About

Paul Prestipino ["Preh-sti-PEE-no"] is an Australian composer, sound designer, theatre maker, and songwriter working across recorded music, theatre, film and installation.

Raised on Noongar country in Perth, of Sicilian descent, he began drumming in rock bands at eleven, taught himself classical guitar, bass and piano, and later studied sound design and electroacoustic composition in The Hague. A journey through Egypt in 2000 sparked a lasting obsession with field recording and place. Environmental, mechanical, and human atmospheres — both immediate and remembered — often inform his music.

His work in theatre, film, installation and radio (frequently as co-devisor as well as composer) has featured in award-winning productions, often new works engaging with political or sensitive subject matter. His scores have been described as "haunting" (The Guardian), "chillingly evocative" (Sydney Morning Herald), "brilliant" (The West Australian), and "ingeniously designed" (AussieTheatre). Collaborators over the years include version 1.0, ABC Radio National, Belvoir, Ilbijerri, Black Swan, Jim Sharman, Roman Paska and Societas Raffaello Sanzio.

His two songwriting albums are immersive journeys. Tunnel (2008, reissued 2026) builds long-form songs with personal field recordings gathered across three continents — among them his own blood in a radiology lab and Union Square in the week of 9/11. Animals and Spirits (2026) turns inward — guitar, mandolin and voice caught on a handheld mic at a kitchen table in the bush. Provoked by rising authoritarianism, it follows a lone figure through a world where civilisation and self have frayed, toward an end where only crickets and frogs remain.

After many years working and recording across the US and Europe, he is currently based on Gadigal land in Sydney.