Amiga Music Preservation -

Interview

.

`n. .rP'

`qb ,dP'

TLb. ,dMP' all rite, now you get the chance to read

TML.dMMP some facts about some of the major amiga

,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

,~ ,NN' `YNb their modules. read 'em over and over and over..

dNP `Yb.

,NN' `b. · i n t e r v i e w · ___________

______dP _____________ \ /

\ ,N'\____ _____________. _____ \ \_____. ____\ /

\___P___/ .\--\__ __/__ |--\____)---\ _____/__ |--\_ \ _/

| | | \ | | \__| | _ \ / | \__| | /\ |

| _| | | _l_ | | \ / _l_ | ___|

l___/=l___|====l____/===\______|==l______|\ /l___/===\______l____/

\/

•

Handle:

•

Group:

•

Date of birth:

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

I had an Atari 2600 previously (that's a console) but got a C64 in 1986,
suppose that's about when my fate was sealed...

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

Progression: Atari 2600 (a console actually), C64 in 1986, a couple of Amiga
generations, presently PCs and Macs. I dabbled with music software (of the
staves & notes variety) on the 64 and started Soundtrackin' right up when I
got my first Amiga in 1989. Moved over to PC in 1996. Used the C64 mostly
for playing games, though did spend a couple of days trying to get my head
around Assembler coding cos the machine came with a bunch of books on the
subject :) The Amiga hardly saw any gaming action, it was all music from
there on. Same with the present machines, all I use 'em for is music and
internet...

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

Because I knew music. :) I've been monogamous with music since early childhood,
so let's say it was a natural choice.

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

Protracker, OctaMED & Music-X on the Amiga, out of these mostly OctaMED,
FastTracker for module stuff on PC, accept no substitute. Presently my own
tunes come to life using a multitude of software (free ones including Buzz
and Renoise) on a laptop on the road (or at the very least in the livingroom
comfy chair :), then taking the elements to a little studio for recording,
arranging, mixing and mastering. I was slowly drifting away from tracking,
but then Renoise came along and grabbed me back. Love it.

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

Good question, deserves an overanalytical answer. Bear with me. :)

I didn't have much of a goal when making tunes in mod days. The only objective
was to keep everything freaky and not fall for easy, obvious things. That's
the way it came naturally. A couple of times I might have tried to do something
in a particular style, but somewhere halfway through a little voice would start
dictating weird ideas to be implemented, and the finished tracks always turned
into Urge freakshows, so I suppose that's the way it was meant to be. :) I
don't think any of my Amiga tunes ever got anywhere cos I didn't have a modem
back then, but out of XMs I'm pretty happy with all of 'em. Valerie In
Symbiosis probably a bit more than the rest. :)

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

Yep, any MP3s put out between 1999-2000. Various reasons, just disregard. :)

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

The value of music in any context is something immeasurable, music is magic.

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

Both. At time of writing I make my living making polyphonic ringtones full-time,
and working with two composers (one of them having a scene background as well)
making film and media music. And recording bands. Yet still finding occasional
inspiration to work on my own material as well...

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

Back in the module days I'd dream of an audio format that would compress well
and play in realtime. Not that many years later I heard my first MP3 and
thought, wow, this is the future. I don't really miss MODs as a distribution
format. General MIDI -- I think it's something completely separate from the
MOD thing, the two can't really be compared.

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

Way too many to mention. I'll bow down to Groo, Heatbeat, Ukulele (check this
guy out!), a lot more oldschool folk I can't remember...
Mono have released some good stuff all the way through their existence...
Virt is God. Outside of the scene there's even more, couldn't hope to compile
a top 50 ever :)

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

Probably not, but I might redo some tracks if the feeling's right :)

12-What bands are you currently listenning to?

Everything and anything. When I get home from work I'll pull out a record or a
CD with MP3s on and whack it on, and these can contain anything including, but
not limited to Aphex Twin, Captain Beefheart, Blur, Sonic Youth, Kate Bush,
Jeff Buckley, Augustus Pablo, Stevie Wonder, Boards of Canada, Meshuggah,
film scores, The Who, Zappa... ...everything except Enya, Moby or Mike
Oldfield really. :)

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

Lots of good music, inspiration, some of the greatest 'whoa!' experiences
watching demos, the social circle of people, parties, the SOFTWARE!!

In fact it would be fair to say that had I not gotten involved with tracking
and the scene I certainly would not be doing what I'm doing today. So the debt
of gratitude is, well, great. Cheers to y'all.

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

No. To be honest, I was never very active.

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

Just a shout out to the current sceners -- keep it going, remember to be
innovative, keep blowing our minds. Musicians especially: please try to push the
boundaries of your expression as much as possible every moment you can. The
first tracker to do a good microtonal mod with carefully calculated
portamento-to-notes will get a jar of cookies from me!

Of course all the best to AMP and other projects preserving scene culture.
Very important work you're doing, and you're doing it well. Thanks.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
please note: this interview is ©opyrighted in 2003 by crown of cryptoburners
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Quick Search

Random link

Database Stats

Interview