-------------------------------------------------------------- BLuRry/0P8 interviews Deathjester -- an Amiga-borne modtracker -------------------------------------------------------------- BLuRry/0P8 --> Br: Deathjester --> DJ: ------------------------------------------------------------ BR: It's been a while since you've been in the scene hasn't 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: It's hard to let the old classics go -- Orgasmod, Industry... Which is your favorite? DJ: Well I'm sure everyone's expecting some lame answer like 'Oh, they're all special to me and I can't 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, Algorhythm(ic) and Asyxtasy(n). 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, that's 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 I'd go completely insane on that island, I'd rather have my mods I guess. My keyboard stuff doesn't have that old-school 4-voice charm to it :) BR: Hehehe... Right now, what equipment do you have set up? DJ:Well there's 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 I've 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 it's still around. I think I may have fried some ram chips while troubleshooting a video problem but she'll be back up in no time :-) BR: They just never die! ;-) What are your plans for your PC? DJ:Well I'm gonna build a P200 pro game machine after I get me a Roland JP-8000. I'm 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 pc's, What changed this attitude? DJ: The attitude hasn't changed. They still suck. They just suck faster. But I've gotten a PC because I'm 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 I'm 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 didn't you switch to an eight-channel format or higher when they became available? DJ: I didn't 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 weren't very well supported by players in the early days. By the time they were, I wasn't 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 there's a beat, and the next there's 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 there's ROOM for it :) If you want a bunchafucken instruments for a certain part, you have to cut off what's 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 :-) Don't make mod-versions of songs that already sound better than a mod. Don't just sequence a bunchafucken loops. DO make sure there's no wasted space in your sampledata. DO make sure your samples are clear and don't 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 they're at least semi-kickass before releasing them. You know they're done when they're cool enough for your friends to copy off your hard drive when you're asleep :-) BR: Alright, now I know you've been inactive for a while, but bear with me... BR: I'm 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 you've 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 can't 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 haven't 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 that's not gonna happen anytime soon, but if it ever does, there's a LOT of cool as yet un-realized vision to be converted to sound. We'll 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!