Bobby McElver
· Associate ChairUniversity of California, San Diego · Theatre & Dance
About
Sound Designer BOBBY McELVER works with spatial audio technology, original sound design, and music in the performing arts. Company member of The Wooster Group 2011-2016. Current associate with Andrew Schneider. As an artist-engineer, he focuses on developing new spatial audio technology — specifically Wave Field Synthesis and “sound holograms” — and applying the technology in context of artistic works. In 2018, he fabricated a Wave Field Synthesis array with 372 loudspeakers (discrete channels!), based on research at EMPAC. This is one of the most extensive WFS arrays in the world, allowing him to place sound accurately in 3D space — making sound holograms, or “holophones.” In 2020 he became Associate Professor of Sound Design at University of California, San Diego, where he heads the MFA in Sound Design. His research focuses on Wave Field Synthesis and Spatial Audio for the performing arts. He has since built an additional 256-ch WFS array for research and development.
Awards & honors
- NOMINATED FOR A 2024 HELEN HAYES AWARD for Outstanding Sound…
- Nominated for a 2015 Bessie for Outstanding Sound Design/Ori…
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