| Charles Deenen | |
|---|---|
| Born | 15 January 1970 Holthees, Netherlands |
| Genres | Video game music |
| Occupations | Video game composer, sound designer, musician |
| Years active | 1985 - present |
| Associated acts | Jeroen Tel Maniacs of Noise Scoop Designs |
Charles Deenen (born 15 January 1970 in Holthees), is a Dutch computer/video game Audio Director, Music Composer, Sound Designer & Mixer. He is also known for his music and sound efforts for games of C64 and Amiga era. He was one of the first demosceners.
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His first sound achievement was the self-written sound driver for Commodore PET, which he wrote at age of 13. In early 80s he bought a C64. He often wrote graphical and musical demos on it and showed demos at game exhibitions (further information could be found here), and through his hobby he met fellow composer Jeroen Tel. In 1987 he with Tel and some others started sound and music group Maniacs of Noise[1] and composed game music for platforms such as the Commodore 64, Commodore Amiga and Atari ST, being hired by such companies as Sega, U.S. Gold and Probe Software. At MoN he notably composed Double Dragon, home computer versions of Soldier of Light and Jukka Tapanimäki's game Zamzara. Maniacs of Noise was the most acclaimed C64 music group. Deenen left MoN in early 90s and moved to the United States to work for videogame company Interplay.
In 1990 he moved to USA and worked for Virgin Games for 6 months. In 1991 his talent was noted by Interplay (with which he worked on Dragon Wars during MON years) and they recruited him as composer/sound designer. Most famous projects he worked on here were Fallout 1 and 2, Another World, Planescape: Torment, The Lost Vikings and Descent 2. In 2002 he left Interplay and briefly worked for Shiny on Enter the Matrix.[1] In 2003 Charles moved to Canada and joined EA as Senior Audio Director, working here up to this day. He works primarily on Need for Speed series.
Aside from video games Deenen also works on sound for films.[2] He provides worldwide lectures about sound in VG, films and trailers as of 2006.[1] He is also a professional photographer, having many collections of works on his own site.
Deenen lives in Port Moody with his wife Ana and dog Speely. He still owns a C64 at his house.[3]