Big Jim (James Storer)
British musician of Valhalla and of the five-musicians, the band he named ("FM" fits "four AND five"); a school- and college-trained composer who writes on guitar and then tracks (sources: s-tw003-interview-five-musicians, s-tw013-interview-big-jim). The main source is Popcorn's interview of June 1995; the FM group interview of March 1995 supplies his training and compo history.
Facts#
- James Storer, 19 in spring 1995 (20 in June), computer-science student at the University of Bradford, England; from July 1995 a year's placement at Hewlett-Packard near London. Atari ST before the PC; first PC April 1994; sound cards Logitech Soundman 8-bit → Sound Blaster 16 → 512 KB gravis-ultrasound; first PC tune an AdLib tune, first module in scream-tracker-3 (source: s-tw013-interview-big-jim).
- Training: four years of music at school and college, "writing a score"; GCSE and A-level music; electric and classical guitar, no keyboards (sources: s-tw003-interview-five-musicians, s-tw013-interview-big-jim). His FM speciality: theory and melody (source: s-tw003-interview-five-musicians).
- History: composing at ten, computer music on the ST at fourteen, modules again from July/August 1994, a burst in September 1994; first PC MOD entered in Music Contest II (40th, rookie section); joined Valhalla in December 1994 via Oxide and Sandman, after its 64k intro placed 2nd at The Party; joined FM when Mellow-D proposed a "virtual band" (sources: s-tw003-interview-five-musicians, s-tw013-interview-big-jim).
- Songs: Hangover, Of a Land Beyond Hope (from a riff written a year earlier), Forever (source: s-tw003-interview-five-musicians); Foreign Skys — written on guitar, "nicest sounding" but "only 3 different themes … I spent more time on the samples and then rushed the tracking" (source: s-tw013-interview-big-jim).
- Workflow: load samples and play, make samples and follow them, or work a piece out on the guitar and track it; recommends necros's tracking tips (s-tw012-advanced-tracking-tips). Favourites: Necros, basehead, Mellow-D, purple-motion, skaven, Hollywood, leviathan, DNA-Groov (source: s-tw013-interview-big-jim).
- Greeted by perisoft as "bigjim" (source: s-tw011-interview-perisoft).
- Heard by others: jase (August 1995) liked his "huge symphonic demo music" (source: s-tw022-interview-jase); master-of-darkness excepted Big Jim's guitars from the rule that guitars in modules are looped samples fit only for chords (source: s-tw029-faces-in-the-crowd-smeghead); Popcorn called him "the next Purple Motion" after Foreign Skys (source: s-tw013-interview-big-jim).
Related#
five-musicians · necros · basehead · purple-motion · tracking-workflow · gravis-ultrasound · mellow-d · jase · popcorn
Sources#
s-tw013-interview-big-jim · s-tw003-interview-five-musicians · s-tw011-interview-perisoft · s-tw022-interview-jase · s-tw029-faces-in-the-crowd-smeghead