My online friend Zubareus, famous with his divine covers to video games music has a contact with Jeroen Tel, and the latter seemed to agree to answer some questions during interview. This isn't supposed to be some official 'zine interview, just a fan one.
Suggest interesting question, please.
Warning: When making decisions, I try to collect as much data as possible before actually deciding. I try to abstract away and see the principles behind real world events and people's opinions. I try to generalize them and turn into something clear and reusable. I hate depending on unpredictable and having to make lottery guesses. Any problem can be solved by systems thinking and acting.
Joined: 2/28/2006
Posts: 2275
Location: Milky Way -> Earth -> Brazil
I'm 12 and who's Jeroen Tel?
"Genuine self-esteem, however, consists not of causeless feelings, but of certain knowledge about yourself.
It rests on the conviction that you — by your choices, effort and actions — have made yourself into the
kind of person able to deal with reality. It is the conviction — based on the evidence of your own volitional
functioning — that you are fundamentally able to succeed in life and, therefore, are deserving of that success."
- Onkar Ghate
Bisqwit wrote:
Warning: When making decisions, I try to collect as much data as possible before actually deciding. I try to abstract away and see the principles behind real world events and people's opinions. I try to generalize them and turn into something clear and reusable. I hate depending on unpredictable and having to make lottery guesses. Any problem can be solved by systems thinking and acting.
Joined: 11/22/2004
Posts: 1468
Location: Rotterdam, The Netherlands
I love this guy's music. A friend of mine who composes for video games is also a fan of his, I'll ask him if he has any questions.
edit: he asks:
Q: which is your favorite chip to work with and which was the hardest to get into?
Q: what do you think of current game music, and how does it differ from the Amiga music you made?
Joined: 2/28/2006
Posts: 2275
Location: Milky Way -> Earth -> Brazil
I didn't even know there was a Robocop 3
"Genuine self-esteem, however, consists not of causeless feelings, but of certain knowledge about yourself.
It rests on the conviction that you — by your choices, effort and actions — have made yourself into the
kind of person able to deal with reality. It is the conviction — based on the evidence of your own volitional
functioning — that you are fundamentally able to succeed in life and, therefore, are deserving of that success."
- Onkar Ghate
Bisqwit wrote:
We prepared the following questions, but I'm not sure if they are correct in English. Please fix them.How did you find yourself as a musician/composer? Was it what you wanted to do since being a kid?
How did you feel about games and gaming back then? Did you play any games aside of those you were working on? What those games were and on what platforms? What do you think about modern games and the industry in total?
When did you sign up your first contract with a game developer? How did you find each other?
What hard- and software did you use to create tunes? Did you have any other programming projects/achievements aside from game music?
Your tunes can be distinguished by your use of musical modes, for example, Technocop's music, Alien 3 and Robocop 3 Title Themes. Some blues phrases can be heard, but not just them, you managed to combine various modes (both joyfull and scaring) and make them SING together. Did you study music theory, or was that just your own inspiration and ear for music?
Can you say you invented any specific tricks to make music on 3 channels sound more juicy, or did you develop what had already existed? Share the most interesting solutions you used, please.
Could you describe the process of writing a soundtrack from the very beginning, from the moment of getting to know the game. Did you have creative freedom, or did the customer put down solid limits and guidelines for you?
Which way of composing music do you like more: working within the strict limitations of the sound chip (like SID, 2a03, etc.) or having total freedom in terms of instruments, number of channels, effects, etc.?
What did influence your music? What kind of music do you like? Did your tastes change since '80-s? What's your favorite tune of those you created?
What inspires your creativity? Do you write music now, or did you find another way to express yourself?
What instruments do you play, which of them do you like most, which did you use to compose game tunes?
Tell about your live shows. Do you just play pre-recorded tracks on your laptop or perform live? How often do you play shows? What's the audience's reaction?
Warning: When making decisions, I try to collect as much data as possible before actually deciding. I try to abstract away and see the principles behind real world events and people's opinions. I try to generalize them and turn into something clear and reusable. I hate depending on unpredictable and having to make lottery guesses. Any problem can be solved by systems thinking and acting.
Sure, I'll edit it a little. Hope you don't mind nitpicking.
feos wrote:
How did you find yourself as a musician/composer? Was it what you wanted to do since being a kid?
A bit awkward. Try, "How did you become a musician/composer? Was it what you wanted to do since you were a kid?"
feos wrote:
How did you feel about games and gaming back then? Did you play any games aside of those you were working on? What those games were and on what platforms? What do you think about modern games and the industry in total?
Mostly fine, but the second last sentence should be with, "What were those games and on which platforms?".
feos wrote:
When did you sign up your first contract with a game developer? How did you find each other?
Get rid of "up".
feos wrote:
What hard- and software did you use to create tunes? Did you have any other programming projects/achievements aside from game music?
Mostly fine, but you should say, "hardware and software", instead of what you have here.
feos wrote:
Your tunes can be distinguished by your use of musical modes, for example, Technocop's music, Alien 3 and Robocop 3 Title Themes. Some blues phrases can be heard, but not just them, you managed to combine various modes (both joyfull and scaring) and make them SING together. Did you study music theory, or was that just your own inspiration and ear for music?
I'm not sure what you're trying to say with this. It sounds like you're telling the guy what he did, and then you're asking him if he studied music theory on his own. Why not cut the first stuff and ask that question?
feos wrote:
Can you say you invented any specific tricks to make music on 3 channels sound more juicy, or did you develop what had already existed? Share the most interesting solutions you used, please.
"Juicy" is a very strange adjective for this. Try something like "interesting", "appealing", or "attractive".
feos wrote:
Could you describe the process of writing a soundtrack from the very beginning, from the moment of getting to know the game. Did you have creative freedom, or did the customer put down solid limits and guidelines for you?
When you use, "from the moment", you shouldn't just leave it hanging like that. Add something like "to the end of production" to the end of that sentence. Also, you're looking for the word "client" and not "customer" in the last sentence.
feos wrote:
Which way of composing music do you like more: working within the strict limitations of the sound chip (like SID, 2a03, etc.) or having total freedom in terms of instruments, number of channels, effects, etc.?
This is fine.
feos wrote:
What did influence your music? What kind of music do you like? Did your tastes change since '80-s? What's your favorite tune of those you created?
First sentence should read, "What influenced your music?". Last sentence should read, "Of the tunes you created, which is your favorite?"
feos wrote:
What inspires your creativity? Do you write music now, or did you find another way to express yourself?
This sentence is a bit awkward. Try, "What inspires you? Do you still write music?"
feos wrote:
What instruments do you play, which of them do you like most, which did you use to compose game tunes?
Replace the first "What" with "Which", and add "and" after the last comma (like most, and which did...).
feos wrote:
Tell about your live shows. Do you just play pre-recorded tracks on your laptop or perform live? How often do you play shows? What's the audience's reaction?
Oh, thanks very much!
Here's his actual music that I was referring to.
http://rghost.ru/28125561
Under "musical modes" I mean tonalities, you know. His tonalities are so unique I couldn't help mentioning them in particular. One man involved into DwellingofDuels.net and Magfest said me to replace "tonalities" with "musical modes" here.
Warning: When making decisions, I try to collect as much data as possible before actually deciding. I try to abstract away and see the principles behind real world events and people's opinions. I try to generalize them and turn into something clear and reusable. I hate depending on unpredictable and having to make lottery guesses. Any problem can be solved by systems thinking and acting.
