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, it must have been around 1989 when I had my first 'proper' computer -
the Amiga 500.

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

Like a lot of people, it was the games that first appealed to me. The very
first computer I owned was the Philips Videopak game system, followed by the
Intellivision, and the classic Spectrum. A year or two later, I then purchased
a Commodore 64. The sound and graphics were like nothing I had experienced
before.

But not long afterwards, I saw screenshots in the old style CVG (UK games mag),
and on the back of game covers comparing Amiga screenshots against their C64
counterparts. Games like Pang, The New Zealand story, Lotus Turbo Challenge,
Lemmings, and many others looked simply incredible on Amiga. At the time, it
was very expensive, but I managed to get my brother to sell the C64, so we
pooled the money from that and a couple of other things, and bought our first
Amiga 500 :) The rest is history as they say...

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

Well, I still enjoy creating graphics, and programming, but there's nothing
like the thrill of creating a musical work of art. From early childhood, I've
always enjoyed writing music, even outside computers, so then of course, the
Amiga was a new exciting medium on which to compose.

I remember at one point how astonished I was to find the music from the demo
'Phenomena Enigma' load directly into OctaMED/Protracker. Hearing such high
quality tracks was an incentive to find out everything I could about OctaMED,
and this encouraged me all the more to create my own music.

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

OctaMED Soundstudio. Before that, it was OctaMED and MED :) There's just so
much you can do with a tracker that's difficult if not impossible with other
ways of making music. At my old college, we were forced to use sequencing
software (Cubase) - which is great for many purposes, but in my opinion,
doesn't have the 'immediate control' that a tracker allows.

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

Hard to answer really, as each piece has something unique about it. But
certainly, I feel I have accomplished more in some modules than others.
Perhaps 'Sky City' and 'Grand Finale' were among the most satisfying because
of the amount of variety I put into them. Ultimately though, there's no upper
limit to the quality of a piece of music.

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

Umm.. my very first MED pieces were not so good. At the time, it was nice just
to have composed 'anything', and I remember feeling quite pleased about it,
but not so chuffed when my brother pointed out how crap it was :) I have
created loads of modules since, each with increasing quality as I was learning
how to get the most out of OctaMED, though some of my older melodies are still
fun to listen to in a nostalgic kind of way.

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

A very high proportion of atmosphere comes from the music in my opinion. Half
of the reason that made the famous 'Phenomena Enigma' demo so great was the
music. The same mostly applies to games too. For example, games such as say...
Turrican 2 (Amiga), Monty on the Run (C64) or Outrun (arcade) have music
scores which enhance the game considerably. Also, the prospect of a new piece
of music is often an incentive to progress in a game. Great music adds a
sublime subtlety to any demo or game, and really helps the gameplay and gfx
come alive.

Unfortunately, with a few exceptions, the games of today feature overly
repetitive or sparse 'background' music, and so this vital element of games
has been mostly lost I believe.

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

Since the creation of my 'Eclipse of Mars' CD, I'm having a little break to
work on my website, and then I'll be composing again for a new CD. I always
put the most into any music I do, and if it's for professional purposes, I'll
still enjoy composing regardless.

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

MP3, WAVE and similar 'streaming' formats are good for what they're intended
for. I'm slightly against midi, because the instruments will differ from
system to system, and so the composer's original intention of how it should
'sound' has been lost somewhat (but no doubt it has its advantages too in
terms of file size). I think the module format should be more popular than
it currently is.

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

How long have you got? :)

My fave scene tracks include:

'Phenomena Enigma', 'Alpha Omega', 'Virtual Worlds', 'Odyssey' (5 disk demo)
and 'LK', 'Whack Bonk' and 'Art of Chrome' by Lizardking. Bjorn Lynne has
created some great stuff, my favourite being his music from that Amiga-rendered
'Space Wars' video (star-wars type 3D gfx). A lot of stuff from Matt Simmons
- 4-Mat: the music 'Madness2-Partb' from the 'Madness' demo, 'Air Taxi' game
music, Klass of '99 (Skool Daze) music, and his brilliant remix of the music
"If I were a rich man" in the PC remake 'Jet Set Willy'.

Some of my favourite non-scene groups/music include:
Electric Light Orchestra ('Twilight', 'Secret Messages', 'Mr Blue Sky',
'I'm alive', 'All over the world'), BeeGees ('More Than a Woman',
'How Deep is Your Love', 'Night Fever', 'Stayin' Alive', 'Love You Inside Out',
'Tragedy') and other pre-90s songs such as ABBA's 'Dancing Queen', Rah band's
'Clouds Across the Moon', 911's 'Rhythm of the Night' etc.

And lots of classical music (particularly from Beethoven, Mozart, Debussy, and
Chopin).

Finally, my fave game music includes:
SNES: Axelay, Pop'n Twinbee, Secret of Mana, Kirby Deluxe/Super Star.
C64: Monty on the Run, Spellbound, One Man and His Droid, R-Type.
Amiga: Turrican 2, Galactic, Dojo Dan (level 1), Battle Squadron, Lemmings and
Oh no! More Lemmings, Pinball Dreams...
Mega Drive/Genesis: Sonic the Hedgehog 1, Streets of Rage, Strider
Sega Saturn: Nights, Shining the Holy Ark (Boss/Battle music)
Arcade: Outrun, Puli Rula, Puzzle Bobble 2, Carrier Airwing, Mystic Riders.

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

That's a possiblity in the future, though I tend to think that music often
sounds best in its original form. Besides, I'd rather use the time to create
more new original music!

12-What bands are you currently listening to?

There's not much I've found recently that really appeals to me. Erm... though,
last week I found the obscure group 'Yellow Magic Orchestra' from Japan.
They've made some good stuff :) (Rydeen, Technopolis etc.)

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

A certain coolness - the likes of which I've yet to find on other computer
platforms :) Why? Probably a number of reasons - the design, OS, and custom
chips of the Amiga and C64 probably made them much more fun to work with.
This in turn encouraged developers and talented coders to produce some of
the most spectacular games and demos ever seen.

Today, the continuing presence of the Amiga and C64 - reflected in the
multitudes of web sites - is testament to how strong the fan base is.

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

I sometimes listen to Nectarine radio, and always keep an eye on the Amiga
news. Other than that, my site - Skytopia - (hopefully) contributes back some
of the happiness that the scene has given me over the years.

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

Greetz to Bjorn Lynne (Dr Awesome), Matt Simmons (4-mat), Chris Abbott, Tip
and Firefox, Lizardking, Peter Salomonsen (from PMC), and all of the cool
musicians, coders, and artists that have kept (and are keeping) the scene
alive!

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