Amiga Music Preservation -

Interview

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,nmm`XXMPX musicians. read about their history in

,#MP'~~XNXYNXTb. the scene and their plans in future.yes,

,d~' dNNP `YNTb. that's meant to be read while listening to

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Handle:

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Group:

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Date of birth:

1-How did your interest for computers start? Which year was that?

I was 10 years old when my brother got his c64 in 1985. Frankly I never heard of something like a "home computer" before, but I was instantly amazed by the possibilities. Especially the musical abilities of the SID chip, I'll never forget listening to Rob Hubbard's Commando tune for the first time. :)

2-What machines did you previously have? What did you do with them?

The first computer I could call my own was a C16. Later I got the C64 from my brother, and in 1992 I bought a used Amiga 500 from the very first money I earned: I desperately needed to have the 8-bit, 4-channel sample player goodness.

3-For what specific reason did you end up making music rather than gfx, coding?

Actually I'm a bit into all of those. Nowadays, gfx and coding is my job, while music is my passion.

4-Which composing programs have you been using? Which one in particular?

I made my first steps using "Gary Kitchen's Gamemaker" on the c64 - yeah that's funny I know :). I got more serious using a c64 tool called "AMP" what a coincidence! The tunes I made with that one are to be found in the High Voltage SID Collection. On the Amiga, I briefly used "StarTrekker", but most of the time it was Protracker 3.x. After Cakewalk, Cubase, and an early version of Fruityloops, I use Propellerhead Reason nowadays for all my music.

5-With which module did you feel you had reached your goal?

My modules have all been created during the golden age of rave and techno, between 1992 and 1995 - and it shows. I guess I was most happy with "Into the Unknown", I still like it nowadays. My friends didn't share that opinion though. "LManic" was pretty nice, too. :)

6-Is there a tune you would like not to remember? For what reason?

Well, if I listen to my modules today, there are occurrences of crude plagiarism ("I Adore You" is Franky's "Two Tribes", "Fasten your Seatbelts" is Moroder's "Midnight Express"), I'm not too proud of those. And there are still those tunes that I would never publish anywhere because they were utter crap. :)

7-In your opinion, what's the value of a music in a demo, game?

In the old days, a great music could make up for a crappy game. You would load it up just to listen to the music. In modern games, music is mostly orchestrated and less present in a game, much more like a film score - only rarely will you remember a modern game tune in ten years from now. As for demo music: demo and music have to work together perfectly, it is a key factor for a good demo.

8-At present, are you still composing? For professional or leisure purposes?

A friend and I are currently working on an album. We don't know yet if we're going to give it away for free on the web, or if we're rather going to look for a publisher. We've been making music together since the Amiga days - it was him who introduced me into the world of MODs and tracking.

9-What do you think of today's pieces of music such as mpeg,wave,midi,etc...?

I mostly listen to the retro music remixes that are published in our community setting at Remix64.com, scene podcasts, or even original chiptunes. As for commercial music: The music industry is a bunch of greedy thickheads. You hear the charts on the radio all the time, so I don't quite see the point of illegally downloading them, or spending loads of cash on it - which is mostly used to promote the music that we're supposed to like.

10-Could you tell us some of your all times favourite tunes?

Those are too many to mention. I like all kinds of music, and all the time I discover or rediscover certain songs that blow me away.

11-Are you planning to make an audio cd with some of your music remastered?

Not an audio CD, but I will probably publish updated versions of some of my modules at amigaremix.com.

12-What bands are you currently listening to?

Nothing specific.

13-What does/did the amiga/c64 scene give you?

It is a bit of reliving untroubled times. But it is also preserving and rediscovering the outstanding music by great talents, who knew how to push the sound chips to their limits. I have met a lot of interesting people, talented people, also made a few friends in the scene - even if our Remix community is basically just a subset of the c64/Amiga scene.

14-Are you still active in the scene these days?

Certainly! We're running the Remix64.com website since 2001, it is a portal, reviewing forum, and a community home for the c64 and Amiga music remixing scene. Additionally, I'm releasing remixes myself (look for LMan over at remix.kwed.org.)

15-Anyone to greet? Anything left to say? Feel free...

Hello to my family! And to everyone who knows that there is more to 80s computer music than blips and blops. And thanks for hosting my music - keep up the great work with your site!

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please note: this interview is ©opyrighted in 2006 by crown of cryptoburners
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