UCI Sound Design class of 2026

After a thorough search and interviewing lots of exciting candidates, Mike and I are happy to introduce our incoming class of sound designers!  Here they are!

Eric Backus (he/him) is a composer and sound designer, joining UC Irvine’s sound design cohort from Chicago. Originally from Phoenix, Arizona, Eric received a B.A. in Theatre from Arizona State University. His original music and sound designs for theatre have been heard around the country, Off-Broadway, and in many Chicago theatres including The Goodman, Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Steppenwolf, Writers, and Northlight. In addition to theatre, Eric composes and sound designs for podcasts and film. He is beyond thrilled to be back in the West Coast sunshine, and to join UCI’s MFA Class of 2026! www.ericbackus.com

Andrew Yoder is a sound designer/producer/DJ from Boise, Idaho. His start in sound began with his passion for music and DJ culture inspiring him to blend aspects from all across the musical spectrum and applying them to the theatrical world. Starting his sound design journey early in his undergraduate career with Sam Shepard's True West. Since then he has gone on to receive 3 awards from the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival('19, '20, '21) for excellence in sound design for his work on A Kind of Alaska, Drowning Ophelia, and The Moors. He was also a nominee for the Don Childs' Collaboration Award in 2019. Outside of sound design, he enjoys disc golfing, yoga, and DJ-ing.
 

Welcome, Andrew and Eric!  We can't wait to start working with you in the fall!

UCI Sound Design is Recruiting MFA students!

It's January, which means that UCI Sound Design is officially recruiting for our MFA class of 2026.  Have you been thinking about grad school for sound design, we want to hear from you!

If you think that a Sound Design MFA may be the next step in your career and/or creative life, we think you should give UCI a look.  We're proud of our program and the students who study with us, and we want to talk to you about what we can offer your education and whether we might be a good fit!

If you're interested in learning about UCI Sound Design, here's what you should do:

1. email Prof. Vinnie Olivieri at olivieri@uci.edu to introduce yourself and set up a time to chat
2. head over to our program website to read about the program.
3. bookmark the application page for all UCI graduate admissions.

Drop us a line!  We'd love to chat with you!

And, for the algorithm, here are some photos of UCI MFAs doing awesome things in our program.

Students at Meow Wolf's Omega Mart on a field trip for their Themed Entertainment Class.

Kissing the duck brings good luck.

Walking from building to building on a tour of the Meyer Sound Lab facilities.

Students, alumni, faculty, staff, and a significant other at our annual Holiday Party!

Was the Escape Room trip part of Themed Entertainment research or team-building?  Why not both?

Students, faculty, staff, and alumni at USITT's 2022 conference.

A student mixes on L-ISA at L'Acoustics' North American HQ.

 

UCI Sound Design: class of 2025

Recruiting students into the MFA Sound Design program is always tough for us.  We can only take two students each year, and there are always terrific students out there that we have to decline. This year was particularly difficult - the number of exceptional candidates was four times higher than it usually is, which made our decision much more difficult.

That said, Mike and I, along with the rest of the program are delighted to welcome our incoming students for this fall: Melanie Lopez and Jeremiah Turner.  Melanie and Jeremiah stood out to us with exceptional combinations of talent, creativity, curiosity, professionalism, and experience.  We're looking forward to working with them for the next three years!

I asked each of them to submit a short bio, so here they are, in their own words:

UCI Sound Design announces incoming class of students!

Mike and I are delighted to announce our two incoming students for the fall of 2016: Ningru Guo and Andrew Tarr!

Ning comes to us from Singapore, where she turned a childhood love of musical theatre into a passion for both musicals and straight plays. She has extensive credits in both fields, and she's coming to UCI to build on her foundation in both aspects of sound design.

Andrew recently graduated from Purdue University, and he has started building his career with productions in NYC, Indiana, Texas, and points in between.  He has a strong foundation in design and composition, and he's coming to UCI to develop both more fully.

Welcome, Andrew and Ning! We can't wait for you to join us this fall!

Welcome to the Class of 2018!

Mike and I, along with the rest of the sound design program, are delighted to introduce our two incoming students. Garrett Hood and Jordan Tani will join us in the fall as the MFA Class of 2018! Welcome to both of them!

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Garrett is a recent graduate of Ohio University, where he received a BFA in Production Design & Technology with an emphasis in sound and lighting design. During his time at Ohio, he composed music and designed sound for eight shows, including All This Intimacy, Swimming in the Shallows, bobrauschenbergamerica, and Blood Knot. In addition, he became enthralled by working on new plays after designing and assisting numerous times on the Seabury Quinn Jr. Playwrights Festival. Outside of school, Garrett spent a summer at the Monomoy Theatre on Cape Cod, where he designed eight shows (including two musicals) during their 2014 season. Some of these credits include Kiss Me Kate, Blood Knot, Twelfth Night, and The Man Who Came to Dinner. During the summer of 2015, he can be found in Ithaca, NY, serving as the sound design fellow at the Hangar Theatre. Garrett has a strong preoccupation with the sounds of everyday life, as well as creating new sonic environments with textural music and sound. He loves composing music, making strange sounds, and experimental photography. Garrett is ecstatic to be joining the sound design department at UCI, and to be finally rid of the unpredictable Ohio winters of his childhood. Some of his work can be found at http://ghhdesigns.com

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Jordan Tani is a sound designer, projection designer, musician, performer, foley artist, and composer with experience in recording and mixing sound/music. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Music Literature and Technology from the University of California, San Diego. He approaches his designs by combining naturalism with a strong musical background to create a stylized sound that affects the experiences of both performer and listener. He is most interested in creating realistic and natural soundscapes that transport the listener into the unique world of the story, whether that be through theatre, animation, or purely sound itself. In his free time, he is a composer and performer of taiko. He practices other instruments including cello and shinobue and tries to find the time to relax and play the occasional video game with friends.

We're looking for a few good designers...

TWO in fact!

It's January, which means that soon it will be LATE January, which means that soon Prof. Mike Hooker and I will start looking for two exceptional sound designers to join us at UCI for their graduate studies.  That could be you!

Are you ready for graduate school in sound design?  Well, go ahead and check us out at our official home on the web. We've got a dandy site there with information about faculty, staff, student, curriculum, and facilities.  If you've got any questions, you can always email Prof Hooker or I for more details.  We're both happy to answer any questions.

Choosing a graduate program is not easy. When choosing the right program for you, you'll need to consider curriculum, faculty, student colleagues, facilities, geography, design opportunities, and cost! Everyone considers these issues differently, and how they weight these factors can dramatically affect their choice of graduate programs. Prof Hooker and I are both happy to answer any questions you may have about our program here at UCI.  We want you to make the best decision for you!

One common concern that I often encounter when talking with potential design students is cost. There is a common belief that grad school is expensive. It can be, but at UCI, we have a generous financial package. It's too early to talk details, but if you are concerned about paying for graduate school, email me, and I'll be happy to explain things in more detail.

If you are interested in UCI's Sound Design MFA program, then there are two avenues available to you for an interview:

• On 31 January, Prof Hooker will be at the URTA interviews in Chicago.  If you're going, he'd love to meet with you.
• If you are not registered with URTA, then you can apply directly to UCI through this link.

Prof Hooker and I are both very proud of the Sound Design program we have built at UCI. It's among the best in the country, and our students are all talented in many different ways.  But two will be graduating this spring, and we're going to be looking for two more to take their place.  That could be YOU!