An Interview with Glyn R. Brown

Ben Daglish, Rob Hubbard, Mark Cooksey, David Whittaker, Reyn Ouwehand just to name a few, but i think every composer who worked back in the glory days of the C-64 has a special touch to their music.

Cobra, Deathwish III, The complete Last Ninja Series, Sacred Armour Of Antiriad, Overlander, etc etc - the list goes on and on. I especially like Hyperball, this tune has a powerful touch to it.

Well considering i've only done a few, i'd have to say, Last Ninja - 2001 Mix. With it being part of the Last ninja series, there's so many tunes to play around with. I tried a different range of samples, Wind, Thunder, Swords etc. I added speech taken from the PC game Shogun Total War, just as an experiment really, but they seemed to work ok, so i left them in there.

I also like Last Ninja - Palace Gardens, but the quality of it sounds awful! I did that tune back in 1992 on an old 4 - track tape deck, and when i converted it from cassette to MP3, it came out terrible. If you've heard it, you'll understand!!

A good melody, i like tunes that stick in your head. (And one's that are easy to cover) HA HA!! Only kidding.

Hmm, hard to say really. I love movie themes:

• John Williams
• Jerry Goldsmith
• Hans Zimmer
• etc.

My own music is normally orchestral type. Back in 94, i was approached by Gremlin Interactive, who asked if i could do a orchestrated space theme for their latest game - Retribution. Their musician (Pat Phelan) had been promoted to - Software Manager. So i was invited down to Sheffield to discuss the project. I was so close to a full time position as - In-house musician, when, a couple of days after, i was informed that, he wasn't happy being software manager, so went back to doing music. So in the end, no vacancy. (Bummer) I did the tune though, whether they used it or not, i don't know? (haven't played the game) But having found R.K.O, and to be able to play my old favourite tunes for people to listen to, is great!! Guess there's my inspiration.

Ha! Trying to jump off that damn platform on the first stage of Dragon's Lair, (I could never do that) spending sleepless nights playing The Last Ninja. I used to put a microphone up to the TV to record the game tunes so i could listen to them over & over.

The tunes have already been composed, saves a lot of hard work (HA HA!! !) No seriously, there's a lot of great tunes there waiting to be played around with, i'm looking forward to doing more. My dislikes, erm, i'm not very keen on people who take the original sid tune and just put a dance beat over the top, it's just the same, not a remix at all. (Sorry if this offends anyone)

At the moment, i'm using a program called: Music 2000 by Codemasters. It's a simple program, to play the notes you just click with the mouse on the onscreen keyboard, (Riff Editor) choose the instrument, add some percussion, a bit of reverb, few samples, it's that simple, just Click, Click, Click. I'm not that keen on it personally, i prefer to play the tunes with a real keyboard. That way, you can get the effect you want. With this program, there's a limit to what it can do, but it's the only one i can use at the moment. Not bad for £20 though. I've just bought a Roland - ED PC 300, plugs straight into my USB port. I've not got it up & running yet though, i've got to figure out how to use Cubase first, Ha!
But i'll be able to do better remix's when i get it going.

I'd have to say remix. A cover is just a straight forward copy, but with a remix, the arranger can show what He / She can do. Gives them a chance to show their talents.

Blasteroids has a great tune to it, you can go in many directions with that tune. I just simply played it as a kinda dance theme, you can just let the basslines go on & on, throw in a little jingle in the back, and play the main theme. But it's the middle section that really got me. I wanted to spin it around and play the main theme with an orchestral feel to it, but i was unable to with the software i was using, as i mentioned earlier. I'll maybe attempt it again someday, when i have my keyboard up & running, then i should be able to make it sound the way i wanted it too.

Everything Chris Abbott's got, Ha Ha!! ! Well i'd like a sampling keyboard, so i can sample real instruments to get the sound of a full orchestra. that'd be great!

It'd have to be Flimbo's Quest by Reyn Ouwehand. Cheers me up everytime i hear it, Ha Ha!!

Axel Melzener, for his great composition of - Cobra (morricone edit) Trace - (Kent W) i allways look forward to the new tunes from this guy. Puffy 64, unique guitar playing, i could go on forever, R.K.O is full of excellent musicians.

Yeah! STAR WARS by David Whittaker.

My style, Hmm, can't really say. Bit of everything really.

Well all you guys really, remix64, remix.kwed.org, C64audio. Especially - Chris Abbott though, for his BIT projects, Brilliant!!

Purely for the love of sid music, and after discovering R.K.O, i just thought i'd give it a go, (i was very suprised with the feedback i got)

Hmm, it's hard to say. Seems to be picking up though, so, fingers crossed.

Just like to say it's GREAT what everybody's doing to keep the C - 64 SID - ALIVE!!!!