Amiga Music Preservation -

Interview

.

`n. .rP'

`qb ,dP'

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 · ___________

______dP _____________ \ /

\ ,N'\____ _____________. _____ \ \_____. ____\ /

\___P___/ .\--\__ __/__ |--\____)---\ _____/__ |--\_ \ _/

| | | \ | | \__| | _ \ / | \__| | /\ |

| _| | | _l_ | | \ / _l_ | ___|

l___/=l___|====l____/===\______|==l______|\ /l___/===\______l____/

\/

•

Handle:

•

Group:

•

Date of birth:

1-How did your interest for computers start? Which year was that?

It must have been around 1989 when my father brought a C-64 home from work.

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

C-64 - good for playing a few games, but I also spent a lot of time programming
Basic on it.

Hewlett-Packard ???? - a gigantic piece of junk that I programmed some graphics
on.

NES and SNES - if they count as machines... for playing games.

PC/486 - First Midi, then modules, then coding. Sometimes gaming.

PC/Celeron - Music, coding and all the "normal" things you do.

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

I wouldn't say I did, because I do code, both for school-projects and on my
spare time. But music is an important part of my computer usage. I used to
program a lot of Basic on the C-64, and that of course led to programming
graphics and music (POKE 54296,15 anyone?). Then I got "Mario Paint" for my
Super Nintendo, and I could put notes on note sheets! It was like "real"
composing. And finally, music was the first thing I came in contact with when
I got my first PC in 1996. I got my hands on a shareware midi-program, and
later ft2... and I was stuck.

Oh... If I wanna draw something, I do it on paper, not in Photoshop :)

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

First, I got hooked on Mario Paint for the Super Nintendo. I can't deny that it
taught me a lot. (One day MP will be considered an item of cult... I'm sure...)
Then I got a PC and found a shareware program called NoteWorthy Composer and
wrote a bunch of midis. Luckily a friend of mine saved me by giving me
Fasttracker 2 =) and that's the only tracker program I've ever really used.
And I've used it a lot. I have tried Madtracker as well, but it's not the same
thing. Lately I've been using Reason for the most.

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

Second to the pleasure of having completed a song, the goal for me is that the
song will be remembered, immortalised. A couple of my songs have reached - and
possibly surpassed - these goals. "On Cloud NiNe" for instance. That was just
gonna be "elevator music" for a multimedia project at school. It ended up
"Best Piano" at a compo, and has gotten a bunch of great reviews. Another one is
"Ingenious", which was in the top three downloaded modules at Hornet for three
months. I never expected that :)

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

That's hard to say. I usually say that there is only one song which I'm truely
ashamed of having released. I won't name it, it's not on the Internet, and you
should be glad it isn't =) cause it's not music. It's not harmonic. It's not
me. But - I cannot say I'd like to forget it. It's still a part of me, so to
speak, and I have to torture myself by listening to it a couple of times every
year.

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

Humans have five senses. A demo or game can only trigger two of these - sight
and hearing. Additionally they can trigger emotions, and they can impress (do
you remember playing Doom for the first time?). Of course, all of these are
connected, and music is a very important part. I think it's great that newer
demos often have good music sync, because that makes the experience more whole
and enjoyable. 4k-demos are excused.

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

Yes, in my spare time, for the fun of it.

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

The mp3 format is great for two things: it is always played the way you
intended it to be, and "everyone" knows it. A really good way to spread your
music to a wider audience.

Concerning Midi, I've come to the conclusion that it should never be distributed.
Keep the files to yourself, 'cause they don't sound the same on my computer
anyway... But I'm sure it's great for those who use it.

One major experience-thing about modules is watching the tracks roll by in
Cubic Player. I miss that. It gave so much to the feeling.

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

Yes, but I can only fit 32k in Notepad, so I'll have to shorten the list down =)

"Shady Eyes" by Anders Åkerheden, "Liberator" by Nighthawk, "T-4" by Warder,
"Volume" by Hunz, "Cool City 1.2" by Purple Motion, "Fountain of Sighs" by
Unreal, "Iridium" by Misty and Daeron, "Marsian Girl" by Radix, "Defloration"
by Emax, "Compulsion to Obey" by Lizardking...

Who am I kidding? I'm a sucker for all Lizardking-songs... and Hunz, Elwood,
Scirocco, Tito and Awesome... Anyway, I think I covered a lot of styles, and
they have all been influences to me.

What a mean question... I'd like to change my answer to "dir D:\MOD /s" :)

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

I have done that with quite a few of my songs, remastered and burnt audio-CDs,
but the CDs are mainly for personal use. I'll probably put the corresponding
mp3s online some day. My intention has never been to earn money on this, my
hobby.

12-What bands are you currently listenning to?

That's not an easy question to answer. The only CDs I own are by Jean Michel
Jarre and the Swedish rock artist Magnus Uggla, and I guess I listen a lot to
them. But I also listen a lot to MTV (no, I don't watch, I just listen)... and
Weird Al-mp3s...! =) and some 80s music like Alphaville. But it varies...
S.P.O.C.K. is an all time favourite.

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

It impressed me. It caught me. It made me a lot nerdier.
But I was never part of it.

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

Well I keep a homepage with my songs, although most new releases are in mp3
format. I try to keep up with what's happening by reading scenerelated news
and downloading new demos and songs every once in a while. I've also made an
effort to download songs that I once had but don't anymore. I've opened my
mod-directory for friends to download from (it will be online some day, when
we all have servers and our own dns-entries). And finally, when I feel like it
I will finish off the few of my remaining unfinished modules and release. I
really hope I will make new modules too, although that's too much to hope for...

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

I would like to thank and greet the following people:
- my friend and former classmate BBD for introducing me to ft2,
- Red Remedy for the Music Pool BBS,
- Nighthawk and Muzicae D for starting ProFound Sound and letting me in :),
- Anders "Åkerheden" Arrenius for inspiration,
- Love Bellinder for giving me the tape with Lizardking-music,
- Philip Jurdell for constant feed-back,
- all sceners...

And a special greeting to all oldskool musicians and coders, whether you're
composing 4 channel chips or writing 68k-emulators for use in true Amiga mod
playback. You make sure we never forget where it all started.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
please note: this interview is ©opyrighted in 2002 by crown of cryptoburners
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Quick Search

Random link

Database Stats

Interview