Silas Hite (born March 30, 1980) is an American multi-instrumentalist, composer, record producer, and visual artist.

Early life

Hite began playing drums when he was eleven, studying with jazz drummer Mel Zelnick. He taught himself guitar and bass and sang in the choir at The Orme School. He later studied music, art, and business at The

University of Arizona The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a public land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it was the first university in the Arizona Territory. T ...

. His music focus was in percussion performance and experimental composition. He also studied at the University's recording studio.

Career

Silas began his professional career at

Mutato Muzika Mutato Muzika is an American music production company established and owned by Devo co-founder and lead singer Mark Mothersbaugh in 1989. The name is a portmanteau of the words ''mutant'' and ''potato'', a nod to Mothersbaugh's longstanding fascina ...

, a music production company owned by his uncle, composer and co-founder of

Devo Devo (, originally ) is an American rock band from Akron, Ohio, formed in 1973. Their classic line-up consisted of two sets of brothers, the Mothersbaughs (Mark and Bob) and the Casales (Gerald and Bob), along with Alan Myers. The band had a ...

Mark Mothersbaugh Mark Allen Mothersbaugh (; born May 18, 1950) is an American composer, singer, and multi-instrumentalist. He came to prominence in the late 1970s as co-founder, lead singer and keyboardist of the new wave band Devo, whose " Whip It" was a top 2 ...

. From 2003 to 2010, Silas scored and co-scored many films, television shows, video games, and commercials as an in-house composer and session musician. During this time he worked on many memorable commercial campaigns including "one of the most popular viral ad campaigns of all time," Burger King's " Subservient Chicken" campaign which won a Grand Clio and Cannes Cyber Gold Lion in Viral Marketing. Another notable collaboration was

Apple Inc. Apple Inc. is an American multinational technology company headquartered in Cupertino, California, United States. Apple is the largest technology company by revenue (totaling in 2021) and, as of June 2022, is the world's biggest company b ...

Get a Mac The "Get a Mac" campaign is a television advertising campaign created for Apple Inc. (Apple Computer, Inc. at the start of the campaign) by TBWA\Media Arts Lab, the company's advertising agency, that ran from 2006 to 2009. The advertising camp ...

campaign with 66 different iterations (not including many more new spots in the UK and Japan) appearing on television and in

stores in the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and Japan from 2006 to 2009. The long-running popular campaign was named "Campaign of the Decade" by

Adweek ''Adweek'' is a weekly American advertising trade publication that was first published in 1979. ''Adweek'' covers creativity, client–agency relationships, global advertising, accounts in review, and new campaigns. During this time, it has cover ...

and won many awards such as a Grand Effie Award in 2007. In 2010, Hite left

to become a freelance composer. He now works from his personal studio where he continues to score many films, television shows, commercials and video games. In 2013, Hite began a string of successful collaborations with artist and filmmaker John Herschend. Most notably he scored "Stories From the Evacuation", commissioned for the

San Francisco Museum of Modern Art The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) is a modern and contemporary art museum located in San Francisco, California. A nonprofit organization, SFMOMA holds an internationally recognized collection of modern and contemporary art, and was ...

, and "Discussion Questions" for

Whitney Biennial The Whitney Biennial is a biennial exhibition of contemporary American art, typically by young and lesser known artists, on display at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City, United States. The event began as an annual exhibition in ...

in 2014. In 2014, he scored "Homeward Bound", an Emmy-winning

public service announcement A public service announcement (PSA) is a message in the public interest disseminated by the media without charge to raise public awareness and change behavior. In the UK, they are generally called a public information film (PIF); in Hong Kong, ...

addressing homelessness in America. In 2015, he scored multiple episodes of "

Chef's Table ''Chef's Table'' is an American documentary series created by David Gelb' which premiered on video streaming service Netflix on April 26, 2015. The series takes viewers inside both the lives and kitchens of a variety acclaimed and successful inter ...

," a

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...

Original Series. Each episode of the series profiles a single world-renowned chef and features a classically based score. Besides composing scores, Hite is also a songwriter, producer, and performer, providing original songs for many of his projects. His songs have appeared in films such as "

Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist ''Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist'' is a 2008 American romantic comedy-drama film directed by Peter Sollett and starring Michael Cera and Kat Dennings. Written by Lorene Scafaria and based on the novel of the same name by Rachel Cohn and Dav ...

," Robert Williams' "Mr. Bitchin’", and "Circle of 8", and television programs such as

Dance-a-Lot Robot This is a list of television programs broadcast on the cable and satellite TV channel Disney Junior in the United States. Current programming Original programming Animated series Acquired programming Animated series Reruns of ended series ...

(

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

), " Blue Mountain State" (

Spike Spike, spikes, or spiking may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Books * ''The Spike'' (novel), a novel by Arnaud de Borchgrave * ''The Spike'' (book), a nonfiction book by Damien Broderick * ''The Spike'', a starship in Peter F. Hamilto ...

), "

Duck Dynasty ''Duck Dynasty'' is an American reality television series that aired on A&E from 2012 to 2017. The series portrays the lives of the Robertson family, who became successful from their family-operated business, Duck Commander. The West Monroe, Lo ...

" ( A&E), "

Burn Notice ''Burn Notice'' is an American espionage television series created by Matt Nix, which originally aired on the USA Network for a total of seven seasons from June 28, 2007, to September 12, 2013. The show stars Jeffrey Donovan, Gabrielle Anwar, ...

" (

USA Network USA Network (simply USA) is an American basic cable television channel owned by the NBCUniversal Television and Streaming division of Comcast's NBCUniversal through NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment. It was originally launched in 1977 as Madison ...

), " Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" (

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

), and "

UFC Ultimate Insider ''UFC Ultimate Insider'' is a weekly American sports television magazine show that profiles the MMA athletes and fights from the Ultimate Fighting Championship in a behind-the-scenes format, giving the viewer "unprecedented access" to the sport. ...

" (

Fox Sports Fox Sports is the brand name for a number of sports channels, broadcast divisions, programming, and other media around the world. The ''Fox Sports'' name has since been used for other sports media assets. These assets are held mainly by the Fo ...

). Hite teaches his own Commercial Scoring Workshop in partnership with Emmy-winning audio company

iZotope iZotope, Inc. is an audio technology company based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. iZotope develops professional audio software for audio recording, mixing, broadcast, sound design, and mastering which can be used in wide range of d ...

and is often a guest lecturer at colleges and universities throughout the nation.

Visual art

Although best known for his music, Hite maintains a busy art career showing his extremely detailed pen and ink drawings in galleries. In 2014, he was part of several group shows around the country including "The 2nd Annual Coaster Show" at the

La Luz de Jesus Gallery La Luz de Jesus Gallery is a commercial art gallery located in Los Angeles, California. It is closely associated with the Lowbrow Art Movement, Kustom Kulture, and pop surrealism. History La Luz de Jesus Gallery was established in 1986 in Lo ...

in Hollywood, California as well as a solo exhibition at St. Catherine University in Minnesota. Earlier in the year Hite appeared in the February issue of art magazine

Juxtapoz ''Juxtapoz Art & Culture Magazine'' (pronounced ''JUX-tah-pose'') is a magazine created in 1994 by a group of artists and art collectors including Robert Williams, Fausto Vitello, C.R. Stecyk III (a.k.a. Craig Stecyk), Greg Escalante, and Eric ...

, talking about his art and music influences. His freelance illustration work appears in web and print based media around the world, including the ''

L.A. Record ''L.A. Record'' is an independent music magazine originally published weekly as a broadsheet poster. The poster usually depicts a local Los Angeles musicians and according to the magazine editors is meant to recreate an iconic album cover. In Mar ...

''.

Filmography

Films

*The Space Between Us (2015) *Saltwater Buddha (2015) *Discussion Questions (2014) Whitney Biennial *The Rebel From The Ghetto (Denmark) (2014) ''additional music'' *''Smothered'' (2014) *''Love in the Time of Monsters'' (2014) (Performer: "Thunderdikk") (Writer: Silas Hite) *''Forever'' (2014) additional music *''How To Make A Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich'' (2014) Short *''Scenes From The Evacuation'' (2013) San Francisco MOMA *''Real Life H-O-R-S-E! With Dave Franco & DeAndre Jordan'' (2013) *'' Robert Williams Mr. Bitchin (2013) Documentary *''Stoned Debates II: Highlights'' (2012) *''Stoned Debates II: Subway vs Quiznos'' (2012) *''Stoned Debates I: Is Marriage an Outdated Institution'' (2012) *''Stoned Debates I: Highlights'' (2012) *''The Record Breakers'' (2012) Documentary *''

Ramona and Beezus ''Ramona and Beezus'' is a 2010 American family film, family adventure film, adventure comedy film, comedy film based on the Ramona (book series), Ramona series of novels written by Beverly Cleary.Vena, Jocely"Selena Gomez To Star In 'Ramona and ...

'' (2010) additional music *''Hopelessly in June'' (2011) *''The Invention of Dr. Nakamats'' (2009) Documentary *''Junkyard'' (2009) *''

Circle of Eight Greyhawk, also known as the World of Greyhawk, is a fictional world designed as a campaign setting for the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' fantasy roleplaying game. Although not the first campaign world developed for ''Dungeons & Dragons''—Dave Arneson ...

'' (2009) additional music *''

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs ''Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs'' is a children's book written by Judi Barrett and illustrated by Ron Barrett. It was first published in 1978 by Atheneum Books, followed by a 1982 trade paperback edition from sister company Aladdin Paperb ...

'' (2009) *''

'' (2008) additional music *''Nothing but the Truth'' (2007) additional music *''First Decent'' (2005) additional music

Television

Street Food (TV series) ''Street Food'' is an American documentary that premiered on Netflix on April 26, 2019, created by David Gelb and Brian McGinn, exploring street food around the world. Archival footage is combined with face-to-face interviews and follows stree ...

, Episode: Cebu, Philippines (2019) *

(2015) *Jagten (series Denmark) (2014) ''additional music'' *''7.9.13'' (series Denmark) (2014) *''

Weed Country ''Weed Country'' is an American reality television series that aired on the Discovery Channel. The series premiered on February 20, 2013, during Discovery Channel's programming block titled "Weed Wednesdays". The series followed dealers, growers a ...

'' (series) (2014) (Performer: "Thunderdikk") (Writer: Silas Hite) *''

Best Week Ever ''Best Week Ever'' is an American comedy series created and executive produced by Fred Graver. The series originally aired from January 23, 2004, to June 12, 2009, on VH1.Harris, Scott"VH1 Cancels 'Best Week Ever'". ''Inside TV''. January 13, 20 ...

'' (series) (2013) (Performer: "Thunderdikk") (Writer: Silas Hite) *''Big Texas Heat'' (series) (2013) (Performer: "Thunderdikk") (Writer: Silas Hite) *''

Brain Games ''Brain Games'' is a collection of memory video games programmed by Larry Kaplan and released by Atari, Inc. for the Atari 2600 in 1978. It is a group of memory games, in which the player is faced with outwitting the computer in sound and pictur ...

'' (series) (2013) (Performer: "Thunderdikk") (Writer: Silas Hite) *'' Car Lot Rescue'' (series) (2013) (Performer: "Thunderdikk") (Writer: Silas Hite) *''Gypsy Sisters Extra Bling'' (series) (2013) (Performer: "Thunderdikk") (Writer: Silas Hite) *''Lords of War'' (series) (2013) (Performer: "Thunderdikk") (Writer: Silas Hite) *''

Pawn Stars ''Pawn Stars'' is an American reality television series shown on History and produced by Leftfield Pictures. The series is filmed in Las Vegas, Nevada, where it chronicles the daily activities at the World Famous Gold & Silver Pawn Shop, a 24 ...

'' (series) (2013) (Performer: "Thunderdikk") (Writer: Silas Hite) *''Bid and Destroy'' (series) (2012) (Performer: "Thunderdikk") (Writer: Silas Hite) *''

Counting Cars ''Counting Cars'' is an American reality television series shown on History and produced by Leftfield Pictures. The series, which is the third spinoff of ''Pawn Stars'', is filmed in Las Vegas, where it chronicles the daily activities at Count's ...

'' (series) (2012) (Performer: "Thunderdikk") (Writer: Silas Hite) *'' Flipped Off'' (series) (2012) (Performer: "Thunderdikk") (Writer: Silas Hite) *''Goldfathers'' (series) (2012) (Performer: "Thunderdikk") (Writer: Silas Hite) *''

NY Ink ''NY Ink'' is an American reality documentary television series that debuted June 2, 2011 on TLC. TLC renewed the series for a second season in August 2011, also noting that the series' first season averaged 1.3 million viewers per episode. Film ...

'' (series) (2012) (Performer: "Thunderdikk") (Writer: Silas Hite) *''Celebrity House Hunting'' (series) (2012) (Performer: "Thunderdikk") (Writer: Silas Hite) *''

Flipping Out ''Flipping Out'' is an American reality television series that debuted on Bravo on July 31, 2007, and ended on November 20, 2018. The show is centered on designer Jeff Lewis in Los Angeles, California, his executive assistant Jenni Pulos, his h ...

'' (series) (2011) (Performer: "Thunderdikk") (Writer: Silas Hite) *''

Extreme Makeover Home Edition ''Extreme Makeover: Home Edition'' (''EM:HE''; sometimes informally referred to as ''Extreme Home Makeover'') is an American reality television series that aired from February 15, 2004 to January 13, 2012 on ABC. The series is a spin-off of ''E ...

'' (series) (2011) (Performer: "Thunderdikk") (Writer: Silas Hite) *''Outrageous Kid Parties'' (series) (2011) (Performer: "Thunderdikk") (Writer: Silas Hite) *''American Restoration'' (series) (2010) (Performer: "Thunderdikk") (Writer: Silas Hite) *'' Blue Mountain State'' (series) (2010) additional music *''Bud House'' (series) (2010) (Performer: "Thunderdikk") (Writer: Silas Hite) *''

'' (series) (2010) (Performer: "Thunderdikk") (Writer: Silas Hite) *'' Mater's Tall Tales'' (series) (2010) additional music *''

'' (series) (2010) additional music *''Follow Me: The Search For The First MTV Twitter Jockey'' (series) (2010) (Performer: "Thunderdikk") (Writer: Silas Hite) *''

Bad Girls Club ''Bad Girls Club'' (abbreviated ''BGC'') is an American reality television series created by Jonathan Murray for the Oxygen network in the United States. The show focused on the altercations and physical confrontations of seven aggressive, q ...

'' (series) (2009) (Performer: "Thunderdikk") (Writer: Silas Hite) *''Sex News and Rock N Roll'' (series) (2008) (Performer: "Thunderdikk") (Writer: Silas Hite) *''

Shaggy & Scooby-Doo Get a Clue! ''Shaggy & Scooby-Doo Get a Clue!'' is an American animated comedy series produced by Warner Bros. Animation, the tenth incarnation of Hanna-Barbera's ''Scooby-Doo'' franchise. The show debuted on September 23, 2006, and ran for two seasons duri ...

'' (series) (2006-2007) additional music *''

All Grown Up! ''All Grown Up!'' is an American animated television series created by Arlene Klasky, Gábor Csupó, and Paul Germain for Nickelodeon. It served as a continuation of the series ''Rugrats'', as explores the daily lives of protagonist Tommy Pickles ...

'' (series) (2005–2007) additional music *''

Eureka Eureka (often abbreviated as E!, or Σ!) is an intergovernmental organisation for research and development funding and coordination. Eureka is an open platform for international cooperation in innovation. Organisations and companies applying th ...

'' (series) (2006) additional music *''

LAX Los Angeles International Airport , commonly referred to as LAX (with each letter pronounced individually), is the primary international airport serving Los Angeles, California and its surrounding metropolitan area. LAX is located in the W ...

'' (series) (2004-2005) additional music

Video Games

*Finger Frenzy (2014) *''Disaster Hero'' (2013) *''

Skate 3 ''Skate 3'' is a skateboarding video game, the third installment in the ''Skate'' series and the sequel to 2009's ''Skate 2'', developed by EA Black Box and published by Electronic Arts. It was released worldwide in May 2010 for PlayStation 3 and ...

'' (2010) additional music *Academy of Champions (2009) additional music * My Sims Agents (2009) additional music *''

Boom Blox Bash Party ''Boom Blox Bash Party'', called ''Boom Blox Smash Party'' in non-English territories, is a physics-based puzzle video game developed by EA Los Angeles and published by Electronic Arts for the Wii video game console. It is a sequel to '' Boom Bl ...

'' (2009) additional music *''

Mean Girls ''Mean Girls'' is a 2004 American teen comedy film directed by Mark Waters and written by Tina Fey. The film stars Lindsay Lohan, Rachel McAdams, Lacey Chabert, Amanda Seyfried (in her film debut), Tim Meadows, Ana Gasteyer, Amy Poehler and Fe ...

'' (2009) additional music *Wordsworth (2008) additional music *''

Boom Blox ''Boom Blox'' is a puzzle video game for the Wii console, mobile devices and N-Gage 2.0 developed by EA Los Angeles in conjunction with film director Steven Spielberg. It was released on May 6, 2008 in North America and on May 9, 2008 in Europe. ...

'' (2008) additional music * My Sims Kingdom (2007) *''

MySims ''MySims'' is a video game developed by EA Redwood Shores and published by Electronic Arts as a spin-off to Maxis' ''The Sims'' franchise for the Wii and Nintendo DS in September 2007, re-released for Microsoft Windows in 2008. Overview Game ...

'' (2007) additional music *''

The Simpsons Game ''The Simpsons Game'' is a 2007 platform game based on the animated television series ''The Simpsons'' made for the Nintendo DS, Wii, Xbox 360, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Portable. The game was published, and distributed by Elec ...

'' (2007) additional music * The Sims 2 Castaway (2007) additional music * The Sims 2 Open For Business (2006) additional music * The Sims 2 University (2005) additional music *'' Frogger: Ancient Shadows'' (2005) additional music *''

The Sims 2 ''The Sims 2'' is a 2004 strategy game, strategic life simulation game, life simulation video game developed by Maxis and published by Electronic Arts. It is the second major title in ''The Sims'' series, and is the sequel to ''The Sims (video ...

'' (2004) additional music *''

The Sims Mobile ''The Sims Mobile'' is a life simulation game based on ''The Sims 4'' and '' The Sims FreePlay'' for Android and iOS devices. It was announced on May 9, 2017, in a launch trailer. The game was released on March 6, 2018. It features a multiplaye ...

'' (2017) soundtrack

References

External links

* * *Influences with Silas Hite i
Justapoz magazine
*Interview about scoring Chef's Table with Silas Hite fo
iZotope
*Interview with Silas Hite about scoring for art museums o
ClassicalMPR
*Interview about instruments and studio gear fo
Sonic Scoop
*Interview about art and music i
The Wild
magazine {{DEFAULTSORT:Hite, Silas Living people 1980 births Video game composers American film score composers American male film score composers Musicians from Scottsdale, Arizona 21st-century American composers 21st-century American male musicians