I’m Hannis Brown, a composer who writes for films and multimedia projects, the concert hall and for multiple layers of myself. Recent commissions and honors include a 2025 Pulitzer Prize finalist distinction for Pineapple Street Studio's Hysterical, a 2022 du-Pont Columbia award and NAACP Image Award for The History Channel and WNYC's Blindspot: Tulsa Burning, 2019 du-Pont Columbia Awards for the New York Public Radio podcasts Trump, Inc and Caught, a 2015 Peabody Award for work on the podcast Meet the Composer, music for ETHEL string quartet, scores for WNYC's Scattered and American Fiasco, Colorado Symphony orchestrations for Olga Bell of the Dirty Projectors and music for the Holiday Windows of Barneys New York. Projects on the horizon include new collaborations with Johns Hopkins iDeas Lab, the BBC, Trevor Noah's Day Zero Productions, and Pineapple Street Studios.
Recent News
Hysterical investigates a mysterious illness that spreads among a group of high school girls in LeRoy, NY, believed by some to be the most severe case of mass hysteria since the Salem Witch Trials. Written and hosted by Dan Taberski, from Wondery and Pineapple Street Media. Mixing and Sound Design. Finalist for the 2025 Pulitzer Prize in Audio Reporting.
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A Field Guide to Gay Animals explores sexuality, gender, and joy in the animal world. Animal enthusiasts Owen Ever and Laine Kaplan-Levenson take you on a quest to see beyond the natural world as we know it and into the natural world as it is. From Double Double and Canadaland, an official selection at TriBeCa, 2024. Sound Design, Mixing, and Original Music.
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The Paris Review Season 3 Finale features Phoebe Bridgers chased down in the desert by a Helicopter, a re-constructed interview with Joan Didion, and comedian Connor Ratliff delivering a fictional account of two manic arsonists in love. Original Music, Sound Design, and Mixing.
Good Grief is a serialized, heavily-designed podcast about grief and growth. Original Music, Sound Design, and Mixing. |
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On What Now?, comedian and former Daily Show host Trevor Noah asks difficult questions with today's scientists, CEOs, musicians, and thought leaders. Theme Music and Mixing.
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Legend: The Joni Mitchell Story is a 6 part series from BBC Radio 4 celebrating the life and music of the iconic musician on the occasion of her 80th birthday. Original Music and Sound Design.
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Magnificent Jerk. On the last day of her grandmother’s life, journalist Maya Lin Sugarman finds a box of forgotten screenplays that sets her on a journey to uncover the truth about their author: her late uncle, Galen. She discovers that he was a leader of a Chinese gang, that he went to jail, and, in a final twist, that he poured his life story into a screenplay that was turned into a ’90s Hollywood action movie…starring Rob Lowe, Burt Reynolds, and Ice-T. Original Music.
The Prince Mixtape is an audio zine, a love letter to The Artist from writer Nichole Perkins, featuring the people who knew Prince, who worked with him, who were moved by his music. From Pineapple Street Studios and CNN. Original Music, Sound Design and Mixing.
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What happens when a group of scrappy feminist journalists team up with a porn king? STIFFED is the true story of Bob Guccione, VIVA magazine, and 1970s feminist porn. From Crooked Media and iHeart Media. Original Music, Sound Design, and Mixing.
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Will Be Wild is a chilling series about the forces that led to the January 6, 2021 insurrection at the U.S. Capital and what comes next. From Pineapple Street Studios and Amazon Music. Original Music, Mixing, and Sound Design.
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Each episode of Bodies begins with a medical mystery. Sometimes the sickness is in the body, and sometimes the sickness is in the system. Created by Allison Behringer and supported by KCRW. Composer for Season 4.
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In Lemonada Media's Discarded, hosted by Emmy award-winning journalist Gloria Riviera, we discover how our plastic world came to be. Plastic has advanced our world, but it has damaged our environment and our health. Original Music.
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I scored, mixed, and sound designed this episode from The Atlantic and WNYC about strange, unsolicited deliveries of seeds seemingly sent from China.
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Blindspot: Tulsa Burning, the story of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, is the winner of a 2022 DuPont Award and NAACP Image Award. Original Music.
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An assortment of pep talks, delivered musically, comedically, and sincerely from Pineapple Street Media's The 11th. Original Music, Mixing and Sound Design.
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Last Day is a podcast about what’s killing us, the stuff that’s hard to comprehend and getting worse every day by zooming in on a person’s last day of life. Original music, seasons 1-3.
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In the 1980s, Chippendales sold the promise of women’s liberation for the price of a few dollars in a g-string. But behind the powerful mullets and non-stop parties lies a much darker story. Sound Design and Mixing.
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The Deal is the story of the Iran nuclear deal; how it came together, how it fell apart, and what that means for the rest of us. From the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey. Mixing and scoring.
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Comedian Chris Garcia sets out to uncover the truth about his dad, a man who survived Castro’s labor camps only to lose his way in search of the American dream. One of Time Magazine’s Top Ten Podcasts of 2019. Original Music.
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This series from Pineapple Street Media chronicles the final days of author Julie Yip-Williams who prepares for her death by revisiting the events of her extraordinary life. Sound Design.
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In 2003, two half-starved brothers emerged from the wilderness, telling an incredible story of survival. Wild Boys is part of The Chameleon series. Winner of a 2023 Ambie Award: Podcast of the Year. Theme Music, Mixing, and Sound Design.
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Trump, Inc. is a bold investigation into our president's business practices and their overlap into politics. From WNYC and ProPublica. Winner of a 2019 Columbia-duPont award. Original Music.
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On The Anthropocene Reviewed, author John Green reviews facets of the human-centered planet on a five-star scale. For example: Tetris and the seed potatoes of Leningrad. Original Music.
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The City is a new investigative podcast from USA Today, released with an augmented reality supplement. The score and sound design mix location field recordings of machinery and traffic with Chicago house music.
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American Fiasco - hosted by Men in Blazer's Roger Bennett - follows the U.S. men's soccer team's disastrous path to the 1998 World Cup. Original Music.
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Broad City's Abbi Jacobson hosted this 10-part collaboration between WNYC and MoMA - the winner of a 2018 Webby Award. I particularly love the Questlove episode on monochromatic art. Original Music.
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In the summer of 2016, a police shooting upended the life of Arnaldo Rios Soto, a 26-year old, non-speaking, autistic man. Aftereffect tells Arnaldo's story – a hidden world of psych wards, physical abuse and chemical restraints. Original Music.
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Caught is a podcast from WNYC News that takes a deep dive into the juvenile detention system. Winner of a 2019 Columbia-duPont award. Original Music.
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The podcast Note to Self invited me to musically interpret a series of data-ridden postcards currently on display at MoMA.
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I co-produced this episode of Meet the Composer about the weird relationships between performers, composers and audience members.
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ETHEL string quartet performs my "Oh Ah Ee" to celebrate the 30th anniversary of legendary music-radio host John Schaefer.
I composed music for two of the Barneys New York Holiday Windows, one in collaboration with the glass artist Dale Chihuly (on display now at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art), the other for a castle built entirely of ice.