View source for Domination 01 ch06 Interview with Jeroen Tel

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<b>Interview II</b>
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Back again with a good friend of mine in the Domination spotlight, this time it is the one and only Jeroen Tel from the Maniacs of Noise!
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D=Domination<br/>
J=Jeroen Tel

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D) Please tell the readers some personal information about yourself, such as age, height, dislikes/likes and any other sexual orientated things of interest...
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J) Well, I am 22 years old, my height is approximately 1.78M, I have long, dark hair and brown eyes. I love (good) music and anything to do with that. I also love women a lot (maybe it's just my hormones?) I have an enormous lust for knowledge and wisdom. I like: going on a wild holiday, going out in bars or discotheques, eating at a good restaurant, sports and many, many other things. I hate: injustice, (in the wildest form), pollution, wasting time, aids and other disgusting diseases, cheese (strange for a Dutch guy to hate cheese, isn't it?) and questions like these!
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D) Of course your renown for your exceptional music abilities, could you give the audience a description of your music-career to the present day, the C64 in particular?
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J) The first step to enter the C64 was of course buying one, which I did at the age of twelve. The music in the games at that time were mainly directly copied "Mozart"-compositions (which I find brilliant, but they just didn't suit most of the games). I learned a bit of programming and wrote a little music-driver in basic, to create my own music. I naturally showed my first tunes to my friends and they liked it. As soon as I discovered Sound Monitor I started to compose using that program, plenty of tunes were used in demos like for example "Madonna Remix". 
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At a computer-meeting I met Charles Deenen (at that time called TMC/Scoop Designs) who was able to program a music-driver to suit my needs. Together we founded Maniacs of Noise. I composed the music; he created the sound effects, that was the concept. I made about ten demo-tunes to show at the PCW Show in London. I showed it to various companies, who apparently were impressed. Electronic Arts (USA) seemed to like my music so much; they even offered me to work in-house for them. Unfortunately I didn't really feel like moving to the USA at the age of fourteen. Anyhow, the first music-contracts came in instantly. A year later a lot of titles were released with my music in it. Probe Software preferred to use my music exclusively for their C64 games and got me over to England for composing a couple of times. At eighteen I signed an "in-house-contract" with Probe for a period of six months as "Computer Audio Programmer". I mainly kept composing C64 games, but I also programmed music for Nintendo and Sega-machines. The best thing about working in-house is working directly with the producers, programmers and graphic artists. After those six months I decided to move back to the Netherlands to work as a freelancer. Very regularly I flew back to London to work for Probe Software on individual games, most of them Nintendo and Sega though. Back in the Netherlands I started working for various software companies again, but in the mean time I worked on the music for video productions and later on CD-productions, TV programs, commercials etc. I was asked by Nintendo in Netherlands to produce a CD with studio-versions of well-known game-titles I composed the music for: Lethal Weapon III, Robocop III (remember Dutch Breeze?), Bram Stoker's Dracula, etc. It's been released as an exclusive item for Nintendo-club members only.
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At this very moment I'm working on various projects: a sound effects CD, a library-music CD, which is mainly used for television and radio-broadcasting, last but not least a CD with "real life" JT-music, if you know what I mean. I do freelance projects next to that, including CD-I and CD-ROM, but now and then a C64 project still sneaks in too.
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D) That's quite an over-whelming workload there Jeroen, glad I am not in your shoes but I would like the ca$h you get, haha! Anyway, over the years you have made quite an impact with your music, what does the future hold with the C64? What's your plans?
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J) I will be composing music for the C64 as long as games are published on it, I still like working on this legendary old timer, but my mind is set to "real" music. As I mentioned earlier, I'm working on an album with songs inspired by my personal experiences and thoughts.


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D) From that is there anything that gives you inspiration to do a tune or do you put your current emotions into each tune?
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J) With contracted music for example games or films, I have to make music fit into the whole thing. What I normally do is imagining the situations in my fantasy and compose the music with the inspiration I get from that. When composing/writing a personal song I put my musical ideas, emotions and thoughts of that moment into it.
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D) Apart from music, did you ever try to do something like coding or graphics on the C64?
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J) Yes, I've been working on several projects. Concept, coding, graphics and noise were all done by me. I never had the chance to finish any of them, due to music-contracts, which I will be releasing pretty soon. It's a demo compiling a lot of my C64-music from the past to the present. Just wait and see...
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D) Perhaps you will send it to me first as spreading?? :) What do you think of the illegal scene, do you think it helps or destroy the C64 as a computer format or maybe doesn't affect it at all? 
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J) I know that a lot of programs gained popularity due to the illegal spreading of it. If software wouldn't be available to all those who don't buy it in the first place, a lot of sales would never take place. Most people don't buy what they don't know. An illegal copy sometimes functions as a commercial. Computer games are a bit more vulnerable as soon as someone is bored with a game; he's not very likely to buy the original after playing the illegal version.
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D) Interesting view, another "extension" in the C64 career would have to be the Commodore 65; the C65 may well have been the best thing for this scene, what's your view on this?
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J) The C64 has been sold all throughout the world and many people have learned how to program it. An upgraded version like the C65 would put a lot of people back in the saddle. There are enough people who never bothered to learn another computer programming language after leaving the C64-scene behind and could well return to the C64/65 scene as soon as the C65 would be released.
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D) What do you think of other known musicians of the past and present?
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J) I think Rob Hubbard has proved to be a great composer on the C64. I found some of the tracks Tim Follin did for a couple of games absolutely smashing! Martin Galway has been a very characteristic fellow by playing around with the "octaves" all the time. From the latest generation I liked the funky stuff Johannes Bjerregaard produced.
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D) Your sounds system must be quite extensive, can you please give us a list of some of the computer-hardware you own and which you prefer?
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J) I'm working in a studio at the moment in which the Akai S3000 plays a very important role. This machine has been extended to a very powerful (and expensive) piece of equipment by now. For example: I can record "live" guitar-riffs, vocals and drums, but also synthesize my own sounds, put them all together using an internal mixing-display and master the song digitally on a recordable CD or directly to data. The other equipment is just as important, but boring to mention.

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D) What's your personal best achievement on the C64 and why?
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J) I don't like to mention one track now, but I must say I felt great satisfaction after creating the Turbo Outrun title. I came home on a Friday-night with a lot of inspiration (I still wonder why...) and in the morning it was 100% to my satisfaction! My biggest achievement though, I find to be the whole picture, or better said: the total collection of my "noise". Every track contains a piece of my heart. 

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D) Please feel free to say something to the entire scene, anything you want.
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J) I'd like to thank you all for the appreciation I've received. I hope to please your ears even more in the future. 
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D) Jeroen told me that the "maniacs of noise - the video game sound makers" -CD can be ordered from the MON-studios directly, just send a money-order for DFL 40, to: Maniacs of Noise, Harmoniestraat 77, 5702 JD Helmond, The Netherlands. State: "ccd 10493". You may also order the CD by sending cash with a note stating: "I want to order CD-maniacs of noise - the video game sound makers and enclosed DFL 40, cash" + your name, age, address and signature. Either way you'll receive the CD within three weeks after payment. Postage included. Ok, pressing fire for the main menu is a wise decision, hope to have some more well known interviews in this and forth-coming issues of Domination.
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Regards,
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Jazzcat/Legend.
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