welcome!

A side-by-side interview with input from Nat and Gareth Owen, written by Robert Scovill, appears in the January 2026 issue of Live Sound International.

LSI – January 2026 – pg. 30-39

We asked Nat to explore what we should be considering when embarking upon a design featuring Spatial Audio and how the technical advancement sits within our creative framework as a tool for storytelling.

The Echo – August 2025 – pg. 94-101

USITT Rising Star winner for sound design provides a "manufacturer-agnostic" take on spatial/immersive audio, benefits and limitations, and much more.

USITT and LDI are excited to announce Natalie Margaret Houle as the winner of the 2025 Rising Star Award! The Rising Star Award is sponsored by LDI/Live Design and is given annually to a young professional at the beginning of their career. The award recognizes excellence and artistic achievement in scenic, lighting, sound, projection design, or a convergence of these design disciplines.

A comprehensive resource on spatial audio from conceptualization to application for theatrical sound designers, created as an MFA thesis at UC Irvine and made free to the public in June 2024.

Financially supported for 2025 by TiMax Spatial & Brad Berridge as well as Nick Malgieri.

In recent years, spatial audio has been the subject of frequent discussions in audio engineering. Whether it’s Meyer Sound Spacemap Go, L-Acoustics L-ISA or d&b Soundscape, spatial audio seems to be making a home in the production world. To most of us it may seem a little like black magic, so to better understand what spatial audio is and where it’s going this month Samantha Boone sat down for an interview with Natalie “Nat” Houle to discuss what spatial audio is, its use cases, and where the technology is going.

At this moment, many of us find ourselves living in states of uncertainty about the future of our industry, insecurity regarding our personal rights and safety, and concern about the conditions we live, recreate, travel, and work in. As these stressors have impacted us in familiar and unfamiliar ways, we may also find ourselves lonely, needing help, seeking protection, hoping to distract ourselves, or in dire need of support.

If you feel any of these things right now, you’re not alone.

Nat was elected onto the E-Board as Western Rep in July 2025. This is a two-year term.

Nat is a recipient of the 2020 Pat MacKay Diversity In Design Scholarship, presented by Live Design in collaboration with USITT and TSDCA. Sounds designer Melanie Chen Cole, part of the judging process for TSDCA, notes: "Natalie stood out to me because of the eloquent way she talked about her work, and the passion she has for the future of sound design.” Fellow judge and audio engineer Angie Hayes adds: "Natalie is already an active and dedicated part of the community who, with the help of the scholarship, will be able to finish her education and continue contributing her unique perspective to our industry.”