Amiga Music Preservation -

Interview

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`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.

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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 always have been interested in computers I guess. One of my very first
mate (that I know since im 3yrs old) got a computer when we were 10 years
old or something like that, since this day I was always in his home, playing
games and things like that. Then he started to buy magazines with sharewares,
game demos and I discovered modules, I was 14years old if my memory isn't bad.
So, at this very moment, I knew what was the meaning of modules but I never
got interested in it more than that. When my father got a better computer and
let me use it (6yrs ago), I really started to get interested more than ever
into computers.

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

Eh, you're gonna laught about it. In the right order, my very first OWN
computer was a pentium 75 I got for 150euros. I was just using it to play
modules and of course, make modules.

Was fun since I was limited to 16channels only, I had to deal a lot with
that and was boring at the end. Then my father got rid of his old 233mmx so
i was able to use 32channels.

One year after, when I turned 18, I got some money due to an accident I got
when I was 12yrs old, this money was sleeping at a bank, waiting for me to
be 18 and so, I decided to buy a new computer. That was an
amd k6 II 500mhz and I used it for a year or so. Finally, I got some money
and was able to buy an amd athlon 2000xp+ during november of 2002 and
started getting more and more involved into music making.

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

I couldn't answer sincerly, I guess I always have been interested in music.
When I was 8yrs old, I got my first hard rock cd (i was so proud ehhee),
then as my bro was deejaying, I got the opportunity of listenning tons of
electronic music cds and vinyls, I also have been a part of the hardcore
scene (not the one doing UNTZUNTZ) and I was always moving to gigs
everywhere in france, following my pals that was playing in bands.
I guess it was normal for me to go into music making, it acted like a
catharsis for me tho it has been chance since that I started using a tracker
during summer of 1999 because all my pals left the city and I was getting
bored. Yeh, I guess it's pretty a chance that I keep on making music but on the
other hand, I never have been living without music.
Oh yeah, I could add too that ive been educated by my parents a bit to jazz
and things like that but it never really interested me more than that to be
honest (except im still listenning to louis armstrong a lot).

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

Ive been using fasttracker2, impulse tracker2, buzztracker and now i'm using
renoise. ive been searching for the perfect tracker for me and during a long
moment, it has been impulse tracker. Then I tried buzztracker, I found it
very good, the idea of having a patterns for each machines and fx and a
pattern sequencer really hooked me up BUT i found that very hard to deal with
too and finally decided to go back to a normal tracker. Then renoise came,
with it the ability of using vst and vstis and I think I found the perfect
tracker that would fit my way to compose music.

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

Wow, that's a question I couldn't answer easily. Im not really able to judge
myself and each time I finish a tune I simply love it and when it's
released, I start hating it as hell ahahah.
But I think there are tunes I was very proud of, like "my sweet atlas",
"inside it", "on that chair" and lately "nostalgie d'agoraphobie".
Now that you ask me, I guess i'll say that "on that chair" was an important
u-turn in my "career", it somehow defines my actual style and preference for
clicky samples and naive melodies.
Oh yeah and there is a tune i'll still love!!! "smokingharmoniousnoise" that
has been my first serious tune with impulse tracker and even if it sounds
lame, i'll never forget that one for sure.

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

Except the tunes I did in 1999?...... hmmmm, there are two tunes I did and I
don't really know what to think about them, "chillchill" and "meeky scent".
meeky scent was a bit too empty imho and chillchill
wasn't that hard-worked (even if it doesn't mean anything since ive did
"inside it" during a one hour compo). As I said, I tend to hate the songs I
did one week after releasing them so I guess I hate them all
ahahah.

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

Well, answer to this question: "why did ppl start using musics into their
games?" It's like music into movies and such, Why are we crying (yea I admit
i cry when I see emotionnal movies)? Let's try one thing, imagine a movie
you liked a lot without its soundtrack, would it be the same? definitly not
right?

It's the same with demos and games, a demo without a good music will get
boring after a minute whatever the gfx and effects. It's even about a
"symbiosis" coz in a way, the music helpts the demo to get "rooms" and the
demos, when there are good synchronizations, emphases the music a lot (and I
tried listenning certain music without the visuals...).

And, as games are now developed like movies, with real storyboards and such,
it's kinda obvious the music has an important role into them. Ive played to
"prince of persia: sands of time" lately and believe me, electronic music
would kill the whole game, hopefully the arabian-ish music in it are really
nice and just perfect to "immerse" into the game.

I would add too that I couldn't imagine monkey island without it's theme :)

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

Yes, i'm still composing of course. At the moment it's for leisure purposes
and I guess it will never be for professional purposes. I still have a
project for my netlabel camomille (a three track ep) and after that one,
i'll start a democdr for electronic music labels but again, that's not what I
call of "professional music making", it remains the same as leisure... you're
doing music for your own pleasure and you don't earn money with it since most
of the electronic music labels just get enough money to be able to repress a
new release. Professional music making to me is all about living from music
making and generally it means you'll have to adapt yourself to music that SELLS.

Did you know that tons of the actual mainstream music can be made by
guys into styles that don't sell but found a way to compose easy music with
catching melodies and earn money from it? Then as I can't play any
instruments at all, I couldn't even play in a professional band but it's ok,
my goal has never been to earn money with my emotions, I just want ppl to
listen to my musics and comment and that's all, that's why id like to find a
label that would wanna release a cd fulfilled with tunes of mine (ego trip
isn't it?), is like a teen crisis you know "hey hey i'm here im here!!!" ehehe

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

It's music nah? of course it's not as nice as releasing a module that people
will be able to know how the guys made it by opening a tracker but it
remains music no?

On the state of the art demoparty forums, I saw a guy saying that mp3 was
easier to make than modules... WTF????? just coz he can't watch the inside
of the tune?

Actually, many musicians wanna add rooms to their music, they wanna have
clashy beats, enhanced reverbs and nice delays (better than the
oh-so-clichee-but-we-all-did-it way that consists in copying down the same
channel and reduce the vokume)

With the actual proggies like buzz and renoise, you now can use effects but
people, if they haven't got the same effects or vstis than you, won't be
able to listen to the music and even if they have the effects, will they be
able to play the music if they have a crappy processor? So it's why so much
musician are now encoding their tunes.

Trackers always got a real problem with sound quality,it wasn't as
crystal-clear as the overall sound quality with proggies like
cubase or logic audio, should musician forbid theirselves to get a real
power into their tunes just because it's will be badly considered by some
other people?

All the ways to make music are good if one can manage to deal with. For
exemple, is always better to record leads part with a cubase than with a
tracker, coz you can requantitize, which mean that you'll be able to
increase the numbers or vertical lines into the part
and so... it means you'll be able to get more natural leads, that don't
trigger EXACTLY on the beat and with a track we are forced to think about
the actual speed and tempo and then it's all about doubling the number of
rows and such, or add some tempo effects to the song... it's such a waste of
time nah?

But (again there is always a "but") we, trackers, are used to it and we
don't complain at all. To avoid it, I generally choose a high bpm value and
128rows or even more to be able to place differently my notes and im still
searching for new technics.

Many people will always join the program war, saying their program is the
best one, it's like we are all trying to do our
crusade ehehe and im not even saying it sucks! coz I did it when I
discovered renoise ahah.

So yeah, I encode my musics as mp3 because it eats 80% of my cpu and then I
postproduce them to get a better sounding quality and I think it's more
interesting.

And yeah, releasing a mp3 doesn't mean it's easier and especially DOESNT mean
that you used ejay (if you know what I mean).

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

Eh, funny, I just did an all-time-fave list for the camomille website.
Actually there are a bunch of tunes I love/admire.
One of my all time fave would be stereoman/esem - tanji, or purusha - vieni
luna(ogredung), ceniq - D.E. was wrong (milk), krii - blue reflection
(tokyodawnrecord) and his tune for the toypusher demo too eheh.
oh and of course, iron maiden - number of the beast !!! and guns'n'roses -
welcome to the jungle !!!

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

Well, im not sure i'll do so, maybe i'll just remaster some old tunes like
chillchill or my sweet atlas, or some of my inside it musicdisc tunes but
ill release them on my website so stay tuned on it. I wanted to do so and
send some on my demo cdr, maybe i'll do that but I also think labels need
fresh tunes and not "oldies" (and generally, each new tunes are better than
the previous ones so I definitly should forget them and present the best I
can do.)

12-What bands are you currently listenning to?

These days, i've been digging a lot mùm, which is a great electronic music
bands, dealing with naive melodies, click'n'cut beats, always remaining very
very childish and sweet.

Ive been also listenning to brothomstates, metamatics, arovane, colleen,
prefuse73, opiate and chris clark... just to name a bit the playlist of my
portable mp3 player.
Oh yea(²), of course, im currently STILL listenning to bjork - vespertine
album which is a great cd, she has a so beautiful and powerful voice, a
wonderful artist imho.

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

I came too late... sorry!

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

I couldn't say im really active compared to those people that are always
going to parties and releasing lotsa prods.
When im able to do so, I go to demoparties, I enjoy the moment and share
with people I meet.

But most of my tunes are often released for netlabels more than demos so in
that way i'm not that active... or... do often being on irc mean that you're
active? ahahaha i guess i'll still check pouet.net, watch demos, comment them,
and move my ass to try and move at parties but I think i'll focus more and
more on music as time will pass and so, I would get less and less time...

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

Yea of course. First of all, a big hug to purusha and ogredung, vizion and
camomille, hellven, bypass and blackmaiden plus all the guys (and girls) I
met on irc and demoparties.

A great thx to all the few ppl who contacted me to feedback about my tunes,
thx a lot again guys, it has been nice to correspond with some
supportive minds.

Sorry, I could have a longer list but it would easily tend to get boring and
uninteresting to read.

A big hug to vizion too, for the love and support and also to wish him luck
with his label that released its first cd which is a compilation featuring
musicians like xhale, xerxes, makunouchi benton, vizion, blisaed, mv, rs3,
julien neto, khonnor, david kristian, epoq and me.

There are tons of thing to do, to sing and shout, to write down on nice
pinky and cinnamon smelling sheet of papers, tons of things to think about,
to rethink about, tons of things not to do too.... shout a YAWP.
enjoy. relive. we have nothing to lose since we are already dead. carpe diem.

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