Maniacs of Noise

Maniacs of Noise

Founded	1987
Headquarter	Netherlands
Manager	Founder: Jeroen Tel and Charles Deenen
Members	many
Key_Members	Charles Deenen, Johannes Bjerregaard, Reyn Ouwehand, Thomas Petersen, Marcel Donné, Søren Lund
Sector	Computer games and Music for videogames
Website	maniacsofnoise.com

Maniacs of Noise is a videogame music company based in the Netherlands, founded by Jeroen Tel and Charles Deenen in 1987.

Description[edit | edit source]

Maniacs of Noise was initially devoted to compose music (and design sound effects) for Commodore 64 games. Over the years activities expanded to other popular computer formats and M.o.N. attracted other talented composers.

Deenen and Donné met in 1987 at the monthly Venlo Meetings, and Deenen attended school in Tel's residential town. All three had already arranged music on their Commodore 64 computers using Soundmonitor. When Deenen saw Tel arrange a song in about 10 minutes, he created a music driver for Donné and Tel. In September, Deenen and Tel traveled to Earl's Court, London, to attend the annual PCW show. In their hotel room, they made up a lot of catchy names together and settled on Maniacs of Noise. At the actual show, Hewson Consultants gave them their first task, Battle Valley (C64).

Deenen managed the business from home and did sound design, preferring to leave composing and arranging music to everyone else. He hinted in 1995 and 2010 that MoN was founded just for fun, but as many people recall, he got so many orders that he started composing himself and constantly searched for help.

Over time, every founder left MoN, with Deenen leaving Øistein Eide in charge in late 1990 or January 1991. Tel returned in 1992 or 1993, meanwhile a programmer himself.

It is unclear when MoN became a formal company. 18-year-old Deenen stated in December 1988 that Maniacs of Noise is a registered trademark. According to Tel's archived website, MoN got a registry number in 1991.

Members[edit | edit source]

Amok Sound Department (freelance late 1989?–1990)
- Hans-Jürgen Ehrentraut
- Jesper Olsen
Charles Deenen (September 1987–late 1990 or 1991)
Dávid Halmi aka Nagz
Frederic Hahn (c. 1989)
Geir Tjelta (July 2009–present)
Jeroen Tel aka WAVE (September 1987–1990, 1992 or 1993–present)
Jochen Feldkötter aka Virgill (July 2018–present)
Johannes Bjerregaard (October 1988–?)
Jussi Pietila (late 1990 or 1991–?)
Kim Christensen (c. late 1989)
Øistein Eide (late 1990 or January 1991–?)
Marcel Donné aka MAD (September 1987–1988 or 1989)
Markus Klein aka LMan (December 2017–present)
Martin Wall (April–autumn 1991)
Paul Hesso aka Sidman (April–autumn 1991)
Reyn Ouwehand (late 1989?–1990)
Robert Österbergh (June–autumn 1991)
Søren Lund aka Jeff (April 2013–present)
Thomas Mogensen aka DRAX (1996–present)
Thomas E. Petersen aka Laxity (December 1989 or early 1990–present)
Tor Gausen (January–early 1991)
Vibrants (freelance late 1989?–June 1990?)
- Jens-Christian Huus
- Klaus Grøngaard