Inside The Awesome Synth Lair Of Mark Mothersbaugh

This video, via , is a visit to the awesome synth lair of composer Mark Mothersbaugh (Devo, Pee Wee’s Playhouse, Rugrats, The Lego Movie).

The bright green, circular building of Mutato Muzika in Los Angeles is easy to spot when cruising down Sunset Boulevard. Inside is the studio of Mark Mothersbaugh, founding member of DEVO and award-winning Hollywood composer.

Over the years, Mothersbaugh has accumulated a vast collection of synths. In this video, he reveals the stories behind some of his synth rarities. More importantly, he reveals the secret of ‘We smell sausage’.

22 thoughts on “Inside The Awesome Synth Lair Of Mark Mothersbaugh

  1. The universe is officially shattered. Dog is not god spelled backward. “Jesus loves you” is “We smell sausage” spoken backward. I feel the need to lie down but I’m afraid I’d bump into the ceiling after I close my eyes.

    1. I want to see a video about each of the weird instruments in this Ali Baba Cavern mostly the strange thing with ribbon contollers at the begining. He sounds like you’d listen to him for hours talking about music, art and everything without getting bored.

  2. My friend and I worked with reverse phonetics for a while, and we did THE EXACT SAME THING, except our phrase was “Who eats full sausage” and it sounds almost identical when reversed. I love the fact that he found another version (which might arguably be slightly more coherent). Although, I will say that based on my experiments, his reversed version is actually saying “Jeezaus Lummsewe” whereas the “Full Sausage” gives you a clear “Jesus Luffs” when reversed. Especially if you say “sausage” more like “Suhsej”

    My friend and I got so quick with reversing phonetics that we started to speak backwards to each other. Like our own form of pig latin.

  3. I once got to talk synths with Mark between DEVO sets for a few minutes, just by asking him an insider-type question about an instrument he was using. He invited me to the stage and we enjoyed a synth-bro moment. He didn’t have to do that while he was AT WORK, but there it was. I have found it “funny” that the more confident people are about their work, the better their manners seem to get. His graciousness and enthusiasm for that few moments just added to my love of e-music. We also had several good laughs in the process. It was parsecs away from the troll brigade. He was once asked what he looked for in a woman and he said “Defects.” That’s hilariously honest in several ways at once. +1 for Mark and DEVO in general. They’ve done a lot to highlight the goofy fun of synths while never making them seem stoopid. Neat trick!

  4. this is so amazing, i want to know what the yellow box is that he spoke into. (I also love the thing about aliens that he said at the end.)

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