Carvin Knowles

Carvin Knowles took his BMA in Music Composition from the University of Oklahoma in 1988, where he studied composition under film composer Michael Hennagin (Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Lost in Space) and early music under Dr. Eugene Enrico.

Inspired by the movie scores of Bernard Herrman, Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Jerry Goldsmith and John Williams, Carvin flew to Hollywood the week after his graduation to compose music for film. After years of struggle trying to break into the industry, he began producing albums for Oglio Records, a label dedicated to preserving the music of the '70s and '80s. Carvin was a contributing writer and producer for Oglio recording artists Sex-O-Rama, who perform '70s-style funk with lots of wah-wah guitar grooves and "a bit too much bass." His work with them caught the attention of the director of American Pie, Paul Weitz.

At the beginning of his film scoring career, Carvin was regarded as the go-to guy for any job that seemed too difficult, strange, or controversial for other composers. While his first real break came with American Pie, his range has included orchestral score, jazz, house, jungle, lounge, dub, breakbeat, indie rock, blues, ancient music, world music, and funk. His love of controversy and his eclectic range led him to score Th!nkFilm's important 2005 documentary F*ck which explored issues of freedom of speech in Bush's America. Carvin's music has appeared in over 25 feature films and a half-dozen documentaries. In 2008, Carvin moved from Hollywood to New Zealand, where he has written music for several episodes of Sir Peter Jackson's thehobbitblog.com.

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