David Shaff is an electronic music composer, trumpet player and general operating manager of Audium Theater. Born and raised in a San Francisco household full of strange sounds emanating from the basement (father & composer Stan Shaff the culprit), David gained an early appreciation of music and sound of all sorts. David has worked for many years gigging around the Bay Area and composing as a professional trumpet player. He has traveled the globe playing his horn as well, with stints working and playing in France and Japan.

Since 2015, David has been actively involved in composing for and managing Audium Theater. He has designed and performed four multichannel compositions for Audium: Audium 10 (2017), Sound & Space Workshop (2018), Audium 11 (2019), and Sound Hour (2021). These works include collaborations with Stan Shaff and visual artist Ryan Elisabeth Reid, and programming for the entire building (projections, sounds and lighting).

David has designed and hosted a spatial sound workshop series (2018-20), an immersive film series, FILMIUM (2019), in collaboration with filmmaker Emma Scully, and has given talks on spatial sound composition at Pixar Studios, Stanford University, USF, UC Berkeley & Miverva University.

He is currently working with sound engineer Paul Barton and an assortment of Bay Area sound artists to reimagine the design of Audium’s sound system for future generations. Plans include a new spatial sound residency at Audium to begin Fall 2021.