Shaping Sounds: Stevie Wonder, DEVO, the Synth Revolution and My Life Behind the Music

Robert Margouleff

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Beginning on the set of his first film, Ciao! Manhattan, with Andy Warhol superstar Edie Sedgwick, Robert Margouleff captures the tragic beauty of New York’s East Village and Warhol’s Factory as he discovers a powerful new way to score his movie: the Moog synthesizer. This discovery leads him to meet a studio engineer who would become his long-time partner, Malcolm Cecil, with whom he would collaborate to invent the world’s largest analog synthesizer, TONTO (The Original New Timbral Orchestra). Together, Margouleff and Cecil used TONTO to help unleash Stevie Wonder’s genius on his era-defining classic albums, Music Of My Mind, Talking Book, Innervisions, and Fulfillingness’ First Finale. 

In legendary studios like Electric Lady and the Record Plant, Margouleff became a pioneering producer and engineer for artists like Billy Preston, Jeff Beck, DEVO, The Isley Brothers, and David Sanborn. A true sonic innovator, he was an early adopter of immersive audio and surround sound, developing new mixing techniques for home theaters that brought some of Hollywood’s biggest blockbusters to life. 

Shaping Sounds is so much more than a chronicle of music history. It’s a story about creativity, collaboration, and artistic courage. Margouleff interweaves his personal experiences with the teachers, friends, mentors, and influences that shaped him, revealing how empathy and curiosity fueled his life’s work. This memoir is a rich and entertaining narrative of a key period in music history that brings readers deep into the world of record and film production and will inspire new generations of music-makers and dreamers.

Length: 11 hours
Category: Biography
ISBN: 978-1-962556-12-5

Also Available On: Audible, Spotify, Apple Books, Barnes & Noble

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