Amiga Music Preservation -

Interview

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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?

My interest in computers started when my next door neighbor acquired a Texas
Instruments TI99/4A computer. I was four years old at the time and began
entering programs on it in the BASIC language. that would make it around
1980 or 1981.

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

I've previously owned an Atari 2600, Intellivision, COmmodore 64, Nintendo
Entertainment System, 8088 PC, Nintendo 64, Gamecube, Xbox (modified),
Playstation 2, Dreamcast, and several PCs. I still have all of them and
they are all still in working order. i'm a pack rat.

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

When I got my commodore 64, friends would come over and we'd play games on
the thing. my friends were the kinds who would try and re-create the games
that they were playing. I was the one who ran to the piano and played what
i'd just heard. music is a much more natural practice for me than something
like programming, and I sure as hell can't draw to save my life so that
didn't leave me many options.

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

The first program I ever used was "Bank Street Music Writer" on the
commodore 64. from there, it was an FM synth program made by voyetra.
after that, it was modedit on the PC speaker, then with a soundblaster pro,
then up to scream tracker 3, into impulse tracker, and now I find myself
using cubase and reason 2.

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

There's no such thing. (: I do not have a specific goal in mind when it
comes to writing music. my goal is to better myself musically and create
things that both I and the people around me enjoy. to that end, you could
say that I achieve my goal each and every time I write. on the other hand,
since i'm always trying to better myself musically, you could say that each
piece is only a step towards an unreachable goal, so i'll continue to keep
trying.

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

There are several that i'd rather not remember. two come to mind. the
first mod I ever wrote was for a local BBS here named "George of the Jungle"
and the song was created as a "dance remix" of the cartoon theme. it was
... putrid. the other is a song that never should have left my hard drive
but somehow was copied to local BBS's by local friends and then distributed
from there. it was before I learned how to tune instruments and it sounds
equally horrid.

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

Demos, games, movies, and other forms of entertainment without good music
are worthless. good music is subjective, naturally, but without some form
of accompaniment, the visual medium in question is a silent movie without
the ragtime piano playing in the background.

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

Since I spend most of my time pursuing a business degree and the rest of it
in a full time job, I don't have as much time as I used to to write. when i
do, i've slipped into the niche of taking old 8-bit nintendo game songs and
modernizing them. i've done several that I mostly keep to myself since
they're in sections, but I find them to be strangely rewarding. I do write
a few original pieces on the side but nothing worth sharing. (:

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

That's like asking me what I think about the differences between a mango,

14-wheeler semi, george w. bush, and a sombraro. I will say for the record

that I believe midi to be one of the most underrated and least understood
forms of musical information. taking a midifile and playing it via
soundcard wavetable is generally pretty silly, whereas utilizing the tools
to interface with sequencer products and getting one hell of a sound is
where MIDI can best shine.

Mpeg is neat. mp3 is really neat. it amazes me how easily I can store my
CDs on a hard drive at a moderate compression rate (i like to float between
164/192 as a variable rate) and how little space it takes overall in
comparison to the old days of .wav files. especially considering the amount
of hard drive space that is available to us these days. I can still
remember when my 20 meg MFM hard drive was considered to be "superior
storage capacity"...

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

I still work out to "mechanism 8" by necros, "just" and "eden" I thought
were incredible and highly underrated pieces of music also by him. purple
motion's "unreal" soundtrack was my inspiration to learn to track in the
first place so i've always had a soft spot for virtually anything he's ever
written. I seem to recall writing a tribute to him once upon a time but i
don't think it ever got very far. he'd probably kill me if he ever heard it
anyway. (:

"spartacus" by basehead became the house song for months once upon a time.
the "Crystal Dreams 2" demo soundtrack was equally fun to listen to.
no "favorites" list is complete without references and reverences to Vinny
and Dizzy, though.
the list could go on and on.

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

Not really. I never wrote enough worthwhile pieces and most of the time i
can't even stand to go back and listen to anything that I did back then.
it's the curse of the artist I suppose, but I often loathe my own work.

12-What bands are you currently listening to?

The operative question is "what band." i've been listening to Dream Theater
now for far longer than I probably should have and I don't anticipate
letting up anytime soon. beyond that, I listen primarily to acappella music
(vocal jazz, barbershop quartets, etc), video game soundtracks (especially
reorchestrated ones), and classical music. I don't keep up with most
popular music of the various genre's since i'm very focused in the things
i'm involved in.

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

Trackers and a history to aspire to. they made the PC demo scene possible
and for that I will always honor (and enjoy!) them.

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

Not so much. I was when I could access #trax from my previous job but
that's not a possibility anylonger. as a result of having very little free
time, I think i've missed out on a lot of stuff happening these days.

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

Ii don't think anyone remembers me, really... (:
basehead - sorry I couldn't make it to 10yr. it broke my heart.
necros - hope you're doin well out there in texas.
gd - noted, thank you.
fulg - ouch!
ior - i'll lay off the obvious jokes. (: socal is still one of my favorite
memories.
dennisc - ALAN ALDA GO HOME
maelcum - I let you win because I feared your gun collection.

too many people. too little time. I miss the good old days! perhaps a
#trax 15yr will take place and i'll not be in the throes of a brand new job
so I can show up.

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