I N T E R V I E W   W I T H   A L L I S T E R   B R I M B L E

                        INTERVIEWED BY TUMMO/Dual Format

I'll  just  put  on sounds Digital for
inspiration......

Allister,  thank you for joining us on
the  show  (?),  could  you please say
hello to the camera (?):  NO!

Please  tell  us what it is you do and
how  things  have  progressed  for you
since  your first footings with 17 Bit
and Code Masters:

Basically,  I  put  the  music & sound
effects to computer games on the Amiga
as well as most other machines such as
the  PC, SNES & Megadrive.  I wrote my
first  tune for the Amiga about 6 or 7
years  ago  using Aegis Sonix and sent
it  to  the 17 Bit PD library.  Martyn
Brown  (the  boss  at 17 bit) liked it
and  decided  to  put  my tunes in the
library.   This,  and  the  letters  I
received  after  release  gave  me the
confidence  to produce many more tunes
for  17  Bit some of which I also sent
to  Codemasters,  who  liked what they
heard and commissioned me to write the
music for Nitro Boost Challenge on the
Amiga.   I worked on several games for
Codemasters,  and  then started to get
orders  from  other  companies such as
Grandslam and Europress.  At this time
I  was  still  more  well known for my
work  for 17 Bit, but things were soon
to  change  when  Martyn  Brown & Mick
Robinson   from  17  Bit  &  Microbyte
decided  to  set  up  Team 17 Software
Ltd.  Due to my contact with Martyn at
17  Bit, I was now given the chance to
write music for some of the best games
ever  on the Amiga, starting with Full
Contact    and   then   Alienbreed   &
Project-X.    I   now  work  for  many
companies   and   for  many  different
computer  formats  but  I  will always
remain  most loyal to the Amiga & Team
17  who  have helped me to get where I
am today.

Could  you please briefly tell us your
AMIGA  set up and what have you bolted
on  to  it to help you with your music
and what software you use?

Ok here's my list of equipment :

Amiga   1200,   128MB  HD,  GVP  A1230
Accelerator with 4MB 32bit RAM.  Audio
Imager   sampler,   MIDI  Master  midi
interface, Supra V32bis fax modem.

I use Audio engineer to sample from my
synthesisers,   Protracker   to  write
computer  music with & MUSICX to write
MIDI music with for CD ROM games etc.

Having  seen  the  demise of the CDTV,
what  do  you make of the 1200 and the
CD32,   and   their  future  now  that
Commodore have gone down the financial
pan?

The  A1200  is a nice machine although
for   me   it   wasn't   significantly
different   enough   from   the  A500.
Commodore  should  have perhaps waited
for  the  AAA  chipset to be developed
which  would  have allowed the machine
to  compete  with the new consoles now
appearing.  Of course a computer and a
console  are two different matters and
the  Amiga  will survive for some time
to   come   because  it  is  the  only
computer  available  at  an affordable
price.   The  CD32  was in my opionion
very   badly  put  together.   Firstly
there  were  hardly any extra features
over  the  A1200  and  secondly the CD
drive  has  no software volume control
meaning  tunes  just  stop dead with a
terrible   click   instead  of  nicely
fading  out.   The  CD32  will I think
flop  very soon as it just can't stand
up to the new breed of consoles.

If  Commodore  UK  buy  themselves out
which  they  could well do, they could
be  producing  a new CD32 with the AAA
chipset,  better  sound  and  a faster
processor.   I  hope so, as this would
definitely  put  Amiga  back  into the
running.

Music has been on the go for countless
centuries   now  so  it  is  obviously
infinite  but  do  you ever think that
you'll  come to a musical wall or have
you ever thought `shit'?!  What now?

Yes,  I  do  get  a  sort  of  musical
depression every 6 months or so, but I
usually have work I MUST do so have to
call  on  my past experience and write
music  using  past  ideas which I know
work.   I  try to listen to the latest
music  in  the  charts  to give me new
ideas.  Usually I pick up various bits
of  music,  subconciously, and all the
bits  I like get mixed up and come out
in my own music.


You obviously put a lot into your work
as  I  can  just  imagine  you walking
around  a  zoo  with your DAT recorder
but  is  there  any game in particular
that  has  given  you  a little bit of
hassle  or  any  extremities  that you
have gone to, to get the right sound?

The  first  version of Alien Breed was
fairly  difficult.   I  had to find an
alien  die which I eventually found by
accident.   Our  Burmese  cat, Pandora
had  just  had kittens which I sampled
for  a  laugh,  just  to  see  if  she
thought  the  kittens  were  inside my
speakers,   when  I  played  back  the
sound.   She  went  mad  when I played
them,  so  I tried holding down 3 keys
at  the same time on the synth.  There
was  no  reaction  from  Pandora  this
time, but it didn't 'alf sound like an
Alien dying.
How  much  did  you  get for the first
toon you ever sold and what was it?

The  first  tune  I ever sold, was Pro
Skateboard    Sim   for   Codemasters,
followed by Italia 1990 and then Nitro
Boost   challenge.   I  received  £250
pounds  for  each  of  these, which at
that time seemed like a fortune to me.

You mentioned to me on the phone about
starting  work  on the SNES, could you
tell me a bit more about that, does it
pay better coz it's a SNES?!?

Not   many   people  have  SNES  music
drivers  so  obviously  I can charge a
lot  more.   Also  it's much harder to
fit all the tunes & sound effects into
the     miniscule    64K    available.
Hopefully  the SNES will die off soon.
I hate working with 64K !

Having a more than tasty synth set up,
how  do you feel about the people that
make all that money in the charts, ie.
Doop, I like to move it etc?

Firstly, poeple who get singles in the
top  ten  don't make that much at all.
Who  do  you  know  who  buys  singles
nowadays?  Only DJ's seem to buy them.
However,  if  a  single  does do well,
this   is  a  strong  indication  that
people  (mainly  young teenagers) like
it  and  so  maybe  they deserve to do
well.

What  kind  of  music do you listen to
yourself  when  you  get  the time and
electronic  music  aside are there any
groups  that  you  like  be it past or
present?


I   listen   to,  as  you've  probably
guessed already, Jean-Michel Jarre and
secondly,  Jean-Michel Jarre.  In fact
I  don't  listen to much music at all.
I find it just tempts me to copy which
detracts from original composition.

I  sent  you a copy of Kefrens' Desert
Dream   and  a  tape  of  Sven  Vath's
`Accident  in paradise'.  What did you
think of these?

Desert  dream  was good as a whole but
none  of  the  individual effects were
that  impressive  really.   The 3D was
very  simplistic, consisting of mainly
a  pyramid  and  a  small space craft.
However,  the  music  gave  it a great
atmosphere with direct synchronisation
with some of the graphic sequences.


Do  you  compose solely for dosh or is
there  always  something musical going
on inside and have you many toons done
but  not  used, ie.  When was the last
time  you  loaded  up  Pro-Tracker and
composed a toon to disk simply for the
enjoyment of it?

You   can't  compose,  unless  there's
something  musical  going  on  inside.
Mainly,  I just want people to like my
music.   I  also  like money.  I enjoy
writing  every  single  tune.   But  I
don't  have time to write music purely
for  enjoyment.   You don't earn money
without working BLOODY hard, and I do,
writing  about  2 to 3 tunes a week so
anyone  who thinks I earn too much can
bugger off.



Can  I  come  over  to  your house and
steal  all  your equipment when you're
asleep?

Yes,  OK.   (But don't expect to leave
alive)

Speaking  of  which,  do  you get much
sleep  and  do  you  find  yourself in
situations when you dash out of bed to
get an idea put down?

Ahh, sleep, my favourite subject.  Now
then,  you  know  I said I work a lot,
well  I do but I also sleep a lot.  On
average  I  enter bed at 1am and sleep
until 11.30 am every day.  Sometimes I
think  I  might rush out of bed to put
an  idea  down,  but  then  I think, O
bugger it and go back to sleep.

Where  do  you  get the names for your
pieces such as Thesmorphia?

My  mum  usually  listens to the tunes
and  then looks through the dictionary
or  something  to find a fitting name.
Thesmophoria   was   the  name  of  an
ancient  Greek  festival,  worshipping
the Gods of harvest.

Although  Full  Contact  on  the CD is
excellent  and  amazing to `drift' to,
especially  the  breakdown,  for  some
undefineable   reason   I  prefer  the
original  Pro-Tracker mod.  Personally
I  prefered  the  original slappy bass
line  and  the original panpipes.  Any
comments?

It  is much harder to make a mix sound
as tight and compact as on protracker.
The    trouble   is,   a   synthesiser
continues  to  play  a note, even when
you  let  go  of  the  key.   This  is
called, release.  On protracker, notes
stop  instantly  when you tell them to
stop,  so you always know what's going
to  happen.   Also  it's  easy  to get
carried away with special effects such
as  reverb  on  synthesisers.  I think
I'm getting better at it though.

How  do  you  feel  about some modules
where there are masses of commands and
crazy  stuff  going on in the patterns
and  do  you see any point in making a
track go backwards?!?!?!?!

It's  silly  to  use loads of commands
just  to  impress  people.   The first
priority  should  be getting the music
itself as good as possible.  Then, any
effects needed should be added, but no
more than that.
As  I asked you before, I am saving up
for  a  decent synth, is a Korg a good
start or any particular kind of Korg?

A  korg  M1  is  a  great synth if you
don't want to spend too much, although
you'll   only  get  them  second  hand
today.   Going  up  the  range, a Korg
wavestation   has   amazing,   totally
unique  sounds  and  a  Korg O1 sounds
very  professional.   All Korg synths,
as  far  as  I  know  sound  very good
indeed.

You told me that you spent the guts of
an  entire  day  listening  to the C64
workbench tunes so you must still have
fond memories of the good old days and
you  told  me  a  little bit about the
whereabouts of some of the pastmasters
such   as   Hubbard,  Galway,  Follin,
Whittaker,  could  you  please tell me
again  for  the readers and why do you
think they never made the cross-over?

Rob  Hubbard & David Whittaker are now
both  working  for  Electronic Arts in
America.  Tim Follin has recently left
Software  creations  for whom he wrote
some amazing SNES tunes and moved to I
think   Iguana   software   or  Malibu
software.    Martin   Galway   is  now
working  as  a programmer for the guys
who wrote Wing Commanda on the PC.  He
even  wrote  one  of the tunes on that
game.

Using  samples  is  very  different to
using  the  C64 analogue synthesis.  I
think,  the C64 musicians simply found
it  too hard to make their music sound
as good on the Amiga.


At  23  things  are going well for you
but  at  what age did you first start?
Was  it an interest in computers first
and  then  the  making of the music or
vice versa?

Music  came  first  for me, with Piano
lessons from the age of 7.  I then got
into computers when the Spectrum first
appeared and was inspired by the likes
of  David  Whittaker  and Rob Hubbard.
Mixing  the  two interests, I became a
computer musician !

What do you think is the best software
for making Amiga only music and why?

Protracker,  because  it's  so easy to
write  music  in STEP time.  Also it's
possible  to  see all the free gaps in
the  music and fill them up with echos
and things like that.
Have  Team  17  got any major releases
coming up or anything that you can let
us in on?

Alienbreed   Tower   Assault  will  be
stunning  with  an enhanced CD version
also  planned.   I can't say much more
except  that  it  will  be MUCH better
than  Alienbreed  2  (which was rushed
for release)

Has your work ever taken you away from
England,    say    to    meet   coders
graphicians  etc..?   How  well do you
know Rico Holmes and Bjornne Lynne?

I  haven't needed to go abroad yet for
work, mainly because of my modem which
obviously saves a lot of time.  I know
Rico  very  well,  he  used to live in
England   but  has  now  emigrated  to
Sweden  to  live with his girl friend,
Lotta.  I have met Bjornne Lynne once,
in  London  and  got on very well with
him,  however  I  am  a bit pissed off
with  him  right  now cos he gave me a
bad  review  of  Sounds Digital in his
magazine  (even  though  everyone else
seemed to like it.) This lost me a lot
of  sales.  (Looks like a VI exclusive
Jim, Seems to be Bob)!!

You  said  that Rum and Black made you
blow   chunks  once,  so  what's  your
favourite   tipple  now  or  have  you
turned tee total?

I've  now  gone off spirits altogether
and  tend to stick to wine with a good
meal.

Do  you  still have your brown leather
shoes?

Erm,  they  never  were brown leather.
Just  really cheap black plastic shoes
from  my  school days which I wore all
the time.  They died last year though.

What  kind  of  car  do you drive as I
seem  to  remember  reading  somewhere
that it was a flash fucker?!?!?!

It's  a  Porche  924  which is a great
car,  although it's 10 years old now &
second  hand.   Porche cars never rust
though  so  it  still looks as good as
new.

What  do  you  have in your pockets at
the minute?

(No answer, maybe Alister was nude?!)



Do you have any pets and what are they
called?

Yes,  3 cats, Pandora (Burmese), Molly
& Colin (Half Burmese)

What do your parents make of it all?

Nothing, cos I'm a mean bastard!

Do  you think there is something a bit
suspect  about  the  name of the Aphex
aural exciter?

No,  but  there  is  something  a  bit
suspect about this question.

Well  as you can probably judge by the
last  few questions, I have run out of
things to ask although knowing me I'll
probably think of some more after this
but  sod  it.   So lastly Allister any
last  comments  or  anything you would
like  to  say  at  all?.........  (his
mouth  is  probably  too full of Fruit
Pastilles (TM))!!!

Well I think that about wraps it up so
I'll  love  you  and leave you all for
the moment and HUGE thanks to Allister
for  giving  me his time and words!!!!
Oh and the module as well!!!!!  Thanks
man!!!

                                  End.


               {PC