nervous_testpilot
by Mister Mime
18th June 2021
Melody, accessibility and ‘tentative experimentation’ are the elements of electronic music that ‘nervous_testpilot’ has always been drawn towards. Coming from an established background of creating soundtracks and sound design for video games through his company ‘Mode7 Games’, “Information Technology” is his first release on the Billegal Beats Label.
This foray into the IDM world is only natural for the UK based musician and producer, who effortlessly blends emotive and uplifting flavours with relatively abstract textures and geometric interplays of sound. Inspired by the aesthetics of retro computing as evident in the theme, the EP is a well-crafted piece of music that easily manages to crossover between the likes of mainstream house or trance music, experimental IDM and last but certainly not least, the vast and wonderful world of video games.
MM: Why is the EP called "Information Technology”?
nervous_testpilot: Essentially, I like the aesthetics of retro computing and I think a lot about how sound conveys information when I'm writing music! Not much more to it than that.
MM: What about the tracks: Are there any stories or references behind them?
nervous_testpilot: Golden Gate Park was somewhat about the experience of walking around San Francisco after attending GDC, the big games industry conference there. There's always a couple of days after everything winds down which I take as an opportunity to wander around thinking about stuff - so I was trying to capture a bit of that emotion.
The other tracks are a bit more oblique than that. ‘Stealth Surface’ was a conscious attempt to make something darker and a bit more "techy" which is a side to my sound that comes out occasionally.
MM: How did you come about releasing this EP on the Billegal Beats Label?
nervous_testpilot: I'm a fan of Bill's work and I love what he and his team have done with the label. I was listening to every single release coming out on there and thought I'd give it a shot with a demo - I really wanted to support the effort to bring more experimental IDM-style stuff to a modern audience. Luckily they liked it and Bill gave me some very clear and specific feedback on a couple of production aspects which I think made a real difference to the end result.
MM: Can you share with us your musical background?
nervous_testpilot: I started making electronic music when I was about 15. I tried out a few different styles but I always ended up somewhere between dance music and more experimental stuff - I was hugely influenced by Warp Records acts like Plaid and Boards of Canada eventually. I was involved with the local music scene in Oxford where I grew up - there was an amazing open culture that allowed all sorts of weird and wonderful acts to get slots at live shows, so that's where I first started to try things out.
From there I moved on to writing video game music for my indie dev studio Mode 7 - our first game came out in around 2006. I had a few minor dance music projects (and my chiptune alias _ensnare_) but mostly focussed on soundtracks for years after that.
MM: Why did you choose the alias 'Nervous Testpilot'?
nervous_testpilot: I was in the library at school writing down combinations of words I thought would be cool for an artist name and then hit on that! I think "tentative experimentation" characterises a lot of my work as well - I want to try new stuff but I also don't want to blow people out of the water with crazy unlistenable noise. I've always liked accessibility and melody in electronic music.
MM: Can you tell us about your company 'Mode7 Games'?
nervous_testpilot: Mode 7 was founded by my friend Ian Hardingham when he was at university, and he originally brought me on as a musician and sound designer. I moved up to being his business partner and co-owner quite quickly and we developed various different games and projects. We're probably best known for a tactical game called Frozen Synapse which came out in 2011, sold pretty well and won a few awards including PC Gamer Strategy Game of the Year.
We moved into publishing games by other developers in 2017 and our focus is now on publishing and consulting. We just released a fantastic deck-building fighting game called Fights in Tight Spaces by UK devs Ground Shatter - that's in Early Access right now on PC and Xbox.
MM: Who/what are your musical (and non-musical) influences?
nervous_testpilot: I mentioned Warp Records before - that more "abstract" electronic sound really appealed to me growing up, particularly Plaid who I've seen live a ridiculous number of times and been lucky enough to have a couple of chats with.
My grandmother was a really accomplished abstract painter, and I like the idea of making an emotional connection with geometry and texture - I was always fascinated by that as a kid - you don't always need an obvious human element to be shoved in your face for something to generate meaning.
Outside that, I've always been into melodic, well-crafted dance music right through from the more epic house style tracks in the mid-90's, through to early trance and now some bits of deep house and techno. Artists like Ferry Corsten and Gareth Emery on the trance side were really important to me in the early and mid 2000's; I'm currently into some of the Anjunadeep style stuff like Lane 8 and Yotto. Don't mind some darker stuff as well - big fan of deadmau5 and his mau5trap label; Matt Lange's work is just so finely-tuned and emotive as well.
MM: Who are some exciting and innovative sound designers and music composers in the gaming industry in your opinion?
nervous_testpilot: Chipzel's work blending chiptune with other styles is super cool - the Dicey Dungeons soundtrack is pretty eye-opening in terms of what's possible there. It's kind of an obvious one as well, but Mick Gordon really showed you can bring some pretty aggressive and intense sound design into a mainstream score and get people to rock out to it.
MM: Can you name some artists (from any discipline) who have caught your attention recently?
nervous_testpilot: If we're talking outside music I've enjoyed pretty much everything Ari Aster's done as a director - he's got this aggression and genuine desire to push the audience very hard but still keep things just inside the tolerances of a format that can get mainstream attention.
MM: What do you like to do apart from music? Are you an avid gamer as well?
nervous_testpilot: I wouldn't say avid! I do play games a fair amount but it's largely from a "let's see what's going on here" perspective than getting hugely into things. I will get a bit more involved at times though - just finished Fallout: New Vegas again and that's a real masterpiece.
I'm currently also working on the Steam version of Wardialler, a text adventure game I wrote a couple of years ago, as a friend (the inimitable Sonny Bonds aka Anders) has very kindly built me a framework to remake that. If I do get any spare time it'll be going into that at the moment.
MM: Would you have any advice for new and upcoming music producers, and specifically game sound/music designers?
nervous_testpilot: Keep learning and improving - it's a lifelong process and you'll need to enjoy that aspect of things to get anywhere. Look after your hearing - I didn't always do that when I was younger and I regret it now - you need to be wearing earplugs any time you're in a loud environment with zero exceptions.
Try and be specific about what you're trying to accomplish when it comes to sound design and mixing - have a target. You'll soon learn what you do and don't like personally but initially, it really helps to have specific objectives. Be honest about whether or not you're hitting that target - if your dynamics and EQ are wrong, for example, you should figure out why that is. Learn to A/B tracks, use spectral analysers like Span (which is free) and loudness analysers like YouLean (which is also free).
Games-wise, you really need to be networking and meeting game developers and other sound designers. You should develop that alongside your technical skills - it just boils down to being a friendly and open person, you don't need to go in with any expectations.
***BONUS ROUND***
MM: Which is your go-to plugin and DAW for music-making?
nervous_testpilot: I've always been a huge fan of Ableton Live.
Plugin-wise it's got to be PhasePlant - it just sounds great initially and then has huge scope and flexibility to it as well.
MM: ‘Exclusive Productivity Tip’ Plz! {To be taken with a pinch of salt, and a wedge of lime}
nervous_testpilot: Complete your task to a very high standard extremely quickly. Then you can move on to the next task and do the same.
Follow nervous_testpilot on:
https://billegalbeats.bandcamp.com/album/information-technology-ep
https://open.spotify.com/artist/7zhakwCorTNUwe17WxD3kh
https://www.instagram.com/nervous_testpilot/https://soundcloud.com/nervous_testpilot
https://twitter.com/mode7games
https://nervoustestpilot.co.uk/
All Images courtesy of nervous_testpilot
