BLuRry/0P8 interviews Deathjester -- an Amiga-borne modtracker
BLuRry/0P8 -- Br:
Deathjester -- DJ:
BR: Its been a while since youve been in the scene hasnt it?
DJ: Well all my mods with the two recent exceptions of course were
written between 1989 and 1992 when I was in high school back on
my Amigas. It has kinda been awhile I guess.
BR: So is there any story behind the creation of the handle Deathjester that
can be retold?
DJ: Nope :
BR: Its hard to let the old classics go -- Orgasmod, Industry... Which is
your favorite?
DJ: Well Im sure everyones expecting some lame answer like Oh, theyre all
special to me and I cant pick just one, but the truth is that Entity
has the most power to remind me of a certain feeling I used to have back
then, and as far as cool tunes go, it has to be a tie between a couple of
mods, Algorhythmic and Asyxtasyn. Aevias is a runner-up.
BR: How many mods can you recall releasing before you took a break from it
all?
DJ: Officially? About 15. There were two batches. The Old Mods and the
New Mods. Then there were a bunch of Singles and Bootlegs :
BR: Yeah, thats about the time I began, actually. If you had to choose
between
your mods and your midi stuff, which would you rather be stranded on an
island with?
DJ:Geez, Blurry : You mean which would I rather have in my walkman? Or
would I rather have Protracker or my keyboards? Aside from the fact that
Id go completely insane on that island, Id rather have my mods I guess.
My keyboard stuff doesnt have that old-school 4-voice charm to it :
BR: Hehehe... Right now, what equipment do you have set up?
DJ:Well theres my keyboards, A Roland D-20 a new one to replace the D-20
I smashed to itty-bits, a Roland Alpha-Juno-1 for those analog-moments,
a Kurzweil K1000 big keyboard, nice choir, a Korg EX-800 module, and
my friend the K2000 16 megs sample ram, 800mb hd...And then the Amiga
3000. Every mod Ive ever written has been with either my A1000 or A3000
running Soundtracker, Noisetracker, or my favorite of course Protracker.
Now that includes a PC bleah.
BR: Wait, what happened to the Amiga?
DJ:Well its still around. I think I may have fried some ram chips while
troubleshooting a video problem but shell be back up in no time :-
BR: They just never die! - What are your plans for your PC?
DJ:Well Im gonna build a P200 pro game machine after I get me a Roland
JP-8000. Im still holding out for whatever badass non-wintel box
they come out with next, but until then, I may try dabbling in the
art of 16-bit, 16-voice modding.
BR: I could have sworn you were against pcs, What changed this attitude?
DJ: The attitude hasnt changed. They still suck. They just suck faster.
But Ive gotten a PC because Im now officially a computer professional
:- My non-musical work requires that I have one. *shrug* Whatever.
BR: Once you get your pc all setup, do you have any plans to go back to
tracking?
DJ: Sure.
BR: Okay, now Im interested in a few stylistic points: It is beyond all
obvious that one cannot do as much in the 8-bit four-channel format like
what is being done today with the multi-channel 16-bit formats. Why didnt
you switch to an eight-channel format or higher when they became available?
DJ: I didnt like the interface of the first programs that supported more
than 8 channels. Startrekker, Oktalyzer, Octamed...I never thought they
were as cool as Protracker. And they werent very well supported by
players in the early days. By the time they were, I wasnt writing
much anymore.
BR: One thing I always noticed about your 4-channel style is the way you switch
different things on and off -- One pattern theres a beat, and the next
theres a low orchestral patch instead. And oddly enough, it all flows
together. Is there a way you can describe how to decide what goes and
what stays from pattern to pattern?
DJ: Hey 4-channel real-estate is a very precious commodity. I throw shit
in where theres ROOM for it : If you want a bunchafucken instruments
for a certain part, you have to cut off whats needed the least and
listen to it to make sure that was a good decision. I always try to
keep the most prominent stuff in the foreground. If you introduce a
subtle instrument and in the next pattern you hammer in with a bigass
lead, the little subtle dude gets the shaft because he would be barely
audible anyway. The listener just kind of feeels his presence from
that point on. This of course no longer matters with 16-channel mods.
BR: What would you consider to be the most interesting source of vocal samples
for your music?
DJ: There is no single interesting source. Films and TV have done very well
for me : Microphones sufficed for the drills and clangs of Industry,
and cable TV served me well for the samples in Orgasmod. Die-Again
stuff came from all OVER the damn place...and that was before I even
had a sampler.
BR: Do you have any tips for those just now learning to track?
DJ: Use your own damn samples :- Dont make mod-versions of songs that
already sound better than a mod. Dont just sequence a bunchafucken
loops. DO make sure theres no wasted space in your sampledata. DO
make sure your samples are clear and dont distort unless you want
them to. Always use keyboard command equivalents even if you have
to look them up. Once you learn em, things will go a lot quicker.
Keep writing mods! And always make sure theyre at least semi-kickass
before releasing them. You know theyre done when theyre cool enough
for your friends to copy off your hard drive when youre asleep :-
BR: Alright, now I know youve been inactive for a while, but bear with me...
BR: Im going to say a word or two, just give me the first response that comes
to mind:
BR: Workbench.
DJ: 2.1
BR: Workgroups.
DJ: 3.11
BR: Kurzweil.
DJ: 2000.0
BR: Acme.
DJ: 281.474129
BR: 371+3.
DJ: 374.0
BR: Gates.
DJ: 666.0
BR: Odyessy.
DJ: 0.0
BR: What do you think has remained the same in the attitude of the demoscene
since its birth on the Amiga?
DJ: My demo is cooler than your demo, therefore your dick is shorter than
mine :- I think people still code them for the same reasons. The
competetion and the pride of being known for something cool youve
created. The spirit of demodom is alive and well. Beats the hell
out of being a little IRC dork :-
BR: How many demos/groups were you a part of?
DJ: Like 3. I cant really say how many have used my songs. Nor can I
say I was a member of any group for a substantial period of time.
My work was mostly freelance :
BR: What brought you into the scene long ago?
DJ: My friends : They thought my mods were pretty cool, and there was the
promise of free warez :
BR: Is there any one thing you feel you still need to do with your music
that you havent done yet?
DJ: Oh HELL yeah. When people ask me when my next mod is gonna be out, I
just tell them to wait for the CD : Of course I know thats not
gonna happen anytime soon, but if it ever does, theres a LOT of cool
as yet un-realized vision to be converted to sound. Well never run
out of neat things to do.
BR: Great! Look forward to seeing ya carry your plans out! Thanks again
for stopping by!
DJ: No prob.... talk to ya later!
BLuRry/0P8 -- Br:
Deathjester -- DJ:
BR: Its been a while since youve been in the scene hasnt it?
DJ: Well all my mods with the two recent exceptions of course were
written between 1989 and 1992 when I was in high school back on
my Amigas. It has kinda been awhile I guess.
BR: So is there any story behind the creation of the handle Deathjester that
can be retold?
DJ: Nope :
BR: Its hard to let the old classics go -- Orgasmod, Industry... Which is
your favorite?
DJ: Well Im sure everyones expecting some lame answer like Oh, theyre all
special to me and I cant pick just one, but the truth is that Entity
has the most power to remind me of a certain feeling I used to have back
then, and as far as cool tunes go, it has to be a tie between a couple of
mods, Algorhythmic and Asyxtasyn. Aevias is a runner-up.
BR: How many mods can you recall releasing before you took a break from it
all?
DJ: Officially? About 15. There were two batches. The Old Mods and the
New Mods. Then there were a bunch of Singles and Bootlegs :
BR: Yeah, thats about the time I began, actually. If you had to choose
between
your mods and your midi stuff, which would you rather be stranded on an
island with?
DJ:Geez, Blurry : You mean which would I rather have in my walkman? Or
would I rather have Protracker or my keyboards? Aside from the fact that
Id go completely insane on that island, Id rather have my mods I guess.
My keyboard stuff doesnt have that old-school 4-voice charm to it :
BR: Hehehe... Right now, what equipment do you have set up?
DJ:Well theres my keyboards, A Roland D-20 a new one to replace the D-20
I smashed to itty-bits, a Roland Alpha-Juno-1 for those analog-moments,
a Kurzweil K1000 big keyboard, nice choir, a Korg EX-800 module, and
my friend the K2000 16 megs sample ram, 800mb hd...And then the Amiga
3000. Every mod Ive ever written has been with either my A1000 or A3000
running Soundtracker, Noisetracker, or my favorite of course Protracker.
Now that includes a PC bleah.
BR: Wait, what happened to the Amiga?
DJ:Well its still around. I think I may have fried some ram chips while
troubleshooting a video problem but shell be back up in no time :-
BR: They just never die! - What are your plans for your PC?
DJ:Well Im gonna build a P200 pro game machine after I get me a Roland
JP-8000. Im still holding out for whatever badass non-wintel box
they come out with next, but until then, I may try dabbling in the
art of 16-bit, 16-voice modding.
BR: I could have sworn you were against pcs, What changed this attitude?
DJ: The attitude hasnt changed. They still suck. They just suck faster.
But Ive gotten a PC because Im now officially a computer professional
:- My non-musical work requires that I have one. *shrug* Whatever.
BR: Once you get your pc all setup, do you have any plans to go back to
tracking?
DJ: Sure.
BR: Okay, now Im interested in a few stylistic points: It is beyond all
obvious that one cannot do as much in the 8-bit four-channel format like
what is being done today with the multi-channel 16-bit formats. Why didnt
you switch to an eight-channel format or higher when they became available?
DJ: I didnt like the interface of the first programs that supported more
than 8 channels. Startrekker, Oktalyzer, Octamed...I never thought they
were as cool as Protracker. And they werent very well supported by
players in the early days. By the time they were, I wasnt writing
much anymore.
BR: One thing I always noticed about your 4-channel style is the way you switch
different things on and off -- One pattern theres a beat, and the next
theres a low orchestral patch instead. And oddly enough, it all flows
together. Is there a way you can describe how to decide what goes and
what stays from pattern to pattern?
DJ: Hey 4-channel real-estate is a very precious commodity. I throw shit
in where theres ROOM for it : If you want a bunchafucken instruments
for a certain part, you have to cut off whats needed the least and
listen to it to make sure that was a good decision. I always try to
keep the most prominent stuff in the foreground. If you introduce a
subtle instrument and in the next pattern you hammer in with a bigass
lead, the little subtle dude gets the shaft because he would be barely
audible anyway. The listener just kind of feeels his presence from
that point on. This of course no longer matters with 16-channel mods.
BR: What would you consider to be the most interesting source of vocal samples
for your music?
DJ: There is no single interesting source. Films and TV have done very well
for me : Microphones sufficed for the drills and clangs of Industry,
and cable TV served me well for the samples in Orgasmod. Die-Again
stuff came from all OVER the damn place...and that was before I even
had a sampler.
BR: Do you have any tips for those just now learning to track?
DJ: Use your own damn samples :- Dont make mod-versions of songs that
already sound better than a mod. Dont just sequence a bunchafucken
loops. DO make sure theres no wasted space in your sampledata. DO
make sure your samples are clear and dont distort unless you want
them to. Always use keyboard command equivalents even if you have
to look them up. Once you learn em, things will go a lot quicker.
Keep writing mods! And always make sure theyre at least semi-kickass
before releasing them. You know theyre done when theyre cool enough
for your friends to copy off your hard drive when youre asleep :-
BR: Alright, now I know youve been inactive for a while, but bear with me...
BR: Im going to say a word or two, just give me the first response that comes
to mind:
BR: Workbench.
DJ: 2.1
BR: Workgroups.
DJ: 3.11
BR: Kurzweil.
DJ: 2000.0
BR: Acme.
DJ: 281.474129
BR: 371+3.
DJ: 374.0
BR: Gates.
DJ: 666.0
BR: Odyessy.
DJ: 0.0
BR: What do you think has remained the same in the attitude of the demoscene
since its birth on the Amiga?
DJ: My demo is cooler than your demo, therefore your dick is shorter than
mine :- I think people still code them for the same reasons. The
competetion and the pride of being known for something cool youve
created. The spirit of demodom is alive and well. Beats the hell
out of being a little IRC dork :-
BR: How many demos/groups were you a part of?
DJ: Like 3. I cant really say how many have used my songs. Nor can I
say I was a member of any group for a substantial period of time.
My work was mostly freelance :
BR: What brought you into the scene long ago?
DJ: My friends : They thought my mods were pretty cool, and there was the
promise of free warez :
BR: Is there any one thing you feel you still need to do with your music
that you havent done yet?
DJ: Oh HELL yeah. When people ask me when my next mod is gonna be out, I
just tell them to wait for the CD : Of course I know thats not
gonna happen anytime soon, but if it ever does, theres a LOT of cool
as yet un-realized vision to be converted to sound. Well never run
out of neat things to do.
BR: Great! Look forward to seeing ya carry your plans out! Thanks again
for stopping by!
DJ: No prob.... talk to ya later!
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