My portfolio includes scoring, arrangement and composition work for video games, feature film and television. As a musician and producer I have released over forty albums of jazz, folk, electronic, punk and modern classical music. I am currently accepting new commissions.
Why Chris Schlarb?
The world is full of musicians, composers and producers. The hard part is matching the right person with the project they are best suited for.

Here is a quick example: if you want to approximate an orchestra of instruments with a single keyboard, I am probably not the right one for the job. My best work utilizes any number of unique, real world instruments including tabla, euphonium, mandolin, marimba and upright double bass. I thoroughly enjoy working with real instruments, in real spaces, with real musicians.

If your film, video game or album requires texture and atmospheric depth, unique or unusual live instrumentation, and thoughtful arrangement, I would love to hear from you. For the last decade I have explored the ambient, jazz, folk, electronic and modern classical genres as a member of both the American Composers Forum and ASCAP.

I specialize in taking small and medium sized budgets and turning them into expensive sounding recordings. I operate my own mobile recording studio and engineer most sessions, saving time and cost.

My work can be heard on this site and read about in the New York Times, All About Jazz, Time Out New York, Chicago Reader and Pitchfork.

Record Labels


Asthmatic Kitty


Sounds Are Active
Archives

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NightSky (Video Game Score)

Available exclusively for the Nintendo Wii console, over 45 minutes of original music was composed for the moody, side-scrolling NightSky (formerly Night Game). Created by Swedish designer Nifflas, NightSky was nominated for the 2009 Independent Game Festival’s Seumas McNally Grand Prize as well as Excellence in Design.

NightSky’s setting and minimalist art design required a unique approach to composition. The score features live musicians instead of long, looped keyboard/drum machine sections. Nifflas and I created a simple engine that allowed for the 40 different pieces of music to be randomly interspersed with silence. The result is an experience set apart from the video game canon past and present.

Written, Arranged, Recorded and Produced by
Chris Schlarb

Performed by
Chris Schlarb- 6- and 12-string acoustic guitar, electric guitar, marimba, electronics, piano, electric bass, keyboard, percussion
Nick Hennies- bowed cymbals, drum set
Danny Levin- euphonium, valve trombone
Andrew Pompey- drum set, marimba, acoustic mandolin
Anthony Shadduck- upright bass