The Best of Rob Hubbard - 8-Bit Symphony EP

by Chris Abbott and Rob Hubbard

Label C64Audio.com Total playing time 48 min

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Let's celebrate the miracle that is Rob Hubbard! Not only is he a great chipmusic composer, but he's an amazing symphonic artist who's graciously given us the definitive orchestrations of some of his greatest SIDs, performed in Prague by the Czech Studio Orchestra.

These tracks are taken from the seminal 8-Bit Remix albums 8-Bit Symphony Pro: First Half and 8-Bit Symphony Pro: Second Half.

Uniquely, you can also download the conductor's score for each track! You can also get much more context on the tracks from 8-bit-symphony.com.

About Rob Hubbard

After leaving school in the 70s, Rob spent his formative years as a gigging musician in rock bands playing all over the UK and Europe.

After moving to Newcastle and finishing college, he met Steve Daggett (later of Lindisfarne), who shared his enthusiasm for musical collaboration and experimentation. This led Rob to the studio, electronic studio gear and music production.

He quickly expanded into home computers, and found the C64 and its legendary SID sound chip an essential purchase.

Keen to use it to earn some income, he started to write educational programmes. However, feedback was that the market wasn’t there: but writing Blue Danube for the sound-chip was the start of a bright future.

In 1983/4, chance contacts led Rob to start working on a game for a local company (Razzmatazz by Ubik), but this was never released. Rob packaged up the music with other demos and sent disks around for freelance music programming.

The first two jobs for Mastertronic’s Action Biker and Incentive’s Confuzion were well reviewed. But it was Thing on a Spring, an original composition full of bounce and percussion (and the occasional spring noise) that was simply mind-blowing. This was followed by Monty on the Run, initially inspired by Devil’s Galop, which he was asked to copy, but took in a completely new direction. Manic violin playing, Simmonds drums and a rock guitar solo meant Rob became a rock star to certain impressionable youths.

Tiring of the freelance life, Rob joined Electronic Arts in 1989. At the time, EA was a new and vibrant US company and the chance to explore the outer limits of music interactivity on new gear was irresistible, and he was soon appearing on consoles and PCs before being moved to management in 1997.

In 1998, Rob was the linchpin of the first commercially released CD of C64 music remixed in studios: Back in Time, from Chris Abbott’s C64Audio.com, which led to live performances and further album work.

Soon, he started to arrange his own tunes orchestrally, starting with his own arrangement of Kentilla. With US musician Steven Scherer he scored three of his tracks (W.A.R, a new version of Kentilla and Food Feud), of which W.A.R appeared on Back in Time 3.

Rob came back to the UK in 2001 and kept himself busy with gigs and music, even playing piano on the Hull to Rotterdam ferry! In 2005 he orchestrated International Karate for the Play concert at the 2005 Games Development Conference in Leipzig. It showcased a wide variety of orchestral colour and technique, further enhanced for this project.

In 2016 he was awarded an honorary degree by Abertay University, reflecting his wide-ranging contribution to video game music.

Besides being the producer of the 8-Bit Symphony Pro projects, in 2019 he was also the musical director of the 8-Bit Symphony concert in Hull.

He recently co-wrote Master of Magic, a hardback book covering his game music work over a long and stellar career.

credits

released May 30, 2025

Conducted by Robin Tait

Performed by the Czech Studio Orchestra led by Radek Krizanovsky
Recordings produced at Smecky Studios by Vitek Kral & Mikel Toms
Orchestra managed and led by Radek Krizanovsky

Produced by Chris Abbott & Rob Hubbard

Executive Produced by Damian Manning & Russell F. Howard

Assisted majorly by Thomas Finnerup, Ian Flory & Anna Black

Score and parts preparation by Robin Tait

Mixing, mastering and surround sound mix by Allister Brimble

Editing by Chris Abbott

Illustrations by Steph Abbott (www.maplebutterstudios.com) and Mateo Durante (@cosmicphrog)

license

all rights reserved

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Track list

Track		Title	Act	Length	Rating
1-01		Monty on the Run Suite	Chris Abbott and Rob Hubbard	9:48	0%
1-02		Nemesis the Warlock	Chris Abbott and Rob Hubbard	6:04	0%
1-03		Kentilla	Chris Abbott and Rob Hubbard	7:53	0%
1-04		Thing on a Spring	Chris Abbott and Rob Hubbard	3:31	0%
1-05		International Karate Suite	Chris Abbott and Rob Hubbard	8:29	85%
1-06		Zoids	Chris Abbott and Rob Hubbard	5:41	0%
1-07		Monty on the Run (Radio Edit)	Chris Abbott and Rob Hubbard	6:11	0%