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

title

portfolio
The Limpets (Documentary Score)
The Limpets (Documentary Score)

The Limpets, is a documentary short by Justin Dial and Nate Smith about controversial visual artist and teacher Melanie Weaver. The subject matter in Limpets crosses from whimsical to deeply reflective and I enjoyed writing music that shared those qualities. The four-minute film contains six pieces of original music.
Composed, Recorded and Produced by
Chris Schlarb
Performed by
Chris [...]

BeeDocs 101 (Tutorial Score)
BeeDocs 101 (Tutorial Score)

Written and recorded in August 2009, “Theme For Acoustic Guitar and Mandolin No. 2″ was recently used in a tutorial video for Seattle, Washington based software company BeeDocs Software. BeeDocs owner Adam Behringer sent me a rough cut video of a Timeline 3D tutorial he was working on and said he was looking for light [...]

NightSky (Video Game Score)
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 [...]

Interoceans (Album)
Interoceans (Album)

From 2005 to 2008 I worked with drummer Tom Steck to create an album of dynamic, unpredictable compositions. We released the album, Interoceans, under the name I Heart Lung. Distantly rooted in jazz, ambient and African music, the music is layered with Indian, and electronic influences.
Interoceans featured a small orchestra of contributors including Nels [...]

SOLD: Thailand (Documentary Score)
SOLD: Thailand (Documentary Score)

In August of 2008 I was commissioned by filmmaker Rachel Sparks to write an original composition for her documentary, The Sold Project: Thailand.
A powerful documentary and call to action on behalf of children exploited in the Thai sex trade, I wrote, “Threnody For Sharp Teeth and Freehold” in an attempt to articulate the desperate [...]

Twilight & Ghost Stories (Album)
Twilight & Ghost Stories (Album)

ORDER
AMAZON // ASTHMATIC KITTY // EMUSIC // ITUNES
ABOUT
A work of personal identity and deep catharsis, Twilight & Ghost Stories is a dense 40-minute modern composition featuring a disparate cross-section of musicians from the avant-garde, independent folk, jazz and electronic communities. A creative and accomplished jazz guitarist, Chris Schlarb cut [...]