Face the Music

Resynator (2024)

Director: Alison Tavel

Writers: Kathryn Robson and Alison Tavel

Starring Jon Anderson, Fred Armisen, and Christian Castagno

Resynator can be streamed now on Amazon Prime and Apple TV.  

On the surface, the movie Resynator is a music fan’s treat, an origin story of the development of synthesizers in pop music in the ‘70s and ‘80s. But the film is much more than that—it’s a raw tale of personal discovery that was written, directed and lived by Cincinnati native Alison Tavel, whose mother still lives in Greater Cincinnati and whose story also is part of this multi-layered documentary, which was screened with the support of Film Cincinnati earlier this month at the Esquire Theater.

The basis for the story is Alison’s search to learn more about her father, an Indianapolis-based musician and early-adapter computer geek who developed a portable, simpler way to come up with the synth sound with a gizmo called the Resynator. By plugging in a guitar or microphone into the Resynator, which looks like a VCR machine with a lot more switches, musicians could tweak a few knobs and come up with tones that mimicked sounds like a tuba, a clarinet, a trumpet and more through their instruments.

But while the Resynator was praised by musicians and music producers alike, nothing ever came of the invention—and no one could explain why. When Alison finds a Resynator packed away in her grandmother’s attic in Indianapolis, it becomes the portal to learn more about his personal story. You see, her father, Don Tavel, was killed in a car accident less than three months after Alison was born.

Her search to learn more about her father through the Resynator takes her around the world as she meets with musicians and producers who worked with and knew Don Tavel and, just as importantly, knew his back story. Cameos include Peter Gabriel, Jon Anderson from Yes, Fred Armisen and producer Mark Ronson, among others.

While Don Tavel was praised as a genius, Alison soon learns that he had a dark side that looms over the family like a sour note. His drive for perfection and his thirst for acceptance within his own family may have been one of the reasons his invention never took off—and contributed to his rocky relationship with Alison’s mother.

Alison’s search teaches her much about her father, but in the process she learns so much about herself—perseverance in resurrecting the Resynator, searching for information about her father within her family, facing some of the truths that few wanted to discuss. It’s a documentary that Alison left her job as tour manager for best friend Grace Potter to continue—a documentary that started well before COVID, that won this year’s audience award for best documentary feature at SXSW, the best documentary award at the Lake County Film Festival and best documentary award at the Japan Indies Film Festival. It’s a story about music, yes, but it’s a story about family, about discovery and about dreams that die hard.

 – Betsy Ross