UVI Mello

A Sound that Shaped the 60’s 

Hark back to the heyday of classic rock and one instrument stands above the rest, a 350lb behemoth that would forever change the way we think about making music. At the heart of this monster was an array of tape machines, one per note on the attached keyboard, each playing a uniquely recorded sound. With only 8 seconds of tape per key and a cumbersome frame this machine had its limitations but was nonetheless impressive for its time, boasting a multitimbral and truly polyphonic ‘engine’. Instantly made famous by the Beatles hit ‘Strawberry Fields Forever’ and used by countless others including The Moody Blues, Rolling Stones, and prog rock legends Yes, this was the ‘must-have’ sound of the 60’s. While its use fell out of fashion the implications it made have become fundamental to modern music production.