Amiga Music Preservation -

Interview

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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 eleven years old (1983) and got a Sinclair ZX Spectrum 48K for Christmas.
The magazines of that era used to print games which you could type in
and run, and that was how I learned to program. A few years later a friend
got a Commodore 64, and I remember being blown away by the quality of
music it could produce, in comparison to the awful "buzzer" on the Spectrum.

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

With the Spectrum, I loved to program text adventure games, and even tried to
get one published when I was just fourteen. I owned a Commodore Amiga after
that. There was a scarcity of adventure programming software on the Amiga, but I
soon found a new passion when the first SoundTracker program came out.

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

My first experience of trying to make music was on the Spectrum, using a program
called Music Box from Melbourne House. The sound quality was awful, but it was
the starting point for my interest in composing, which would accelerate rapidly
when I got my Commodore Amiga. I have no idea why music should consume my
interest more than other areas of creativity; there's just a real sense of
excitement about putting an interesting melody together out of thin air,
then layering other instruments on top to create a full-bodied piece of music.

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

I started with SoundTracker, and its various clones and updates such as
NoiseTracker, ProTracker, OctaMED. Around 1990 I wanted to move on to something
more professional, so I bought a keyboard and MIDI interface, and got to grips
with Bars&Pipes software.

Being a tracker veteran I've always found it hard to get comfortable with the
MIDI way of doing things; it's very different, but I've had to stick with it
for the sake of quality. In the mid-1990s I reluctantly moved to the PC
platform, bought a Yamaha SW1000XG sound card and got to grips with Yamaha's
XGWorks sequencer.

Since then, frustration at Microsoft's bug-ridden operating system had prompted
me to move to the Apple Macintosh platform, and I'm currently using Apple's
GarageBand software on an iMac G4. Since the Amiga days, nothing has ever
matched the joy of making music on the tracker, and nothing has ever compared
to the sense of community that existed around that computer.

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

"Cold Blood" stands out for me because I managed to capture a very multi-layer
orchestral feel with only four channels of audio.

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

The tackiest tune is probably "Won't Take Much", because it was the first ever
serious tune I tried to make, and I knew very little about composing.

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

Music is essential because it controls the atmosphere by affecting the mood of
the user.

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

I'm part of an independent film production team called Midnight Pictures Ltd.
I've composed the soundtrack to five horror/sci-fi films and will likely do
more in future. Unbelievable, the first one, "Zombie Genocide," was composed
on an Amiga.

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

MIDI files are very restrictive, only allowing certain instruments, and
differing in quality on various sound cards, so I'm not a great fan of this
format. When I produce a final recording of my music I normally make a CD
quality WAVE file, which can feature 24bit stereo from any number of sources.
MP3 is fantastic because you can zap your WAVE from about 50Mb to 5Mb with
very little loss in quality. Then it's just the right size to upload to a
website and offer it for download.

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

From the demo scene, if there's one name that stands out about all the others
it's 4-MAT. I can't remember the names of his tunes but he was always very
original and versatile. I also really like Bjorn Lynne's "Space Deliria."
On the Commodore 64 scene, Rob Hubbard's "Thalamusik" was outstanding.

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

It has already been done. In 1999, I was honoured to be asked to remaster three
tunes of mine which had previously been published on Amiga games for a
professional audio CD called "Immortal". However, I'd still like to remaster
some of my other modules; I love those tunes, and it kills me that the sound
quality is so poor compared to the professional standard. So, I may get around
to doing just that.

12-What bands are you currently listening to?

I like Tangerine Dream, Vangelis, Goblin, Claudio Simonetti.

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

The Amiga scene was an exciting time that provided a platform for people to
showcase their talent, whether they were programmers, graphics artists or
musicians. Nobody was making any money, but it was a hive of creativity that
was uninfluenced by the commercial world.

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

I'm not part of the demo scene, but I manage my own website and use it as a
platform to release music.

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

Hi to all the old members of our group, The Untouchables, most of whom have
went their separate ways: Andrew Harrison, Jason Morrison, Khris Carville,
Phil Topping, Paul "Paz" Trouton.

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please note: this interview is ©opyrighted in 2005 by crown of cryptoburners
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