15 Facts About Rob Hubbard

1.

Rob Hubbard decided to teach himself BASIC and machine code for the Commodore 64.

2.

Rob Hubbard approached Gremlin Graphics in 1985 to promote a few demos and a music-education program he had written, but Gremlin was more interested in his music than his software.

3.

Rob Hubbard was asked to create the soundtrack for Thing on a Spring, a platform game.

4.

Rob Hubbard has stated that he had many musical influences including Jean Michel Jarre, Larry Fast and other synth bands.

5.

Rob Hubbard mainly composed for the Commodore 64's SID sound chip.

6.

Rob Hubbard worked freelance and turned down offers from companies to work in-house.

7.

Rob Hubbard chose EA due to their prominence in the gaming industry as Microsoft had no gaming platform.

8.

Rob Hubbard was the first person devoted to sound and music at EA and did everything from low-level programming to composing.

9.

Rob Hubbard eventually became Audio Technical Director, a more administrative job, deciding which technologies to use in games, and which to develop further.

10.

Rob Hubbard recently contributed a few re-arrangements of his themes to Chris Abbott's C64 tribute Back in Time Live.

11.

Rob 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.

12.

Rob Hubbard has performed his old music on piano with the support of violinist and fellow chiptune composer Mark Knight.

13.

Rob Hubbard has recently resumed playing in a band, and he has revisited his past game-music work in concert.

14.

In 2014, Rob Hubbard appeared in and composed music for the documentary feature film From Bedrooms to Billions, a film that tells the story of the British video games industry.

15.

In November 2016, Rob Hubbard received an honorary degree from Abertay University for his contributions to video-game music in the 1980s.