U4IA / F8 (James Young)
Bristol-based Amiga-generation composer of underground dance modules — over 150 released by 1996 — who quit as U4IA in 1994 and returned under the name F8; the single source for this page is his e-mail interview in TraxWeekly of August 1996 (source: s-tw067-interview-u4ia).
Facts#
- James "Jim" Young, 27 in 1996, university sysadmin; no computer of his own; brass instruments at school, no composing training; theory "not very" important to him.
- Groups: co-founded Megawatts (with Bosco); CryptoBurners; Mad Dancers Make Art; never entered a compo.
- Tools: SoundTracker 1.0 on an Amiga A500 from about 1989, learned without a manual; on the PC ModEdit, FastTracker 1 ("Leave Me Alone") and fasttracker-2 2.06, chosen over scream-tracker-3 for its Amiga-like feel, envelopes and panning; a 486-33 with an SB16; partner Skye's studio (Atari STe with Cubase, Akai S-950, E-mu ESI-32, Cheetah MS6, Roland JD-990, Alesis Quadraverb) — see recording-samples.
- Songs: "Silence Is A Rhythm" (unreleased), "Klim's Theme", "Jungle Bells '93", "Take a Trip From Me (Mobieus)" (on an Amiga Format cover disk with ProTracker 3.10 — protracker), "Lioth's Theme", "Leave Me Alone" (the farewell), the F8 tunes "Mellow Strain", "New Steps of Change", "Teleportation" (goa trance), "Japanese Intentions", "Xmas Pudding Mix", "Sampled Annie", "U4IA's Dracula".
- Retired in 1994 over CD-ROM resale of free modules, 30–40 demanding e-mails a day and a dead Amiga; the F8 comeback was a deliberate hype experiment with Dr_phuqt (Pete Mills).
- Positions: sample "borrowing" is fine, vocals deserve respect (sample-ripping); paid access to free music is theft; wants only "to make a living writing music" (commercial-tracking); member of the Res Rocket Surfer online band.
- Advice: "distort your samples and be happy"; experiment (instrument-design).
Related#
fasttracker-2 · protracker · sample-ripping · commercial-tracking · tracker-scene-history · traxweekly