Meet Nick
Nick Norton makes things out of sound. Electronica.org.uk calls him a “composer and sound artist to be reckoned with,” and Last Day Deaf says his music is “absolutely captivating.”
Born in Los Angeles, Nick Norton grew up going to shows in the Ventura County punk scene, playing guitar and sax in bands, and spending summers on Catalina Island. He went to college for music and political theory at UC San Diego, where he discovered minimalism, noise rock, and avant garde classical music, and to grad school for composition at King’s College, London, and UC Santa Barbara. While earning his PhD Nick assisted electronic music pioneers Clarence Barlow and Curtis Roads with their work and got hooked on using audio technology to make art. During his studies Nick founded the experimental concert series Equal Sound, completing his doctorate with a dissertation titled “Concert Production As Composition.”
Nick was working in live sound when the pandemic hit in 2020. Seeing his friends’ livelihoods suddenly cancelled, he put up a fundraiser with Equal Sound and it went viral. With a team of volunteers, Equal Sound’s Corona Relief Fund raised and distributed over $100,000 to out-of-work musicians.
While the concert industry took time to recover, Nick transitioned to work in sound for film and television and wrote and produced his first full-length album, Music For Sunsets. Mixed by GRAMMY-nominated producer Lewis Pesacov and released on people places records. About it, Foxy Digitalis said, “Music For Sunsets is an expansive sonic treat. There is so much thought and craft in each of these 12 tracks, it’s hard to believe this is only his debut. Within these lively ambient soundscapes, moments are held with care, and the inward searching becomes a beautiful sonic glow. It’s a wonderful record.” Mixed by GRAMMY nominated producer Lewis Pesacov, the album is available on all major platforms and via Nick's bandcamp subscription page.
When he’s not composing or playing, Nick now jumps between working as a music editor in the film industry, engineering concerts and albums, and making music with friends. Nick is very active in his community—he serves on the Emerging Technology Committee of the Motion Picture Editors Guild, regularly produces projects in support of charitable causes, and teaches music production at Santa Monica College. A student of Zen Buddhism, he enjoys punk rock, cinema, travel, fancy meals, nature, sci-fi, art, dogs, and being in or near the ocean.
As a composer, Nick has worked with the Alabama Symphony Orchestra, the Kansas City Chorale, Wild Up, HOCKET, the Eclipse, Isaura, Formalist, Friction, and Argus string quartets, Aperture Duo, gnarwhallaby, ensemble mise-en, the Moscow Contemporary Music Ensemble, Third Coast Percussion, EXAUDI, Ignition Duo, What’s Next? Ensemble, conductors Christopher Rountree and Brandon Rolle, violists Diana Wade and Jonathan Morgan, cellists Ashley Walters and Jennifer Bewerse, bassist Miller Wrenn, guitarists Giacomo Baldelli and Fabricio Mattos, soprano Justine Aronson, and pianists Jeremy Denk, Vicki Ray, Mark Robson, Richard Valitutto, Aron Kallay, Sugar Vendil, Cristina Valdes, and Carlos Martin Trigo.
Nick has received commissions from PianoSpheres, HOCKET, the Emerald Bay Association, the American Harp Society, the International Horn Society, WomenSing, and Worldwide Guitar Connections.
Nick’s been really lucky because he’s had great teachers along the way, including Clarence Barlow, Lei Liang, Curtis Roads, Joel Feigin, Chinary Ung, Robert Keeley, Andrew Tholl, Rand Steiger, Harvey Sollberger, and Michel Merlet. He studied guitar with Colin McAllister at UCSD and Jake Kiley from Strung Out. He has also participated in masterclasses with Sofia Gubaidulina, George Benjamin, and Martin Bresnick.
In addition to countless shows at dive bars and DIY venues, Nick's music has been heard on the Kennedy Center’s Millennium Stage; at New York’s Museum of Modern Art, National Sawdust, and Home Audio; at San Francisco’s Center for New Music and Hot Air Music Festival; in Seattle at the Good Shepherd Chapel; and in Los Angeles at 2220 Arts + Archives, the Hotel Cafe, the Skirball Center, the Silverlake Lounge, Permanent Records Roadhouse, Zipper Recital Hall, Art Share LA, the Hear Now Festival, and the Blue Whale (RIP). He is the lead sound engineer for the Tuesdays @ Monk Space concert series.
