SIDin #4 — Chris Abbott interview (Stefano Tognon, 2003)

An email interview with chris-abbott — occasional SID composer, but above all the man behind C64Audio.com, the Back in Time CDs and the BIT Live concerts — done for sidin #4 in June 2003. Biography, the economics of the C64 remix business six years in, the CDs he planned next, and a hard-line closing statement: "free C64 music is a privilege, not a right."

Key claims#

• Biography, in his words: born 1970 in Ilford, Essex; no particular music education beyond a first-year guitar class at school and a keyboard at 15 ("played Axel F all the time"); first computer an Atari 400 with 16 K; fell for the C64 through a friend's machine (Hunchback, Attack of the Mutant Camels) and got his own; had a MIDI interface and sequencer for both the Atari 800 and the C64; "Programmed some SIDs for Superior Software which are in HVSC" (hvsc); studied psychology, married Tanya in 1990, worked for IBM in 1990; no music until an AWE32 in 1994 started him "programming MIDIs of C64 tunes".
• How C64Audio began: a planned C64 CD with a "crap German publishing company" fell through, so he "did it alone, hence Back in Time 1. Many CDs follow. Back in Time Live." Twins (John and Stephanie) in 2002 — "A drain on the productivity". Day job: IT contractor, "the only person in the world to have cracked AOLs 'Rainman' protocol".
• Money: Tognon's premise is that C64Audio.com had paid "over £20,000 to C64 composers since 1997 in royalties and other payments". Abbott had expected it — "I even hoped for more than that" — but the CD market proved limited: most former C64 owners "aren't particularly nostalgic … they don't remember the music much, and certainly never had the same longing for CD versions that I had all through the period from 1985 -> 1997".
• CDs vs concerts: "A BIT Live Event isn't fun for me" — the planning is, the event is "moving heavy objects around and running around London trying to find a video adapter"; "I enjoyed BIT Live 2 though"; "I see my mission to make sure everyone else has fun."
• Planned in June 2003: "The Galway Project – The Perfect SID Collection", Back in Time 4 (Martial Arts), Back in Time 5 (Fantasy), Back in Time 6 (completion), Music for Starchildren ("a new age CD for children that coincidentally includes some C64 stuff"), Crystal Dreamscapes 2, "01:04 Eternal" by FTC, "Some album by Makke". A new SID of his own: "I'd love to, but … my time is limited for musical things."
• Quick answers: emulators "are great, and often a lot more convenient", but "you can't beat sitting in front of a TV with a real joystick and a real SID playing"; 6581 over 8580 — "8580s filters don't love my ears" (sid).
• His own SIDs: worst "a pretty crap Magnetic Fields one I did in the Software House demo"; best "probably the Chess stuff. That was pretty damn complex!"; also pleased with Galaforce 2 — "Though of course it was Martin Galway's soundtrack that made it into the game fume".
• His canon: martin-galway and rob-hubbard "hit the spot more times than most, because they combined experience, hard work, technical genius and sheer musicality. Everyone else lacked at least one … of these qualities"; older favourites Graeme Hansford, Chris Cox, James Lisney, Paul Norman, David Dunn. Best SIDs: Thing on a Spring "was without doubt the most influential SID ever made", though he prefers Gerry the Germ, Spellbound and Kentilla; from Galway Hypersports and Roland's Rat Race; fred-gray's "finest moments were Mutants, Shadowfire and Frankie Goes to Hollywood"; Ben Daglish's Trap, Kettle and William Wobbler; david-whittaker's 180 and BMX Simulator.
• Closing statement: "it's only through the sensible generation and use of money that the SID scene is as well integrated as it is. The CDs give the scene journalistic credibility, as do the live events." His two proofs: "Would Martin Galway have lent us his C128D and source disks if there was no commercial project to build with it? Would Rob Hubbard be performing unplugged unless he had been bought back into the scene by BIT Live?" He is "pretty damn angry when people spread lies about C64Audio", and on the "C64 music should be free" movement: "free C64 music is a privilege, not a right. It's only through the generosity of copyright holders and composers that RKO and HVSC exist and flourish." Webography: www.C64Audio.com.

Practical takeaways#

• A listening list from a remix-scene organiser who knows the catalogue: Hubbard's Thing on a Spring, Gerry the Germ, Spellbound, Kentilla; Galway's Hyper Sports and Roland's Rat Race; Fred Gray's Mutants, Shadowfire, Frankie Goes to Hollywood; Daglish's Trap, Kettle, William Wobbler; Whittaker's 180, BMX Simulator.
• Galway's C128D and source disks survived and were lent to C64Audio for "The Galway Project" — the same machine and workflow Galway describes on martin-galway.
• The 2003 state of the remix economy: about £20,000 paid to composers in six years, a small CD market, live events run at a loss of fun for the organiser.

Notable quotes#

"Martin Galway and Rob Hubbard hit the spot more times than most, because they combined experience, hard work, technical genius and sheer musicality."

"free C64 music is a privilege, not a right."

Relevance to the wiki#

Creates chris-abbott — until now only a name on reyn-ouwehand and maniacs-of-noise (via s-remix64-ninja-remix). Adds a 2003 contemporary's canon to rob-hubbard, martin-galway, fred-gray and david-whittaker, and a composer-side view of hvsc's legal footing. The "Galway Project" note documents that Galway's C128D and source disks still existed in 2003 (galway-player).

To verify#

• (unverified) "RKO" in the closing statement is presumably the Remix.Kwed.Org remix archive; the interview does not expand it.
• (unverified) Which Superior Software titles carry Abbott's SIDs; the interview names none — only Galaforce 2, the Chess "stuff" and a Software House demo tune are mentioned, without publishers.

Pages touched#

chris-abbott · martin-galway · rob-hubbard · fred-gray · david-whittaker · hvsc · sidin · reyn-ouwehand · maniacs-of-noise