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.

,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?

Can't really say the exact year, but it was when my father bought the
classic Spectrum Z48 (or whatever the model was). It was a long time
ago.

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

The above mentioned Spectrum, Amiga 500 and PCs from there on. When I
was younger I used to just play games on them but nowadays I use them
for work; composing and writing, for games I have a PS2.

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

I actually don't know. It just happened, I sort of drifted into it. I
was never really good with maths so coding was kinda out of my league
and I'm not that great at drawing things, so I guess it was the logical
choice. But how it really happenend, I don't recall.

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

I started with Scream Tracker 3, after which came Impulse Tracker. Now
I'm using Cakewalk, IT, Fruity Loops, ModTracker. The basis of my music
studio is still IT and Cakewalk.

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

I'm not sure if any of my mods actually reached as much as I wanted, but
the ones I'm particularly satisfied with are "Welcome to Berlin" and
"The Cleaner".

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

Most of the stuff I did before 1997. :) Luckily for me there aren't many
of them around. The reason I would not like to remember them can be
expressed in one word from the German language: scheisse. They are just
so horrible that I actually am ashamed that I've done something like
them. (Incidently if anyone gets a hold of any of them, I apologize for
the agony). :)

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

MUsic can bring the atmosphere of any production up and out, draw the
viewer/listener into the world created by the prduction, whether it be a
demo, a game, a movie or anything else. The wonderful thing about music
is that it makes hidden things evident. When the story of a game or a
movie can cheat the player/viewer the music can not. When the music in a
demo is at it's best it can glue different elements into a music video
like experience. The value of music for demos and games in a word:
tremendous. Most demos I' have seen are pretty boring if you turn your
speakers off, so the music draws me in, keeps me watching. Games loose a
lot of atmosphere when you do the same thing to them. So I think music
is important.

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

I am. Both professionally and leisure. I am working with two other
composers in our own film music production company, plus I do my own
stuff for BME for fun. But the most important thing for me is that
composing always feels fun so it actually doesn't feel like work at all.

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

For me changing from mods to MP3s was a major improvement. I've always
wanted my music to sounds a good as possible with high quality sounds.
Doing this with mods tends to bring up the file size way way too much,
which actually happened with "Welcome to Berlin" which lasts for 3
minutes but the file size is 5 mbs. The same in MP3 would have been
around 3 mbs. Also changing from only IT to Cakewalk and others has
given me more opportunities to reach my limits. Going more professional
means that I have to keep producing more and more high quality stuff,
say for instance I have to write a score to be played by an orchestra
which means I have to have notes for them, and I certainly can't get
them from a tracker in presentable form for them. So I'm all for the new
formats.

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

From mods I really can't remember many. "Stardust memories" is probably
the only one I remember.

From "real music" Queen's "Show must go on", Sting's "Shape of my
heart", Pink Floyd's "High hopes", Dire Straits' "Telegraph road" and
Louis Armstrong's "What a wonderful world" are songs that I can listen
to all over again.

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

Probably not remastered music, but I've been planning making an album
for BME, which would mean that there would be album only tracks on it.
I'm working on it slowly, but I'll get there some day.

12-What bands are you currently listenning to?

The Crystal Method, Apollo440, The Prodigy, Pink Floyd, Queen,
Rammstein, P.O.D., Enigma, RATM, Orbital, Limp Bizkit. To name a few.

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

Sometimes a lot of laughs. :) Seriously, I've been amazed many times at
how much those guys can pull out off their machines.

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

Not really. When I last was active I was at the Assembly in '98 or '99
and when I kept running into these extinguisher size kids there all the
time I just knew I was getting too old for that shit. It helped that I
had moved on to film music, so I had a new world ahead of me.

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

I guess there's not much else to say but respect to everyone still
toiling away with the scene. Keep it alive, guys.

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