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Rob Hubbard
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Rob Hubbard (born 1956?, Kingston upon Hull, England) is a music composer best known for his composition of computer game theme music, especially for microcomputers of the 1980s such as the Commodore 64. His work showed the real potential of both the Commodore 64's sound hardware and the ability of good music to improve the gaming experience.
In the late seventies, before scoring games, he was a professional studio musician. He decided to teach himself BASIC and machine code for the Commodore 64.
Writing a few demos and some educational software for learning music, he approached Gremlin Graphics in 1985 with samples of his work, to attempt to market his software. Gremlin were more interested in the tunes than the software and he was asked to create the soundtrack for Thing on a Spring, a platform game. Hubbard created a theme that mixed violins, electric guitars, and amusing basslines.
Hubbard went on to write or convert themes for games such as Monty on the Run, Crazy Comets, Master of Magic and Commando.
After working for several different companies, in 1989 he left Newcastle to work for Electronic Arts in America as a composer. He was the first person devoted to sound and music at EA, and did everything from low-level programming to composing. He became Audio Technical Director, a more administrative job, involving deciding which technologies to use in the games, and which to develop further.
Hubbard recently contributed a few re-arrangements of his themes to Chris Abbott's Back in Time Live C64 tribute. Hubbard has performed several times with the Danish C64 cover-band PRESS PLAY ON TAPE who have covered many of his early tunes using a full rock-band arrangement. Hubbard has also performed his old music on piano with the support of violinist madfiddler.
In 2005, music from International Karate was performed live by a full orchestra at the third Symphonic Game Music Concert. The event took place in Leipzig, Germany. Hubbard arranged and orchestrated the piece.
Hubbard left EA in 2002 and returned to England. He has recently resumed playing in a band, and has even revisited his past game music work in concert. Recent composition jobs have included music for mobile phone games. His original SID music can be found from The High Voltage SID Collection.
- Commando (based on theme from Commando arcade game) (Elite Systems, 1985)
- Rasputin (Firebird, 1985)
- BMX Kids (Firebird, 1985)
- Monty on the Run (Gremlin Graphics, 1985)
- Thing on a Spring (Gremlin Graphics, 1985)
- Confuzion (Incentive Software, 1985)
- Crazy Comets (Martech, 1985)
- Master of Magic (inspired by the Synergy album Audion) (MAD/Mastertronic, 1985)
- The Last V8 (Mastertronic, 1985)
- Action Biker (Mastertronic, 1985)
- Formula 1 Simulator (Mastertronic, 1985)
- Hunter Patrol (Mastertronic, 1985)
- One Man and His Droid (Mastertronic, 1985)
- Battle of Britain (PSS, 1985)
- Harvey Smith Snowjumping (Software Projects, 1985)
- Up Up and Away (Starcade, 1985)
- Deep Strike (Durell, 1986)
- Bump Set Spike (Entertainment USA, 1986)
- Ninja (Entertainment USA, 1986)
- Chimera (Firebird, 1986)
- Gerry the Germ (Firebird, 1986)
- Proteus (Firebird, 1986)
- Thrust (Firebird, 1986)
- Warhawk (inspired by the John Keating album Space Experience) (Firebird, 1986)
- Lightforce (FTL, 1986)
- Geoff Capes Strongman Challenge (Martech, 1986)
- Samantha Fox Strip Poker (he's credited as John York in this one, because as he says, "[it] was such a cheesy title and they wanted that cheesy lame music along with it - I didn't want to admit that I did it just for the money") (Martech, 1986)
- Tarzan (Martech, 1986)
- W.A.R. (Martech, 1986)
- Zoids (Martech, 1986)
- Flash Gordon (MAD/Mastertronic, 1986)
- Spellbound (MAD/Mastertronic, 1986)
- Hollywood or Bust (Mastertronic, 1986)
- Human Race (Mastertronic, 1986)
- Kentilla (Mastertronic, 1986)
- Phantoms of the Asteroid (Mastertronic, 1986)
- Video Poker (Mastertronic, 1986)
- Knucklebusters (Melbourne House, 1986)
- International Karate (System 3, 1986)
- Sanxion (Thalamus Ltd, 1986)
- Jet Set Willy (Atari version) (Tynesoft, 1987)
- ACE II (Cascade, 1987)
- Saboteur II (Durell, 1987)
- Sigma Seven (Durell, 1987)
- Thanatos (Durell, 1987)
- Thundercats (Elite, 1987)
- Arcade Classics (Firebird, 1987)
- I-Ball (Firebird, 1987)
- Shockway Rider (FTL, 1987)
- Auf Wiedersehen Monty (with Ben Daglish) (Gremlin Graphics, 1987)
- Chain Reaction (Kele-Line, 1987)
- Mega Apocalypse (Martech, 1987)
- Nemesis the Warlock (Martech, 1987)
- Wiz (Melbourne House, 1987)
- Bangkok Knights (System 3, 1987)
- IK plus (International Karate plus) (System 3, 1987)
- Dragons Lair Part II (Software Projects, 1987)
- Star Paws (Software Projects, 1987)
- Delta (inspired by the Pink Floyd album Dark Side of the Moon and Philip Glass' music for Koyaanisqatsi) (Thalamus Ltd, 1987)
- Trans Atlantic Balloon Challenge (Virgin, 1987)
- Nineteen (Cascade, 1988)
- Jordan vs. Bird: One on One (Electronic Arts, 1988)
- Kings of the Beach (Electronic Arts, 1988)
- One-on-One 2 (Electronic Arts, 1988)
- Power Play Hockey (Electronic Arts, 1988)
- Skate or Die! (Electronic Arts, 1988)
- Pandora (PSI Soft Design/Firebird, 1988)
- Ricochet (Firebird, 1988)
- Budokan: The Martial Spirit (Electronic Arts, 1989)
- Indianapolis 500: The Simulation (Electronic Arts, 1989)
- Kings of the Beach (Electronic Arts, 1989)
- Lakers vs. Celtics and the NBA Playoffs (Electronic Arts, 1989)
- Populous (Electronic Arts, 1989)
- Hard Nova (Electronic Arts, 1990)
- Low Blow (Electronic Arts, 1990)
- Ski or Die (Electronic Arts, 1990)
- The Immortal (Electronic Arts,1990)
- Road Rash (with Michael Bartlow) (Electronic Arts, 1991)
- Desert Strike: Return to the Gulf (with Brian Schmidt) (Electronic Arts, 1991)
- Road Rash 2 (with Don Veca, and Tony Berkeley) (Electronic Arts, 1992)
- The Lost Files of Sherlock Holmes: The Case of the Serrated Scalpel (Electronic Arts, 1992)
- The Lost Files of Sherlock Holmes: The Case of the Rose Tattoo (Electronic Arts, 1996)
- World War II Fighters (Electronic Arts, 1998)
- X Squad (Electronic Arts, 2000)
- Rumble Racing (Electronic Arts, 2001)
- Rob Hubbard Softography Downloadable music featuring Hubbard's work on many platforms
- The Complete Works of Rob Hubbard A fan page with downloadable SID files
- Biography at Mobygames.com
- Composer profile at OverClocked ReMix
- C64Audio.com, Rob's publisher and record label
- PRESS PLAY ON TAPE's website
- Remix64's Interview with Rob Hubbard
- Rob Hubbard at MusicBrainz
- Legends of the C64 article on Rob Hubbard