Mike Hallenbeck is a composer and sound designer active in film, animation, educational/ institutional/ promotional media, dance, theater, installation, and performance. He brings sensitivity and canny listening to work that often traverses and transcends genre.

Hallenbeck spent the 90s writing, performing and recording with a variety of rock and folk projects in Minneapolis. In the early 2000s he expanded his pursuits to explore improvisational and otherwise unconventional approaches to musicianship, integrating electronics as well as field recordings and other "found" sounds. His original music and sound design also began to appear in screen, performance, and installation media.

His composition and sound design have been commissioned by the "Inside Sessions" online video series produced by Avid and Sonic Scoop, video installation artist Monika Bravo, Augsburg Fortress Publishing's Sparkhouse division, and Minnesota Public Radio (including live accompaniment to a reading by author Nick Flynn). He's performed and collaborated with artists like Beseppy, Bryce Beverlin, Jaron Childs, Viv Corringham, Charles Gillett, Tim Glenn, John Kannenberg, Michelle Nagai, Seth Nehil, Davu Seru, and the improvisational collective Brown Rainbow.

Hallenbeck's work has earned consistent critical acclaim, most recently when the Twin Cities' Lavender Magazine named him 2011's Best Theater Composer for his work on "Sexy Librarian: File Under Rock Musical" and Laura Holway's movement piece "I Like You". In 2007 he became the first sound designer ever to receive an Ivey Award, for live Foley effects on Jordan Harrison's "Kid Simple: A Radio Play in the Flesh".

Indulging in projects both public and hermetic, Hallenbeck has crafted experimental soundscapes for silent films with his Retrofit Scores project while exploring the interaction of sound and architecture via his Sound Spandrel performance/ installation initiative. Films and installations featuring Hallenbeck's original and commissioned audio work have appeared in Spain, Germany, Japan, Hong Kong, and across the United States.