Bright Sparks - Tom Oberheim

After the 2015 release of our Bright Sparks Documentary & Album collaboration with I Monster, while we were elated at the critical acclaim the project received, we always felt it would have been enriched by the inclusion of one person in particular, Tom Oberheim.

On the instrumental version of the Bright Sparks album, I Monster had created a bonus track, Beneath The Planet Of The Oberheim and while we'd reached out to Tom Oberheim and asked him to appear in the accompanying documentary, for various reasons it wasn't possible.

Then in Feb 2021, after the release of our OB-E 8-Voice emulation, we got the chance to talk with Tom whereupon our second question was "Can we persuade you to be filmed for a new Bright Sparks Chapter?"

Tom agreed and while covid put our plans on hold temporarily, we carried on communicating, and in October 2021 we sat at the UK end of a zoom call while cameraman Sam Graydon filmed Tom in the comfort of his California home. Additionally, ex-Oberheim engineer (and industry icon), Marcus Ryle, joined us from his studio and imparted his experience of working at Oberheim in the 80s and how, over 30 years later, he was pivotal in Tom regaining the use of his name and logo.

The result is a new Bright Sparks chapter dedicated to Tom Oberheim. A fascinating journey through the life and career of one of the most revered synthesiser pioneers, whose work has graced the tracks of everyone from Joe Zawinul to Stevie Wonder, Lyle Mays, Jam and Lewis and countless others.

Camera - Sam Graydon.
Edit Producer - Jeff Boult.
Executive Producer - Dave Spiers for GForce Software.
Artwork - Jarrod Gosling
Animation - Luke Highet
Photos - Dave Spiers, Ian Legge, Robert Rosen, Marcus Ryle, Tom Oberheim & Sequential Circuits
Music - I Monster (Bright Sparks Instrumental). Jeff Boult. Dave Spiers.
Archive - Internet Archive. Prelinger Archives.

Huge thanks to: I Monster's Dean Honer & Jarrod Gosling, Chris Macleod, Marcus Ryle, Jill Oberheim, Susan Wolf, Hugo Brangwyn, Graeme Rawson, Jerome Meunier, Robert Rosen, Alex Abajian, Ian Legge, Kent Spong, Les Pressure and David Gibbons.

www.oberheim.com
www.gforcesoftware.com
www.imonstermusic.com