Sit back in complete darkness for an eerie and mesmerizing sonic voyage at Audium’s theater of sound—a performance space expressly constructed for audio performances, and one of very few of its kind in the world.

Audium’s 49-seat auditorium contains 176 speakers, delivering everything from ambient water to symphonic arpeggios. Played without any visual stimulation, these soundscapes overwhelm the senses. While speakers rotate overhead inducing Doppler effects, subwoofers under chairs set the floor humming. This is no passive experience; the sounds become the space, and the audience is swept along. Composer and performer Stan Shaff personally greets attendees then plays his meticulously crafted recordings himself, delivering ever-shifting arrangements every Friday and Saturday night.

Audium’s earliest roots date back to the late 1950’s, when composer Stan Shaff pushed the boundaries of the listening experience using tape compositions and specific speaker placements. Fast-forward to 1970, when the National Endowment for the Arts granted funds for a purpose-built theater tailored to Shaff’s work. That theater has been entrancing audiophiles for forty years now, and in late 2008 Shaff delighted fans with a brand new composition: Audium 9.

To experience Audium is to step back in time a few decades. From the retro-futurist décor to the minimalist “found” sounds, Audium is a “trip” unlike any other.