Nick Charney Kaye

You were probably sent here — a name passed along, attached to a problem that would not die. Check the name: what follows is short on adjectives and long on dates.

“Outright Mental” is my artist moniker—read the manifesto to understand that origin story. My practice is built in collaboration with other artists. Welcome to my studio.

Nick Charney Kaye is the operator and president of Outright Mental. He is the inventor on U.S. Patent 10,446,126 for adaptive music composition, and has 25 years of interactive and film credits — including David Blaine’s Drowned Alive website, a U.S. Department of Justice PSA that aired on NBC, CBS, Fox, and Oxygen, and the Stetson “Made of America” brand platform.

Operator, not founder

Around here the title is operator. Founder is a claim about the past — who got there first — and the past is not for sale. Operator is a claim that has to keep being true: point one at a target — a build, a system, a show, a date that cannot move — and it gets dispatched. The studio is the side effect; the record below is the argument.

The record

• U.S. Patent 10,446,126 — generative music composition. Granted 2019; assignee Outright Mental Inc; active to 2038.
• David Blaine, Drowned Alive — built and ran davidblaine.com; during the stunt the site drew over a million unique visitors a day.
• U.S. Department of Justice PSA — co-directed the “Know Where They Go” spot, aired nationally on NBC, CBS, Fox, and Oxygen.
• Stetson “Made of America” — designed the brand platform.
• XJ music — designed and built the patented adaptive-music platform; open source, 94★.
• Enterprise — incident-response lead for the FIFA World Cup 2026 premium-hospitality program, and event apps serving 6M users in live entertainment. Full résumé at nickcharneykaye.com.

Listen

Three conversations from 2024:

• Professor Game #327 — “Charney Kaye Brings the Music Into the Mix.”
• Design Your Legacy — “A Hacker’s Ethos and Legacy.”
• Sunday SoulDay S2E15 — “The Creative Pulse of Charney Kaye.”

Speaking. Topics, tape, and a booking path — outrightmental.com/speaking.

Contact

Point me at the problem. Email hi@outrightmental.com — one person reads every note, and answers within one business day. Or skip the inbox: Book a 20-minute fit call › For anything sensitive, request the PGP key and send it encrypted via the contact page.