BT: Binary Universe
“1.681,” both sonically and visually, is based on the Golden Mean. Pagano wove a stunning 3D display using Final Cut Pro and Maya on a Mac. His workstation was coupled to a render farm and a terabyte Xserve RAID Fibre Channel network. The system gave him the ability to seamlessly knit complex 3D forms with the ancient mathematical theorem. “As an artist it’s super critical that I have as little technical problems as possible,” he says. “With the Mac and Xserve, I don’t have to worry about crashes. With the Fibre Channel and Xserve RAID I can stop thinking about storage — I don’t have to worry about having enough space or reading the files fast enough. It’s all transparent.”
Using Final Cut Pro, Pagano was able to interlace animation from Maya and footage from a Panasonic HD cam to create opening and ending sequences for “1.618” and “The Anhtkythera Mechanism.” “It’s a big deal to be able to work with tons of different media formats,” he says. “Final Cut can work with anything — HD, DV, anything. It’s completely resolution and codec independent. I wouldn’t have been able to do what I did on this project without it.”
Math in Motion
“1.618” is a harmonious synthesis of sound and sight, visuals painstakingly coordinated with every beat and riff. Every track on the DVD is similarly synched. “We spent hours editing the footage frame by frame,” says BT. “It’s hyper-synchronized with the music. And it wasn’t easy because the tracks have such clicky, glitchy rhythms. It was actually frustrating to me that we only had 30 frames a second to play with because things didn’t always line up.”
That was due, in part, to challenging time signatures. “Typically when I’m working on music, even for a score, I’m writing in 4/4,” says BT. “For this project, I wanted to experiment with asymmetrical meter. If I wrote something in 9/4, 7/8, or 13/8 — whatever kind of crazy signature I wanted — I kept it.”
Laying glitchy rhythms over strange meters required some specialized software. So BT wrote his own drum machine in Csound. He called it “Break Tweaker.” “I built Break Tweaker from the ground up to make the beats for the record,” he says. “It’s a stand-alone program, but it can be used as an AU with Logic. It has some of the most esoteric, crazy features that you’ve ever seen. You can throw thousandth and 24th notes around without having to do tons of tedious programming.”
Not that BT minds tedious programming. In fact, he wrote “All That Makes Us Human Continues” entirely in Csound. “It took me six months, but I did it,” he says. “There were no live instruments at all. The whole thing is straight from code.” Analog visuals simply wouldn’t do for such a technical track. CalArts student Mondi programmed the corresponding visual sequence entirely in code as well.
The other six compositions on the album, however, were written and finished in Logic Pro. “Everything ends in Logic for me,” says BT. “I can structure Logic depending on what mood I’m in. I have tons of different auto loads. I have one for sound design, one for writing beats.” The producer also uses native Logic Pro instruments and effects to augment his tracks. “The instruments are so powerful and the effects are amazing. Sculpture is one of the coolest synths I’ve used in years. I’ve paid hundreds of dollars for plug-in compressors and spent thousands of dollars on outboard compressors and the Logic compressor sounds better than all of them.”
Portable Universe
BT plans to take his universe on the road. “I think that there’s a large demographic of people who are really interested in cutting-edge art and bleeding-edge electronic music,” he says. “The live shows will be a meeting place for both.” He plans to set up surround-sound rigs in galleries, concert halls, and churches. Beginning in September, “This Binary Universe” will go live. “I’m going to mix the music live with Logic and we’ll have someone to do live visuals during the performances. We’re all just going to jam together. No two shows will be alike.” BT will tour various venues, including the Hollywood Bowl and the Disney Concert Hall, until November.
“This Binary Universe” straddles genres. It’s orchestral and electronic, classical and eclectic. And above all, it mixes digital mediums in a way that few mass-market releases have. “It goes contrary to so much of what is happening in many other idioms of music,” says BT. “The experience of listening to music has become so much more peripheral. This is about being present with the music — this is intended to be an experience.”
