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 · ___________

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

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

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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?

1982. My mom bought a Dragon 32k to learn how to use a computer. I started
programming it at the age of 7 (wrote my first pacman game when I was 8!)

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

Dragon 32k - games, programming
Amstrad CPC464 - games, programming, graphics, music
PC (started as 80386, progressed up to my current P2 450 - all homemade
systems except the first).

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

I found graphics very difficult and frustrating, although I won a competition
so I wasn't too bad! I gave up programming because my 3D stuff could be timed
in spf (seconds per frame) rather than fps! As for composing, when I started
college someone had left a load of .MOD files on a computer hard disk. I
remembered those from when I briefly used an Atari STE. Anyway, I took them
home, along with Modedit. Eventually I got tired of the internal speaker and
bought a Soundblaster Pro and bought a magazine with Scream Tracker 3. I just
loved mucking about with it and someone told me my music was ok, so I carried
on from there.

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

1990ish - Pro-Tracker (Atari STE) (for one weekend)
1992 - Modedit (PC with internal speaker)
1993 - Scream Tracker 3 (PC with SB Pro)
1994 to 1996 - Scream Tracker 3 (PC with GUS MAX)
1996 to 2001 - Impulse Tracker 2 (PC with GUS MAX)
2001 to present - Impulse Tracker 2 (PC with SB Live)

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

I've never been entirely satisfied with any of my tracks. My first tune to get
good comments was "Back to Basics", which I wrote while using my old handle.
It made it on to various computer magazine CD's, alot of FTP sites, peoples
homepages, and I was told it even once crept into some mod chart somewhere.
Quite incredible considering I only gave it to 2 mates at college who happened
to leave it on a hard disk on a college PC!! Personally though, I think my
first competition entry (The Trackering 14 - Haunted Thoughts) was the biggest
step I made in composing.

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

Yes. "I hate Microsoft Windows". Even though I had a different handle when I
wrote that, it is the track that too many people know me for. The sad thing is
it was soooo shit that everyone likes it for it's comedy value!

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

Put it this way. Before I got a soundcard I never got excited about demos.
Then when I got a soundcard and loaded up Second Reality (first thing I ever
used my soundcard with) I was blown away by it. Games are the same aswell.
Ever play Streets of Rage on Sega Genesis with the volume down? It's rubbish.
Turn the music up and you play it forever!

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

Mainly I play guitar (I have 3 different guitars) and I'm attempting to write
some songs. I still love tracking but I don't really have an incentive to
finish anything right now so I haven't released a track yet this year.

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

Not sure how to answer this. Wave is still too huge to download. Midi is still
limited by the sound hardware and playback software. If you've got cheap shit
equipment (and lets face it, most of us do!) then it's going to sound awful.
Tracking artists who release in MP3 format are going against the idea of the
scene to be honest. Firstly because the file size is usually a few MB which
takes hours to download - tracking is all about quick downloads and compact
files. Secondly, you can't borrow the samples!.

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

I assume you mean by tracking people? Loads but I guess the ones that come to
mind are:

Possum - Hunz
Emelie - Radix
Painting Rainbows - Liam the Lemming
Metroplex - Necros
Claustrophobia - Lizard King
Respirator - Zodiak
No Sense Nonsense - Raider
Guitar Slinger - Jogier Liljedahl

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

Nope

12-What bands are you currently listenning to?

I listen to anyone who is able to get out there with their own material. Not
this produced shit for teenie-boppers.

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

Well everything in the scene really comes from C64 and Amiga so they gave us
everything.

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

Not as much as I'd like to be. Although I'm intending to go to at least 1 demo
party this year.

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

To greet? Who is going to read this. Ok. Well, the other half of B&A
Productions, Ballistique. The ex-third brit, Liam the Lemming. And a big heyho
to everyone I used to chat with on IRC what seems so many years ago.

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please note: this interview is ©opyrighted in 2002 by crown of cryptoburners
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