Chris Huelsbeck


Christopher Hülsbeck, known internationally as Chris Huelsbeck, is a German video game music composer.

Career

Huelsbeck's music career started at age 17, when he entered a music competition in the German 64'er magazine, taking first prize with his composition "Shades". He took a job in music production with the company Rainbow Arts.
In 1986, Huelsbeck released the SoundMonitor program for Commodore 64 computer. The program was released as a type-in listing in the German computer magazine 64'er. This program, featuring the idea of notation data rolling from down to up, is assumed to have a significant influence on Karsten Obarski's Ultimate Soundtracker which was a starting point for the still continuing tradition of tracker music programs.
Huelsbeck has written soundtracks for more than 70 titles, the latest being . Many of his scores for the Commodore 64 are regarded as classics among enthusiasts today, most notably The Great Giana Sisters. He is best known for the soundtracks to the Turrican series of games.
He also created a music replay routine for the Amiga called TFMX — "The Final Musicsystem eXtended", which features more musically-oriented features than rival Soundtracker, such as logarithmic pitch-bends, sound macros and individual tempos for each track.
His music from Apidya, Turrican 2, Turrican 3 and The Great Giana Sisters was performed live at the Symphonic Game Music Concert series in Leipzig, Germany between 2003–2007, conducted by Andy Brick. On 23 August 2008 his music was performed at Symphonic Shades, a concert dedicated to his work exclusively. The WDR Radio Orchestra and a choir performed classics such as The Great Giana Sisters, Turrican, R-Type and others in Cologne, Germany conducted by Arnie Roth. On 19 March 2009 it was announced that Arnie Roth will conduct the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra at the concert Sinfonia Drammatica in the Konserthuset Stockholm. Taking place on 4 August 2009, the concert combined performances of Huelsbeck's Symphonic Shades, with selections from drammatica by Yoko Shimomura.

Discography