The new memoir of Grammy-winning music producer Robert Margouleff has been announced, titled Shaping Sounds. It was written in collaboration with Jim Reilly and will arrive via Jawbone Press on May 19th, 2026.
In it, Margouleff shares his stories of innovation in music, art, and technology. On the set of his first film, Ciao! Manhattan, with Andy Warhol superstar Edie Sedgwick, Margouleff discovered a powerful new way to score his movie: the Moog synthesizer. This discovery leads him to meet a studio engineer who would become his long-time partner, Malcolm Cecil, with whom he would collaborate to invent the world’s largest analog synthesizer, ‘TONTO’ (The Original New Timbral Orchestra). Together, Margouleff and Cecil used TONTO to help unleash Stevie Wonder’s music on his classic albums Music Of My Mind, Talking Book, Innervisions, and Fulfillingness’ First Finale.
Margouleff shares:
On countless nights I’ve stood in the recording studio, all eyes on me. Chasing the perfect sound, playing my role as a song transforms from idea into reality. Every note, every beat, every story has been a part of my journey. I’ve experienced struggles and successes, highs and lows. If I’ve learned anything from these trials and tribulations, it’s that in the end, the real joy comes from working together toward a common end, sharing your creativity, exploring uncharted waters, and, when you’re lucky enough to find the magic, giving it to the world …
In studios like Electric Lady and the Record Plant, Margouleff became a pioneering Producer and engineer for artists like Billy Preston, Jeff Beck, DEVO, The Isley Brothers, and David Sanborn. He was an early adopter of immersive audio and surround, developing new mixing techniques for home theaters that brought Hollywood blockbusters to life.
Shaping Sounds is “a story about creativity, collaboration, and artistic courage.” Margouleff interweaves his personal experiences with the teachers, friends, mentors, and influences that shaped him, “revealing how empathy and curiosity fueled his life’s work.”
Writer, musician, and educator Jim Reilly studied both Jazz guitar and journalism in college and has spent the past twenty-five years or so combining those two loves. He has authored four books: the fictional Bass Player, plus biographies of three biographies of musical instrument designers: StickMan: The Story Of Emmett Chapman & The Instrument He Created, Steinberger: A Story Of Creativity And Design, and Chasing Tone: How Rob Turner & EMG Revolutionized The Guitar’s Sound. The exploration of creativity, musical and otherwise, continues in print and on his Words & Music podcast.
