D4Disgruntled is an escapist and a storyteller at heart. 

(Real name is Matthew Christopher Hightshoe)

He has been a film music geek since he was a teenager. He started collecting and studying soundtracks during high school. This led to studying composers past and present, as well as studying music theory and composition. He even re-scored scenes to movies with nothing but a Casio keyboard plugged into a boombox. His life has been devoted to researching and understanding this art form as well as the creative and production process. After all these years, he still composes with just the Casio Keyboard and the Boom Box.....Kidding. 

D4Disgruntled's idols were and still are Jerry Goldsmith, James Horner, Christopher Young, John Carpenter, Hans Zimmer, Elliot Goldenthal, Marco Beltrami, Richard Band and Danny Elfman. There are plenty more that can be added but these represent the gambit of composers whose styles had the biggest impact on him.  

D4Disgruntled considers himself also as a filmmaker... the teammate that tells the story from the musical perspective.  He originally wanted to be a filmmaker in his youth but his fascination with movies evolved into a fascination with the music in them. His ability as a storyteller in a visual medium started from his studying of films, and continued later in life doing videography, video editing, concept art and storyboards before returning to music composition in 2016. As a composer, he understands the collaborative process necessary to bring a vision to fruition. 

D4Disgruntled’s current list of scoring credits are minimal due to just starting out. This is not reflective of his talent, skill and other filmmaking experiences.  While pursuing professional composing gigs for movies, games and shows, he spends his spare time entering contests & creating commercial "concept soundtrack albums". Some are composed to actual movies as alternate scores while other albums are stand-alone works not composed to visuals and that tell their own story. The styles range from traditional ensembles to ambient, synth, atonal, minimalist, and electronica/techno. 

Upon hearing his music, you will experience how his knowledge of film composing manifests in my unique voice. A voice backed up integrity, passion, dedication, hard work and joy. With nearly 30 years of exposure to a wide range of composers and music artists, creating a huge creative well from which to drawn upon for ideas. 

He welcomes the opportunity to demo some music for gratis with no obligation. With great confidence, once you hear what he could contribute, you will be hooked. Conversely, if you his style is not to your tastes, he can volunteer to temp track your film for free. The worst outcome is that you get your film temped by someone with an encyclopedic knowledge and access to a large physical library. The best is that we get a no-pressure way to know each other and possibly discover we are fantastic teammates.

Learn more about him below.