Biography

Blake Leyh is an Emmy-winning, Grammy-nominated composer, music supervisor, music producer, and sound designer who lives in New York City. Born in New York but raised in England until age fifteen, Leyh has worked in film post-production sound and music for forty years. His credits include films by James Cameron, The Coen Brothers, Spike Lee, Ang Lee, John Waters, Alfonso Cuaron, Jonathan Demme, Julie Taymor, Mira Nair, Zhang Yimou, and Saul Williams. Leyh was the music supervisor and composer for all five seasons of HBO’s acclaimed series The Wire, for which he also composed the end theme music, and has been the music supervisor for all of David Simon’s subsequent television shows. Leyh has written film scores for over twenty feature films and contributed memorable sound work to over fifty movies. He has produced albums by 1980s punk band The Holy Sisters of The Gaga Dada, “the voice of New Orleans” John Boutté, and musician-poet Saul Williams. He has released six albums of solo music, plus film scores, and in 2021 a compilation album ENDLESS: 40 Years of Ambient Music by Blake Leyh 1980 – 2020. Leyh’s latest solo album release is NEW MODERN STRINGS, which explores the 24-string electric harp called the Gravikord.

Awards

Blake’s sound & music work has been recognized with many nominations and awards since 1990.

1990

MPSE GOLDEN REEL AWARD

THE ABYSS
Winner – Best Sound Editing

1992

MPSE GOLDEN REEL AWARD

BARTON FINK
Winner – Best Sound Editing

2001

MPSE GOLDEN REEL AWARS

CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON
Nominee – Best Sound Editing

2010

20/20 AWARDS

THE ABYSS
Winner – Best Sound Design

2012

HOLLYWOOD POST ALLIANCE

EXTREMELY LOUD & INCREDIBLY CLOSE
Nominee – Outstanding Sound

2013

GUILD OF MUSIC SUPERVISORS AWARDS

TREME
Nominee – Best Music Supervision

2014

PRIMETIME EMMY AWARDS

TREME
Winner – Best Sound Mixing

2014

GRAMMY AWARDS

TREME
Nominee – Best Soundtrack Album

2015

GOLD DERBY AWARDS

INTO THE WOODS
Nominee – Best Sound

2015

SATELLITE AWARDS

INTO THE WOODS
Nominee – Best Sound

2016

GUILD OF MUSIC SUPERVISORS AWARDS

SHOW ME A HERO
Nominee – Best Music Supervision

2020

MPSE GOLDEN REEL AWARD

SHADOW
Nominee – Best Sound Editing