BillTMiller ARPCHIVES

Alan R. Pearlman Foundation

"From The Alan R. Pearlman Foundation:
A fantastic visual feast through Bill Miller's ARP Journey! (ALERT: A few strobe lighting effects for those who are sensitive.)

Musician / Recording Engineer - Producer / Filmmaker - Photographer - BILL T MILLER has been on the quest for SOUNDS and FUN ending up on a path to ARP SYNTHESIZERS starting with a TOY PIANO on his second birthday, then a bit of tinkering on his grandfather's grand piano, then scoring MAGNUS CHORD ORGAN and an ACETONE ORGAN in his early teens in the late 1960s with his band THE ELECTRIC ONION where he played guitar/bass and a bit of drums and keyboards.

By late teens (in 1975) he ended up at COLLEGE for RECORDING ARTS in San Francisco (in Golden State Recorders Studio) where he studied recording engineering production and took synthesizer classes. Walking into the first synth class revealed ARP 2600 in person..... luv at first sight.

Shortly after graduating and moving to Hollywood with hopes of buying a 2600.... reality set in and he scored a USED ARP ODYSSEY MK1 1974 model, that was purchased in late 1976. Some of the recordings you hear in this video are part of those BTM Bungalow Bill Sessions 1976-77 (although Bill had been playing music for over a decade at that point, those ARP SYNTH tapes are the earliest surviving BTM recordings in existence.)

Working in California doing recording and live sound from 1975-1980, he ended up back on east coast (where he had spent first two decades of his life.) Eventually ending up in BOSTON (1984) working at Daddy's Junky Music (selling recording and sound gear) while doing freelance sessions at studios (PolyMedia, Newbury Sound) and live sound at venues (The Rat, Bunratty's, The Channel) and starting his own semi private project studio HEADROOM.

Fast forward to early 90s... a band BTM had recorded before called CHEATER SLICKS popped into Headroom and said meet our new bass player DINA... and then pointing to BTM's ARP ODYSSEY (that he had hung onto since LA 76 era) said something like... DINA's father's company created YOUR SYNTH....meet DINA PEARLMAN... daughter of ALAN R PEARLMAN. wow. cool. We chatted a moment about how much I luved my Odyssey and she spoke very briefly of her father and some ARP adventures (mentioning Pete Townshend and more) = but then we jumped right into recording the garage punk band tracks where she nailed solid bass guitar for a raw live session.

So... jump way ahead and BTM continues creating experimental music with his own bands... Out of Band Experience (OBE), Kings Of Feedback, Drum Army, King Of Slack, Orgy Of Noise, Zonkulator and recording and photographing tons of OTHER artists (hardcore, garage, punk, metal, noise genres.) All the time digging further out into weirdo land with circuit bent toys, and custom electro acoustic instruments, and of course synthesizers. Always hanging onto that original icon ARP ODYSSEY and his Roland JX-8P and adding an ARP 2600 and modular eurorack synths and more to the mix. Active in various Boston synthesizer synthfests/meetups playing live synth concerts at the DAVID FRIEND RECITAL HALL at BERKLEE in Boston. Then he attended the "Alan R. Pearlman - Everything ARP Symposium" at Berklee finally saw DINA PEARLMAN again with her father and mother and all the ARP family in a sort of THIS IS YOUR LIFE celebration of all things ARP. A moment in ARP history that is beyond words.

Much respect to DINA PEARLMAN for the Alan R. Pearlman Foundation and ARP ARCHIVES carrying on the ARP family legacy in memory of her mother and father and all the ARP family who created and played and sold and loved ARP Synthesizers over the now 50 years. Dennis Colin and David Friend are two of the people that have contributed so much to the ARP legacy, but there are so many others who were there in essentially what amounts to the golden 70s decade of ARP that made it all happen. Now with the help of Dina's love and devotion ARP lives on and on.

Bill T Miller has always LUVED ARP and his first synth the ARP ODYSSEY is still the centerpiece and heart of his studio HEADROOM in BOSTON.
Always exploring the weird sonics and basically ignoring the create a patch on a synth to simulate "real" instruments thinking and going for
the outer space blip bloop sample and hold I hear a new universe of unreal electronic music.


more nfo on BILL T MILLER via
http://billtmiller.com/arp
http://BTMTV.com
http://OrgyOfNoise.com


THANX...
Alan R Pearlman / ARP Archives
https://alanrpearlmanfoundation.org"