Evocative motifs, epic themes, aleatoric dissonance or apocalyptic intensity: composer Garry Schyman explores a stunning spectrum of sonic possibilities. The creator of music for the multiple award-winning video game BioShock – winner of Best Original Score from the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences, Spike TV’s Video Games Best Score Award, G4 Television’s Soundtrack of the Year and four awards from the Game Audio Network Guild (G.A.N.G) including Music of the Year, Best Interactive Score, Best Original Instrumental and Audio of the Year-- he has emerged as one of the medium’s foremost composers.
A composer whose work spans feature films, prime time television series, mini-series, movies of the week, video games and aries, Garry studied composition at the University of Southern California and later, privately with the renowned composer George Tremblay. Just out of the university he was then employed by the legendary Mike Post and Pete Carpenter organization where he worked on the team’s roster of top rated series.
Known for his rich, sometimes complex, orchestral scores - Garry took an unexpected detour for a song. Over 26 million viewers have experienced “Praan," written for Matt Harding's YouTube mega-hit "Where the Hell is Matt” (Dancing 2008). With lyrics adapted from the poem "Stream of Life," a part of the Gitanjali by Asia's first Nobel laureate, Rabindranath Tagore, this intoxicating global melody has become a worldwide phenomenon.
Garry believes that a command of multiple styles is an essential attribute for a composer. “Many styles are about hiring great players who can nail it. It’s the more classically oriented orchestral music that requires the depth of experience. You can’t fake that.” Taking direction, Schyman says, is also crucial within a creative environment. "Some of my best cues have been written after my first draft was submitted and changes were requested. Sometimes they ask you to go left, and then they rethink it and want to go right. One of the most successful cues for BioShock was first envisioned as being really frightening, but was ultimately transformed into being more emotionally ambivalent – permitting the player to imagine what awaits them rather than telling them. It is now one of the most recognized pieces of music for that proje ct. Reworking a cue might give it a new and surprising direction and I love exploring that."
The scores for Garry’s projects are recorded in the world’s preeminent studios giving Garry an opportunity to conduct some of the best musicians in the world: BioShock was tracked with a live orchestra at the legendary Capitol Studios in Hollywood, and for Dante’s Inferno, he traveled to London to record with the Philharmonia Orchestra at the fabled Abby Road Studios.
Garry Schyman is a composer whose career trajectory can be attributed to his artistry, instincts and aptitude. The time-tested formula of “luck meets preparation” also plays a role. “Luck plays a mysterious part in it all,” he notes. “It can land you the right gig that permits you to express yourself and bring out your uniqueness as a composer - I have been blessed with such projects.“