Nick Ryan is a composer and sound designer. He holds top industry awards in technical and creative fields for his unique approach to
sound and music for film, TV Drama and Documentary, Interactive Media and Orchestral composition.
On 21st April 2008, Nick [and colleagues Jane Grant and John Matthias, pictured above] won The PRS Foundation New Music Award 2008. This prestigious UK award, likened to the Turner Prize for music, is the most financially significant award in the UK for music - awarding £50,000 to the creation of a groundbreaking new musical composition for the UK. Their project, The Fragmented Orchestra, will build a ‘living’ musical instrument, modeled on the firing behavior of neurons in the cortex of the human brain. The piece will be heard at 24 locations across the UK and in a central performance space in Liverpool, forming part of the programme of Liverpool's European Capital of Culture year, 2008.
“This is a truly intriguing musical adventure. These are outstanding creative musicians using technology to its fullest and exploring the sound of our own consciousness. It’s an exciting prospect that people all over the UK will be able to be involved in this unique score. It was a unanimous decision.”
[Marcus Davey, Chairman, New Music Award judges and Director of The Roundhouse.]
Nicks first compositions involved interpreting Hussein Chalayan’s fashion garments into sound and music by studying their construction, texture, shape and narrative themes and creating sonic equivalents for each visual and textural component. This cross-media collaboration instigated Nicks continuing ambition to use composition to describe sensory stimuli such as touch, spatial perspective and colour and narrative through music and sound.
Nicks subsequent collaborations as a composer and sound designer have been many and varied and have spanned diverse creative disciplines including motion graphics, animation and interactive media, orchestral ensemble as well as linear film, TV Drama, Documentary and Radio.
