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BT (musician)

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BT

Brian Wayne Transeau (born October 4, 1971 in Rockville, Maryland) is an electronic musician, better known by his stage name, BT. He has been called the "Father of Trance" for his pioneering in the trance genre,[1][2] and "Prince of Dance Music" for his multi-instrumentalist skills,[3] and in recent years he has gained additional fame for producing Hollywood film scores.

BT is known in production circles for his signature technique, the stutter edit, also known as the BT stutter.[4][5] This technique consists of taking a small sample of a sound and then repeating it in a rhythmic way.

When recording with other artists, BT has used the aliases Kaistar, Libra, Dharma, Prana, Elastic Reality, Elastic Chakra, and GTB.

Early years

Transeau showed an early interest in music, playing the piano from the age of two and enjoying classical music.[6] As an adolescent, he heard electronic music such as New Order and Depeche Mode and began to love it. He attended Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts, graduating in 1989[7] and moving to Los Angeles, California, where he found himself largely an outsider in the closed Los Angeles electronica community.

Music career

BT then moved back to the Washington, DC area where he had grown up and collaborated there with his friends Ali and Sharam of Deep Dish in the early 1990s.[8] Transeau's productions were not yet popular in the United States, and he had no idea that he had become a sensation across the Atlantic, where UK DJs like Sasha and Paul Oakenfold were regularly spinning his music for crowds. Sasha bought Transeau a ticket to London, where BT witnessed his own massive success; several thousand clubbers responded enthusiastically when Sasha played his song.[9] He was soon signed to Oakenfold's record label, a subsidiary of Warner Brothers.[7] His British hits at this time were "A Moment of Truth" and "Relativity," and it was during this time in the UK that BT met Tori Amos.[7]

In the early years of BT's career (roughly 1995-2000), he pioneered the trance genre,[10] which was less hyper and more soothing than most other types of dance music. Despite the fact that he is not truly a DJ and doesn't claim to be,[11] BT has often appeared on the lists of the world's top DJs. In 2006, he ranked 73rd on DJ Mag's Top 100 DJ list. In 2005, he ranked 82nd,[12] up from 92 in 2004.[13] Additional rankings were 83rd in 2003 and 76 in 2001.[14][15] More recently, in DJ Times, BT was ranked as America's second best DJ, as voted by fans.[16]

BT has said of his musical background, "I'm not the traditional type of dance music artist. I'm not a DJ. I come from a classical music background. I attended the Berklee College of Music, and I played in punk bands."[9]

Ima

Instantly popular, BT's 1996 album Ima helped shape the future of the burgeoning progressive house scene as it merged with, and later came to define, the trance music style. Notable on Ima was its first single, which put the album on the map with a co-write and vocal by Vincent Covello on the break-out hit single for BT, "Loving You More." Another prized collaboration with singer/songwriter Tori Amos, "Blue Skies," was subsequently released and helped the album to gain notice in America.[7] The title, "Ima" ("今"), is the Japanese word for "now."

ESCM

While Ima was comprised solely of the "progressive" sound, 1997's ESCM was more experimental (although it still produced several big records for the electronic dance music scene). The album featured more complex melodies and more traditional harmonies along with a heavier use of vocals.[17] The tone of the album is darker and less whimsical than Ima. The album, as a whole, is much more diverse than BT's debut album. The LP was a hit in Britain, Australia, and Japan.[9]

The biggest hit from ESCM was the trance classic, "Flaming June,"[17] a collaboration with German trance meister Paul Van Dyk. Van Dyk and BT would collaborate on a number of works including the unreleased "Namastai" as well as Van Dyk's remix of BT's "Blue Skies" and "Remember." "Remember" featured Jan Johnston on vocals. BT and Van Dyk also remixed the Van Dyk classic "Forbidden Fruit."

Movement in Still Life

BT released his 1999 album Movement in Still Life and continued his previous experimentation outside of the trance genre. The album, his third, features a strong element of nu skool breaks, a genre he helped define with the popular "Hip-Hop Phenomenon,"[18] in collaboration with Tsunami One. The LP moved into less experimental music and was somewhat worrying to some fans on the artist's message boards.[citation needed] The strong hip-hop influences on "Madskillz-Mic Chekka" and "Love on Haight Street" combined with pop flavors to cause doubt that BT was moving away from his roots. However, the album hits a spectrum of genre-work. "Smartbomb" is a mix of funky, heavy riffs from both synthesizers and guitars woven over a hip-hop break and includes a lyric sample from "Love on Haight Street". "Shame" and "Satellite" lean toward an alt-rock sound, while "Godspeed" and "Dreaming" fall into classic trance ranks. "Running Down the Way Up", a collaboration with fellow electronic act Hybrid, features sultry vocals heavily edited into a progressive breakbeat track. "Never Gonna Come Back Down" (featuring vocals by Mike Doughty) was the most popular single from the album, and appeared on the Gone in 60 Seconds soundtrack in radio edited form. "Mercury and Solace", while failing to achieve the commercial success of "Never Gonna Come Back Down", is the most commercially remixed song from the album.[19] Jan Johnston sang vocals on this track and others, with Kirsty Hawkshaw also making significant vocal contributions to "Running Down the Way Up" and "Dreaming."

Emotional Technology

The original versions of many tracks that were to be released on the follow up to Movement in Still Life were stolen from BT's studio during a burglary around Christmas of 2001. $75,000 worth of equipment was stolen. The 11 lost tracks included collaborations with Sarah MacLachlan and Peter Gabriel which were never duplicated.

The album that replaced the lost tracks was Emotional Technology, released in 2003. It featured more vocal tracks than BT's previous fare, including six with vocals by BT himself. Emotional Technology was BT's least experimental album to date, and many consider it the "poppiest" of all of his work. The big single from the album, Somnambulist, draws heavily from the breakbeats and new wave dance of New Order and Depeche Mode, whom BT has cited as major influences.[4] The rest of the album fairly escapes genre labeling.[citation needed] from the dark guitar work of Circles, to The Only Constant is Change which is reminiscent of Satellite, the album blends genres and changes genres in mid-track.[citation needed]

This Binary Universe

BT's fifth studio album, This Binary Universe, released in 2006, is his second studio album released in 5.1 surround sound, the first being the soundtrack to the motion picture Monster.

The album features a mix of many genres, including jazz, breakbeats, and classical music. Three songs feature a full 110-piece orchestra. BT has said that the album has a lullaby-like quality, inspired by his daughter, Kaia, who sat on his lap throughout most of the song writing process. Animated videos were created to accompany each song.[20] The videos are included in a DVD packaged along with the CD.

Keyboard Magazine declared of the album, “In a hundred years, it could well be studied as the first major electronic work of the new millennium.”[21]

Unlike his last two albums, which featured vocals on almost every track, this album contains none. The tracks also change genres constantly throughout. A good example is "The Antikythera Mechanism", which starts off almost lullaby-like, complete with a piano, acoustic guitars and reversed beats. Halfway through the track, the song explodes with a 110-piece orchestra, followed by a section of breakbeats and ending with the de-construction of the orchestra.

Through the months of November and December of 2006, BT toured the album with Thomas Dolby opening. This three-piece band set featured many instruments created by BT himself, as well as introduced his live stutter edit plug-in that was to be released in 2007. The concert also featured a live slideshow of images from the online website DeviantArt as a backdrop.[22][23]

The Stutter Edit as well as Break Tweaker are both software created by BT's company "Sonik Architects" which he began with several fellow Berklee College of Music alumni[7] and were to be released sometime in 2007; however, the company has not "gone live" as of yet.[24]

Remixes

BT has remixed songs from Madonna, Sarah McLachlan, Sasha,[10] Diana Ross, and Seal.[17]

Collaborations

Upcoming collaborations:

Live performances

Unlike many fellow trance artists, Transeau frequently performs his music live. In August 2000, he headlined the E-Pavilion at EndFest. For New Year's Eve 2001, he performed at a Los Angeles block party with Paul Oakenfold and Deep Dish.[30]

In 2004, he did a very popular "last night of summer" concert at BT Tower (named for British Telecom). On August 6, 2006, BT performed at the Campus Bash for WWDC 2006, the last bash to actually be held at the Apple Inc. campus at 1 Infinite Loop Cupertino, California.

On August 11, 2006 he performed the opening performance to a sold out show featuring DJ Tiësto at The Borgata in Atlantic City, New Jersey.[31][32]

BT in December 2006 toured in support of This Binary Universe in a dual-headliner tour with Thomas Dolby.

BT performed at the second to last night at the AXIS nightclub in Boston on September 14, 2007. He opened with "Let it Be" by the Beatles and flowed into hard progressive trance.

BT performed a charity event in Salt Lake City, Utah on December 15, 2007 called (Not so) Silent Night. Mike Doughty (M. Doughty of Soul Coughing and BT's track "Never Gonna Come Back Down") opened with his debut house set, receiving a very positive response from the crowd.[citation needed]

Software

BT has written his own software called BreakTweaker for his latest album. He was intending to release it in 2007 under his software company, Sonik Architects. He plans to then come out with a line of tools and plugins specifically aimed at musicians and DJs, including his signature stutter edit.[33] He has a team of developers now working on delivering a feature-complete product leaving him free to focus on higher level architecture and development.

In addition to his "BT Stutter" edit,[7] BT's signature sound is also achieved by means of a method of sound manipulation called granular synthesis, where sounds are broken apart into tiny pieces and rearranged to create very chaotic and wild soundscapes.[34] BT is one of the direct pioneers of time correction techniques.[35] Time correction is a method by which a producer takes a series of samples with random occurrence (such as rain) and time corrects each individual hit according to a rhythmic and mathematical grid, much like the BT stutter. The result is that the seemingly random pulses take on a rhythmic form as well as a developing pattern, but retain their chaotic and unpredictable character.

Transeau has developed his own method of time-correcting which he calls "nano-correcting," which is correcting any note shorter than a 64th note. He is writing a book on stutter editing and time correcting and has included a chapter on nano-correcting.[35]

Personal life

Transeau has implied on occasion that he is a fan of the television series South Park, despite being against watching television.

In January 2007, Transeau lost items valued at a total of US $150,000[citation needed] which included his personal computer containing the show display[clarification needed] of This Binary Universe[citation needed]. This is the second noted robbery which has befallen Transeau. In response to this, Transeau had posted a US$20,000 reward (or his equivalent time as a producer) for information leading to the recovery of his music, and on his website has noted attempts to create a non-profit community subscription service where individuals can record details in an attempt to help track future stolen goods.

On December 23, 2007, news broke that BT's 3 1/2 year old daughter Kaia Nui Transeau had been abducted by her mother, Ashley Duffy, during a planned visit. The date of the abduction was not specified, but it was also reported that between the abduction and the public announcement, Kaia had spoken to her father over the phone at least once, saying that her mother was yelling at and hitting her.[36] On January 7th, 2008, a press release[37] was issued that stated Kaia still had not been located, was now listed in the NCIC missing persons database, and included a personal statement from BT:

I am diligently and delicately working to do everything possible to amend this tragic family situation. As a father my only goal is to get my daughter back home in a stable and safe environment. I appreciate your continued support and understanding in this desperate hour.

On January 15th, 2008, various media outlets began reporting that Kaia had been located in Santa Monica, California and was reunited with her father. Ashley Duffy was arrested and charged with one count of "out-of-state child abduction from the lawful custodian" and one count of "out-of-state child detention from the lawful custodian."[38]

ABC News reported on January 18th that all charges against Ashley Duffy were dropped with officials claiming that the felony arrest warrant never should have been issued. Seth Zucker, spokesman for the Montgomery County State Attorney's office is quoted as saying, "The charges have been dropped, the warrant has been squashed [sic],It's a family law issue now for California." Ashley's mother, is also stated as saying that the mother and father will share custody of Kaia with alternating 48 hour visits until a later California family court date occurs.[39]

Scores

File:Monster OST.jpg
Monster Film Score cover.

In recent years, BT has moved into film scoring, creating the scores for various films. He produced the score for the 2001 film Zoolander, but then had his name pulled from the project. His tracks for the film were finished by composer David Arnold.[40] His score for the film Monster (2003) has received particular acclaim.[4] He is now slated to work on a film titled The Possibility of Fireflies which stars Kelly Preston and will be released in 2008.[41]

Transeau has scored the video games Die Hard Trilogy 2: Viva Las Vegas (2000), Wreckless: The Yakuza Missions (2002) and Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2005 (2004).

BT has even ventured into television, creating the scores for the TV series Kevin Hill in 2004 and for Tommy Lee Goes To College for NBC in 2005. He also executive-produced the Tommy Lee series, the idea for which he actually developed and sold to NBC.[11]

Film appearances and scores

Video game appearances and scores

Discography

Albums

Singles and EPs

Compilations

  • R&R (Rare & Remixed) (2001) - A two disc mix album showcasing BT's remix work, rare songs from his early career and previously unreleased tracks, most notably "Sunblind".
  • 10 Years In the Life (2002) - Disc 1 is a collection of rare songs, remixes and edits of Transeau's songs, showcasing Transeau's progression as an artist over the span of a decade. It notably includes his very first track ever recorded, "The Moment Of Truth". Disc 2 is a mix album and features remixes and rare tracks done by BT, including remixes of Madonna, DJ Rap, The Crystal Method and Deep Dish. Most of the rare tracks by BT are under the names of his many aliases. The booklet that comes with the CD features stories by BT about the making of each track on both discs, as well as a series of comments about his early career, remixing, scoring films and producing music in general.

Remixes

Sample CDs

  • Breakz from the Nu Skool (2002)
  • Twisted Textures (2002)
  • 300 Years Later (with Nick Phoenix) (2005)

Aliases and Pseudonyms

See also

References

  1. ^ Roland US Community Article
  2. ^ Peter Arnberg Article
  3. ^ Jive Magazine Review
  4. ^ a b c Keyboard Magazine Article
  5. ^ Apple - Pro - Profiles - BT, p. 1
  6. ^ LA City Beat
  7. ^ a b c d e f g Twenty-First-Century Prototype
  8. ^ Hyperreal.org
  9. ^ a b c Remix Magazine
  10. ^ a b All Star Remixer and Recording Artist BT, Part I - M-Audio
  11. ^ a b The world at his fingertips - The Boston Globe
  12. ^ DJ Mag's Top 100 DJs 2005
  13. ^ DJ Mag's Top 100 DJs 2004
  14. ^ DJ Mag's Top 100 DJs 2003
  15. ^ DJ Mag's Top 100 DJs 2001
  16. ^ America's Best DJ 2007
  17. ^ a b c d e f g h Miami New Times
  18. ^ Lunar Magazine interview
  19. ^ BT discography
  20. ^ BTs' Last FM site
  21. ^ KeyboardMag
  22. ^ DeviantArt Presents BT and Thomas Dolby
  23. ^ Images and accounts from the tour to date can be seen at dA Presents. dAPresents on deviantART
  24. ^ A demonstration of the stutter edit can be seen in the final portion of the interview posted above.
  25. ^ JIVEMagazine.com
  26. ^ BT: 'King Of Dirty Pop' - News Story | Music, Celebrity, Artist News | MTV News
  27. ^ Millennium Dome
  28. ^ BT Music
  29. ^ TV Guide
  30. ^ MTV News Article
  31. ^ Atlantic City Hotels | Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa | Atlantic City Casinos
  32. ^ The Borgata presents TIESTO, Fri Aug 11
  33. ^ Progressive Sounds
  34. ^ IGN: BT Goes Into Stealth Mode
  35. ^ a b Sonic Surgeon - interview with electronica and pop whiz BT
  36. ^ BT's Daughter Missing!
  37. ^ Copy of Press Release
  38. ^ 3-year-old Boyds girl back with her father
  39. ^ Runaway mom Jailed on Invalidated Charges
  40. ^ Movies and video games
  41. ^ www.imdb.com

External links

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