Chris Huelsbeck

Chris Huelsbeck (also spelled Hülsbeck, born 2 March 1968) is a German video game music composer from Kassel, Germany.


Huelsbeck's music career started at age 14, when he entered a music competition in a German games magazine, taking first prize with his composition "Shades".[1] 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[who?] to have a significant influence on Karsten Obarski's Ultimate Soundtracker (1987) which was a starting point for still continuing tradition of tracker music programs.

Huelsbeck has written soundtracks for more than 70 titles, the latest being Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams. 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. Chris's initial recognition arrived at age 17 when his composition "Shades" won first place in a music competition for the German 64'er magazine.

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
1991 Quik and Silva
1991 Shades
1992 To be on Top
1992 Apidya
1993 Turrican Soundtrack
1994 Native Vision - Easy life (single)
1994 Rainbows
1995 Sound Factory
1997 Tunnel B1 Soundtrack
1997 Extreme Assault soundtrack
1998 Peanuts feat. Doc. Schneider - Leben betrügt (single)
2000 Bridge from the past to the future (released at MP3.com)
2000 Collage (released at MP3.com)
2000 Merregnon Soundtrack, Volume 1
2001 Chris Hülsbeck in the Mix (released by ZYX Music)
2004 Merregnon Soundtrack, Volume 2 (English and Japanese edition)
2007 Number Nine
2008 Symphonic Shades
2013 Turrican Soundtrack Anthology (Volumes 1-4)
2015 The Piano Collection
2017 25 Years - Turrican II The Orchestral Album by Chris Huelsbeck

Soundtracks
Apidya (Amiga)
Apprentice (Amiga)
The Baby of Can Guru (C64)
Dulcedo Cogitationis (C64)
The Great Giana Sisters (C64)
Hard 'n' Heavy (C64)
Jim Power in Mutant Planet (Amiga)
Jim Power: The Lost Dimension in 3-D (SNES)
R-Type intro music (C64, Amiga)
Starball intro music (C64)[7]
Shades (C64 demo)
To be on Top (C64)
Turrican 1-3 soundtracks (Amiga)
M.U.D.S. – Mean Ugly Dirty Sport (Amiga)
X-Out (Amiga)
Z-Out (Amiga)
Adrift in a Cobalt Eternity (PC)
Star Wars: Rogue Squadron (N64 and PC)
Bubsy: The Woolies Strike Back (PS4 and PC)

Gameography

ZombieSmash! (iPhone)
Active Soccer (iPhone, iPad, Windows, MacOS)
Turrican Soundtrack Anthology
Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams (PC, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii U, Ouya)
Doctor Who: Legacy (iOS, Android)