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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| _| | | _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?

We had computer games for as long as I remember really. It first started with
this black&white ping-pong game you could hook up on your TV set. This was
early 80s, I don't remember what year precisely. Probably 1980-1982. After
that the Philips Videopack 2000, if I remember correctly, which had these
big-ass game cassettes you had to plug in. Great stuff.

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

After that ping-pong thing and Videopack we got the C64. First I only played
games and swapped them with friends. After a while I started programming a
bit in basic. This was somewhere in the middle of the 80s. Then at the end
of the 80s I got the Amiga 500 and met a friend who composed some music with
noisetracker and protracker. After I got into that I bought a Roland D-20
synthesizer and hooked it up on the Amiga with MIDI. A great experience when
I realized it could be done. Then I bought a pc and hooked everything up to
that..

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

Well, I had piano lessons for 7 years and I always liked it much better to
compose little things myself than follow the lessons of the teacher. When I got
the Amiga and saw what you could do with Noisetracker, I started getting into
that and found it was a great way to compose music, as the playback is
flawless (as opposed to my piano playing skills at that time).

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

In my Amiga days just Noisetracker really. I kept using noisetracker when I
started composing for a pc-group. Now I mainly use Cubase on the pc.

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

It was a mod called "thump" if I remember correctly. It had this great sample
of a 80s song called paranomia and it had this really deep bass with some
heavy drums. I all just seem to fit together perfectly and I never got tired
listening to it.

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

Yeah there is this mod of which I forgot the name, but it had some good parts
in it, but the song just fell apart in different segments that had no coherence
whatsoever. I never got that song to work really, although I put a lot of time
and effort into it.

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

Well, I always like to use the example of films. When a piece of music doesn't
fit, it is really annoying and the film gets really irritating to watch. But
when the music is perfect, it adds something elementary to a film. The film
would not be what it was without the music. Like most Kubrick films for
instance, or films with music by Ennio Morricone, Phillip Glass or Michael
Nyman. I think with games it is more or less the same thing.

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

Yes, I'm still composing, just for my own fun. I'm also not as fanatical
anymore as I used to be. I got a job and other interests and I don't belong to
any scene anymore. But it is still something I like to do very much.

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

I think it's great, the ever further going integration of music and computers.
Maybe there are too many different formats out there, but I think that is just
part of a process until there will be only one or two formats that everybody
uses. But I never got on a pc that solid, simple, straightforward, stable,
completely-in-control feeling I got when using the Amiga. There were some
limits, but the fun was pushing those limits to make it sound professional or
unusual.

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

Well, there were some I liked very much, and from which I learned a lot. But
it's really been too long ago. Couldn't name them anymore.

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

Nope, no plans of that (yet). Maybe it's a good idea.

12-What bands are you currently listenning to?

Hmm, some recent bands are Interpol, Placebo, The Thrills, The Thermals, and I
still like listening to The Smiths, Joy Division/New Order, Depeche Mode
(my main inspiration in my Amiga period), Nine Inch Nails, but I also like
listening to classical music, jazz, everything really. And I am a big
collector of movie soundtracks: music by Nyman, Glass, etc.

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

Fun and a real motivation to keep trying to produce better mods. Without it I
probably wouldn't have continued composing music.

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

Nope, just my own scene.

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

Just how I got my handle: from the film Hardware, a great post-apocalyptic
sci-fi movie with an even greater soundtrack. One of the characters is called
Shades because he always wore them. I thought that was really cool.

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