Joel Pickard has an MA in composition from Mills College in Oakland, CA, where he studied with Fred Frith, Alvin Currin, and Pauline Oliveros. He received his BA in Music from Bethel College in St. Paul, MN, where he studied classical guitar. In 2009, he began studying and playing the cello.

As a composer, Joel creates music and sound for film, episodic series, and sonic branding. His work has premiered at Sundance, the San Francisco International Film Festival, and RiverRun, among others, and includes scoring three seasons of Art21 for PBS. He has developed sonic identities for Sundance, BritBox, and HBO, created title sequence and marketing music for The New York Times Weekly, and has created music for live projects with The New York Times and the Smithsonian Institution.

He is drawn to projects where sound is integral to storytelling—shaping emotional arc in film or building a distinct sonic language for a brand.

As a classically trained cellist and guitarist, he favors recording with real instruments, with a focus on natural performance, texture, and nuance. As a curious sonic explorer, he also creates sound with analog synthesizers and modern digital production techniques.

Based in Portland, Oregon

contact: joel@joelpickardmusic.com

971.255.1503

interview with Elektron  

interview with Art21

Clients and Collaborators

• Adidas

• Afternoon Inc.

• Art21 - PBS

• Audi

• BritBox

• Core 77

• FX

• Douglas Filiak

• HBO

• The Hoffman Brothers

• Joe Hubers

• IFC

• Instrument

• Kodak

• Landor

• Mercedes

• The New York Times

• Nike

• Passenger Productions

• Pivotal

• RCA

• Showtime Networks

• Smithsonian Institution

• Smithsonian Networks

• Thornberg and Forester

• Trollback

• Ultrabland

• US Open Tennis

• Virgin Orbit

• Work-Order