Artist interview with area51dna
Introduction
A special treat! Yet another artist interview, this time Dan Nyman (aka area51dna), read on to learn about what makes this tracker tick!
The Interview
Libris: To start things off, could you tell me your name and age?
area51dna: My real name is Dan Nyman and im 21 years old.
Libris: And where abouts in the world are you from?
area51dna: I live in Sweden, in a little town called Söderhamn… way up in the north. :)
Libris: Is there much of a tracking scene there? Do you know of anyone else who tracks in your area?
area51dna: Well, actually there isn't, I have a friend who also tracks, but thats about it.
Libris: Ahh ok, so aside from tracking, what are some of your other interests?
area51dna: Music and tracking aside, I like to paint and work with Design. Right now I’m studying web-design. Ice-hockey is one of my interest too, but I don’t it play myself, I just enjoy watching the Swedes kick everyone elses ass! :P
Libris: :D Painting eh? Do you have any scanned samples of your work hosted on-line anywhere? Would you like to make a career out of web-design?
area51dna: Actually I don’t have any samples on the web :/ But sometime in the future I’ll probably upload them somewhere. Yes I'd love to work with web-design as a real job. I’m a newbie at it, but I enjoy it very much.
Libris: Well it's important to do something that you enjoy. =)
Now, what's your all-time favourite food, book and movie?
area51dna: My favourite food hmmm… I’d have to say tacos, I like all food that almost "burns" in your mouth hehe. Books are the devils work, I hate books! But movies, I enjoy almost as much as tracking! I get a lot of inspiration from movies.
Libris: Is there any one movie that stands out as inspiring you the most?
area51dna: Titanic is one movie that I'll never forget. There’s something special about that movie… I got a lot of inspiration from it. I also really like fantasy movies, such as Lord of the Rings.
Libris: If you could travel/move to anywhere in the world, where do you think you'd go?
area51dna: Hmm... I'd say Ireland, because of the wonderful landscapes. But there's a lot of places I would like to go. The problem is, I don’t like flying in airoplanes hehe… last time I flew I got so sick that I passed out two times on the plane, and from that day I promised myself to never put a foot on a plane again!
Libris: Wow! I don’t blame you. I guess you'll have to wait 'till they build a tunnel to Ireland then. :P Do you enjoy Irish music at all?
area51dna: Haha yeah ;). Irish music is the best. I like it very much.
Libris: =) Now, onto some tracking questions. How long have you been tracking for?
area51dna: Come this summer, I've been tracker for 7 years. But it took some years to learn everything about Fast-tracker…
Libris: So how did you discover tracking? And once you discovered it, what made you want to continue?
area51dna: I discovered tracking when a friend showed up one day with a black disk in his hand and said "Lets's do some real kickass music, man!" - I just laughed at him and said to him with a little tone of sarcasm: "Yeah right... go for it" ;) I could never believe that this little black disc would change my life. But it certainly has. From when I was little I had always a dream of composing my Own music. And this was it, I started to experiment with this program and found it quite interesting, but it took a very long time to finish a single song that sounded like music. ;)
Libris: You said earlier that you used ft2. Was it ft2 that was on the disk? have you always used it?
area51dna:yes it was ft2 on the disk and I have always used it, though I've tried some other programs like Modplug and IT, but I still like ft2 more.
Libris: I like ft2 best as well. Have you ever been involved in the Demoscene or writing music for games? If not would you like to do something along those lines sometime?
area51dna:Yes, I have been writing music for games, lobstersoft.com is one company that I have been worked for. The game hasn't been released yet due to some problems. I have received a lot of emails about people who would like to buy some songs for their games as well.
Libris: Do you have any favourite tracking scene artists? And what is it about their music that makes them your favourite?
area51dna:I have alot of favourite artists but there is one artist who is hard to beat. I’m talking about Radix! He's a really good composer. Jogier Liljedahl is one of my favorites too. I just love the way they track to get the right "sound". The melodies are totally awesome. Then we have Awesome who is a great guy.
Libris: How about commercial artists - do you have any favourites? What about ones you dislike?
area51dna:Hmm… that’s a hard one. Well as I said before, I’m a big fan of Irish music. But besides that I like Sarah Brightman and Enya. I almost like every single musical genre accept RnB / Rap/ Hiphop / Rapcore. Those are the genres I really hate because it’s not music in my opinion it’s just monotonous babbling! :)
Libris: Are you currently in any tracking crews/groups? Did you used to be in any?
area51dna:Right now I’m not in a crew/group. But I have been in three groups:
1.Starshine Records
2.Silversquare Records and
3.Neuropulse trax.
But the groups didn't survive.
Libris: Oh, a shame =( What do you think the best thing about the tracking scene (as a community) is?
area51dna:I think its a good thing for musicians to be able to communicate and exchange their music to each other. And talk about something everyone likes - Music.
Libris: What do you think about the quality of the music being submitted by the bulk of the tracking scene? Do you think that the scene has changed in the time you've been in it?
area51dna:Yeah, I think the music has changed a little. Nowadays I all you see is Trance songs. I have nothing against trance because I used to work in that genre myself, but Trance gets stale, and I would like to see more Fantasy and Celtic music. The quality today is almost the same though, I believe. Maybe even a little better.
Libris: Yes it would be nice to see a change. Do you think that’s the worst thing about a lot of the tracking scene? The unoriginality because everyone wants to make trance?
area51dna:I don’t think it’s that big a problem really. The worst thing for me personally is the lack of Good fantasy tracks. I only know a few good artists that can tack good Celtic fantasy music. More fantasy to the people! And skip the trance for a week or two.
Libris: Agreed =) Do you think that your own style has changed a lot since you began tracking?
area51dna:Yes indeed! Very much. When I started, I was a trance freak as well, ‘cause that’s not a very hard genre to work with. But then I tried to advance into (in my opinion) some harder genres like Celtic and Fantasy. And those are the genres I mostly work with nowadays, because of the variety they can hold.
Libris: Do you have a favourite track out of the ones you've composed? If so, why is it your favourite?
area51dna:"Beyond the Stars" is one of my favorites and it’s the newest song too. That song has a lot of personal value.
Libris: So does the music you compose show how you're feeling at the time? Because some of your tracks are more upbeat, and others slow, soft relaxing...
area51dna:Yes exactly, if I feel sad, then I compose a sad song, and if I’m happy I compose a happy song, etc. :)
area51dna:It’s a good way to express yourself.
Libris: Yes indeed it is. How do you go about getting samples for your tunes? rip? make your own? or a bit of both?
area51dna:I'd be lying if I said that I create them myself haha. ;) Naa. I borrow from other artists, I don’t think that’s a big crime, and I think that most artist out there rip some sounds. Maybe not all of them but some… Of course, you can re-edit them in some software program. That’s what I used to do.
Libris: Not a crime at all, many people do it and its accepted of course. Now, why did you choose the handle Area51 DNA - and have you ever had any other tracking handles before it?
area51dna:Oh no… I feared this question. ;) Heh… From the very beginning I chose the name "Area51" because it sounded like "Trancy" name (or so I thought). Then when I tried to sign up at TiS there was a artist with that handle already, so I had to re-name myself. I thought for a while and I came up with DNA, because DNA stands for my real name "Dan" But now in 2002 I have decided that my new handle will be only my real name: Dan Nyman.
Libris: Ahhhh :D Have you ever released any tracks that you're really ashamed of?
area51dna:Hehe, actually I have, but I’m not gonna tell you the filname! :P
Libris: Awww! :P~ Fair enough. Before you started tracking, did you have any background musical knowledge? Can you play any instruments for example?
area51dna:Before I started tracking I played guitar in a band called "Far beyond" but the band split because some members had to move... so then I was on my own… I do still play the guitar, but not I’m not that serious about it anymore. I’ve played guitar for five years now.
Libris: What's the nicest thing that anyone's ever said about your music? - And what's the meanest?
area51dna:Hmmm… I once got an e-mail from a guy here in Sweden. He told me that he thought I was the greatest tracker in the world, and that he had never heard anything like my stuff before. But then again, I didn't know if he was serious when he told me Hehe… ;) I haven't had any mean comments about my songs yet… :P
Libris: Well that’s good. =) On average, how much time a week would you say you devote to tracking?
area51dna:Nowadays I can’t track because I run XP but before that I used to sit around 3 hours a day.
Libris: Oh no! That’s terrible! What will you when you want to track again?
area51dna:I cant. Thats it. I'll just have to sit here and wait until someone makes me a solution to this major problem. But also, I’ve heard about ft3 (now Sk@le), It will appear this summer according to Awesome. So I’m looking forward to that. But in the meantime i'll just have to learn some other tracker progs i guess.
Libris: That’s a real shame. Hope you find one that you like eventually. When you were tracking, did you prefer to compose during the day, late at night, or wasn't time an issue?
area51dna:The best tracks I did were at night, I have no idea why. Hehe.
area51dna:But with a glass of gin & tonic everything sounded great, even in the day! :D
Libris: Hehe :D So I take it you're no stranger to tracking drunk? How long did it usually take you to make a track, from beginning to end?
area51dna:Hm… it took about 4 hours, but after those four hours I couldn't release it until it sounded like I wanted. So I guess it took around 5 hours before everything was alright.
Libris: What's the longest you've spent working on a track do you think?
area51dna:two weeks! The song called "Sunshine of the Morning Sun" that was a hard one… :)
Libris: What do you think a suitable punishment would be for people who rip other's music?
area51dna:I have been ripped off already by a company called "Toms hardware" a big site of computer material. I think they should burn in hell! Because I tried to contact the boss of the company and the one that took my song but none of them mailed me back. They stole the song called "Stepfather".
Libris: >=( That's bad.
area51dna:Sure is.
Libris: Now one last question. If you were suddenly very very rich - what would you spend the money on? =)
area51dna:A big freaking studio where I would live for the rest of my life! :D
Libris: Sounds good :D Is there anything else you'd like your fans to know about yourself or your music?
area51dna:I appreciate every fan mail that I receive, and try to answer them all. And go your own way ... try to find your own unique style. If you do that then you have a big musical career in front of you.
Article by Libris, May 2002