TV composer, Ryan Elder has added the Audient desktop monitor controller, Nero to his studio setup in California. He has scored The Boss Baby: Back in Business on Netflix; HarmonQuest on VRV and Adult Swim’s cult cartoon classic, Rick & Morty since its inception back in 2011, and cites one of the main advantages of Nero as its “superior sound quality.”
He explains, “I primarily use the Nero as a monitoring solution. It sounds really, really good. Very clean, very reliable. I know I can trust the sound that’s coming out of it to be representative of what my clients and collaborators will hear when they audition my music.”
“[Nero] sounds really, really good. Very clean, very reliable.”
With the second half of the fourth series of American adult animated science fiction sitcom, Rick & Morty due to air in the US/UK any time now, Audient grabbed the opportunity to visit Ryan in his California studio to see where – and how – the magic happens.
Deftly composing to a set of basic drawings, or ‘animatics’ which he receives around 3-6 months ahead of the final animation being ready, Ryan talks through how long it takes him to score an episode, some of the libraries he uses and how he achieves different moods in a scene – all of which is a fascinating insight into his process.
“Aside from the sound, I’d say my other favourite feature is the build quality.”
Ryan usually works in his headphones in order to hear the details better, using the Nero to switch to his Mackie HR824 monitors if he needs to hear how it sounds in the room. “Aside from the sound, I’d say my other favourite feature is the build quality. Every part of it is so meticulously designed and implemented. For example, just pressing the buttons is really satisfying!”
Based in his home studio, Ryan is surrounded by a carefully curated selection of audio gear. “I worked remotely for the first 11 years of my career and now that I’ve moved everything in-house, I honestly don’t think I could do it any other way. The flexibility of being able to work at any time is both a blessing and a curse,” he concedes.
He’s been immersed in music from a very young age, from being let loose in his dad’s home studio and writing boy band tracks growing up, through to studying composition at college. This doesn’t look set to change any time soon. “Nothing makes me more excited in my career than successfully crafting the ups, downs, ins and outs of a well-told story through music.”
Audient is really pleased that Nero can be part of that.
