I spend much of my creative energy recording and producing original music. I have been fortunate enough to release several of my projects with the Calgary-based label Inner Ocean Records, including three EP’s and several singles, in addition to a handful of independent releases. I also spend a lot of my time helping other artists make albums. Depending on the project, I shift between composing, arranging, playing instruments, engineering recording sessions, mixing, editing, and whatever else needs doing. Some artists I’ve worked with in this capacity include Subat, Ark Patrol, Clive Deamer (Radiohead, Portishead), Michael Brook (Into The Wild, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan), Chella Man, Jude Icarus, Rabbi Darkside, Frances the Mute, Nina Ryser, and many others.
I also compose chamber and orchestra music, as well as scores for film, dance, and other visual media. Recently, I wrote and recorded the score for a contemporary ballet entitled Lisse, commissioned by the Ballet Tech School and choreographed by Edgar Peterson. The eight month creative process culminated in a run of five sold-out shows at the Joyce Theater in New York City in June 2025, in which I performed on alto saxophone. I’ll be releasing the recording later this year.
Composing has connected me with some of my closest friends and mentors, like the Grammy-winning producer Robert Sadin. In addition to studying privately with him while I was a student at The New School in New York City, Robert produced and mixed one of my first major recordings – a string sextet entitled In The Heart Of The Earth, which I released in April 2021. It has also enabled me to travel to places like Prague, where I was invited to attend the International Antonin Dvorak Composition Competition (and wrote an award-winning string quartet); and Merida, where I spent a week recording with friends in the studio of esteemed Mexican composers Javier and Tobias Alvarez. My work has been recognized by organizations like ASCAP, The Tribeca New Music Festival, The American Prize, and Downbeat Magazine. Some current projects I’m working on include a collection of pieces for solo piano, a pair of 20 minute electroacoustic pieces for NYC-based contemporary ballet company Encounters Dance, and a feature length documentary film score premiering this summer at theaters in NYC and other major cities across the US.
As an instrumentalist, I’m a bit of a Swiss army knife. I started playing when I was six and although guitar was my first instrument, I’m most at home on saxophones, which were the focus for my BFA from the New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music. Growing up playing in jazz big bands I picked up a number of other winds including clarinet, bass clarinet, and flute. I’m also proficient on piano, synths and other keyboards, electric bass, samplers, vocals, and a few other miscellaneous instruments. My musicianship, combined with help from friends, mentors, and a healthy dose of good luck, has given me the opportunity to play in some pretty amazing places around the world – The Guggenheim Museum, Lincoln Center, and Sony Hall in NYC; Auditório Ibirapuera in São Paulo; the Paramount Theater in Seattle; and the Umbria Jazz Festival in Perugia, to name a few.
I also spend a lot of time working on podcasts and radio shows. During my time in this corner of the audio world, I’ve recorded interviews with the founder of The Federalist Society, rock icon Melissa Etheridge, the former director of the FBI’s Mafia Unit, a personal friend of the Oklahoma City Bomber, and dozens of other fascinating subjects. I worked on 46 episodes as an editor, producer, and mix engineer on the Signal Award-winning podcast On Watch by Marketwatch, as well as a dozen episodes as the technical producer of the Musonomics podcast, hosted by NYU professor Larry Miller. I’m also a composer, sound designer, and editor for a new investigative podcast by Emmy Award-winning director Michael Epstein.
I mostly work out of my home studio in Philadelphia, although I also engineer and mix at some amazing studios nearby, most notably Rittenhouse Soundworks, through which I have access to a Rupert Neve 5088 console, a live room capable of fitting a 100+ person choir, and other invaluable resources for the most demanding projects. I also try to travel around as often as possible, especially when it involves recording or playing live, so keep an eye out! If you made it this far, consider me grateful and a little bit concerned.
-Isak
Isak Gaines 