Surround Professional 2003 Workshop:
“Composing the Soundtrack for Monster” - BT, Electronica Composer

One of the most prominent composers of dance and electronic music in recent years is BT (born Brian Transeau), who, in addition to being a keynote speaker at the SMA Awards, appeared at the Surround Pro expo to discuss composing the soundtrack to the film 'Monster’ directed by Patty Jenkins, starring Charlize Theron and Christina Ricci in the harrowing true story of abused killer Aileen Wuornos. The film has already garnished several awards and is up for more as the awards season progresses. As the audio tracks aired in the workshop indicated, BT’s moody soundtrack vividly paints the atmosphere of the disturbing, haunting film.

BT had his roots in youthful studies of classical music, but he later turned to electronica after being exposed to electronic-based dance music such as Depeche Mode and Cabaret Voltaire. Combining his classical background with modern styles and, as he calls it, "bleeding-edge" technology, BT has become known as the creator of "trance music" as well as a successful creator of film soundtracks such as 'The Fast and the Furious’ and 'Under Suspicion’. His current album 'Emotional Technology’ has been doing well and drawing extensive attention even outside the dance music scene. His talent has led art-rocker Peter Gabriel to comment, "BT mounts mesmerizing journeys with his compositions. He is not only a virtuoso programmer, but an extremely gifted musician.”

In his Surround Pro seminar, BT talked about how working on 'Monster’ was a major turning point for him in terms of the creative use of surround sound technology. Using multichannel monitoring from initial concept onwards, and using Reactor surround software as part of the building process has become an integral part of BT’s working style. Though he remarked on the difficulty of this project, he also felt that he had achieved a breakthrough point as an artist, and that surround sound would be his future medium of choice, humorously adding that his interns made him up a T-shirt featuring the logo "F&*# Stereo!" to emphasize that there’s no going back after finding the artistic freedom available to a composer by using multichannel sound.

As an example, BT played a couple of extended mixes from the forthcoming 'Monster’ soundtrack album. First up was 'Bad Cop’, music for a coercion scene in the film. Starting quietly but with sinister undertones, the track features John Cage-style prepared piano, hurdy-gurdy, brushed guitar, baritone guitar, miscellaneous percussion, electronic sounds and processing, and also guitars played with a metal-flanged pick, just one of many experimental sounds devised for the soundtrack. As BT put it, "I’m a real fan of just trying crazy sh*t." He continued that he has also experimented with guitar pickups that are themselves wired for surround sound, spreading the resonance among the channels, effectively putting the listener inside a giant, room-sized guitar. The music for 'Bad Cop’ closely follows the action of the scene, gradually encircling the listener, channel by channel, growing darker and more ominous as the rogue cop forces himself on Wuornos. Even without seeing the visual images, the listener could get an overwhelming impression of the scene from the sense of dread expressed by the music, both in its tone and in its use of technology.

Second up was the cut 'A Buss Goodbye’, which was ambient, spooky music making extensive, integrated use of the surround channels. When asked about the more avant-garde touches in the music for 'Monster’ (as compared against his dance albums), BT commented that such elements were not predetermined as part of the style of the film, but rather were features that naturally developed as the project was discussed between the director Jenkins and himself, as well as with Theron, who plays Wuornos in the film. As a listener, I would also add my impression that as the years go by, BT seems to be drawing more on his classical roots for tips on how to harmonically structure and sustain long instrumental passages, which will hopefully lead to even more imaginative breakthroughs for him in the future.

As BT comments on his website - http://www.btmusic.com/ - "This was the most difficult film I’ve ever worked on because I cared so much about the subject matter. It was an incredible bonding experience between Patty, Charlize and me. I felt a tremendous responsibility to honor the story of Aileen Wuornos’ greatly misunderstood life." The soundtrack will be released in DTS and Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound on DVD on March 9, 2004.


Mark Jordan 22/02/2004.

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Surround 2003 Report Index
Last update: 27th February 2004

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