20 years ago this week, Moby released his seminal ‘Play‘ album that went on to sell over 12 million copies worldwide. Recorded in his Manhattan home studio, the album made heavy use of hardware sampling technology such as the AKAI 3200XL. Most samples he used came from Alan Lomax’s legendary field recordings compilation Songs from the South.
Rack Gear (left-to-right):
- Tascam P8-32P Patchbays (x2)
- Alesis Quadraverb
- Eventide DSP 4000 Ultra Harmonizer
- Opcode Studio 4 Midi Interface
- Yamaha TX-802 Rackmount FM Synthesizer
- Klark Teknik DN60 Real Time Sectrum Analyzer
- DBX 160XT Compressor Limiter
- Panasonic SV3700 Professional Digital Audio Tape Deck (x2)
- Alesis ADAT 8 track professional digital audio recorder (x3)
- Alesis XT20 ADAT Type II / 2 20-bit Digital Audio Recorder
- Akai S950 Midi Digital Sampler
- AKAI S1000 Midi Digital Sampler
- Akai S3200XL Midi Stereo Digital Sampler
- Oberheim Matrix 1000
- Waldorf Pulse Synthesizer
Hardware Synths (top-to-bottom):
- Roland Jupiter 6
- Roland Juno 106
- Yamaha SY22 (strings & pads on Moby’s Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad)
- Yamaha SY85
Mixing Desk:
Soundcraft Spirit Studio 24 channel mixer
Speakers:
- Yamaha NS-40M Studio Speakers
- Yamaha NS-10M
Play was the first album to have every track licensed for use in film, TV, and ads (Intel, Apple, and Volkswagen, to name a few). This transformed Moby from a somewhat underground techno producer (Go / Hymn) to an international pop star.
