Three Questions With Book of Love

Next up in the 3Qs series is Book of Love. The 40th Anniversary edition of their self-titled debut is out June 26th via Rhino Records. Link. Keyboardist Ted Ottaviano answers three questions below.

Without further ado...

Synth History: What were some of your early pieces of gear and how has it changed throughout

the years?

Ted: My first synth was a used Roland Juno-6. It was on sale alongside the Roland Juno-60, which had MIDI capabilities, something I couldn’t imagine ever needing at the time–I was young and a bit naïve. The Juno had that unmistakable ’80s sound. For a while it felt like its moment had passed, but over time it’s really come back around and is now considered a classic. The Roland Juno-106, a more streamlined and affordable version, went on to become a staple for dance producers—and still is today. I actually still have mine.

Synth History: Your debut album came out at a time when analog synths were being phased out

for digital synths. What was the rise of digital like?

Ted: Our first time in a pro studio was in late ’84 at Unique Recording. It was right on the cusp of the digital era, and they had a lot of new gear in-house. I brought my Juno and ended up using it for most of the parts until we discovered the Yamaha DX7. That was a game changer. It was a digital synth using FM synthesis, and it could create these really metallic, bell-like sounds that we just fell in love with. We went

hard core. I bought a DX7 shortly after. I still have that one too.

Synth History: What is one of your fondest memories from either playing live and/or recording?

Ted: Gosh, there are so many, but one that always comes to mind is recording the cathedral organ at St. John the Divine in NYC for “With a Little Love” on our second album Lullaby, produced by Flood.

We got permission to record there overnight, which was incredible in itself. Flood is also a brilliant engineer, and watching him mic the entire cathedral was fascinating, capturing the organ with all that natural reverb bouncing through this massive, beautiful space. It’s a night I’ll never forget.

Synth History Exclusive.

Conducted by Danz.