Born in Texas, composer/musician Nik Phelps now lives and works in Gent, Belgium. He has played with musical artists as diverse as Eric Johnson and Lou Rawls, Frank Sinatra and They Might Be Giants, Frank Zappa and Mary Martin. He recorded for over 10 years with Tom Waits, playing on three soundtracks and five CDs.
He began working with film music in 1988 with the Club Foot Orchestra, the influential San Francisco soundtrack group that was the premiere modern silent film orchestra. Since 1995, he has been working in the animation world and was nominated for an Annie Award for his music for the CBS TV series The Twisted Tales of Felix the Cat. In 1996, he founded the Sprocket Ensemble, a project combining live music and animated film.
He is active in the animation scene, creating music and sound for animators such as Nina Paley, Bill Plympton, Lei Lei, and Ivan Maximov. Nik enjoys working with directors of all ages in the field of music and sound design, and working with schools, forums, and festivals, conducting workshops dealing with performance technique and the creative process.
He has been a jury member at numerous animation festivals and is currently involved in giving Performance for Pitching workshops at pitching forums throughout Europe.