Nick Pittsinger

Varien
Background information
Birth name	Nick Pittsinger
Also known as	Varien, Halo Nova, Chrono Rabbit
Born	(1990-05-15) May 15, 1990 Tampa, Florida, United States
Genres	Orchestral, electro rock, industrial, dubstep, glitch hop, soundtrack, downtempo, drumstep
Occupation(s)	Composer, producer
Instruments	Piano, guitar, bass, drums, sitar, melodica, koto
Labels	Monstercat, Ultra, Big Beat, FiXT
Associated acts	Two Steps from Hell Scandroid Skrillex
Website	www.varienofficial.com

Nick Pittsinger (born May 15, 1990), better known by his current stage name Varien, is an American composer and producer.^[1] His styles range from Electronic music, Orchestral, Soundtrack, to Industrial music and Ambient music. He is a featured producer on the electronic labels Monstercat and FiXT, and has had songs such as "Cloak and Dagger", "Moonlight (feat. Aloma Steele)", and "Valkyrie (feat. Laura Brehm)" reach millions of views. His music has been featured in media such as Furious 7, The Walking Dead (TV series), 300: Rise of an Empire, The Purge: Anarchy, The Real World, and more. Other non-composing accomplishments of his include helping develop multiple sample libraries for 8dio Productions, led by composer Troels Folmann and providing music production tutorials on YouTube, which have grossed over 1,000,000 plays total. Other past monikers of his include Shamantis, Kitsune Soundsystem and Halo Nova.^[2][3][4] As a side project, Nick Pittsinger also produces music for American TV shows and commercials under the alias Chrono Rabbit.

History

In August 2010, Pittsinger achieved internet virality with his slowed-down remix of Justin Bieber's song "U Smile" entitled "Justin Bieber 800% Slowed Down". He was interviewed by Entertainment Weekly, MTV, and had articles written about the track from all over the world.^[5]

In July 2011, Pittsinger released his first Monstercat single "The Force" under the alias Halo Nova. He has released 2 other songs under the Halo Nova alias, Triceracops and Totally Radical, both released on Monstercat in late 2011.

In December 2011, Pittsinger was hired by dubstep producer Skrillex to do an orchestral suite of his most popular songs. In the suite, the songs "Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites", "All I Ask Of You", "Scatta" (all from the Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites EP) and "First Of The Year" (from the More Monsters and Sprites EP) were re-arranged into an orchestral fashion. To date, the "Skrillex Orchestral Suite" has received over 3,000,000 views on YouTube.^[6]

Under his "Varien" moniker, Pittsinger has remixed popular acts such as Gareth Emery, Rebecca & Fiona, and Celldweller, and to date remains a veteran member of the Monstercat record label. He has had songs chart on the digital distribution website Beatport a number of times, including "Mirrors", "Valkyrie", and "Toothless Hawkins (And His Robot Jazz Band)," all of which hit #1 on their respective charts.

On February 26, 2013, Pittsinger released Pick Your Poison Vol. 1, a compilation album of trailer cues that he had done strictly for the purpose of film, television, and video game licensing. Pick Your Poison Vol. 2 came a year later.

In 2013, Pittsinger and Klayton of Celldweller formed the cyberpunk/electronic music project Scandroid.^[7]

In 2014, Pittsinger teamed up with Two Steps from Hell on a private trailer cue compilation entitled Open Conspiracy. 2014 saw an abundance of licenses for Varien. His music was used in trailers and promotional media for 300: Rise of an Empire, Bones, The Purge: Anarchy, Face Off, America's Next Top Model, PlanetSide 2, and Monsters: Dark Continent. Los Angeles singer Roniit's song "Runaway", produced by Varien, was used in multiple trailers and TV spots for the film The Loft.

In March of 2015, it was announced that Varien had finished his debut album, entitled The Ancient & The Arcane, and that it would be released on Monstercat in the Summer of 2015.

In April of 2015, it was announced that Pittsinger had contributed original scores to the film Furious 7.

Discography

Compilations

Singles, EPs and Albums

Remixes

Film/TV/Video Game

Nick Pittsinger also composes and licenses music for all forms of visual media.

References