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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PRISM index

What if you could buy an entire art installation for $22 and keep it on your bookshelf? Well you can, it’s called PRISM index. A few years ago, I was asked to contribute four interviews with Twilight & Ghost Stories collaborators Mick Rossi, Bhob Rainey, Parker Paul and Ray Raposa. These interviews, discussing struggle, inspiration, [...]

IN TRANSIT presents: 16mm
IN TRANSIT presents: 16mm

On May 19th, 2008, I Heart Lung went into Matt Wignall’s Tackyland Studio in Long Beach and recorded music to accompany a series of colorful short films by Canadian visual artist Jonathan Dueck. Jonathan has designed album covers for Soul-Junk, Rafter Roberts, Liz Janes and many others, he is also responsible for bringing West African [...]

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 [...]

Unboxing Nels Cline and G.E. Stinson

As many of you may know, I run the Sounds Are Active record label in what doctors and psychologists call my “spare time.” Today, I am very proud to hold in my hands, the label’s 50th release: Nels Cline + G.E. Stinson’s Elevating Device. Nels and G.E. are long time friends who have both accomplished [...]

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 [...]