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?

Oooh blimey!!....well the year was maybe 1987/88 ish and my parents bought me
a second hand c64 for christmas which had tons of games with it, and that was
the start of my glorious love affair with all things computer/video games.
And here i am years later, with no signs of my interest waning.

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

Well the c64 was my very first home computer, and i mainly played games on that.
I never really knew anything about the creative side of the 64 back then, but
i found things out later on. In the early 90's my eldest brother bought himself
an Atari ST which again had loads of games with it. And this was when i started
experimenting with the creative side of computing, making mods in Protracker
and creating logo's and other stuff in Deluxe Paint (because i have also done
some Graphics in the past for NVX, little logos and stuff like that). It was
also around this time that a few friends of mine had purchased the stunning
new Amiga 500 and my brother eventually got himself one (this was my other
bro though, i now had a bro with an ST and one with an Amiga...which did i
think was the better machine? hhmmmm, what do u think ;) ) Eventually i
did get my own Amiga 500 though, and started to get into creating mods and
graphics using Protracker and Deluxe Paint, and loved all the classic games
that came out for it (and still do!!!). Inbetween i've purchased the S.N.E.S,
Atari Jaguar, Playstation, Gameboy, Game Gear, Amiga 500/1200, N64, PS2,
Gamecube....and still own them all!!!! call me a bit of a games freak if u
want :) I even still have my c64 which works perfectly....I love them all ;)

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

Back in the c64 days where it all started for me, i used to load up games and
then sit there just to hear the music, and sometimes didn't even bother to
play the games. The music from the 64 used to absolutely blow me away, games
like - Wizball, Parallax, Robocop, Rambo, the Ocean loader tunes....and many
many others. The music in Parallax is an awesome masterpiece in my opinion,
and i've downloaded numerous different mp3 versions of it from the net...but
u still can't beat the original 64 version!!! I suppose it was inevitable that
one day i would have a go at making my own computer music....and so i did.
Like i said before though, i did experiment with Graphics and did do some
pretty good stuff on Deluxepaint, but i think i was best suited to Making
music with Protracker...And all these years later i still like to do so
because i love the way u are limited with Protracker compared to professional
musical instruments like keyboards and stuff....You can get an amazing sound
out of Protracker's humble 4 tracks and that's what makes it all sooooo fun
and challenging.

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

To be honest i've just stuck to using Protracker (and it's many different
versions) which i find is the best to use if u want to make your own mods,
although i don't think i've ever had a 100% bug free version, but i've learned
to work around it's bugs and gotten used to it now :)

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

Hhhmmmm???? not sure really, i have done a couple which i've been quite proud
of which you can find in my mods list here on AMP hopefully...Namely "A Moment
In Time" "Paradise" "Moving" "The Mystery" "Midnight Swim" "64 Dreams" "Behind
You" and there's a few others i quite like which will hopefully end up on here. ;)
Go listen now folks and see what you think!!!

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

Any tune i didn't like usually got canned....I never bothered finishing tunes
i wasn't happy with, a tune has to flow a certain way and if it doesn't....out
the window it goes!!!

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

Oh a good soundtrack is absolutely paramount!!! If you've got a fantastic
looking game with either a terrible soundtrack or no soundtrack at all, then
it loses a heck of a lot....I personally love sound and music in games, and
the soundtrack is what can set the atmosphere and feeling of a game. Anyone
remember playing "Forbidden Forest" on the c64? or even "The Last Ninja"? well
both those games had awesome sound and music and it set the atmosphere perfectly.
These days you've got classics like "SIlent Hill 1+2" and the "Resident Evil"
series, which both have terrifyingly awesome sound and music. Silent Hill
especially, had me literally looking over my shoulder while sat in my room
playing it...just from the sounds alone, like loud banging when you walk into
certain rooms and corridors...Truly terrifying stuff!!! It reminded me a lot
of the movie "The Shining" in parts. (Please Note: If you play this game with
the sound through headphones, at night on your own, then you are liable to be
mentally scarred for life....don't say i didn't warn you!!! ;)

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

I compose tunes every now and again on Protracker still. It's purely a leisurely
thing for me, i find it therapeutic to compose tunes....you can dictate exactly
how you're feeling at the time by expressing it in your music...for example,
the tune may be fast and angry....or soft and relaxed....or happy and bouncy,
like a lot of the old Amiga game tunes were....especially all the platform
games. (Superfrog.....wahooooooo!!!) :@)

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

Well they are very good, but they can sometimes be too good...know what i mean?
It seems these days musicians don't have to work as hard because a lot of it is
done for them by machines and sequencers and the like....I much prefer to see
raw talent, just load up Protracker, then put on a Module by Audiomonster (any
one at all!!) and watch his little effects commands go to work...it's truly
amazing to watch...even i still don't know what some of those commands are
doing, but it looks good anyway. ;) Mp3 is a very good format though, i love
the way you can get tons and tons of tunes all on one cd and play 'em in your
pc or Dvd player.....Great stuff!!

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

On the Commodore64 S.I.D :- "Wizball", "Parallax", "Green Beret" (loader/ingame),
all the "Ocean loader" tunes, "Platoon" (the music
in this game was totally amazing!!), "Robocop",
"Target Renegade", "THE LAST NINJA 1+2" :) :) ,
"Sanxion", "Storm Warrior" (great medieval style
tunes in this game), "Street Beat" (this had an
excellent funky soundtrack), etc etc etc.

On the Commodore Amiga :- the "Agony" soundtrack, the "Turrican" trilogy,
"Superfrog" (WA-HOOOOOOOO!!!), "Woody's World" (nice
happy tunes in this game), Numerous Demo Soundtracks
including :- "Digitals" - "Day of Reckoning",
"Spaceballs" - "State of the Art" and "Nine Fingers"
Demo's, "Kefrens" - "Desert Dreams" demo (AWESOME
TUNES!!!).

And tons of others i can't quite think of at present!!! Anything by "Iron
Maiden" or "Metallica", "Stratovarius", "Hammerfall", "Children of Bodom",
"Rhapsody", "Iced Earth", "Blaze", "Helloween", "Annihilator", "Black Sabbath",
"Mike Oldfield", "Vangelis", "Jean Michel Jarre", "Kraftwerk", and tons and
tons and tons of other bands too.....u may have guessed i quite like my
METAAAAALLLLL!!!!! ;)

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

Well not in a professional studio or anything, but what i have done with a lot
of my mods is burn them on Audio cd's for playing in my hi fi. ;) Does this
count?

12-What bands are you currently listening to?

Ha Ha, see my above list of bands for an idea of what i like....Basically i
love my metal loads (but only the real stuff, not this Nu-Shite, i like bands
who can actually play guitars!!!)....Blame Iron Maiden for that, ever since i
picked up their "Seventh Son of a Seventh Son" album on 12" Vinyl way back in
1988...I actually bought it on the strength of the album cover alone, (i'd
never heard anything by them at this point in time!!!)...i'm soooo glad i did...
It's been a love affair ever since!!!

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

It gave me a lot of happy memories, back in a time that was carefree and
stressfree (wish i could go back in time and do it again :) ) and it made me
want to be more creative than i was...I honestly think there'll never ever be
anything like the Amiga scene again. You certainly won't get anything like it
with the PC, times have changed a lot now... :( ...I know there's still the
Amiga diehards out there who are still very creative with it (a bit like me,
but i wouldn't consider myself a die hard), and there's even people still
making productions on the c64 (i'd love to see some of those!!). Yes, they
were indeed happy times...sob...sob...sniff.

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

No not really, (Ha, i never really was particularly "Active" anyway!!) I look
at scene sites on the net every now and then, especially AMP!! :) i'll be
d/loading tunes forever from here i think, there's sooooo many!!! the
Audiomonster section alone will last me ten years at least!!! d:@)

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

Just some oldies from the Nerve Axis days.... My good mate Clive AKA Evil-C...
Hiya dude!!. My good mate Alan AKA Kashka or Alan Lewinsky...Keep those cool
tunes a comin' m8!! Another good mate, Pritesh AKA Megawogg...Ha Ha...crackin'
handle!! An old mate Paul AKA Telemach (don't suppose you'll ever read this
but Hi anyway), and a fair few others. Just anyone who was in NVX....
H E L L O ! ! !
I'd just like to say finally folks that, you should all make use of your
talents whatever they may be....we all have them, some might just take a bit
longer than others to find them, but they'll come!!! Be it musically, or
artistically or anything....get out there and do it!!! And if you've read this
far folks then thank you very much for your time and effort, and for not going
to sleep...ha ha ha, Thankyou and Goodnight...

Ironlord signing off 3:14 am Tuesday 7th Jan 03.................................
...........THIS TEXT WILL NOW WRAP!!!!..........................................
...GO ON THEN.....SOD OFF!!!!.................................THE END IS NIGH!!!
...........................BYE!!!!

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