Charles Deenen of MANIACS OF NOISE (MON) was interviewed by Chester and Orlando of BRAINSTORM. 
 
At first what is 'Maniacs of Noise'? Is it a kind of group? 
Yes, and No, MON is/was the company- and trade-name which we used in dealing with software-companies and development teames. Afterwards we extended our business and started doing Video-Promotion work under that name as well. Lately, I'm using this name doing record-song-productions. 

Tell us a little bit about the past. You were on the C-64. 
In 1987, Jeroen Tel, Marcel Donne and Me (Charles Deenen) started Maniacs of Noise with the aim doing high-quality music and soundeffects on the C64. If you look at the number and names of the games for which we did music and soundeffects, you have to agree that we succeeded in it. If some of you are not so familiar with the C64 music we did, i can tell you  that the number of songs is going over the 500, and the number of soundeffects is going over the 3000. We work(ed) for companies like: Hewson, Probe, Ubi-soft, Dinamic, Virgin/Mastertronic, System 3, Domark, Thalamus, StarByte, IDG, Interplay, Digital Marketing, CRL, The Edge, Anco etc. But after a while we needed more musicians, so we hired Johannes Bjerregaard (from Denmark) as he was the best available musician at that moment. Software firms still asked for more and more, so we were forced to take another person, but never found one. Later on, we started to do Amiga music as well, with Stormlord being the first title. This music wasn't so good, but it was a conversion from the C64 and it did the job. Afterwards, I found myself in a position that I had to do all the Amiga music. If there is anyone out there who is making decent Amiga music (no standard Disco Crap!!), then please write to the address at the end of this interview. Software companies started pushing us to do music for all other computer- formats as well. So, we started to do music for the Atari-ST, Spectrum and Amstrad, Nintendo, Gameboy etc. 
 
What is the difference between the old C-64 scene and the AMIGA scene? 
I have been in the C64 'scene' for a long time, but never had anything to do with cracking, hacking, modeming, demoing or whatsoever on the Amiga. I just don't have the time for it, and neither does/did one of the others. 
 
Since when are you working with the AMIGA? 
Since 1988, starting with the release from Stormlord (although the music was done 9 months before the game came out). 
 
Was it hard to change and to leave the old contacts? 
Which contacts do you mean ?? The only contacts which I had are the computer- companies, and they are exactly the same on the C64 as on the Amiga. But if you prefer to swap-contacts, then I must tell you that one of my only swapping contact on the C64 was Sledgehammer from Hotline (in the period 1985-1987 we were the fastest in Holland). He went on with swapping Atari- ST software. Now, I'm getting new ST software from him sometimes. 
 
Which sound do you (personal) prefer, the C-64 or the one from AMIGA? 
Neither one of them. I prefer the normal audio music which I did a lot more, not because of the music, but because of the possibilities which I have in doing Synth-music and other styles. The C64 and Amiga are just too limited. But if I have to choose between the C64 and the Amiga, the choice is obvious. I should pick the Amiga. But if I had the choice from every console and every computer, I should pick the PC on the computer side (of course in combination with the CM-32/64), and the FM-towns on the Console side (CD quality music). 
 
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Please compare the two computers with their sound-hardware and their sound-software. 
On the hardware side (for those who don't know the hardware from the C64): the C64 is capable of producing 5 types of waveforms on 3 soundchannels, with a pulse-waveform which has a 12-bit register to modulate it (pulse width). Everybody knows the Amiga (4 channels of 8-bit samples). The C64 sounds a lot warmer (like an analog synth). When using the amiga samples on a low rate, it has the habbit of producing those silly upper harmonics. It takes a lot of time of sampling something on a rate as low as possible and a quality as high as possible. 
On the software side: The only thing I've seen on the Amiga is Sound/Noise- tracker, and it is rubbish. The soundroutine which I'm using (mainly written by Frederic Hahn) is much more sophisticater (there are more ways of  modulating samples). 
I prefer the hardware from the Amiga. It's nice to use the sounds which i like rather than fooling around with crappy C64 beep-sounds. 
You have done sounds for some AMIGA-games now. Aren't there any scene activities? 
No, not at all. I just don't have the time for it. Besides that, I have to make a living out of it. I can't afford myself sitting behind an Amiga for 2 hours without earning something. 
 
The tunes for the game UNREAL are also from you. Tell us how you got in contact with UBI-Soft. 
Before I start, the tunes in UNREAL are rubbish. At first, Frederic Hahn did all the tunes, but the guys from Ordilogic (who did the game) were not satisfied with them. So they asked me to do the music (they gave me a tape from which I had to convert a tune done on a Roland D10). The musical side from the intro tune is not mine, only the samples. The next problem was that I had to do 4 tunes in 2 days. I was using the old seka-assembler to enter the notes and lengths etc. (not anymore..), so it was a pain in the ass to do them. 
I had nothing to do with UBI-soft. Ordilogic was the development team and they asked us, not UBI-soft. Although, we've worked for UBI-soft (doing the music for Iron Lord (JT), BAT (CD), Nighthunter (JT). 
 
How much money do you get from software-companies for one sound? 
I'm not going to tell this to you, but I can assure you that it's above the double from a normal month-salary in Holland. 
 
Tell us more about the whole 'Game-Business' (working together with others, problems with the company, etc.). 
Working together with others (especially Jeroen Tel), is a pain in the ass. If a software company asked us to do a full soundtrack with effects in 1 week, that's not to much asked, but everytime when I asked Jeroen to do the music, he delivered it too late, no doubt about that. In the last few months this began to irritate me enormely, so we decided to split up. 
The problems with the companies are obvious. The are paying too late, or not at all. Sueing them is the only possability to get things done. For all those who are dealing with System 3; Forget your money, Mark Cale just won't pay you. Also a fucking problem is to get the information what the hell a software firm wants to have. Sometimes one has to redo a whole piece or soundtrack just because the software manager didn't tell us what he wanted to have, or just explained it wrong. An expert on this area is again, the same Mark Cale. 
 
Today, what do you think about cracking, copying and spreading games? 
I don't care about cracking and copying, as long as those kiddies don't copy unreleased tunes, unreleased games, and games from which we get royalties, I don't give a shit. Some people think it's funny to spread unreleased tunes (like those bastards from Razor). Software companies also see such disks, and a few weeks later they tell me I can forget the payment, because they accuse me for spreading the music. 
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Don't you think that games are too expensive? 
No, the more expensive, the more I earn. Life is a bitch, I know, but so is the software industry. I am aware of the fact that if games were cheaper, more people would buy the game, but I'm also aware of if a game is expensive, they can spent more money on the protection of it. 
Have you ever thought of doing sound for video-consoles? Why (not)? 
I'm doing (and did) it already. I did a couple of tunes on the Nintendo and Gameboy for Interplay. I did 2 game-soundtracks for the FM-towns as well (Battle Chess II and Track Meet). 
 
So, what are your future plans? 
I'm going to move to the states, working full time for Interplay Productions, doing music for all available formats, and doing a CD with game-soundtracks which were done for Virgin/Mastertronic played on Synth-equipment. All tracks will be styled to the needs of the Youth right now (this means no standard disco, but more Swing-Disco style and Hip-Hop style Rythm tracks). Also I'm co-producing songs/records for a record-company in Belgium (sorry can't mention the name yet!) and Virgin Records USA. 
If somebody from you out there ever visits LA (to be precise: Santa Ana/Huntington Beach), give me a ring and we'll meet. I don't know the phone-number yet, but the major groups will know it soon. 
 
At the end of this interview, you can tell something to the whole scene-citizen... 
1) - Please, do not spread any unreleased music. I have to make a living out of it, and I won't get payed for the pieces which are spreaded. 
2) - If anyone from you knows that you're a good musician, send me some examples, because Maniacs of Noise will go on in the future. If you're willing to earn more than you're father, give me a call, or write: 
 
Maniacs of Noise 
Attn: Ch. Deenen 
Gildestr.19b 
5824 AA  Holthees 
Holland 
Tel: 04782-509 (from Holland) 
     +31-4782509 (from abroad) 
 
I'm looking for people who can do music in as less memory as possible, and as good as possible (no synthetic sounds please !!). Also, I don't give a shit about standard disco songs, try to come up with Funky material, or Film-soundtrack style pieces. 
 
Hello to Fred Hahn, and I hope you're still able to read this. Fuck those Sollicitors and Judges !!! New material is coming soon.... 
 
Oh, another thing: if anyone out there got an Yamaha SY-77 or Korg WaveStation, let's swap sounds, songs and voices for it. Also welcome is material for Akai S1100, Korg M1 and Roland Super JX-10. 
 
Thanks a lot for answering all those questions and good luck for further work! Bye... 
                Chester and Axel/BRS