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Table Of Contents
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Opening:
Message From the Editor
Columns:
Monthly Software Review -- MP3Spy v1.0
Screen Lit Vertigo -- "GoatAge" by Noice
Features:
NAIDorabilia
Interview With Andrew Sega ("Necros")
Closing:
Credits
--=--=--
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Message From the Editor
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LOTS OF NEWS THIS MONTH. There's been a lot of little odd and end
things that I need to get tied up...so they get included in this long
message from the editor. =)
First of all, many of you wrote in that our web address was
incorrect. There were 4 messages in all, and I thank you for paying
attention. I wish I could say that I was just testing you, but this was
a slip-up on my part, and I appologize.
Next line of business, dead e-mail addresses. I had a lot of them on
the mailing list this past month. Jim and I managed to clean it up a
bit though, and we deleted several addresses that responded with fatal
errors. If you're wondering, that's why our subscriber count is down
from last month -- not that we've lost any, just because some of those
counted last month didn't exist. Meanwhile, if you're going to loose
your e-mail address, please unsubscribe. If you've already lost it, the
least you could do is let me know. Thanks.
Wow...this could turn out to be a long message from the editor. =)
Next in line is my new e-mail address. If you aren't the type who
reads the closing very much, please realize that I have a new e-mail
address. My school account still exists, and will continue to do so
until I officially graduate next year. However, it automatically
forwards all my mail to the new address anyhow. On top of that, I'll
have a better file-size cap on my new address. The new address is
"coplan.ic@rcn.com"
Last thing before I introduce the articles for the month, I'm looking
to get a hold of Ranger Rick. If anyone has _ANY_ information on where
I can reach him (or if Ranger is out there somewhere), please contact
me. His e-mail address as listed on the closing is inaccurate, as it
will return an unknown user. The closing will change when we contact
him.
Now, the articles for this month (finally). I have good news and bad
news. First the bad news: I've been very busy the last few weeks
searching for jobs, so I wasn't able to do a song review this month. I
appologize, but life should get simpler soon, and I may have a partner
as well. So my column is out. However, Glen Warner (who wrote us some
feedback a few months ago) sent us his interview with Necros. He did a
phenominal job, and we thank him profusely for it. It's in our feature
articles section this month. Also among our features is a
"NAIDorabilia" sale maintained by Andy Voss. Among our regular columns,
we have a review of MP3spy and a review of Noise's "GoatAge." Dilvish
is moveing again (poor guy, hope its his last for a while), so Zen of
Tracking will return at a later date. We thank you for your patience.
--Coplan
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Montly Software Review
MP3Spy v1.0
By: Louis Gorenfeld
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Nearly everybody on the Internet has heard of the MP3 format, and
most definetly all computer music freaks have. However, fewer people
realize that it can be streamed over connections as slow as 28.8 modems
and even fewer know about MP3Spy.
MP3spy is a program that basically catagorizes and lists Shoutcast
streaming mp3 servers. The program, after you click on the catagory of
music you would like to listen to, presents you with information about
each mp3 server listed including ping time (speed), number of listeners,
bitrate (quality, red means your connection can't handle it) and the
average time that the server is up. The beta versions were more presice
in the information and gave exact ping times and playback rates, though
I assume this was too confusing for the majority of Internet users.
There is also a description of each server.
Each station also comes with an IRC-style chat room that you
automatically join when clicking on the server. I don't know if this is
really needed since people do not usually say anything. After you start
listening, you are also presented with serveral options including buying
the cd which is currently playing or going to the station's web page.
The sound quality is very good for the rate (which varies from 8 or
so all the way to 128kbps), and I personally prefer it to RealAudio as
it seems to be much clearer even at very low rates, and is also faster
loading. Also, you can run your own Shoutcast MP3 server as long as you
have a fast enough connection and computer (complete instructions on
mp3spy site).
System Requirements:
* Pentium processor or fast 486, ~16MB RAM
* Windows 95
* WinAmp preferred ( http://www.winamp.com )
What you get:
* Hours of free music provided you can find a station you like
* Slick and quick interface
* Annoying advertisements (registered users can toggle them)
* Neat MP3spy WinAmp skin
* Rating: 3+/4 ( along with external players this puts other
streaming audio programs to shame )
Where to get it:
http://www.mp3spy.com
--Louis Gorenfeld
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Screen Lit Vertigo
"GoatAge" by Noice (party version)
By: Seven
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Found at www.scene.org
1st place at Remedy'99
System requirements:
PII 233 or better, 5.5 MB HD, 64 MB RAM but 128 recommended, because
otherwise swapping will cause slowdowns. Windows9x, there are two
exe-files: one for DirectX (Fullscreen) and one windowed version (using
GDI, don't know what that means).
Test Machine:
PII 350 64MB SB16, Win98
The demo:
This is definitely one of the best demos I've seen recently, despite
the fact that it is a (slow) partyversion, and win-only. It has a
strange kind of feeling, as there are impressive and well-done effects,
but often with funny details or crazy "poems", like:
I walk my path
to the virtual goatland
facing my destiny
at the edge of destruction
reaching out for my life
On the 3D-side, there is a scary ride in some metro-tunnels, a
strange phong-shaded globe-like thingy with three mirrors,
particle-trails and lots of flares (visual overkill, but I like it a
lot), and lots of smaller objects, like a recursive cube, usually with a
nice background and/or an additional 2D-effect.
The radial blur is a bit over-used sometimes, for example during the
credits. Maybe that's why they show them again at the end, in a (very
slow) upscroll. There are some nice transitions between parts, like the
strange 2D-plasma that wraps around an object, revealing the next part.
There is one funny hand-drawn picture, of an angry goat, the others are
photoshopped backgrounds of an astronaut in space, a human skull with
green brains and Leonardo Da Vinci's human body (you know, with the arms
& legs spread and a circle around it).
There's no real theme in it, but somehow, they seem to fit the
demo. The big white font at the beginning and the end is a bit ugly due
to anti-aliasing (no, sometimes it's just not necessary).
The music:
There are two tunes, the main theme and the outtro. The main theme
starts slowly with a soft melody and slow drums, then it gets more
rhythmical, a bit theatrical at the title sequence. Then we hear a voice
sample (something about nuclear weapons, while the goat-picture is shown
:)), and after that it burst into a typical demo-soundtrack: lots of
fast percussion together with a catchy tune, with an occasional break or
a slower part, for example in the metro-tunnels. The endtune is really
well done, a nostalgic melody alternated by military-style drum rolls,
with the typical "It's all over, folks"-feeling.
The main parts of the demo are synchronized to the music, so due to
the swapping-slowdowns, some parts might end too fast (some messages are
shown only half etc).
Overall:
Well, the first time I watched it, I was really curious what would
follow next, all through the demo. No "oh no, not again a <totally
overused effect>!" feeling, it really grabs your attention (although in
my case, my attention was easy to get as I should have been studying
"object-oriented languages and software development II"). It's varied,
never boring, the music is great and there is some humor in it, albeit
rather strange humor :). The most bad points are on the technical side,
the swapping-slowdowns are really irritating, and sometimes a few meshes
disappear (DirectX error?). I hope they'll fix that in the final
version. Also, there is no greeting-part, of course this is not an
"error", but when I first noticed it, it felt so strange that I watched
it again just to check if I overlooked it. So maybe it's better to wait
for the final, but if you're curious: go ahead, you'll enjoy it anyway.
Secret part:
To see the "secret part" mentioned in the info-file, add the word
"goatpower" on the first line of the README.TXT. It wasn't really hard
to find, as the .exe is not zipped, and you can find "goatpower" next to
"readme.txt" in it.
--Seven
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NAIDorabilia
By: Andy Voss
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I would like to proudly announce that my NAID CD-ROM project is
complete. It is officially titled "NAIDorabilia". With the help of many
people over a six-month period, I have collected the following material
for the CD:
ALL the '96 compo entries
95% of the '95 compo entries (missing a few gfx, 3 songs, and 1
intro)
1.5 hours of audio footage from '96
1.5 hours of video footage from '95 and '96
400+ photos from '95 and '96
invtros, reports, results, and related text files
bonus North American demoscene memorabilia
tons of hidden files and other surprises
The price of the CD, including shipping and handling, is:
$12.00 (US and Canada)
$13.00 (international)
Both prices are in US funds.
This is a very limited production. As of 6/18/99 only 74 CDs remain.
To reserve your copy, fill out the order form, available at
http://www.erols.com/vossa/naid/naidcd_order.txt.
--Andy Voss (Phoenix / DC5 / Hornet alum)
--=--=--
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Interview With Andrew Sega ("Necros")
By: G.D. Warner ("Mage")
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This interview was conducted via e-mail over the period from
September 1998 to November 1998.
Andrew Sega, known throughout the world of computer music as
"Necros," has been an active force on the scene for about 6 years now,
though only recently being noticed world wide. If you haven't heard of
him, you are missing some really good music -- and you should take steps
to remedy that situation quickly! For those of you who have heard of
him, this interview provides some insight into the workings of a very
talented musician.
Mage: We'll start off with a few easy questions: real name, handle(s),
groups (old and new) occupation ....
Necros: My name is Andrew Sega, in the scene known as Necros (currently
in the group Five Musicians... and at times: Kosmic, Psychic Monks,
DC5, many others). Currently I work at a computer game company called
Digital Anvil, in Austin, Texas.
Mage: What do you do for Digital Anvil?
Necros: Believe it or not, I'm a 3D graphics programmer. :) I've
always been interested in the coding side of things, algorithms and
such. I've actually been programming almost as long as I've been
composing. It's a nice break from music (which can be quite stifling).
Currently I'm working on scene optimization, rendering algorithms,
object physics, etc. Music is nothing but ratios and harmonic math,
anyways *grin*.
Mage: Will they let you do any music for their games? Do they even know
of your extracurricular (musical) activities?
Necros: They do know of my music, in fact Martin Galway (of old-school
C64 fame) is our audio director. However, it seems that most of our
producers are into either orchestral or 80's pop-rock styles, which can
be suitably composed by many people other than myself.
Mage: Where did your nickname come from?
Necros: I honestly have no idea. I picked it when I was seventeen. Later
I found out there was a punk band in NYC called the 'Necros'. The
concept of handles (nicknames) came from the old hacker scene...
everyone wants to have alter egos....
Mage: How did you get started writing mods?
Necros: Pretty much the same way everyone else did - finding a demo or
tune by accident, and being amazed at the quality. For me that moment
was in early 1993, when a friend was watching Future Crew's "Unreal"
demo, and marveling at the musical quality (9 channels on a
SoundBlaster!). After a bit of digging, I discovered the 'demo scene'
as it were, and the underground movement which was well underway. I
managed to grab a copy of the original FastTracker 1.0, and
immediately started spending many late nights hacking away at the
thing. It was amazing, to me, to see that such a powerful tool was
available to the 'scene'. From there I started working backwards a
bit, discovering the older Amiga scene, and realizing how the
evolution of the MOD had come about.
Mage: Who were you listening to during this period? What interested you
in that particular song/composer?
Necros: I liked the early Purple Motion stuff. I learned a lot from
analyzing tunes like "Starshine" and the 2nd Reality stuff, both for
technique and for tonal qualities. There was a lot of decent Amiga
stuff to listen to as well, if you could get past the quirkiness (or
uniqueness, it could be argued) of 4 channels. Back then there wasn't
very much PC composition at all, in fact it was rare to even see
anything more than bad 8 channel .MOD's until FC
['Future Crew' --gdw] released ScreamTracker 3 in 1994.
Mage: How long have you been composing?
Necros: It will be almost six years now.
Mage: How many songs have you tracked?
Necros: Finished songs? Probably around four hundred or so.
Mage: What equipment do you use?
Necros: You really don't need any equipment to track. I still sometimes
work off of my old 486 DX4/100, with a Gravis Ultrasound (hardware
channel mixing). I have a fairly large sample collection from various
synths and sample CD's. I also like to take little snippets from
commercial (i.e. real music) CD's when I hear something special.
Mage: No synths/keyboards?
Necros: Well actually I do have a Roland XP-50 which I make strange
patches with, in the past I've taken sounds from various synths that
I've borrowed: Korg X3, Roland SH-101, even a Juno 106 once.
Mage: Do you have any formal musical training? What instrument(s)?
Necros: I've always been a keyboard player. When I was 14 or so, I was
subbing as a church organist on weekends (seriously!). Probably been
playing keyboards in one form or the other for at least 10 years now.
I've also picked up a fair bit of guitar and bass, and some wind
instruments. Once you have a basic grasp of the theories underlying
music, you can pretty much pick up any instrument you want.
Mage: Do you play any ragtime or stride piano? I'm asking because most
keyboard players seem to neglect their left hands, according to an
Australian music salesman I spoke with a few years ago
(he was watching me play Joplin's "Maple Leaf Rag" with some envy
at the time...).
Necros: I agree. I do play a bit of ragtime, some Joplin and such.
Although in my opinion Gershwin is the master of 'progressive
ragtime', some of his left hand passages are frustratingly intricate.
Not only do most musicians neglect their left hands on a piano, they
neglect the bottom end of their mixes when tracking. I've always
tried to put interesting bass lines and drums to contrast a bit with
the melodies, and add a bit of colour.
Mage: (*heh*!) Two words: 'Art Tatum'! :o) Love those walking tenths.
What is your reach, by the way?
Necros: Heh. My left hand tends to rebel once I go past octaves.
However, you can always sequence what you can't play. :)
Mage: How important do you feel is a knowledge of music theory to a
tracker? Has it helped you compose?
Necros: I think it's fairly important to do anything meaningful. If you
don't know _anything_ about music theory, you'll be handicapped a
bit. I don't have very good technical knowledge (i.e. high-end
jazz/modal theory) but I do know the basics and every little bit
helps. I wouldn't make the mistake of saying music theory is the sole
key to successful tracking, however. A good rhythmic and sonic sense
is also extremely important.
Mage: All musicians seem to write their tunes differently; how did
"Realization" come together?
Necros: Well, the intro progression (D, D/C G9/B G2/Bb) is very
Beatles-esque and probably came from such. Once you have a good chord
motif, it's pretty easy to hear in your head what sort of a groove
you want to put behind it. The tracker forces you to be a bit austere
in your orchestration...2 channels for drums (bass drum/snare,
hihat, lots of volume twiddling and offset), 1 for the guitar + 2
echo tracks, chord track for warmth (the samples are backward Enya
pads if I remember correctly), one for the bass, and 2 more for clean
guitar arpeggios. During the B3 solo near the end I had to double the
speed of the piece to fit the 16th notes in the patterns - tracker
limitations strike again.
Mage: Does this technique hold true for all of your tunes? That is, do
you find a good chord progression and go from there?
Necros: Yes, almost to a fault. I've been fascinated with arcane chord
progressions since I was young. The trick is to keep them
interesting, while still in the realm of 'normality' (otherwise the
listener has no context to appreciate the progressions in). It's
tough to do really unique orchestrations in a tracker simply because
there's not that much sample space to go around. You are much more
dependent on your melodies and progressions to carry the songs for
you. I'm not even going to mention the pain that is caused by having
to make most songs without vocals....
Mage: What is the weirdest chord progression you've run across?
Necros: Well anyone can make a 'weird' progression by randomly picking
triads. I love Gershwin-style chords (the second part of Rhapsody,
perhaps). Also I'm a big fan of Sundays / Cocteau Twins - style
layered chords (Cmaj7 - Bbmaj7/F -F9 - G9). When I first got into
tracking I loved the chords from Purple Motion's "Starshine"
(Am - G9 - Bb - C9... Cm7 - Bb - Db - Eb... simple but effective).
Mage: Believe it or not, there are a few people reading that have never
even *seen* a tracker before, let alone tried writing a tune in one.
Could you describe how you go about actually creating a tune, from
start to finish (you know ... idea, sample selection, etc., etc.)?
Necros: Using a tracker is like writing a tune on a Scrabble board.
You're putting samples in discrete slots, and applying different
effects (denoted by letters ... yes it's archaic). The first thing
you do is get the basic idea. Then you attempt to find a basic sample
set. I prefer to do the rhythmic stuff first ... basses, drums,
loops, etc. After you have that, you go through the normal stages of
composition, ripping stuff out, putting new samples in, rearranging
sections. Once you get used to the tracker interface, it's not that
much different from MIDI sequencing. The one really neat thing about
trackers is that you get very low-level control over your samples --
volume, panning, effects and such. It's very easy, for example, to
create intricate slice-and-dice rhythms using bits of samples (Skinny
Puppy-style). Conversely it's much harder to do long drawn out pads
and sustained chords well, due to limited sample sizes and the
inherent quantization of the tracker. It's a hard beast to master,
but when you've got it, you can do things you could never do in DLS
or MIDI specs, and end up with file sizes so ludicrously small (way
under 1 MB) that you can realistically distribute tunes over the
internet.
Mage: Now that you have a Real Job(tm), do you find it interferes with
your tracking?
Necros: Absolutely. But I don't mind much; I've spent so much of my life
full-time tracking that I'm almost happy to relegate it to part-time
status.
Mage: 'Five Musicians'. Who else is in this group?
Necros: Me, Basehead (Dan Grandpre, US), Mellow-D (Jaakko Manninen,
Finland), WAVE (Jeroen Tel, Netherlands), and Hunz (Hans van Vliet,
Australia).
Mage: Do you work on tunes as a group, or just individually?
Necros: Originally we had hoped to do all tunes as cooperative efforts
between one or more of us. Unfortunately it's a logistical nightmare
over the internet. Passing songs back and forth gets tedious quickly.
There have been a few successful efforts so far, but not many.
Nowadays we are mostly doing individual releases and hoping that as a
group we have (or appear to have) some sort of unified vision. :)
Mage: You've alluded to difficulties with 5-way collaborations amongst
the Five Musicians. How bad was it? Was the song ever completed? What
was it?
Necros: Well, a five-way collaboration (in the true sense) is almost
impossible. I remember some attempts (on IRC) by people trying to get
9, 10 people to all work on bits of a large song. The result usually
was an incoherent stylistic mishmash. There have been a lot of 2-way
collaborations, though, me and Basehead on "Riff", Basehead and
Mellow-D in "Digital Ritual", etc.
Mage: Impulse Tracker 3.0 apparently will include networking
capabilities. Had you heard anything about this?
Necros: Nope... how exactly would that work? Two people entering tracker
data at the same time? Sounds a bit confusing (unless you threw in
some sort of I-Phone or equivalent to facilitate realtime voice
communication).
Mage: Alas, all the web page (http://mp3.musichall.cz/IT3/) says, under
the list of new features, "Network multi-user tracking (Jeffrey
Lim's idea)". I would suspect some sort of TCP/IP interface... you
know, like playing "Myth: The Fallen Lords" or "Quake" over the net,
possibly with something like "Publish and Subscribe" thrown in. Since
you are dealing with TCP/IP anyway, I don't see any reason one
couldn't set up a conference call while they're tracking.
Necros: Certainly it's an option. As with any collaboration, you have to
find someone that's in your 'mode' of making music. When physical
distance isn't a barrier, it may help people find collaborative
companions anywhere on the planet.
Mage: You've done a few collaborations with other musicians ("Dance of
the Dead" with Chromatic Dragon, "Search for the Lost Riff", with
Basehead, etc.). How does one write a tune in this fashion --
especially when the participants are in two different countries?
Necros: Usually you try to pass the tune back and forth in some fashion.
Sometimes it's via e-mail, or sometimes it's even as simple as taking
turns on the keyboard {"Riff" was done that way, at a party :)}.
Unfortunately it doesn't usually work too well because the people are
constantly trying to push the piece in different directions. The
success is totally dependent on the the mixture of the composers'
styles... if the ingredients clash, so will the song....
Mage: Where can one download the Five Musicians' tunes?
Necros: ftp://ftp.scene.org/pub/music/groups/fm
Mage: FM has undergone a few changes over the years. Wasn't Big Jim a
member at one time? Also, Zodiak and Vic have departed. What caused
the personnel changes?
Necros: Big Jim was one of our first members. Unfortunately he sort of
faded out of the scene. Zodiak filled in at one point, he's a great
guy. Vic was also in for a while (and is a very talented tracker),
but we had a few interpersonal conflicts in the group. It's hard
finding a good mix of people that won't sit and scream at each other.
Usually musicians have egos and personality quirks which makes it
difficult to form collaborative efforts (for long periods of time,
anyways).
Mage: What do you feel are your strengths as a tracker ... and your
weaknesses?
Necros: I like to tell myself that I have a good harmonic sense. I also
think I'm fairly good at diverse orchestrations. I've been trying to
improve my rhythm tracking skills lately (creating my own loops and
such). Also I'm exploring more offbeat styles.
Mage: So you feel your weakness is rhythm?
Necros: Until recently, I was afraid to explore non 4/4 styles ...
probably because of all that pop in me. Lately I've been trying to
mix things up more, experiment with offset (Photek-style) breakbeats,
even 3/4 electronica. However, I'm not a big fan of asynchronicity
just for its own sake - a lot of people push rhythmic variation so
far that the basic pulse of the music gets lost (and the listener is
confused).
Mage: You wrote a short-lived newsletter on writing mods (SIGNALS, 1 -
5). How did that come about?
Necros: Arrogance, most likely (*grin*). I was amazed at the lack of
information available about tracking, and decided to try to write a
series of newsletters which would concentrate on intermediate-level
tracking tips. It was pretty successful, but I didn't have much time
to continue it during semesters. We tried a few years later to do the
same thing, again, with a mag called Dissonance, but it suffered the
same fate. There were also articles here and there in TraxWeekly,
back when it was on a consistent "1 issue per week" schedule. All in
the name of helping one's fellow man. :)
Mage: Could you describe Dissonance? Is it still available somewhere?
Necros: I'm sure it's out there somewhere. I don't think I even have a
copy of it anymore. It was a DOS-based .exe, that was an interface to
read articles with. We had quite a few articles, maybe twenty or
thirty pages worth. I doubt it'd run under Win98 though :)
Mage: By now, you have probably played with most of the trackers out
there. Which ones have you used?
Necros: I'm an Impulse Tracker junkie, command line-style interfaces
give a warm and fuzzy feeling inside. It's just as good as the newer
versions of FastTracker, and I find it slightly faster to work with.
At this stage of the game it's basically a choice of which UI you
prefer. There are some new trackers on the horizon, with more
realtime DSP and distinctively non-tracker style (MIDI) song
construction capabilities. I don't know at what point a tracker
becomes functionally equivalent to some of the regular MIDI-based
sample sequencing tools; but I suspect that day is rapidly
approaching. Trackers were much more interesting when they were the
only cheap 'underground' tools which allowed you to put together
professional-sounding multitrack recordings on cheap vanilla
soundcards. Unfortunately, as technology has improved, that which was
'underground' now heads towards obsolecence.
Mage: A lot of mod musicians are requesting a Windows-based tracker
(according to Antoine Rosset, author of the Macintosh tracker,
PlayerPRO). Wouldn't you be able to work just as fast (or faster) in
a GUI? For instance, a repetitive bass line or drum sequence can be
created once, and copied and pasted with a couple mouse clicks.
Necros: Yes. I'm not saying that it's impossible to make a fast and
easy-to-use GUI tracker, just that it hasn't been done yet :) At what
point, though, do you end up writing a cheap version of Pro Tools?
Once you start using huge 16bit samples, 32+ tracks, realtime DSP, et
cetera, the 'tracker' is essentially turned into a high-end sequencer
with primarily a keyboard (as opposed to MIDI) interface.
Mage: Samples are the 'Heart and Soul' of tracked music. Your samples
are of a very high quality (amplitude, etc.). Do you make your own?
What do you use?
Necros: I rip a bit, make a bit ... I think you have to do both to get a
good sample set. I've made quite a few on my XP-50 by taking patches
and twiddling synth parameters until the sound goes haywire, and then
sampling the resultant waveforms. I haven't extensively used sample
CD's too much, but I'm getting into that more and more. Since most
people who track have limited income/resources {otherwise they would
be using real samplers, not trackers:)}, you have to be creative in
your sampling.
Mage: Many mod musicians dislike it when other musicians use their
samples without crediting the source (a.k.a. 'ripping'). What are
your thoughts about this issue?
Necros: Many samples are so ubiquitous these days that it's difficult to
determine the original source. Also, it's very easy to disguise a
sample by processing it a bit in SoundForge or something similar. I
think that the public judges a song on the overall feel, not
individual samples. If a sample contributes too heavily to the song,
and the sample is recognized, the opinion of the piece goes down. So
you sort of dig your own hole if you use too many 909's and distorted
303's and old Amiga samples.
Mage: Do you see the arrival of the ".MP3-wave" as a threat to tracking?
Necros: With the increased transmission bandwidth available nowadays via
the internet, and cheap fast modems, I think the tracked format is
losing some of its advantages. An MP3 is only 4-5 times bigger than
the typical XM or IT, and you get 'unlimited' sample usage. I also
think that MP3 is an excellent medium for mass distribution of music,
at least for the next year of two. The sonic artifacts are very
minimal. Plus you don't have the ability to 'rip' the author's
samples.
Mage: There has been some discussion about a given mod musicians' music
being included in games, movies, etc. without the musicians
permission... and, of course, no payment. Has anything like this
ever happened with one of your tunes (that you know of)?
Necros: I've been asked many times to allow my tunes to be used in
various mediums: games, short films, college radio, etc. Usually I've
been pretty obliging. It's unfortunately difficult to actually
enforce/sue people if they did use songs without permission. I've
never really had anyone 'steal' one of my songs and use it in any
mass market medium, though. {well, at least I haven't heard of any
yet :) }. Another way to look at it: if I was obsessed with making
money off of my music, I wouldn't have released it for free on the
internet for the last 5 years.
Mage: College radio, eh? I've thought about sending a tape full of mods
to a college radio station to gauge the audience reaction. Have any
of these DJs given you any feedback?
Necros: Nothing that I've heard anyways :) I know a bunch of people that
have done 'mod-heavy' shows on their college radio stations. It's
hard to find a mass audience for some of this stuff because it's
definitely a unique sound. Only recently has the style and technology
taken tracking to a level where it can be indistinguishable from
normal CD tracks.
Mage: You have an uncredited song in the newly released game "Unreal"
("Isotoxin", on the 'Outpost 3J' level). How did that come about?
Necros: I've known Alex Brandon for a while (from the demo-scene), and
he asked if he could use it in an Unreal level. For some reason, the
proper credits didn't get put in the US version, but I've forgiven
him. :o) That game is a nice example of modern "mod" technology ....
Mage: Another objection I've heard is the inclusion of a musician's song
on a mod compilation CD -- also with no permission. What are your
feelings on this?
Necros: Some of those mod compilation CD's have so many songs on them,
it'd be impossible to track all of yours down. And usually the
creators are fairly poor sceners in Europe who are trying to hype up
their group/bbs/site; it would be highly unlikely that you could get
damages from them. All of the compilations I've been involved with
(the Hornet ones, ACE, Mods Anthology) have been very professional in
asking for proper rights, and I respect that.
Mage: I'm familiar with Mods Anthology (I have a copy and recommend it
highly), but I am not familiar with the Hornet CDs or the ACE ones
(what's ACE? :o) See what I mean?).
Necros: Hornet released a bunch of CD's ... "Hornet Underground",
"Hornet Mods", which are basically big dumps of their archive.
Unfortunately the archive is being shut down, so they may not be
available indefinitely. http://www.hornet.org/ha/pages/cdroms.html
Necros (continuing): ACE is a French BBS which was WHQ for quite a lot
of groups, they burned a bunch of archive dumps as well ... I can't
find any contact info on them at the moment, though.
Mage: What do you consider your personal 'Top Ten' tunes? ... and why?
Necros: It's hard to quantify a 'top ten' list of songs for many
reasons. I like many styles of music, and it's difficult to compare
radically divergent types of music with each other. There are many
amazing tracked tunes that have been written over the years. Some of
my favorites would be:
-- Hunz, "Volume" - This is still one of the best 'vocal-using' songs
that I've heard. Fantastic singing (the rapping isn't so hot, though),
great mixture of styles.
-- Dune, "X14" - Perfect techno technique. Strange ethereal blips and
pads, great loops, fits the demo perfectly.
-- Skaven, "Ice Frontier" - This was the ultimate 'demo-style' tune
back in '94. Excellent progression, great feel, epic sound.
-- Zauron, "Lovelight' - This year's MC6 winner. A very catchy
GLU/Underworld "electronica-rock" piece with great vocals.
Mage: Same question -- but about your own compositions.
Necros: It's hard to pick favorites, but I'll try:
"Hypercontrol" - This was written for the Epidemic disk, many years
ago. It's my take on the archetypical 'demo' song. The samples are
a bit dated, but I think the basic ideas shine through pretty well.
"Realization" - This was probably my best take on the tracker-rock
genre. It's difficult to get that alt-rock feel when your notes are
continually quantized and you can't get good tonal variations
(simulating real acoustic instruments is a bitch). Some of my later
songs in this style ("Revelation") have better technique and sound,
but I think this one has the best basic songwriting behind it.
"Orchard Street" - The best of the jazz-style tunes ... I really like
how the changes worked out. This was also probably the last of that
style I'll ever write, I'm much more into 'electronica' (yeah, I know
it's cliche these days).
"Martian Lovesong" - This is probably my favorite. It's unfortunate
that it's still unfinished, but it was done in a hurry as the MC5
deadline approached. I have a couple of attempts at a longer remix
started - I hope to finish at least one of them.
"River Boat" - My "System" disk was sort of a departure in that I
didn't follow many of the song forms I chose to in the past. This song
is a good example - much more moodyand atmospheric than some of my past
stuff, without being too sleep-inducing. :)
Mage: Often, musicians (trackers included) wish to remix one (or more)
of their compositions. Aside from "Martian Lovesong", are there any
of your tunes that you would like to go through and ... fix?
Necros: A lot of songs have various strange oddities in them - usually
this is the result of late-night dementia. Many times, however,
these little quirks contribute to the songs' charm, and you lose
something intangible by getting rid of them. Sometimes if you polish
too much, you rub off the shine.
Mage: How about anyone else's tunes (both tracked and commercial)?
Necros: Oh, all the time I'll hear songs on the radio that I want to
remix. Usually it involves putting stranger and/or more fleshed out
harmonies in them. Every musician, I guess, wants to alter the world
to his or her taste in some fashion ... that's part of why I write
music.
Mage: Your music disk "System" includes a version of "Silent Night". How
did you arrive at this particular arrangement?
Necros: It's pretty much along the same lines -- I wanted to try putting
a bit more harmony in the mix, maybe use some 9ths and some layered
pads, see what I could come up with.
Mage: Your musical style varies quite a bit. Which styles have you
covered? ... and any plans to cover styles (reggae, etc.) you haven't
covered?
Necros: I've pretty much covered all the styles that I like. ;)
Alt-rock, folk, techno, ambient, jazz, synth-pop. I try to avoid
categorizing music as much as I can, though. Everyone steals so much
from everyone else these days, the lines between genres are very
washed-out.
Mage: With reference to jazz tunes, I liked your piece "The Grey Note".
Nice Branford Marsalis samples, good 'live' feel ... more of a
'straight-ahead' jazz feel. How did this tune come about (source of
inspiration/idea, etc.)?
Necros: I was talking to Basehead on IRC one day about chord
progressions and he mentioned a neat 4-chord intro sequence (the
first four chords of the song)... The samples are taken from the end
of Sting's "Englishman in New York" (chopped, sliced and diced). The
resulting sax sequenced sounds absolutely nothing like the part that
was played in the original riff that the samples were taken from (it
was about 8 hours of work to get the reassembled solo to sound
half-decent).
Mage: From "Englishman in New York"? The 8 hours of work paid off -- I
had no idea the samples were from that particular tune (and I used to
listen to that CD a *lot*). The only reason I knew it was Branford
Marsalis is because of his characteristic style of playing, which you
captured quite well.
Necros: I wasn't really trying to 'emulate' his style per se, it was
more figuring out what I could do with the samples. It's actually
refreshing at times to work backwards in that way ... taking a fixed
set of samples and trying to create something of quality out of them.
Mage: Musician's styles ... I can name a few musicians I can identify
just by their style of playing (Paul Desmond (alto sax), Dave McKenna
and Oscar Peterson (piano), Herb Albert (trumpet), Ella Fitzgerald
and Astrud Gilberto (singers), etc.). Are there any other musicians
you sample (or plan to in the future) of this caliber?
Necros: Stylistic evolution comes from listening to what other people
have done and making a Darwinistic modification. You can do this in
tracked music, sequenced music, acoustic music .... certainly in the
digital age it's more an issue of sampling. I'd like to see people
try to sample the sound less and try to sample the style a bit more.
Some people see this sort of 'copying' as offensive ... I'm inclined
to think the opposite - all music is built on imitation and
expansion.
Mage: Sting said at one time or another that "jazz is where bored rock
musicians go". Which style do you move towards when you are bored?
Necros: Unfortunately Sting's jazz work isn't nearly as inventive as his
rock songs (*grin*). For me it's loud, angry, distorted, asynchronous
techno. I think we'll soon see a new breed of musicians who have both
a modern chordal sense (jazz) and a high comfort level with
synthesizers and new breeds of sounds (from the electronica/techno/dj
scene).
Mage: In my opinion, Sting's "Dream of the Blue Turtles", "Nothing Like
the Sun" and "Bring on the Night" were his best (notwithstanding his
work with The Police, of course) ... after that, it went downhill.
Necros: Agreed. His songwriting style was quite influential (such
classics as "Synchronicity II", ""Fortress Around Your Heart", and
even more obscure songs such as "Secret Journey").
Mage: Why do you track?
Necros: To keep myself sane. Perhaps to get the noises in my head into a
tangible medium.
Mage: What is your ultimate musical goal?
Necros: One day I'd like to direct and score something interactive (this
is why I'm in the computer games industry). Something with style, not
one of the mundane shoot-em-ups that pervade the marketplace today.
Mage: Is there anything you'd like to say before we close?
Necros: A quick hello to all the people who've helped the tracking
'scene' to thrive over the years. There's a lot of good music out
there, all of it for free, that deserves to be more widely heard. Our
website is currently at http://www.fm.org, and there is an FTP server
as well that you can grab older releases from
ftp://ftp.scene.org/pub/music/groups/fm.
Mage: Thank you, Andy "Necros" Sega.
Mods Anthology can be ordered here:
http://www.schatztruhe.de/softe/modsant.html
Mirrors for the FM.ORG site:
Holland: ftp://ftp.nl.scene.org/pub/scene.org.
Japan: ftp://ftp.jp.scene.org/pub/scene
--Glen "Mage" Warner
gdwarner@ricochet.net
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