pHluid / ACiD music handle: kneko
current handle (if different):
real name: Brandon Frantz
email address: kneko@ecesis.org
location: Schererville, Indiana USA
time in pHluid: [mmyy to mmyy] 03-99 (i believe)
number of tracks released with pHluid: 15
fav. track released: InEternal Illusions
fav. styles tracked: anything but country or rap :)
fav. pHluidian (past or present): Phaze, pinion, and Xenoc (sorry, can't
choose just one)
fav. tracker (past or present): Necros,Hunz,Mellow-D (sorry, same problem)
fav. track: Point of Departure
professional/commercial musician influences:
orbital, aphex twin, delerium, frontline assembly, dream theater,
BT, and many many more. if you want a complete comprehensive list,
make sure you have a rather large harddrive for a rather large list :)
- Short answer
what/who got you into tracking to begin with?
Well, this is kind of a difficult question to answer. It's almost as
if trying to answer who decided to put stars up in the sky instead of
piglets or something. I've been listening to tracked music since
sometime in 1995, and got started sometime around 1996. I listened to
quite a few musicians including people from pHluid back around that time.
I think one of the major things that got me into it though, was hearing
music from a friend of mine who used to be a part of a local tracking
group around the area called Hari-kiri. It was an interesting little
group with a whole bunch of different types of music flowing through
there. It wasn't the greatest thing in the world, but it was at the
time. From there, I was really interested in learning how to write my
own music using my own little power-lacking computer. Looking around, i
found an interesting module player called ModMaster (little flashy
lights and such going on at the top for each channel, supported up to 8).
I figured after finding this, I could have been on the right track.
About a month or two later, I finally found a copy of Scream Tracker 3.
From there, I was in heaven. The rest of the story about my music and
such has yet to be completed :).
are you still making music/with what equipment and or programs?
(where can we find your work?)
Still making music using the wonderful Impulse Tracker 2.xx. I'm also
using other programs for making some of the samples I use in my music.
Programs such as the following: SoundForge, CoolEdit Pro, Stomper,
Orangator, and random text files and other files roaming around. :).
if you could work with any one musician or band, who would it be and why?
There isn't just one band. There are several/quite a few i would love to
work with. Each of them have different styles i'd like to work with,
learn how the function, etc. I would basically work with just about
anyone for the learning experience (cept anyone just doing country or rap
:) ).
has being in pHluid changed your career plans? (you now want to be a
professional musician, you now ARE a professional musician, you devoted
too much time to it and you flunked out of school and or lost your job?)
Hasn't changed my career plans at all. But it has changed a major
portion of my life, and that I am grateful for. My careers are going to
be in computers and such, but not on a musical level. Music is a major
hobby in my life...and working with pHluid encompasses that hobby, plus
communication with some damn fine people, and some damn fine musicians.
It's been an honour that I have had for 2 years now, and an honour i
hope to have for many years to come.
how do you feel about the current tracking scene?
The current tracking scene in my opinion has taken a step down a bit.
It's not quite as active as it used to be, but there are still musicians
emerging, still some of the good 'ol guys from way back when still doing
music in both tracking and midi-sequencing as well. It's sad that it's
been as distant as it has, but it's still there and still growing. It's
not quite the community it used to be, but things change as time
progresses. It's been a bit distant, but i think that distance will
become smaller in the next couple of years. The closing of Hornet kinda
maimed the scene a bit, but it hasn't come even close to killing it off.
There are other archives and other places that you can look for the music
that most people have been listening to for 5 to 10 years now. It's been
something that we've all had with us for quite a long time now, and
something that will continue to prosper. New programs, new ideas, new
musicians will continue to pop up. It'll change, it'll grow, and i feel
in my heart that it won't die, not at least within my lifetime. Things
that have stuck around like the tracking scene has, will be around for
quite a while. Hell, people still are doing ANSI to this very day. And
that's all I have to say about that.
how do you feel about MP3's, music piracy, and free music?
Free music. I'm all for it. Personally i think free music is one of the
best things ever to happen to the music industry in general, let alone
for the people who actually get this music. Producing it also has a bit
more payoff than with commercial labels and such, because it's easier to
keep in touch with the people that like the music, it's easier to put out
that music, and usually the feeling of putting out that kind of music
hits someone in the best way, at least in my opinion. I've been
producing music for over four years now for people to get freely. It's
good for publicity, and good for the mind as well, because you know that
people are most willing to recieve something that is free rather than
pay on a risk-buy kind of deal. To me, it's wonderful on both the
listener and the creator of free music. MP3's, a good thing to hit on.
MP3's are something that are very nice to have available. It's not a
substitute for modules and such, but i feel it is an additional tool,
especially if songs will be reaching certain sizes that would end up
being larger, it's a good replacement for those larger songs. Say you
have a 3 minute song that is 9megs as a compressed IT file or something
to that effect, it'll end up being 3.something megs or less if you were
to have it as an MP3. So MP3's are nice in that aspect. Some people
think they will replace them.
© 2000 pHluid Music + ACiD Productions