Christian Halten

Christian works as film music composer and creative director in Berlin. Looking back he was one of those enthusiastic children of the Lego age. His talent for creation in form and color was complemented by a passion for film and music. After diving into the exotic sound worlds of electronic instruments as a teenager, he was given the opportunity to compose his first film score for "Moraig – Lost River of the Phoenicians" at the age of 17. This feature-length documentary film entered festivals around the globe. Its director Bernhard Pack became a close friend and it is through this collaboration that Christian learned film dramaturgy and editing. It was then that his passion for film music reached a new high. Christian quit his studies in Computer Science and Musicology for a diploma in Film Music and Sound Design at the "Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg" in Ludwigsburg (Germany). In 2002, he was granted a scholarship from the "Landesstiftung Baden-Württemberg" that led him to Los Angeles, California, where he worked with Henning Lohner, Klaus Badelt and Hans Zimmer on Hollywood film productions such as "Catwoman" and "The Ring 2". Returning to Germany he moved to Berlin and built his new SKYLIFE studio for film music production contributing music to award-winning cinematic movies like "Double Take" and "Highflyers" and also additional music to Heidi Specogna's "Cahier Africain", which was honoured with the Lola "Best Documentary" at the German Film Awards.

Christian has a broad experience in the field of composing for film. He is not only addicted to traditional scoring and orchestration but also to electronic composing and sound design. His film experience reaches back even to celluloid. At the university for a few years he was the leader of a cinema team showing 35mm films twice a week in a huge auditorium with more than 800 seats.

Apart from film scores for feature films and documentaries, Christian has also worked as Audio Director for the video game production ("Arcania – A Gothic Tale") and is the inventor of the professional sampling software "SampleRobot". For the iOS apps "Buchla Easel Remote Control" and "Giggler - Marvellous Movie Sound" he worked as Creative Director, Project Manager and Sound Designer. Christian was also honoured to be the German voice of the "Rubik’s Futuro Cube", a special interactive light-sound object that follows the Eighties’ classic. He collaborated with Frédérick Rousseau for the iOS version of the innovative Ircam tuner "The Snail".

Christian was part of the jury for the German young composers award "Jugend komponiert". End of 2019 he was invited by the Goethe Centre in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, to bring his vision of composing for film to the musicians there. In 2022 he started an album collaboration with American film composer and ambient music pioneer Michael Stearns.

Christian is a regular lecturer at the following institutions:
"Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg" (Germany) | Dep. Film Music, Dep. Sound Design, Dep. Atelier Ludwigsburg-Paris
"Film University Babelsberg Konrad Wolf" (Germany) | Dep. Creative Technologies
"ZPOP - Centre For Pop Music Culture " (Germany)

Christian lives with his wife and two children close to Berlin.

Christian on Twitter
Personal Vimeo Site
LinkedIn Profile

"When I travel back in time to my early childhood
I remember being deeply moved by luminous
colors from the visual world. It is with great pleasure
for me today that I have found a way to express
those colors in soundtracks."

 

Filmography

Flow, Short, 2023 (D, O, M, S, P, E)
Roamers, Documentary (Cinema), 2021 (O, M)
Highflyers, Documentary (Cinema), 2019 (O, M)
Good Vibrations - The History Of Electronic Instruments, Opener, 2017 (O, M, S)
BioTek Associations, Commercial, 2017 (O, M, S)
Cahier Africain, Documentary (Cinema), 2016 (A, M)
Liebmann, Feature (Cinema), 2016 (O, S, M)
The Story Of The Astronaut, Feature (Cinema), 2014 (A, M)
Chasing The Night | Mono Lake, Documentary Short, 2013 (O, M)
Mojave National Preserve, Documentary Short, 2013 (O, M)
Mission Paradise, Documentary (TV), 2010 (O)
Arcania – A Gothic Tale, Video Game, 2010 (AD)
Laura’s Star (Dragon Nian), Feature (Cinema), 2009 (A)
Double Take, Docufiction (Cinema), 2009 (O, M)
The Blue Brick, Short, 2007 (O, M)
Firestorm: Last Stand at Yellowstone, Feature (TV), 2006 (A)
10.5: Apocalypse, Feature (TV), 2006 (A)
Santa’s Slay, Feature (Cinema), 2005 (A)
Bloodrayne, Feature (Cinema), 2005 (A)
The Ring Two, Feature (Cinema), 2005 (A)
Kein Himmel über Afrika, Feature (TV), 2005 (A)
Sound in Motion, Corporate (DVD), 2004 (D, O, M, S, P, E)
Sterne leuchten auch am Tag, Feature (TV), 2004 (A)
Catwoman, Feature (Cinema), 2004 (A)
HP Invent: Printer Shop, Commercial, 2004 (O, M, S)
U-Boating, Documentary, 2003 (O, M, S)
Alien Entity, Animation Short, 2003 (O, M, S)
Combatant, Short, 2002 (O, M, S)
Einmal noch, Documentary, 2002 (O)
Cube Factory 2002, Animation Short, 2002 (O, M, S)
IBM Software Symposium, Commercial, 2002 (O, M, S)
Urtakt, Animation Short, 2002 (O, M, S)
CPP Robots, Animation, 2001 (M, S)
DEEP SPACE, Documentary (DVD), 1999 (D, O, M, S)
Kaine Gnade II, Short, 1996 (D, O, M, S, P, E)
Escape to Waveland, Animation Short, 1996 (O, M, S)
Howling with Wolves, Documentary (TV), 1991 (O, M, S)
Moraig – Lost River of the Phoenicians, Documentary (TV), 1989 (O, M, S)

D=Director
O=Original Score
M=Music / Sound Mixer
S=Sound Design
A=Additional Music / Arrangements
P=Photography
E=Editor
AD=Audio Director

Christian Halten’s Filmography at the Internet Movie Database

 

Awards and Sponsorships

2014 Large DCF sponsorship for "Giggler - Marvellous Movie Sound" from "MFG - Medien- und Filmgesellschaft BW mbH", Stuttgart
2010 Sponsorship awards 1 and 2 for "atmoformer" at "NUK Wettbewerb", Cologne
2007 Best project for Audiosurfer at "Music Award Region Stuttgart" granted by the "Popbüro Region Stuttgart" in collaboration with the "Wirtschaftsministerium Baden-Württemberg" and the "Wirtschaftsförderung der Region"
2006 "VERS.1.2" sponsorship award for electronic music in church granted by the "Kulturamt der Landeshauptstadt Stuttgart"
2006 Special innovation award for the sampling software "SampleRobot" at the "Musikmesse Frankfurt 2006" granted by "PPV Medien GmbH"
2003 Sponsorship "Hollywood Experience" from "Landesstiftung BW", Stuttgart
2003 Nomination of the DVD-Audio "Off Space" for the section "Horizon Award" (best young artist) at the "Surround Music Awards", Los Angeles
1997 "Honorable Mention" for the film "Ratatouille Intercultural" at the Saar Lor Lux Film Festival
1997 "Saarland Media Award" for the music scores of "Escape to Waveland" and "Cube Factory"

 

Projects

Album collaboration with American film composer Michael Stearns, 2022-24 (M)
SampleRobot - Clever Instrument Creation for SKYLIFE, 2005-24 (C/P/M/S)
SampleRobot Montage for Yamaha Corporation, 2017-2024 (C/P/M/S)
Multiphonics 2 Content for Applied Acoustic Systems, 2022-23 (M/S)
Chromaphone 3 Content for Applied Acoustic Systems, 2020 (M/S)
Ultra Analog VA-3 Content for Applied Acoustic Systems, 2019 (M/S)
The Snail iOS App for Ircam, 2017 (P)
BioTek Content for Tracktion, 2016 (S)
Giggler - Marvellous Movie Sound iOS App, 2013-2014 (C/P/S/V)
Easel iOS App for Buchla Electronic Musical Instruments, 2014 (C/P)
Futuro Cube German Assets for Princip, 2014 (V)
MicroSampler Sample Banks for Korg, 2011 (M/S)
Ultranova Vocoder Pack for Novation / Focusrite Audio Engineering, 2011 (S)
Atmoformer Application, 2009-2010 (C/P/S)
HALion 4 Content for Steinberg Media Technologies, 2010 (S)
Lounge Lizard Content for Applied Acoustics Systems, 2008 (S)
String Studio Content for Applied Acoustics Systems, 2008 (S)
Ultra Analog Content for Applied Acoustics Systems, 2007 (M)
Xphraze Xpansion for Wizoo Sound Design, 2006 (S)
Neuron Sound in Motion DVD for Hartmann, 2004 (C/P/M/S)
OFF SPACE DVD-Audio for SKYLIFE, 2002 (C/P/M)
DEEP SPACE DVD for SKYLIFE, 1999 (C/P/M)
Q Content for Waldorf Music, 1999 (S)
Microwave XT Content for Waldorf Music, 1998 (S)

C=Creative Director
P=Project Manager
M=Music
S=Sound Design
V=Voice