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..

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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 must have been 12 when a friend of mine brought a ZX81 to my house and I
was immediatly drawn into the world of the computer. Straight away I wanted
to do something on it.

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

My father brought me an ORIC-1 and I started writting a simple program to draw
images with. That was fun but it was when my dad brought me a BBC-Micro that
I really started getting into the details. I was able to make art and do
simple music on the BBC and thought I should make a career of it.

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

In actual fact it has been gfx that has lead my career. I started doing
freelance loading screens when I was 14 for a company called Superior Software.
It was fantastic to see my work in the games and magazines especially as I was
so young. I then brought an Amiga and started doing more advanced graphics and
finally was able to do nice sounding music as the soundchip was so good at
the time.

I started on Sonix and did a demo of my own graphics and music based around
the 'Robocop' Film. It used samples of peoples voices from the movie and
instruments from the package.

I gave that to a few people and suddenly lots of demo crews seemed to have it.
I was called up and sent letters to see if I wanted to join any crews and that
was very flattering. I also sent that demo to Ocean software and was offered
a job as an in-house musician but I was only 15 or 16 and it was far away in
Manchester.

Later, I got hold of Soundtracker and started learning it. A friend of mine
had some synthesizers so I sampled all the instruments I used in my music from
them. I didnt like to use other peoples instruments as I had heard so many of
them in different tunes but obviously I was lucky to have access to a synth
and not everyone had that oppertunity.

I had a call from Share and Enjoy when they heard the first stuff I was doing
on Soundtracker. The first tunes I had made with that package where for a
game some friends of mine were trying to make (it didnt happen) and one was
called "Lost in time". (I think someone stole the song from a demo and put
it in 'Final Fight' on the Amiga). So anyway, I started giving some of the
songs I had done to Share and Enjoy under the name of 'The Judge' and thats
how I got into the demo scene.

At 18 I took on a full time job as an artist for Domark Software and from
that point onward, any game that I did the graphics for, I would also do the
music on it. For Domark I ended up doing the graphics & Music/Sound for
Super Space Invaders & Marcos Magic Football, to name a few.

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

When I left Domark Software and the Amiga, I went to A company set up by some
friends of mine called King of the Jungle and we started working on the
Playstation. So all the music was going to come off the CD. I got a Roland
JD800 and a JV1080 synthesizer and still used my Amiga to sequence them
through Midi. I used Octamed to do this, and it was nice to get away doing
Graphics on my PC and going back to the Amiga to do the music.

I was lead artist and musician for Agent Armstrong and B-Movie and did all
of the orchestral style music for those games with Octamed and my synths.

I mainly use Steinberg's Cubase right now. I have 2 Roland JV1080 synths,
a Roland JP8000 and a Yamaha EX7 for my synthesizers.

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

I did a Rock Track for a game called "Big Run" for a company called
"The Sales Curve". It was probably the most complicated tune I did on the
Amiga as it was always difficult to write a realistic Guitar based tune using
samples. I was really pleased with the result at the time and the man from
"The Sales Curve" said it was the best he had heard. I dont think thats true
but it was nice anyway! I dont have that module anymore, if anyone has it I
would love to hear from them!

I do however have a lot of affection for the theme tune for
'Super Space Invaders' as it was well recieved and was the first game that I
had done all of the graphics and the music for on the Amiga. It has loads of
sounds from the game put into the tune and the magazines really liked it.

The game was crap, but at the time, I was pleased with the work I had done on
it! I dont have that mod either so, again if anyone has it then send it to me
please!

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

I dont think there are any tunes I released that I hate badly but there are
many that I didnt that Im sure I never even finished because I thought they
were shit!

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

Music can completely "make" a demo or a game. It can save a bad looking game
from being completely trashed because people love the music. It can motivate
a player and make them concentrate more if the music is tense and makes your
head rush! It can also make games more scary or happy depending on the mood
it creates.

I did a film like score for the intro movie on Agent Armstrong and knew what
sort of music I was going to add to it once it was finished. When I had
completed the movie I was pleased with what I had done but when the music was
added, and it timed with what happened on screen, it made it so much more.

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

Im still at King of the Jungle as Creative Director. I still write music as
well as the graphics for the games also and its cool because now were onto
the PS2, GameCUbe and X-Box. All of my music equiptment is at home and I like
to write alot of my own stuff. I would like to release some of it in the future.

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

Im completely into the new ways of making music, and for computer game/demo
musicians it isnt really any different from the way Bands and other Artists do
their stuff.

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

I think the best stuff I heard on the Amiga was in a game called 'LED Storm'
and the same guy/s did the music for 'Ghouls and Ghosts' on the same machine
which was also excellent. I cant remember what there names were though. Tim
and someone else I think!?

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

I havent thought about it but as soon as I get all of my old Mods back I would
consider it, definitely.

12-What bands are you currently listenning to?

I really love a guy called 'BT'. Its so well produced and really clever sounding
Dance music.

There's a song about to come out in the UK called 'Flawless' and thats a great
sounding 'disco' like track.

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

It gives me great memorys of a great time. The Amiga was a brilliant machine
to work on and I loved finding new sounds to sample and use in my tunes. I
also liked the fact that so many people heard everyones stuff and were really
into the scene. Its not the same now as it was then. New kids mostly buy a
Playstation or other Console now so they cant have a go at writting music or
doing graphics on their own machine these days. Many of them wont get the
oppertunity to do this and they are missing out on a really fun experience.

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

Ive got my full time job doing what is effectively my hobby so I dont get much
time for doing demo stuff. But I do look out for whats going on and theres
some incredible stuff out there. Music, Graphics and Programming, its good to
see what the Demo scene guys can do and its damn good!

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

I think you will be thinking I've already said enough! But thanks for the
interview and I would like to say thanks to anyone out there thats enjoyed
what Ive done over the years. I will always appreciate it!

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