TW #31 — Faces in the Crowd: Interview with Luv Kohli (DennisC)
DennisC's Faces in the Crowd interview (printed as "#10") with luv-kohli, co-founder of the two-member Virginia group Empyrean — a newcomer's account of tracker lineage, BBS distribution and the AOL ban. A correction in #32 adds his e-mail and the Freedom data CD (source: s-tw032-fitc-complaints).
Key claims#
- Luv Kohli is his real name, no alias; co-founded Empyrean with his brother Manu — "currently consists of only two members". Releasing for about a year (October 1995); started earlier.
- Style varies deliberately ("trying to expand my horizons"), but "my music tends to be of a sorrowful nature". No instrument (a school recorder aside). Outside influences Metallica and Rush; tracked influences "the standard" necros, purple-motion, skaven, C.C.Catch, Ryan Cramer — "every piece of tracked music I hear influences me in some way".
- Self-assessment: "definitely not chords"; drums improving; melodies "relatively nonexistent" — "more like background music".
- Tracker lineage: found a .MOD, then MODEdit v2.00 → MODEdit v3.00 → Whacker Tracker → the original FastTracker → Scream Tracker 3.21. "I find ST3 easier to use, for me. However, FT2 has some superior features, and has really nice sound quality. I simply can't get myself to use FT2 at this point."
- Workflow: no fixed start — sometimes a melody in his head that he then loses; usually "some sort of beat" first.
- On #trax: banned while on AOL, so at first he "hated everyone"; people there "can be hasty" and "usually don't talk about tracking … It's more of a place to hang out." The scene "seems to allow more 'new faces' these days, with the invention of groups like epinicion and AIM Higher"; the demo scene was better when FC's demos "fit in with the music perfectly" — now routines over design.
- Distribution: no internet distro; Empyrean's main site is The Dream City BBS, Virginia, (703) 914-9131; also Ryan Cramer's board (Data Connection). One song, "Beyond Chaos" (
BEYONDCH.ZIP), reached ftp.cdrom.com and drew one e-mail from a stranger. - Sample ripping: fine "as long as the person it is ripped from does not mind and a good effort is made to credit them" — he has many samples whose origin he no longer knows ("a mistake that I made earlier") and will keep a record from now on.
- His one change to the scene: nobody "rejected" for a bad piece — "people have to start learning somewhere".
- Correction printed in #32: e-mail
lkohli@ids2.idsonline.com; all of Empyrean's songs are on the Freedom data CD.
Practical takeaways#
- Keep a provenance list for every sample you collect — the credit rule of sample-ripping is unenforceable once you have lost track.
- ST3 vs FT2 in late 1995 as users saw it: ST3's editor is easier, FT2 has more features and better mixing.
Notable quotes#
- "Everyone should be able to accept that people have to start learning somewhere." — Luv Kohli.
Relevance#
A data point for the 1995 tracker lineage (ModEdit → Whacker → FastTracker → ST3), BBS-era distribution, and the ripping-with-credit ethic. He placed 9th as "LuvK" in 20mc #8 (source: s-tw032-20-minute-chip-compo).
Pages touched#
luv-kohli, scream-tracker-3, fasttracker-2, sample-ripping, epinicion, tracking-workflow, tracker-scene-history, ryan-cramer.