Audium-Theatre of Sound-Sculptured Space

Absolutely amazing. I had heard mixed reports on the quality of what happens inside Audium, but I’d have to say it was an entirely impressive event, like nothing else you’ve ever experienced. Writing about music (or, more accurately, «sound collages») is like dancing about architecture – meaning I can’t begin to describe the experience in words – but trust me when I tell you it is an absolute trip.
The performance happens in total darkness, but within minutes I was experiencing Synesthesia, or seeing colors and shapes corresponding to the sounds. At first I wanted the sounds to have more direction, more structure, but then I came to realize the lack of structure and direction are intentional. Honestly, after five minutes, I lost all track of time, and seemed to be dreaming, or tripping or something. (Full disclosure: I was not loaded, though that would have been pretty rad, too, I imagine.) I stayed captivated the entire time, and when the lights finally came up, my face was flushed (not sure why!) and I literally felt high. The feeling stayed with me for a while, and it felt odd walking back out into reality.
The proprietors are up there in age, and I don’t see them training anyone to take over for them, so you should really hurry down and experience this one of a kind art. Audium is a singular innovation, a purely individualized artistic labor of love. You don’t want to miss it.

Listen, you’re not coming back here a 2^nd time so make the most of it. If you don’t have a musical/​experimental/​artistic bone in your body — that’s OK, just don’t bother coming here.
Come with people you trust or know well. And make sure they are as into it beforehand as you are. In other words, don’t come with a friend you rarely see and certainly don’t come on a date/​trying to impress.
What will happen is that you’ll be disappointed but that’s part of the experience. You could simulate the experience (and probably enjoy yourself more) if you sat in complete darkness in your room and played through Dark Side of the Moon. But that’s not the point. This is meant to be a one-​time shared experience with people who are open-​minded and will want to talk about it afterwards. That is all.

This was such a wonderful and unique experience. When we left Audium, my boyfriend and I could not stop gushing over what we just sat through– sitting amongst strangers in a room that clearly hadn’t had a facelift since the 1970s, in complete darkness, surrounded by wildly interesting audio. I heard someone describe this experience as a «sound labyrinth» and that’s pretty spot on.
Also, this review would not be complete without mentioning how stinking adorable and great the owners are.

If you would like to travel back to the 70s, sit in a pitch black room while listening to random sounds, this is the spot for you. We left early; however, we thoroughly enjoyed having the experience just to have it. In years to come, we will probably look at each other and say ‘Remember when we went to Audium? Wasn’t that so weird and kind of fun?’. Maybe I’m not insightful enough to glean the most out of this experience, but I’m glad this place exists.

Extremely disappointed. I was so embarrassed that I made my friend waste money on this. I don’t even know where to start with the disappointment. There was no explanation of how the sounds were made and connect to the acoustics in the room; the sounds were not intricate like I thought they would be – basic bird noises and lame kids-​at-​play sounds; and the chairs, oh the chairs!!! If you have back and neck problems, don’t sit in those things for over an hour or your body will hate you for it! Anyway, I would love to say more but basically, it is a waste of money. You can create an even better experience of sound and darkness at home using a meditation app. I’m being generous with two stars… sorry

I don’t regret going. It’s a very strange experience, very «artistic», not a concert. We talked about it all next day, so I’ll give it that — it was definitely something of conversation. And I guess an interesting art piece should do exactly that. I’m still not totally sure what happened in there. And I don’t know if I’d recommend it sober.
If you want to do something totally different and weird in SF (and most of those things are disappearing rapidly each year), check it out. If you want a musical performance or something that is not trippy, this isn’t for you.

It blows my mind — even more than seeing the show — how many people are posting to say they left half way through. A National Endowment for the Arts project that has not been updated since the early 70s, the Audium is more than worthwhile as an auditory experience, but is essential as a cultural landmark. The signage, the wood panelling, the carpeting, nothing in the theater has been touched. Considering how easy it would be to execute this project now compared with the absurd complexity of the Bush St. theater makes it a must-​see. An optimistic and visionary vision of the future preserved in pristine amber. A little glaucoma medication beforehand wouldn’t hurt. When it’s closed in years hence you’ll be sorry you didn’t go. And if not, we’re just not on the same page.

I still don’t know how to explain the experience. In a good way! With that being said, go open minded and ready to relax. It’s a little uncomfortable to be in only an audio experience with such a small group of persons, but there’s so much to be said by experiencing it. Overall, this is a fantastic and memorable date activity.
Cash only, arrive 20 minutes before, and expect to stay for the full 1.5−2 hours. And, grab a drink at the butterfly lounge up the street!

We thought it was something totally different. Although it was interesting I regret spending $ 40 for two people, we left half way and I would not return. Shocked that it’s been listed as one of the main attractions in SF. Prepared to feel weird!

Trippy only-​in-​SF auditory experience in the dark. Apparently they don’t ever update the performance piece though, which is a shame. Also wish it felt a bit more coherent. Don’t come in expecting some sort of musical performance!

I really enjoyed Audium, but I suspect that my experience isn’t typical. My wife and friend who accompanied me probably would rate this two or three stars rather than four. This has been on my San Francisco bucket list for twenty-​three years, and I wasn’t disappointed, although it wasn’t nearly as amazing as I imagined it would be.
Audially this was cool and interesting, but so much more can be done with the theater they’ve built and the concept that they have. I’d love to have a single sound travel around the room similar to surround sound or THX in movie theater instead of having one sound here, then another sound over there. Also, a wider variety of sounds and a mix of synthesized sounds and ambient sounds instead of primarily found sounds and more variation between high and low pitched sounds would be nice. My friend and I spent an afternoon in his apartment with a four track recorder and produced something that sounded not terribly different than what you’ll hear here.
What really blew my mind was the visions/​visual hallucinations that I had! The performance occurs in complete darkness, and rather than close my eyes I kept them open, and the sounds coupled with the complete lack of visual stimuli evoked amazing washes of purple and yellow light; spotlights from behind me, in front of but to the left of me, and directly in my eyes but seemingly filtered through clouds; purple fog; a headless body plunging into a body of water that I was already submerged in then sending a cloud of air bubbles rushing to the surface. You get the idea. The entire experience was very similar to meditation but with some of the most intense sensations arising. Yes, I’ve done a lot of acid and I also meditate regularly, and both of those factors probably had a significant impact on how I experienced this. Neither my wife nor my friend experienced anything similar, and that’s why I say it probably wasn’t typical, but it was very entertaining.

Such a wonderful and unique experience! I have been to the Audium twice and have really enjoyed it both times. It’s a little out of the ordinary – a combination of natural sounds and synthesized noises rather than actual music – and therefore best suited to audiophiles and those that appreciate an unusual sensory experience. The swirling, enveloping effects created are spectacular.
I would recommend getting tickets beforehand online, and waiting near the entrance to the room so that you get a better seat (I have found the more central, the better).
The brains behind it, Stan Shaff, runs the show and is available to answer your questions in the lobby afterwards.
I love it!

so the idea of this place is awesome. Drifting away into your thoughts with ambient noise surrounding you with more than 100 speakers. The sounds that were available seemed outdated and I guess the owner speaking at random points to try to insight thoughts. It sounded more like a weird LSD trip gone wrong, but not even in a fun way? Maybe they could try using different sounds. different moods such as techno… or maybe scary movies and clips from halloween films for the October season etc… There are a lot of other better great ideas they could be using but at the moment are not. kudos on having something different. Not worth the price, but a neat idea.

I am so relieved to know this wonderful old gem from the glory days of San Francisco is still going strong. Don’t listen to the unimaginative spoiled tech brats on here who can’t appreciate anything that isn’t in mp3 format. Just go.
It’s so incredibly cool.

I’m surprised by the negative reviews. Rather seems like some people went into the experience without an understanding of what the sound exhibit was intended to be and were expecting like… a concert in the dark. That’s not what this is. Less «music» and more of a found object/​sound composition.
Naturally, everyone will take away a different experience with the installation, particularly given their own unique associations with the sounds included. Parts of it were warm and nostalgic, parts of it were actually kind of f’ing creepy.
Not sure I’d go again — it seemed just a little bit too long — but I’m glad I visited before I left San Francisco.

After reading the description of Audium on the website I had to experience it for myself.
You enter a long dark door and there is a hall filled with people excited and some anxious to see what would happen next.
I don’t want to give away the secret of the experience in regards to esthetics or the heightened sensed journey too much. All I’m going to say is that it is an interactive exhibit where the dynamic of space and sound comes into play. This is a theater show so this means that you may interpret these sounds in a different way than the person next to you. It reminded me of a deprivation chamber especially when it goes dark. ;)
I think everybody should experience this if they have a relationship with sound or music.

Not at all what I expected. The idea is there, but the execution is unfortunately pretty poor. I wish it was better so I didn’t have to give a review like this, because the old man who runs the thing seems so sweet. He should probably bring in someone to help.
Imagine being in a room with 25 or so people and it goes pitch black. So black you can’t see your hand in front of your face, or the strangers in the room, or the way to the exit, which you might head to if you could see it after about ten minutes. So do not go if you’re claustrophobic. You might feel trapped.
Then the sound kicks in, and it sounds like someone who has no idea what they’re doing is at the controls going: Bing bang boom. Crash. Bing bang boom… crash. Water. Child. Hippo. Windows 98 startup. Hoooooornnnssssssssssss. Space shuttle buttons. Bing bang boom. Bop. Someone putting away dishes. Bop bop. Generic FX noise #1. Underwater splash. Error. Cymbals. Bells. Horses. Birds. Toot toot, boing boing. There’s a whole lot of boings in there. Then the lights come on and you look around at each other quietly for awhile. Awkwardly. Then dark again and: Peruvian pan flutes. Water. «Macro. Micro. Macro. Micro. Giggle. Gaggle. Babble. Bubble? Bibble? Burple. Troglodyte.» Swim team. Coins. Generic fx noise 3. Storm. Xylophone…
You get the picture.
If someone who had real musical prowess composed a show I bet it would be awesome. It feels like it was made on way too much bad acid in 1978 on GarageBand v0.01. It’s a great idea… sorry sir.
If you fell asleep in the Audium you’d wake up a schizophrenic for sure. It is unique.

Came here on a date night — don’t do it for a first date, you won’t get to know them very well: P
Um, this is really unique /​weird /​cool. You will hallucinate in your head (or have visions, whatever you wanna call it that makes you feel less crazy). The whole thing is bizarre and a little off-​kilter and obviously created with love. I wish you could lie on the floor. I would for sure come again, sensory deprivation is cool.

As others have previously mentioned Audium has the potential of being a really cool and unique spot in SF, unfortunately it ended up being a rather boring thing to do on a Friday night. Maybe I’m not artsy enough to appreciate the show at Audium, but speaking as an honest reviewer I don’t think it’s worth a second visit. It’s really only worth a first visit to say you experienced it, but not worth the price.
Right off the bat this place is not a good first date idea. If you’re trying to get to know someone sitting in a pitch black room where you have to be completely silent will not work in your favor. The building is really stuffy and outdated, and once you’re in you’re trapped. The lights begin to dim until you realize that you can’t see anything at all except for a green exit sign floating in the darkness. I closed my eyes to get a better experience. The noises do not create a story. Instead you hear a bunch of random sounds for the next 30 minutes.
I felt like it would have been really cool if there was a story to all the noise. I wanted to feel like Alice lost in Wonderland whimsical and a little confused. Instead I felt like I was listening to someone change the channels on a tv screen.
Luckily the person I was with was starving and wanted to leave during intermission. 30 minutes was enough for me!

WHAT A SCAM! DO NOT GO HERE. You have been warned.
My husband bought these tickest from the Sosh app (fail on their part too), so we came here with an optimistic attitude about being immersed in a sound show.
You sit in the most uncomfortable plastic folding chairs for 1.5 hours listening to a man behind a curtain who thinks he’s the Wizard of Oz play random boi-​oi-​oing noises on his synthesizer while you sit awkwardly in the dark getting a second hand high from your fellow audience members’ weed.
There is no talent or skill involved in this show. For $ 20/​ticket, you should go listen to the SF symphony (even from the balcony) to appreciate real talent.
I want my money and time back. We left at intermission, being utterly disappointed.