Even if you don't know his name, you already know his music from the classic Warner Brothers cartoons and "The Ren and Stimpy Show." Powerhouse was his mechanical motif, which you'd likely hear in a factory scene or announcing a menacing robot. But Scott had a long career outside of cartoon soundtracks.
Besides being a Julliard-trained composer and musical director on radio and TV, Scott was an insanely inventive wizard of recording techniques and sound engineering. His unique electro-mechanical devices include "Karloff," a spooky sound effects generator (named after Frankenstein's Boris Karloff); "Bandito, the Bongo Artist," one of the first electronic drum machines; the first multi-track tape recorder (years before Les Paul made his); and The Electronium, a highly-sophisticated electronic music –generating machine, which automatically composed and performed music. It so impressed Motown's Barry Gordy that he bought one for millions of dollars. A young Michael Jackson was wowed by the sounds it made. What did it sound like? Get the CD box set to hear the Wizard of Willow Park yourself.
(It's currently out of stock, tho some audio is available online. However, the box set's booklet is really amazing and worth tracking down. Great rare photos, remembrances from his children, and content on Scott's collaborators Robert Moog and Jim Henson. I found a copy in my local library.)
