New From Backbeat Books - Keyboard Presents: Synth Gods

From its earliest days, Keyboard magazine has been documenting the evolution

of the synthesizer and the visionary musicians and designers behind it. Now,

in Keyboard Presents: Synth Gods ($14.99, Backbeat Books), some of the most

exciting and innovative synth pioneers of all time share their experiences

with this game-changing instrument. Taken from the archives of Keyboard

magazine, these revealing interviews with leading synthesizer players,

songwriters, and engineers span the entire history of the publication, from

the 1970s to the present-day. This is the third volume in Backbeat¹s popular

Keyboard Presents series, following Keyboard Presents: The Best of the ¹80s

and Keyboard Presents: Classic Rock.

In Keyboard Presents: Synth Gods, technical pioneers Bob Moog and Dave Smith

discuss the earliest days of the instrument¹s development, and cutting-edge

musicians, including Jan Hammer, Wendy Carlos, Brian Eno, Trent Reznor, Rick

Wakeman, and Gary Numan, reveal the inspiration behind some of their

best-known works, how they used their synthesizers to create unique sounds,

and how readers can duplicate some of these sounds using their own gear.

Readers will learn:

* How Stevie Wonder, Malcolm Cecil, and Robert Margouleff created some of the funkiest

  bass lines in pop music history by all playing the same synthesizer simultaneously

* How Edgar Winter summons his signature monster rock sound out of his ARP 2600

* Bob Moog¹s design goals for the Voyager‹and how he achieved them

* Why Brian Eno purposely never repairs his synths

* Tangerine Dream¹s visual approach to composing electronic music

* How Joe Zawinul re-creates acoustic instrument sounds with synths

* The surprising origins of some of Trent Reznor¹s favorite sounds to work with

* How Dave Smith created the Prophet ¹08 ‹ a 21st century, all-analog synth

* How Rick Wakeman modifies his Minimoogs and why he never goes on stage without

  at least two of them

Like the synthesizer itself, the roster of artists in Keyboard Presents:

Synth Gods spans genres and eras, but what unites them is that each one

inspired the next generation to get their hands on synthesizers and start

making them their own. In fact, many of the younger musicians profiled here

were set on their path by older trailblazers who are featured just a few

pages away.

With its in-depth interviews combined with savvy technical know-how,

Keyboard Presents: Synth Gods is an essential history of the synthesizer and

the synth community‹so far.

About the editor: As the former editor of Keyboard magazine, Ernie Rideout

has spent a lot of quality time with many of the greatest synth players,

synth designers, and synthesizers of all time. When he¹s not tweaking sounds

on his beloved collection of analog and virtual synthesizers, he writes

about music and video technology. He lives in San Francisco.

Keyboard Presents: Synth Gods

Edited by Ernie Rideout

March 2011, $14.99, Paperback, ISBN 978-0-87930-999-2

200 pages, 6 x 9, B&W photos throughout

Published by Backbeat Books, an imprint of Hal Leonard

http://www.halleonardbooks.com/product/viewproduct.do?itemid=333047

Also available:

Keyboard Presents: Classic Rock,  $14.99,  ISBN 978-0-87930-952-7

Keyboard Presents: The Best of the ¹80s,  $19.95,  ISBN 978-0-87930-930-5