Melbourne Electronic Sound Studio opens new home at Fed Square with 1000 instruments

Melbourne Electronic Sound Studio (MESS) has expanded to a new home at Federation Square, opening on September 19 with one of the Southern Hemisphere’s largest publicly accessible collections of electronic instruments.

Supported by MAP Co, the operator of Fed Square, the move brings more than 1000 eclectic and historically significant instruments into the city’s cultural hub at Birrarung Marr. The new space will allow the public to book studio sessions, join workshops, attend concerts and connect with a growing community of music makers.

First established in North Melbourne, MESS provides access to synthesisers, drum machines and modular synths spanning the history of electronic music. Since its founding in 2016, the not-for-profit organisation has worked to empower people to enrich their lives through music.

Beyond its collection of machines, MESS offers programs, artist residencies, education and public events – fostering curiosity, creativity and chance encounters in sound.

MESS also hosts live performances, including the MESS Synthesiser Orchestra, and runs its biannual multichannel commission series, Sonorous, which has produced 20 new octophonic works to date – a highlight of Melbourne’s electronic music calendar.

The studio was founded by sound artist and producer Byron Scullin and avant-garde audio-visual artist Robin Fox, who became friends through a shared passion for experimental music. Both had witnessed the barriers students and aspiring artists faced in accessing electronic instruments, which are often rare and prohibitively expensive.

The collection includes synthesisers, keyboards, drum machines and even metronomes, with contributions from musicians and collectors including Gotye and actor Guy Pearce, donations from benefactors and instrument manufacturers, and instruments inherited from Mr Fox’s own family.

“We connect people to electronic sound and music culture through our huge collection of multimillion-dollar, rare and antique instruments,” Mr Scullin said. “But we’re not a museum – we make all this equipment available for the public to use, learn about and explore with us.” •