Meet Nick Depinna | Composer, Producer, and Performer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Nick Depinna and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Nick, what habits do you feel helped you succeed?
Three things come to mind: preparation, time management, and focus.

I really, really hate being under-prepared. It makes me feel so awful that I’ll do almost anything to avoid it, so I tend to over-prepare. It took me a lot of time and failures to identify how much and what kind of preparation would maximize my chances of success. But once I did, I was liberated. Instead of getting nervous about something, like conducting a recording session or performing with a famous artist, I’ll excessively prepare. That way, when the moment comes, my confidence and ability outweigh my anxiety.

I’m almost always in preparation mode for a bunch of different things at once. As a result, my time management is solid. I almost always over-estimate how long something will take, so whenever possible, I start working early so that I can adjust my pace as I go to meet or beat deadlines. The downside to this is that I rarely have a clean plate; there’s always something that needs to get done and it’s hard to find time to rest.

Even though I usually have multiple projects going on at any given time, I try to focus on each as if it’s the most important thing in the world; that I’d stake my reputation, fate, and the fate of all humanity on the quality of my work…BUT only during the specified period designated for it. After giving complete attention and care to a project, I do my best to put it out of my mind when I move on to the next thing, whether it be a different project or spending time with my family. Having those guard rails in place not only protect my health and happiness, but they also make it easier to fully focus on what is in front of me.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I’m a composer, producer, and performer of both commercial and creative music. By commercial music, I’m referring to music created for profit, often serving a purpose other than itself, such as music for film, television, and video games. And by creative music, I mean music that one makes just for the sake of…well, music. I really love working on both types; they connect to different aspects of my personality, and I thrive when I’m keeping a balance between the two – the extroverted craftsperson and the introverted artist.

The prospect of earning my living through creative music alone gives me a lot of anxiety, probably because it causes me to improperly equate my level of success with my own self-worth. So, I try to think of my commercial work as subsidizing my creative work – it keeps me flexible as a collaborator on commercial projects while helping me to leave commercial factors out of the equation with my creative endeavors. Additionally, without the commercial aspect of my career, I would become increasingly detached from reality and practicality. And without the creative side, I would lose track of my passions and values.

Over the past ten years, my creative work has been focused on the balance and interaction between control and freedom. This can musically manifest in many ways, such as serial compositional techniques interwoven with bursts of unbridled creativity. But one of the more obvious and meaningful examples is the integration of improvisation into pre-composed music. My colleagues and I started L.A. Signal Lab, a new music collective, to focus on that very concept.

You can hear the commercial music I’ve composed or worked on in some way in thousands of episodes of television and films. And I’ve released a handful of albums of creative music on Orenda Records`, all of which are available at major digital outlets and streaming services.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I love taking my family for Japanese food in Gardena, Torrance, or Sawtelle Japantown, and Chinese food in the San Gabriel Valley. But my favorite regular spots to eat are Str8 Up Tacos in Lakewood and Tuscan Son in West LA.

Los Angeles is home to some of the greatest musicians in the world. If a friend were visiting, I would probably take them to see some live jazz at Sam First or live classical music with the LA Phil. But there’s awesome music happening all over the place, pretty much every day of the week.

But my favorite thing about Southern California is the incredible diversity of cultures landscapes. The ocean, mountains, desert, multiple city-centers, and countless ethnic enclaves are all within a two hour radius; it’s truly an incredible place to live and visit.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I owe so much to so many people – but the person at the top of my list is undoubtedly the legendary flutist and composer James Newton. He has been my artistic mentor and father-figure for nearly twenty years. I can’t begin to express my gratitude, respect, and love for this man.

Website: https://www.nickdepinna.com/

Other: L.A. Signal Lab
Orenda Records

Image Credits
Ben Tarquin, Hitomi Oba