Posted by B T on May 01, 2001 at 07:04:43:

WOW!! I take off Elephant riding in Thailand and I missed alot of action. Is it just me or are elephants the most beautiful majestic creatures on the planet? Little scary being on ones back overlooking a cliff when it trumpets though, hahahahaaa. So I am over in Chang Mei at the moment trying to recover from scoring 2 films (The Fast and Furious and Driven), track for Tomb Raider, Sarah Mc Laugllin remix (of Hold On), prepping for the new Ben Stiller film Zoolander and aaaaah yes that little NSYNC track (this is all since Jan 19 btw...109 finished pieces of music, lol...my aching fricking mouse finger!!! hahahahaa). So anyways there seems to be alot more controversy on this NSYNC thing than I expected. Here's the deal, I got a phone call from my manager (Richard Bishop) in October when I was playing the house of blues with my band in FL. He said the NSYNC guys were big fans and wanted to come watch the show. I was not at the time a NSYNC fan but have come to learn that these guys are bad ass at what they do. I am certainly not a fan of the modern Boy Bands (the only one I ever really dug is New Edition). So I told Richard cool give em passes to the show and I'll say hi or whatever, my little sister however nearly had a heart attack, lol. So afterwards, J.C. and two of their producers came backstage to have a chat. First thing out of their producers mouths was "We are producing the new Michael Jackson record and are obsessively a/b ing our mixes to Movement in Still Life and we think you make the most amazing...blah. blah, blah. I was like wow, that is some cool stuff to tell my mom! Anyways, the point is, I was very impressed with these guys knowledge and interest in for example my editing techniques, grain synthesis, Kyma, Protools, beta plugins etc. Really smart guys. And not only smart but very humble and cool (and as I came to find out later, absolutely KICK ASS singers).So we ended up hanging out a couple more times and we started to become friendly. Since that first night, they asked me to produce some stuff for their album, and at first I didn't think it was the right thing to do. I thought, hey their cool guys, but what they do is very comercial and what I do is much more on the experimental side. After hanging out with them quite a bit, they said something that changed my mind. They said they wanted to do a track like Hip Hop Phenomena. I was like shut up are you serious?? They were like yes, for real. Justin wrote this really simple and catchy (Remember The Time style tune) and I got busy making a spastic fractal edit breakbeat track to go around it.They were cool with me doing anything to their vocals (the edits on this track are sooooo not radio!!!!!It is insane that it is the first single). Aynways on the basis of that I said yes. I wrote 17 pages of code in Kyma, to treat their vocals. The beats and edits are killer, I am really proud of them. All in all it was a fantastic experience. These guys are amazing, amazing vocalists. Justin and JC would sing one line 100 times so perfectly that it was impossible to tell the diference. I could mention alot of singers than could not hope to do the same that do what is considered to be much more "credible" music. I was and still am beyond impressed with them. I should also mention, I learned more on this on track than on any other single project I have ever worked on. They way they record vocals, mic-ing techniques, vocal comping tricks etc are so bad ass I will use them on everything I do from this day forward. So just wanted to write you guys a note and let you know I am really proud of this track and hope you guys dig it too. If pop songs aren't your thing....check out The Fast and Furious score I did (comes out this summer). Wrote for a 70 piece orchestra and car part Gamelan. We draged to fricking car chasis into the studio and I had to friends who are orchestral percussionists play tribal rythyms on car parts!!! Or the Tomb Raider track "The Revolution Will Be Televised" vocals by me and Rascoe (sinister breaks madness with a cool message about the Quickening....carlos Casteneda anyone?), or the Sarah M mix (deep tribal-progressive teck thang). I guess I just wanted to say diversity is the spice of life, it defies my character and sensibilities as a human being and musician to do one thing all the time. If I had to only listen to progressive house every day, I'd shoot myself, lol. Don't get me wrong I love it, I've just been doing it since before there was a name for it, hahahahah (like 88, 89). I love music more than anything and changing it up, always keeps me feeling refreshed and connected. Anyways, love you all to bits. I am off to ride elephants more with the karen hillside tribe in the Thai jungle and sleep on bamboo (that stuff makes a futon seem comfortable, hahahaha). Peace, love and and great respect>>>> B T

source: www.btmusic.com