Interview with Nagz
Nagz is a tracker musician, full of new ideas and very prolific - he has released more than 100 pieces of music already. He is both active in the demoscene, making music for demos and releasing at parties, as well as in the internet music scene, having released music at many different labels. His style is hard to describe - he produces drum'n bass, jazz, IDM, oldschool and chiptunes, but all in his own peculiar, very interesting style. When I asked him for an interview, he instantly agreed.
Please introduce yourself to the reader within a few sentences - where are you from, what is your age, what is your current occupation, which groups are you a member of etc.
So few? uhm... Hello my benefactors! I'm David Halmi from Budapest, Hungary. I'm 18 years old at the moment, and studying electronics.. just have finished the school so I'm gonna learn technics.. boring stuff. I'm a member of many groups, about 12 .. or whatever. Let's mention J'écoute, Languagelab, Greenroom, Analogik, Rebels and so many.. and I have some secret projects too:) [hello 243;]
When did you first find out about tracking?
Well...... I might have been ~10 years old when I got mp.exe and some weird looking files... .MOD ones... got listening to them... and I thought they were wonderful and their creators were freaks... I think this has estabilished a straight way to my karma *g*
Do you play any real instruments?
I used to play jazz-piano, stopped for my studies. But I'm gonna get back again. And.... I've bought a didgeridoo. Managed to play on it as well :)
Which tracker and which tools do you currently use?
FastTracker, the first and everlasting one for me right now - but I don't blame the ImpulseTracker thingie, I admit it has a better mixer and also have some nice features (NNA, more chans, filterings etc..) - but wtf... Ft2 is good enough for me... and I'm just blinking at Buzz and clones... I even use Soundforge and GoldWave (shareware!!:) and - shame on me - ReBirth2 VERY seldom hehe :)
Do you own other gear besides your PC (synths/samplers)?
Not yet.... just a mike :)
What do you think of new tools like Buzz/Psycle, and are you considering to change to a new tracker like Mad Tracker or Modplug Tracker?
It sounds like the future for me :) I still have 735736 unfinished tracks I HAVE to finish in FT2... and I barely track them by... I'll see what will happen.
Next topic. What are your favourite styles of music (non-tracked)?
It's a very complex question, you know? I love everything except the top100 :) I don't need to listen to house/trance/dance/pop ones.... I love rock, alternative, jazz (a lot ;), drum&bass, triphop, idm, beats, oldschool ones, this, that.... faves are Dream Theater, Béla Fleck & The Flecktones, Grooverider, Level42, Portishead, Aphex Twin, ...
Which sort of tracked music do you prefer/who are your favourite tracker musicians?
I prefer the well-tracked ones, whatever they're called/styled :) My fave trackers.. Graff, MatrixCubed/Mantis, Moby, Willbe, Scaldor, Keith303 (great at Ft2 techniques :), Falcon, Xanah, Vim, Hunz and so on.
Any favourite weblabels?
I don't really reel around on the web... If someone tells me a URL, I get there and download everything... :)
Ok, now for a very nice question ..
Joy joy
Would you please describe your own style of music?
No I can't.
Too bad. And .. can you imagine tracking/producing music for a living?
Yes, I'd like to earn money with music BUT I don't want to get that commercial.... It'd be hard to see myself smiling on the TV [eeeeeeech :(] and playing "music".... Perhaps I might sell things to some records in London hehe :)
:) Which is your favourite .. demo?
There are many...... Bomb: State of Mind, FC: 2nd Reality, Halcyon+Dajormas: Saint, Elitegroup: Kasparov, Orange: Supertelevision... and some others I can't remember the name of but which I liked very much!
Favourite graphician?
Inferno (thx for Ouch gfx:), Made, Ir (ex-Immortal Rat :), Enok, Kenet (getting better and better;), ... I'm not into the gfxscene that much.
Favourite demogroup?
May I say Greenroom and Rebels? :P lol - By the way, I've seen the best demos on Amiga.
Now for the non-scene things: Favourite food/drink?
Food: Nowadays I live on chicken meat with salad and kephir. Drink: bubble-less mineral water, tea, wine+cola, baileys (I have a great recipe! :), ... And I hate the taste of beer so sorry :/
Favourite computer games (if you like them at all)?
Doom2 :) And Bullfrog ones.
Ok. What are your hobbies besides tracking?
Tell me boy, where are we now? :D
This is an interview :)
I meant irc LOL - uhm... having parties, swimming sometimes, etc. I also do some gfx sometimes if i'm really bored :)
Ah ok .. :) .. Back to music. Are there any special sources of inspiration you could name?
My witty deep ass-shaped brain :) Inspiration is around us... Inspirations are in everything :)
At which time of the day do you usually track (this IS important)?
I hate tracking when I'm already connected (hello ohcs :) so I love tracking in my lunchtime :) I almost never track till the morning... When I'm getting tired, I go and sleep a lot.
What direction do you think the demoscene, especially the internet tracking scene, is going? Do you think it will grow, will it get better/worse..?
Well... Tracking scene... The only bad things about the loveful underground cultures: Everything gets commercial. Look, many trackerscene-musicians are knocking on producers' doors, and it's the same thing in the demoscene.. I think only the oldschool mentality could save this feeling... Sit and work hard for your hobby - for the other friends in the demo/tracker scene.
Have you got any advice you would give to beginning trackers?
Dare leaving the least unfinished S-H-I-T patterns on your HDD.... Years later you could get it on your task and work on by... and get unbelievable results! ..And even dare to track anything, and... be yourself! Many nice words... :~)
Hmm, I think I am running out of questions.
Bad boy.
Is there anything important you'd like to mention here?
Gerappaaaaaaa :P
no way
well.....
lemme think
hm
nothing:) it's fair enough.... do you think that too?
Yes. This was most certainly a nice interview. Thanks a lot, Nagz!
Haha;) Me thanx, bud!
If you still haven't heard any of Nagz's music, I recommend downloading his music at Language Lab (especially the Beat Oven EP, LL #45) and his releases at Analogik (chiptunes). You might as well leech all his music from ftp://flerp.scene.hu/.
Nagz & Vhiiula