Born and raised in Culver City, California, where the movie industry was born in America, he began playing music in grade school, but by high school had begun experimenting and composing with with both home made and sophisticated electronic instruments. He was among the first musicians in the US to create music with computers and digital synthesizers outside of academic research, much before MIDI made this an everyday affair.
A student of photography, arts and music in college, he quit to pursue music as his life's work. He composed new music for dance companies, plays, art installations and contemporary concert venues around the world. Prior to establishing himself as a film composer he also worked as a musician, arranger, synthesist and sound programmer in Los Angeles and New York. His deep knowledge of synthesizers and leading edge technology, he was involved in the design of new electronic instruments and musical software, and was a leading figure in making MIDI a groundbreaking worldwide phenomenon.
He recorded and performed as a member of Jon Hassell's highly regarded group, during which he co-composed and produced the acclaimed "City-Works Of Fiction" record on Opal/Warner Records. The group toured extensively and performed with legendary producer/composer Brian Eno. More recently he has begun performing with his own live project "Luxurious."
While a highly in-demand musician for numerous films and records he landed his first solo composing project, scoring the acclaimed television series "Homicide:Life On The Street" with director Barry Levinson. This was followed by other TV projects including the very successful "Chicago Hope" and "Profiler." He worked closely with Steven Spielberg scoring his first TV series "High Incident," Robert Altman on his award winning "Gun" anthology, Frank Darabont on his "Black Cat Run" film for HBO, and international auteur Wong Kar Wai's film "The Following" for BMW Films.
His feature film work include Ridley Scott's "White Squall," "The Mothman Prophesies," "Exit Wounds," Mary Lambert's "The In Crowd," contributions to Steven Soderbergh's "Traffic," "Schizopolis" and "Kafka," Ridley Scott's "Black Hawk Down," "Mission:Impoossible 2," "Assasins," "Gladiator," "The Net," "Thin Red Line," "The Fan," "Chill Factor," and many, many others. In addition to the mainstream films he's composed, he has also done a number of documentaries and art projects.