At age 10, when the violin instructor started to introduce reading sheet music, Hyatt lost interest in further lessons.

Hyatt attended the Broad Ripple High School for the Arts and Humanities, located in Indianapolis.

[4] In this period Hyatt is most well known for two albums, 2005's The Clouds[5] and 2007's Shrimp Attack,[6] for which he composed the music and organized the recording of the songs, which were sung by, respectively, local gospel choirs and amateur singers in Sumter County, Alabama, and a 50-member collective of artists with developmental disabilities at Creative Clay, a nonprofit arts center in St. Petersburg, Florida.

A major theme in Hyatt's work, which began in his early career, is "to celebrate marginalized communities, at-risk species, and fragile ecosystems.

[12] Metaphonics: The Complete Field Works Recordings, released in 2019, is the combined first seven LPs of Hyatt's work, which combines "site-responsive" music, imagery and texts, and consists of the following albums: Born in the Ear—urban and rural sounds from Lancaster County, Pennsylvania; Pogue's Run—from a waterway in Indianapolis, Indiana; The Fair State—from the Indiana State Fair; Initial Sounds—Part 1: glaciers and volcanoes; Part 2: "chirps" of gravitational waves; Glen Rose Formation—from a cave in Texas; The National Road—sounds from a single street in Indianapolis; book with text and artwork: The Book and Liner Notes: Metaphonics--The Field Works Listener's Guide.

"[20] Hyatt reworked the material from the Cedars album, subtracted the poetry reading, and added a piano as the new "protagonist," along with a "forest soundscape" recorded in the Welsh countryside.

These field recordings are combined with the work of various experimental instrumental music artists, including Hyatt himself, along with vocalist performers.