Doug McKechnie

Pioneering Electronic Music Composer and Moog Synthesizer Artist

In 1968, a young singer named Doug McKechnie got hold of one the very first Moog Modular Series III synthesizers ever made — serial number 004 — and began experimenting with it. Soon, he was hauling its many components around the Bay Area, performing improvised concerts for audiences whose minds had been opened by psychedelia but whose ears were often unfamiliar with electronic sounds. Working outside of academia and traditional recording studios—the only places one could find Moogs at the time—he invented his own way to play the instrument on the fly. He recorded many of his performances. After four years, McKechnie lost access to the expensive Moog. He moved on to other musical and creative endeavors. The recordings he made on quarter-inch reel-to-reel tape gathered dust in a closet for decades, and have never been released until now.