Don Lewis - The Untold Story Of A Synthesizer Pioneer

Don Lewis began his musical career as a church organist and ended up touring with the Beach Boys, as well as playing studio sessions for Quincy Jones & Michael Jackson.
Frustrated by the limitations of music technology of the time, Don used his engineering skills to create LEO, the Live Electronic Orchestra, where he managed to get disparate instruments to “talk” to each other and be completely under his control. His work soon came to the attention of Ikutaro Kakehashi, founder of the Roland Corporation, who was inspired by Don’s technological feats to be one of the driving forces behind the creation of MIDI.
But Don’s story is not just one of innovation, but also personal struggle. A struggle that would destroy his career but eventually see him vindicated as a true pioneer and worthy of his adoration within the music community and beyond.

Chapters
00:00 - Introduction
00:38 - How does it feel to have a movie made about you?
03:37 - Why make a film about Don?
05:06 - Why create LEO, the Live Electronic Orchestra?
08:40 - Is it about taking control?

10:46 - The documentary process
14:43 - A whole lotta love and struggles
19:47 - The technology of LEO
25:50 - Have you ever been tempted to move LEO from hardware to software?
29:13 - Gathering testimonies
31:33 - The documentary production
35:42 - How have you found pitching this movie to distributors?
39:52 - How LEO inspired MIDI
47:42 - Where can we watch the movie?

Don Lewis Biog
Don Lewis is a gifted musician and educator whose mission is to inspire and empower audiences to achieve their dreams. Whether presenting a solo concert or collaborating with other musicians and artists, Don's music brings a message of hope, respect, and community. Don began playing piano as a Dayton, Ohio high school student. Later, at Tuskegee Institute, he accompanied and sang with the Tuskegee Chorus and played for Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Freedom Rallies.

Uniting his interest in engineering with his musical talent, Don became one of the pioneers in synthesizer use and technology. In 1977, he designed and built a synthesizer system, Live Electronic Orchestra (LEO) that was an inspiration for Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI), now on display at the Museum of Making Music in Carlsbad, CA.

Don has performed at concerts worldwide and has appeared as a soloist with many symphony orchestras. As a studio artist, he has worked with such greats as Quincy Jones, Sergio Mendez and Michael Jackson. Don has also created scores for film and television productions including the award winning Rainbow's End and Were You There series featured on PBS. In addition he has scored commercials for such clients as Nissan, Pacific Telephone, and Digital Equipment Corp.

Also an enthusiastic teacher, Don has taught courses in the history of Gospel Music, multimedia, and synthesizer technology at University of California at Berkeley Extension, San Jose State University and Stanford University. In 1987, Don combined his love of children, education and music to create Say “Yes” to Music! Since then, he has delighted thousands of students, teachers and school administrators across the United States and Canada with his inspiring musical assemblies.

Throughout the years Don has been a concert artist and consultant with various musical instrument manufacturers including Hammond, Arp, Yamaha, Roland Corporation, and Rodgers Instruments. He continues to delight and touch the hearts of his fans in his concerts at home and throughout the world.

Ned Augustenborg Biog
Ned Augustenborg has produced a wide range of content in the television industry, having produced or directed for ESPN, MSNBC, CNN, The Mountain Sports Network, Canadian Sports Network, Prime Ticket, CNBC and Sports Net.

Following his formal education at the University of Southern California and the University of Arizona, Augustenborg began his career in computer animation while collaborating on experimental video projects at the Long Beach Museum of Art Video Annex, followed by producing documentaries on such diverse subjects as the California Department of Corrections, a struggling Los Angeles Latino rock band and the early life of Nobel Prize winner Glenn T. Seaborg.

In addition to his freelance production career, Augustenborg also managed several studios for a variety of Cable TV operators throughout Southern California. A recipient of multiple Emmy and Cable ACE Awards in the categories of Entertainment, Documentary, Experimental Video, News; Augustenborg most recently produced and directed for Time Warner Cable’s newly developed sports channels in Southern California for which he received two Emmy nominations for "Best Live Sports Coverage" in 2014.

Links / Credits 

All music clips produced, arranged, composed and performed by Don Lewis and taken from the soundtrack to the film, “The Ballad of Don Lewis” © Don Lewis Music 2020.

“Fall in Pleasanton”

“Hold On”

“Be-Noun-Chi”

Original Don Lewis LEO performances are available on the Album “Twelve Gates to the City” Available from Apple Music and Amazon.

Trailer: https://vimeo.com/442861162
Available from: https://4bri.net/newReleasesx5.asp
https://donlewismusic.com/
https://www.augustenborgproductions.com/

Rob Puricelli Biog
Rob Puricelli is a Music Technologist and Instructional Designer who has a healthy obsession with classic synthesizers and their history. In conjunction with former Fairlight Studio Manager, Peter Wielk, he fixes and restores Fairlight CMI’s so that they can enjoy prolonged and productive lives with new owners.
He also writes reviews and articles for his website, failedmuso.com, and other music-related publications, and has guested on a number of music technology podcasts and shows. He can often be found at various synthesizer shows demonstrating his own collection of vintage music technology.
www.failedmuso.com
Twitter: @failedmuso
Instagram: @failedmuso
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/failedmuso/

Catch more shows on our other podcast channels: https://www.soundonsound.com/sos-podcasts