Barry Truax

Barry Douglas Truax (born 10 May 1947) is a Canadian composer of electroacoustic music, a writer, and a teacher. He is best known for his association with the World Soundscape Project at Simon Fraser University (SFU) and his development of granular synthesis using sampled sounds to create multi-channel soundscape compositions, such as Riverrun (1986) and Wings of Nike (1987). He is also known for his books Acoustic Communication (1984, 2001) and the Handbook for Acoustic Ecology (1978, 1999). He is the only Canadian recipient of the Magisterium award at the International Competition of Electroacoustic Music, Bourges, France, in 1991. He is a professor emeritus at Simon Fraser University (SFU). In June 2025, SFU awarded him an honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts. Biography Barry Truax was born in Chatham, Ontario. He obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in physics and mathematics from Queen’s University in 1969, and a Master of Music degree from the University of British Columbia in 1971. His academic path further led him to the Institute of Sonology at Utrecht University from 1971 to 1973, where he studied electronic and computer composition under the guidance of Gottfried Michael Koe