory treat and like nothing else I’ve been to. The sound engineering and the nuances of the performance are spectacular.

Mateus Franco

Google
Even though the idea seems good - a presentation focused on noise, without any visual stimulus - the reality is that the performance was tedious and nonsense to me and my girlfriend. It could be described as an almost random sequence of familiar noises - ocean waves, kids talking, people at the table etc. There is almost no silence or usual music, as far as I can remember. In short, I felt really disappointed by this experience.

Sideofmeio

Google
This place is so cool and if you’re looking a unique experience or just something new to do, you should go here. I wish it was slightly more musical vs it being more like noise but they have a few different shows and I want to go back and try out the different artist-in-residence shows.

David M

Google
This review applies only to the June 6, 2025 performance. I hope to return for a performance by someone who knows what they are doing. That said, June 6, 2025 was a cacophony of noise so loud at times as to be painful. We were not the only people to leave the performance. The venue needs to curate who they let perform at this unique space.

Salvatore Crusco

Google
What an incredible experience. I saw “the depths” which is an installation put on by Dave Shaff, the son of the original brain behind the theatre. Visiting from NYC, this was an absolute hit and I highly recommend it if you’re into impressive audio performances. It is a concert in the dark. Just close your eyes and get enveloped in the sound.

JD David

Google
This place is a San Francisco gem, offering a truely unique experience in sound immersion. A new crew of sound buffs have undertaken a years-long technology update, and they are bringjng in new sound artists and musicians regularly to develop programming that takes you on a journey through the darkness, borne on waves of pure sonic energy from down the street to far across the universe.

Desiree Argentina

Google
Wasn’t really to my taste. Some parts were so loud I had to plug my ears. Didn’t enjoy the sounds of traffic and people clapping and coughing. Did like the nature and chime sounds. The show was about 40 minutes long.

Jules C (popmonkey)

Google
some 3 dozen of us sat on chairs in a large space in a circle. the lights very slowly went out until we were in complete darkness and then we were surrounded in sound moving around us. water dripping and a lost saxophone and mostly unstructured musical exploration. I love that places like this exist but it's important to note that the technology used at the Audium is decades old. the promise of a vast spacial audio experience wasn't quite achievable even with the 170-ish speakers around, above, and below us. these days audio modeling is far more advanced and even a set of good headphones can provide better spacial audio. nevertheless, it's a very unique experience and I think with the right composition it can be very powerful (the program that was playing that day, an experimental, meandering, anchorless piece by David Shaff, was not really my thing). I think I'll give it another try when more interesting programming is available.