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Alumni Spotlight: Rising in Sound
Nat Houle ’24, M.F.A., recognized for innovation in sound desig
The United States Institute for Theatre Technology (USITT) and Live Design International (LDI) announced Nat Houle as the 2025 Rising Star Award winner Award. Sponsored by LDI/Live Design, the award recognizes excellence and artistic achievement in scenic, lighting, sound, projection design — or a convergence of disciplines.
Houle is a Los Angeles-based sound designer, audio engineer and composer with nearly 15 years of audio experience. Houle graduated from UC Irvine with an M.F.A., specializing in sound design.
“I am incredibly delighted to be the recipient of the 2025 Rising Star Award,” shared Houle in an USITT award announcement. “My journey as a sound designer — particularly as a female sound designer, is inspired by the opportunities, exposure and networking that awards like these have provided.”
At UC Irvine, her thesis resulted in the creation of nmhspatial.com — a resource of its own kind. The website offers an approachable product-agnostic analysis of object-based audio modalities explored through the theatrical sound designer’s lens. Alongside research, Houle trained extensively on d&b Soundscape, L-Acoustics L-ISA and Meyer Sound Spacemap Go, diving deep into how these modalities can transform storytelling and how sound designers can effectively engage with them.
“I’d also like to thank Vincent Olivieri and Sun Hee Kil, two of the many professors who witnessed my struggles and successes in academia and encouraged me to keep going no matter what.” shared Houle.
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To learn more about Houle’s work, visit natsounddesign.com. For more information about USITT, visit usitt.org.
