Watch a new documentary honouring the life of synth pioneer Tom Oberheim

A new documentary is diving into the life and career of synth pioneer Tom Oberheim.

Created by Bright Sparks, the 37-minute documentary includes interviews with Oberheim himself about his journey from a draftsman at National Cash Register to building his first electronic instrument.

The 85-year-old audio engineer has had his instruments played by the likes of Lyle Mays, Prince, Joe Zawinul, Herbie Hancock, and Jam & Lewis.

Read this next: The 10 most influential synths of all time

The documentary also follows the history of electronic music equipment with stories from Moog, Dave Smith of Sequential and more.

Oberheim is also recognised for creating the OB-Xa, DSX, DMX, OB-8 and more.

Music Radar spoke with Tom Oberheim who said: “I congratulate the folks at GForce for all the effort they put forth to create the Bright Sparks video concerned with my history."

"What a great way to tell the Oberheim fans and family what I have been doing all these eight-plus decades, in and out of the music business!”

Read this next: The evolution of synthesizers is celebrated in a new book

Bright Sparks: Tom Oberheim producer and GForce co-founder Dave Spiers who told them: “Tom is such an important part of electronic music history, and given the instrumental version of I Monster’s Bright Sparks album features a bonus track dedicated to him, his lack of inclusion in the original documentary always felt like a major omission."

"I’ve always wanted Bright Sparks to be an ever-evolving project, so I’m thrilled to document his fascinating story with a dedicated chapter.”

Watch the documentary below.

Becky Buckle is Mixmag's Digital Intern, follow her on Twitter