Biography

Ryan Billia has always led an eclectic life. He has tried to find a balance between his two great passions, dance and music, which are deeply intertwined, historically and culturally.

He grew up playing drums in garage bands with friends. While in high school in the early '90's, he discovered electronic music and found himself deep in early rave culture.  He bought himself a pair of turntables and as many records as he could find, met some DJ’s and learned the technique.  All the while, he was studying ballet and modern dance with world-renowned teachers in some of the countries most prestigious schools in Boston, NY, and North Carolina. He danced professionally with companies in Hartford and San Francisco until an unfortunate injury cut his career short. 

Ryan began performing regularly in a few bands, DJ'ing at local parties and clubs, and working at a local music school in San Francisco.  He started focusing heavily on music and decided he needed to dedicate more time and study to it.  He enrolled in the prestigious Berklee College of Music in Boston, dual-majoring in both Music Production and Engineering (MP&E) and Music Synthesis. While there he received both the KAO Infosystems Award in MP&E and the BT Production Award in Music Synthesis. He graduated summa cum laude in May 2007.

He immediately move to New York City to pursue his career and landed a job at an original music and post production facility, Ear Goo, Inc. He was one of only four in-house composers and sound designers, focusing mostly on short-form work for TV and advertising. He currently works for Bang in New York City as their head engineer and sound designer.

His intrigue in music ranges from the more accessible styles of rock, pop, classical, and jazz to the extremely experimental sounds of avant-garde, glitch, minimalistic, stochastic, and ambient.  He explores sound in all its forms, acoustic and electronic, and enjoys the effects it can clearly have on the listener.  He has produced and engineered artists ranging from folk and rock to punk and jazz, engineered location recordings for orchestras and chamber groups, and worked as a sound designer and mixer for both short art films and full-length features.

Contact Email: ryan@ryanbillia.com