Not only one of 15,000 people on the planet to have passed the Cisco Systems CCIE in its 12-year history, Nick is also considered the life blood of the Changmian/SonicBeating Crew. From his humble beginnings running an ISP out of his basement as a teenager, Nick has developed into one of the most respected, important, and technically skilled members of the crew. After first encountering Changmian Productions in 2002, Nick was quickly named head sound tech for the fabled weekly, Anitya. A few amazing sets later, he was named one of the night’s resident DJ’s. Anitya closed its doors in December of 2003, and lead Nick to join with close friend Ammon EP to focus on their own production crew – Sonic Beating Productions. Their first party, "Chaos in the Kitchen," – an indoor bash in January, 2003 – rapidly became a monthly the two founding fathers aptly named Psyforia. After a few successful months, Nick and Ammon joined forces with Changmian Productions – forming a massive crew, which has since carried the Psyforia torch through three long and glorious years. If there is anyone to singularly thank for the events we’ve had here in Boston over the course of the last three years, you’ll find him carefully minding his custom built 25,000 watt sound system or playing ripping DJ sets up and down the East Coast.
Nick’s start as a DJ is relatively sketchy, but what we know is this: In the fall of 2000, he met close friend Jay Stottlemeir (then of D-Space, now known as Psy-Booty artist, Alpha Channel.) Through Jay, Nick took an interest in Djing and electronic music. Nick moved to Boston a short time later and took a job as a weekly resident radio DJ at WBRS, a local college station with an audible radius of about ten miles. Every Saturday for the next two years (and still to this day), Nick honed his skills mixing goa-trance and psy trance for three hours every Saturday night from 10-1AM. By the time he met Changmian Productions DJ’s Dean Manning and Dave Henshaw in the fall of 2002, Nick was ready to impress them with both his technical and DJ skills. And he did just that!
Since then, Nick has become the most sought-after psy-trance sound engineer on the East Coast. His storied "Sound Pump" – a massive conglomeration of amps, speakers, subs, and effects boards - has been the mainstay for the sound at festivals from Gaian Mind Summer Fest to Omni-Dance to Firefly and beyond. His passion and enthusiasm for the sound and the music are undeniable and he’s been known to talk so intensely about the technology behind the music that even MIT educated audio engineers have a hard time keeping up. His DJ skills are on par with his technical knowledge as well. Playing across the country from California to Chicago to New York and even internationally – Nick’s finicky track selection and ability to slice and dice the best musical passages from each composition are unmatched. Every time he takes to the decks, the dancefloor responds! He may seem like a shy and introverted individual – but if you get him in his element (i.e. behind a DJ set-up or inside a sound booth) there is nobody more passionate, talkative, extroverted and comfortable than Nick Binary. Considered by the whole crew as one of its primary leaders, Nick is to whom people turn for advice, plans, and operating tactics when all else seems lost. And unless he’s busy at an international anime festival or a global Internet security conference, he responds with speed and accuracy. Without him, the Boston Crew is lost. Without him, there is no Changmian/SonicBeating Productions.
- written by Dave Henshaw
