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?

uiiiiiiiii I don't know which year that was...hmm I was around 7 or so,
I guess, and my brother (who is eight years olde) was being given a C64.
We have been playing our asses off, to be honest. It was great. Then in
1989 I was getting an Amiga2000 and that was my destiny. I started
making music like crazy. Around 2 months later I joined Brainstorm in
the local computer club along with other members like PEACE (gfx).

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

C64 as mentioned. Unfortunately my brother has given it away. But I will
buy one again.. just neeeeeeed that machine for the museum that I am
going to open when I turn eighty. *laugh*

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

Well it's simple, I didnt have any logical knowhow that you need when
you want to program. You can also call it being to stupid. *laugh*
Unfortunately it's true. I never was interested in maths anyway, so it
would really have been the wrong thing.
Why not graphics? hmmmm I tried it but I didnt have the VISUAL
creativity needed (and not the patience to pixel for ages on a logo). I
felt very quickly that my passion was with music, also because I played
two instruments, so the path was chosen automatically , in a way. With
the Amiga, the passion became reality. And so i am still doing music,
and I am trying to get back in the demoscene. Maybe some group wants to
work with me? who knows.. *smile* Would be great though...

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

I started with Soundtracker (Version 2.4, I think), then Noisetracker
and then in the end Protracker, which I used during my busiest years, so
the Protracker is my most-used one, or better WAS. ;-) (*gosh will I
ever manage to escape the "old" days?*)

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

Hmmmm... hard to say, basically it always was the one that was the
newest. After some time you find some songs though that you always liked
listening to. The most known one was the one from the BLITTER MIRACLE
demo. The song was named "Return of the Yeti", it was ok. The ones that
really made me happy though are mostly unreleased, namely "Caterina" or
"Whitney & Axel" for example. "Caterina" was the last song I worked on
on the Amiga and therefore ends an era. I think it's the crown of my
time on the amiga. I am proud of that song. During my time on the amiga
I kinda tried to go away from the typical demosongs and tried to make
more "real" music instead of music sounding like typical computer-music.
For the "artificial" songs I like "Technology" most though, maybe also
because I was working for 2 months on it. I was bloody proud of it,
still am somehow. It was used in the end for Musicland 1. I even ran out
of patterns in the end.. *laugh*.. it was crazy.

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

eeeerm, I think every musician has songs he doesnt like very much..
*laugh*.. so do I ... but luckily those songs either didnt get finished
or were not released... *Laugh* ... from the ones that are out there I
find "Heaven's Dream" pretty ugly.. *shameful look*

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

The music is always supporting the atmosphere/action on screen, no
matter if it's film, tv, demo or game. Without music, the atmosphere
cannot be created. In a demo it works best when graphics, code, design
and music are of the same style. Timing is great in demos aswell. So
from my point of view the music is still being underestimated in games
and tv especially. In demos and in the film-business, people have
realized the results that can be achieved with professional music. In
the TV-field, this has only been achieved by Mark Snow ("X-Files",
"Millenium") until now, in my opinion. I think he really revolutionized
the word "music" in television and showed that it's actually possible to
create a cinema-atmosphere (from the captivation-aspect) at home in
front of the tv-screen.

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

Yes I am... well, when I quit the Amiga-scene, I still did things on my
synthesizer. But not too much. Now that I joyfully discovered the
possiblities of Fasttracker on the PC, my eyes were shining bright and I
immediately started doing music again. I did some things for my pleasure
only, then pressed a CD just for fun and sent it to a label related to
Warner Music just to see what happens. Well, surprisingly that dude said
he likes the music very much (was some dance-stuff) and that he would
like to arrange a meeting as soon as possible and that he would like to
show it to Warner directly. He did that and Warner liked it to and they
gave green light for a production. Right now there are negotiations
going on about signing me to Warner Music Switzerland.. *laugh*.. well,
but I only believe it when I have it black on white. Until then it's
just a dream that would be great if it comes true. At least it sounds
good so far ;-)

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

MP3 definitely is a revolution and it shakes up the whole music
business. Record companies are in panic, and they know why. The quality
is amazing. It will be a challenge for record companies to control MP3.
Personally, I think they will fail to control MP3 on the net, but the
market for CDs won't collapse anyway. There will just be severe damages.
When it comes to midi, I must say that I hate it. *laugh*. When I hear
midi, those poor webmusics come into my mind or those old PC-games.
*puke*. Hopefully it's history...

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

OH geeeeeeez that will be many tunes, I guess. Hmmmm let me see....
Cream of the Earth (Romeo Knight)
Memorydust (Codex)
Anette (Heatbeat)
Enigma (Tip&Mtx)
Graveyard (Fleshbrain)
Bacteria Musicdisk (Dr.Awesome&Fleshbrain)
Crystal Symphonies 1 & 2 (Tip&Mtx)
The Animotion song (Tip)
Velomatrix (Nuke)
Caroline (Jesper Kyd)
Bubblegum (heatbeat)
Almost everything from Bruno like "Green Marlboro".
God it's too many songs I should remember now, but I guess this would be
a selection of it...
"Klisje paa Klisje" by Walkman mustn't be missed aswell, of course.. :)

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

Hmmmmmm.. I doubt it, to be honest... most likely there will be one with
new songs though. Neither do I know if I succeed in doing it nor do I
know WHEN that will be. ;-) But of course it is my goal, and things are
looking good, just a matter of time... but it will definitely be new
songs.

12-What bands are you currently listenning to?

Now (and always will) listening to: Pink Floyd, Phil Collins, Roxette,
Candy Dulfer, Prince, Genesis, Peter Gabriel, Supertramp plus all the
stuff from the charts even if it's Britney Spears or Backstreet Boys. It
gives new ideas aswell, no matter what kind of music it is... ;-)

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

It did give me a lot of great personal experiences. Many nice people I
met and the whole experience, that something exists just for fun, was/is
incredible. Of course the possibilities are somehow limited to the time
when you don't need to earn money. But even later, I think, it IS
possible to be a part of the scene and to do something for it as a
hobby. And as long as people want me to be a part of it, I am glad to be
there. However, many people leave of course, but that makes it also
interesting, because it is a very dynamic place. The scene is innovative
like hell and many new talents have their origin in the demo-scene. It's
just lovely. Right now the scene doesnt give me much, because I have not
been part of it for around 5 years. But I am working on it though to
memorize names and groups again. I don't have a clue of who's hot and
who's not, but then again, who cares? ;-) I just want to release music
and possibly make new friends. I even already found some, although I am
not even in the scene again (YET). ;-)

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

No, but I am trying hard to get back in. ;-) At least I WANT to do
something for the scene again, after 5 years of silence.

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

hmmmmmmm...not really...just some greetings to the most fabulous
musicians and friends out there: Melon Dezign (Walt, Alex, Mack, Seen),
Maestro (ex-Kefrens), Jesper Kyd, Trix, 4-Mat, Tip, Mantronix, Groo,
Lord Helmet, Greg, Audiomonster, Omega, Heatbeat, Jester, Moby, Bruno
and everyone I forgot. I hope I will see you all soon (and have the time
to greet you all) in an upcoming scene-production, hopefully soon. (not
knowing for which group though) ;-)

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
please note: this interview is ©opyrighted in 2001 by crown of cryptoburners
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Quick Search

Random link

Database Stats

Interview