Modular Synthesizer Composer Bart Hawkins

Bart Hawkins has been a fan of electronic music for 35 years, he is also a visual artist, video production professional, a practitioner of meditation, and he is just about to release his first solo album, 21 Pulse Eclipse on Spotted Peccary Music, featuring his work with modular synthesizer/sequencer programming in the Berlin School / Classical Electronic Music style.

"For me ‘art’ is a calling. I believe we are ‘Creators in training’ and Earth is the school grounds on which this creativity comes to life. I believe having a strong imagination and good intuition is vital for a happy creative, healthy and connective life. In my early 20’s I fabricated metal sculptures and painted a bit. I chose a profession of cinematography and film editing, so I guess being creative has played a major role in my life. I believe there is a connection between the need to make money from your art and the audience’s need for being entertained or being enlightened. This conflict has effected my life, living in an entertainment entrainment society of ‘Hollywood‘ films, I am more of long time fan of Andre Tarkosky’s films, designed not to entertain as much as to just to ‘be’ with and breath in the cinematic experience...the difference between being told what to think and thinking for yourself. I got disillusioned and felt doing an ‘art‘ film had its financial difficulties right from the conception. I believe our society is way over entertained and its consequences are felt and seen.

"The first time I saw a picture of Tangerine Dream’s modular synth back in the late 70’s I was completely intrigued. Knowing these systems were rare and cost more than a house, it was just an obscure dream. It was not until the mid 2000’s that Craig Padilla introduced me to the Arp 2600. Then 10 years later, the film I Dream Of Wires comes out as the popularity of Eurorack starts taking off. And in the spring of 2017 I stared to build my own modular synth, starting with a Make Noise DPO (dual oscillator), Optomix, Maths, and Morphagene, Mutable Instruments Clouds and Peaks, Intellijel UVCA II and Metropolis, and Mannequins Three Sisters filter. I later added a few more modulars to fit my needs to make 21 Pulse Eclipse.

How would you describe your composition process?

"My process is a bit like a mad scientist creating something new. Working with a modular synth, you have to know a bit about the science behind electricity, waveforms, voltage control, modulation, envelopes, filters, etc.

"Sometimes I have a musical idea in my head and start to patch that idea into the modular synth. What comes next is the journey and sound sculpting that will take me into uncharted places called rabbit holes that will lead you to new musical ideas that you previously did not have. There are plenty of ‘happy mistakes’ going down rabbit holes. When I find one, I record it along with its many variations that I can create. Then I start in a new direction to find how I can enhance or accompaniment what I previously recorded.. then I record a new track. Combining these elements together in the mix, does the song start to come to life and take on its own personality. Sometimes I end up with 20-30 hours of recorded tracks, like pieces of scrap metal waiting for the sculptor to cut, bend, melt and weld them into a cohesive work of art. The thing I love about modular synthesis, you have to first create the sounds you will be working with, like a painter that makes his/her own paint. You become more connected to your work.

"Sound is one of the most powerful forces in the universe. 'In the beginning there was the word...' Sound can transform, not only mental states of being but can transform physical states as well. Sound can physically heal cells in the body and also destroy cells. Sound can levitate objects, create geometrical patterns (cymatics), travel between universes, can can be expressed in mathematical and astrological equations. Sound can be very personal and universal at the same time. When I started to meditate in 1984, I became very aware of sounds both inner and outer. Making my meditation deeper, I started to actively listen for things as far away as I can hear. Hearing became not only what I could hear with my ears, it became something entirely different. Now that I am producing music, I like to incorporate natural sounds and other sounds I that I have recorded to add more depth and realism to the listening experience.

"When certain tones and sounds are combined, they can produce harmonic or inharmonic values. This becomes the core of creating tension and release within all music. With the right combination of sounds, you can levitate the human experience to a very high level or down to its lowest depth in the unconscious mind.

"I think what I am musically and sonically creating right now is a meditative process, both in creating it and listening to it. The music I am producing is meant to be experienced with your eyes closed, sitting in the ‘sweet spot’ between your speakers or with your headphones on, with no distractions. This is active listening, meant to engage your mind’s ability to visualize what you are hearing and using your imagination to create your own listening experience. Its art for your ears and inner eyes.

How did you come to learn from the Hopi people and what would you like to share now about that experience?

"In my early twenties, I had a unique opportunity to live with the Hopi while I produced two short films about their way of life. Being on Hopiland and experiencing their way of life planted seeds within me that even today, 25 years later, are still teaching me about the way of life and connection to life and all beings. How the heart communicates before the mind does and the importance of the ‘invisible world‘ for what is not seen sometimes is far more important that what is seen. Having that vision enables one to connect in ways the human mind cannot even comprehend, things that are beyond rational thought. I still visit Hopiland from time to time, its a place I feel at home in some deep way.

Your songs on 21 PULSE ECLIPSE appear to be about energy.

"This whole album is about energy and my exploratory world into modular synthesis. I do like to think that the modular synthesizer is like a control panel at a Tesla lab and its operator is the mad scientist, creating new and exciting sonic experiences out of harsh electronic sound waves. The title track, "21 Pulse Eclipse," is based on the fundamentals of energy currents. I wanted to capture the powerful, raw, undulating currents that create the life and breath of electronic music. I wanted to learn from and know these currents as I would know a human being. To listen to each voice, to know their own unique life cycles as they come into being one moment and dissolve into the next.

What does the album title mean?

"The title track was composed on August 21, 2017 during the full solar eclipse in Oregon. I wanted to sit down in front of the modular synth the day of the eclipse to, as I would like to think, pull down the energy of that special astrological event and let it evolve through the modular synth, as the eclipse evolves through its cycle. Its as if I am just a conduit and the modular synth is just a medium to give this energy a voice.

What does music bring to your life?

"I found my passion through music. Its a combination of my visual and creative passion as a cinematographer, film editor and metal sculptor.

"Creating electronic music lets me combined these different experiences into one creative passion. Creating music with a modular synth is super therapeutic, even spiritual at times. It has deepened my ability to listen, be unafraid to go down rabbit holes that sometimes takes hours with no results or go fearless into dark places as well as light places. This sonic journey, in a strange way, is like a practice ground for my personal life. It has also deepened my appreciation for the great composers like Bach, Beethoven. Mozart, Stravinsky, Reich and many many others.

What are some of your most significant discoveries?

"I have been a 35 year fan of electronic music starting with the Berlin School style of electronic music, most famously by Tangerine Dream. The birth of this came from the ashes of Germany after the war/post Hitler. It was a time ripe for musical artists who wanted to recreate themselves, a compete rebirth from their past, a musical Phoenix that was absolutely original and unique. What I like about Tangerine Dream’s music is its use of ever evolving patterns of sequences mixed with ambient or drone music.

"Put on top of that a lead keyboard or electric guitar and you have a musical journey filled with sonic landscapes, sound textures and that are seamlessly moving from one translation to the next. For me this a just as much a visual art for the mind as it is music.

Much electronic music seems to be very serious, one thing I appreciate about your work is your subtle sense of amusement, and so I have to ask, what is a Frobog?

"The word “Frobog” came to me while I was creating the music. Frobogs are mischievous little creatures who inhabit a planet much like Earth. Like a cross between a Fairy and a Troll, Frobogs act like a small wind gust creating a bit of momentary chaos without doing any harm. On this imaginary planet there are 7 different magical forests that mimic the 7 energy centers of a human body and the Frobogs play an important part by playfully skipping and chasing each other creating much needed chaos in such a pristine and peaceful place. We all need some crazy Frobogs in our lives, to shake things up a bit."

You have a professional history in film and video production what kind of clients do you serve?

"When I graduated from Brooks Institute of Photography, I lived in LA where I worked as a camera operator and editor for independent films and documentaries. I bought my own Arri SR2 16mm camera system and Avid editing suite. Later I moved to Atlanta and some of my clients were CNN, Tuner Broadcasting, The Weather Channel, Coke-a-Cola, Discovery Channel and others. I continued to work on several documentaries and left Atlanta in the early 2000’s for Northern California. Now I create film for myself and select clients. Film soundtracks, for myself and others, are in my future.

"I met Craig Padilla, electronic musician, while working at a local news station in Northern California. I just bought the first Sony HDV camera and started a series of ‘test’ shots of nature. At the time there was no editing software to handle the HDV codex, and it took a year to get a beta version out to the public. So I ended up with about 20+ hours of nature footage that I collected that year. Both Craig and I wanted to do a time lapse based film featuring his music (20 years before I started to make music).

"This project became Ibiida Lahaa, translated from the Wintu tribe, “to doctor or heal, going into trance” a 58 minute journey into a musical and visual trance.

"Ibiida Lahaa was the first of a conceived 3-part series on trance. First using nature as a subject of trance, then the second video uses erotica as a subject of trance and the third video uses machinery as a form of trance.

"Ibiida Lahaa was the only one produced. Maybe someday we will produce the second one."