An Interview with Jeroen Breebaart
What are your favourite sids?
Most sids I like come from the hand of Rob Hubbard. He is really a master in creating great sounds and great melodies. In the 80’s I was really impressed with the crazy comets soundtrack, and I still am. Also some of the funky-style sids from Jeroen Tel were pretty amazing. The synthsamples from Rob Hubbard were pretty interesting too, I wonder whether these were covers or did he write the songs himself?
Who are your favourite c64 composers?
Rob Hubbard, Chris Huelsbeck, Martin Galway, Ben Dalglish, Jeroen Tel (I know, not a very original or surprising list…).
What other arrangers do you like?
I really like the fact that most arrangers have their own style, and it is difficult To give a top-whatever of other arrangers I like most. There were a few remixes that really blew me away ‘sound-wise’: the international karate remix of Lman and the Thrust Remix of Phil Bak. A remix with an interesting musical interpretation was the rambo-bambo impossible mission tune by Mahoney.
What do you use to create your remixes?
It varies a little bit. For dance-oriented sounds, I mainly use a Yamaha CS2x synth. Furthermore, I really love the bass and drum sounds from my Roland M-BD1 bass & Drums expansion module. I use a Yamaha SY77 and a D110 for various sounds, and a Yamaha stage piano for authentic piano sounds. For sequencing and sampling I use Cubase.
What tune that you have remixed are your most pleased with?
I think the upcoming tune that I am currently working on. It has a different style than my Previous mixes; it is more jazz/funk oriented. I hope I will be able to finish it within a few weeks.
Your remixes have tended to follow the dance approach, what are your thoughts on this?
Indeed, especially the crazy comets and dynamix remixes. But in future remixes, I want to focus more on a funk/jazz style (like the special agent remix). Dance-style remixes are very popular in the scene, and although I very much like such remakes because often they fit the original SID very well, I would like to focus a bit more jazzy interpretations of the SIDs.
What piece of equipment that you do not own, would you like?
A lot! I really like the sound of the Virus Access Indigo and the new Yamaha motif series. A hardware compressor, reverb, exciter, and a fender-rhodes piano are also on my wishlist.
What are your fondest memories of the c64?
Programming in machine language to make your own sound editor and demos, and of course making music! I had a 4-octave keyboard attached to my C64 which was very nice to drive samples and SID sounds with.
Why do you remix c64 music?
(1) for good old memories
(2) a lot of SID tunes deserve some more attention because they are simply great, and
(3) the C64 scene is very enthousiastic and rewarding 😊
Who do you think gives the scene the biggest boost, and why?
Surely the credits go to all people who are very active in the scene, keeping websites up to date (such as remix.kwed.org, c64audio.com and www.remix64.com) these are really great initiatives!
If there was a tune that you wish you could claim as your own, what would it be and why?
I don’t know… Maybe some Stevie Wonder and Miles Davis songs and ‘streetlife’ is an all-time favorite.
What are your likes/dislikes regarding the scene?
The fantastic part is that everyone can join, everyone is very enthousiastic and takes time to listen to your tracks. When I uploaded my first remixes, I was very interested in opinions of people reviewing tracks such as LaLa. There are currently no issues that I dislike…
How would you like to see the scene improve?
Maybe some kind of metadata for each remix on remix.kwed.org. For example, I would appreciate some kind of style indicator of each remix. But I know such a thing is very time consuming and difficult to achieve. The database is becoming huge and some kind of additional filtering (either based on quality or style, whatever definition you should use for this) would be nice.
what non c64 music do you like and does this reflect in your own music?
Difficult to say… There is no specific music style or performer that I like. It depends on several factors, such as the rhythms that have been used, quality of the performers, the overall ‘sound’, etc.
How did you come across the scene?
Chris Abbott mailed me the link of R.K.O, but I fail to remember why…
What do you think a remix should be like to give the original sid justice?
I think it should be recognizable as being the SID that you have remixed, but it needs a personal interpretation. I am not particularly fond of taking an original SID and mix some drum and bass sounds with it. Quality is also an issue but it is difficult to define. I think the remix should in principle be better than the original, although sometimes this is difficult to achieve, despite the fact that there is no technological barrier anymore.
What plans for the future do you have as regards to future remixes?
I know I want to be more in the funk/jazz style, but I really have no clue what tunes I will be remixing… Problem is, as always, not enough time to do what I want to do. Also I want more quality in future remixes, both in musical terms as in sound quality. Often I just can’t get the sound in the way I want it, which is a bit frustrating.
Lastly, what would you like to say to the scene?
Keep on remixing, but focus on quality, not quantity, and keep the scene alive!
A well answered and very carefully put interview here from Jeroen who has put as much care into the interview has he does with his music.
- Neil
