Rob Hubbard
Robert Hubbard | ||||||||
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Rob Hubbard is a British composer and sound designer who is known to be one of the most (if not the most) renowned video game musician of all time. His career started when he sent some software to Gremlin Interactive. The software also came with music he wrote for it, and while Gremlin did not like his software, they were impressed by his music and he was asked to work there as an audio engineer. He was also known to make effects and sounds on the Commodore 64 that no other composer knew how to make. Later, Hubbard joined EA where his video game music career really took off. Hubbard is also known for his Commando soundtrack for the Commodore 64 which Mark Cooksey said he witnessed Hubbard do in one day. Hubbard's first work was for Action Biker, and while it's not one of his best known works, his music really shines with the Monty on the Run soundtrack. Some of Hubbard's favorite Commodore 64 composers are Ben Daglish and Martin Galway. Hubbard could be considered the Koji Kondo of the Commodore 64.
Some of Hubbard's popular games include Monty on the Run (C64), Commando (C64), Skate or Die (C64), and The Immortal (NES).
Contents
Music Development
Commodore 64
The first step Hubbard took for creating Commodore 64 was he would write the music on paper. He would write the music in normal musical notation and alongside the notes, he would write hexadecimal numbers which would equate to what he would write in his sound driver. He would then take the hexadecimal numbers he wrote down and convert them to his sound engine by hand. Hubbard would always ask the programmers what kind of music they wanted in the game, but they usually didn't care.
He would sometimes write music on his Casiotone MT-40.
Hubbard no longer has the source code to his pre-EA sound engine. It is rumored that a housecleaner threw away his disks while he was staying at a hotel.
Commando
Hubbard was paid by Elite Systems to come in and write the music to their conversion of Capcom's Coin-Op arcade Commando. Hubbard came in the office late at night and worked throughout the evening to compose the music. According to Hubbard, Elite Systems had the arcade cabinet of the game in the office, and he drew inspiration from the arcade game's music, but didn't actually arrange the arcade soundtrack to the Commodore 64 version. Hubbard finished the music by morning.
NES
Gameography
Picture Gallery
Staff photo from Lakers vs. Celtics and the NBA Playoffs (GEN)
Links
- mobygames.com/developer/sheet/view/developerId,6/ - MobyGames.
- uk.linkedin.com/pub/rob-hubbard/47/83a/853 - LinkedIn.
- web.archive.org/web/20060929094725/http://www.freenetpages.co.uk/hp/tcworh/int_elec.htm - Interview from Electronic & Music Maker, circa late 1985.
- archive.org/details/CommodoreHorizonsIssue261986Feb300dpi/page/n31/mode/2up - Interview from Commodore Horizons, February 1986.
- live.worldofspectrum.org/infoseek/magazines/computer--video-games/56#72 - Interview from Computer + Video Games, June 1986.
- www.zzap64.co.uk/cgi-bin/displaypage.pl?issue=016&page=040&magazine=zzap - Group Interview with Hubbard, Ben Daglish, Antony Crowther and David Whittaker from ZZAP! 64 No.16, August 1986.
- archive.org/details/CommodoreUserIssue391986Dec/page/n119/mode/2up - Profile from Commodore User, December 1986.
- www.zzap64.co.uk/cgi-bin/displaypage.pl?issue=021&page=047&magazine=zzap - Profile from ZZAP! 64 No.21, December 1986.
- www.zzap64.co.uk/cgi-bin/displaypage.pl?issue=026&page=052&magazine=zzap - News from ZZAP! 64 No. 26, June 1987.
- st-news.com/issues/st-news-volume-2-issue-5/features/interview-with-rob-hubbard/ - Interview from July 25, 1987.
- craigsretrocomputingpage.eu5.org/robhubbard/robhubbard.html - Interview from The Games Machine, October 1987.
- zakalwe.fi/~shd/texts/imr/c09hubba.htm - Interview from March 15, 1996.
- web.archive.org/web/20010714072715/http://mono211.com/gamegeekpeeks/robh.html - Interview from circa 1997.
- sidmusic.org/sid/rhubbard.html - Interviews from Commodore Zone in 1997 or 1998 and Happy-Computer 7/86 (translated from German).
- karsmakers.nl/metal-e-zine/robb.htm - Interview from September 1998.
- web.archive.org/web/20020211210207/http://www.freenetpages.co.uk:80/hp/tcworh/int_6581.htm - Audio Interview and Transcript from September 28, 1999.
- web.archive.org/web/20060929094802/http://www.freenetpages.co.uk/hp/tcworh/int_game.htm - Interview from circa 1999.
- web.archive.org/web/20010723113418/http://www.freenetpages.co.uk:80/hp/tcworh/intviews.htm - Interview from July 17, 2000.
- remix64.com/interviews/interview-rob-hubbard.html - Interview from March 30, 2001.
- web.archive.org/web/20021017140546/http://www.freenetpages.co.uk:80/hp/tcworh/profile.htm - Profile from June 12, 2001.
- web.archive.org/web/20101228205440/http://www.c64.com/audio/Rob%20Hubbard%20%5BBack%20in%20Time%20Live%202001%20interview%5D.mp3 - Audio Interview from 2001.
- c64.com/interviews/hubbard.html - Interview from circa late 2001.
- web.archive.org/web/20021223070805/http://c64audio.valuehost.co.uk/edge/ca_hubbard.htm - Interview from November 2002.
- youtube.com/watch?v=DiPdjbsiQqM - The Golden Days of Computer Game Music
- youtube.com/watch?v=kJ_xk_sfNRE - Hubbard on composing Commando (C64) (Defunct)
- youtube.com/watch?v=Mf09oRuF3Eg - Hubbard on creating music and sound effects on the Commodore 64.
- youtube.com/watch?v=ao92PVEHG3c&t=21m40s - Interview from June 8, 2017.
- arcadeattack.co.uk/rob-hubbard-chris-abbott/ - Interview from October 26, 2017.
- retrogamesmaster.co.uk/rob-hubbard/ - Interview from December 23, 2017.