He was the fist British recording engineer to approach recording in a creative, non-scientific way. He used studio equipment and effects to greatly add to or in some cases create the music he produced. .
He tweaked the tape recorders to get more level on tape, placed mics close to sources rather than at the "correct" distance, and used compressors and limiters for creative rather than corrective purposes Meek sometimes intentionally distorted preamplifier inputs.2.
Telstar, perhaps his most famous recording is different than almost any recordings that went before. .
It has so many overdubs that the underlying layer of sound, particularly in the low mid frequencies, is little more than a sonic blur. There are several drum parts, two bass parts, a triple-tracked Clavioline (spanning three octaves), a sped-up piano playing harp like arpeggios.2.
This innovative use of studio equipment enabled Meek to transcend the role of engineer and develop recording as a means of non-instrumental composition. He is a true example of technology being liberating to the individual as it enabled Meek, a non-musician with little musical knowledge and by his own admittance a bad sense of timing to become one of the most creative musicians of the 1950's.
The development and influence of the electric guitar is a good example of the effect of large companies in relation to the power and interests of large companies. Whilst it could be debated as to who invented the solid bodied electric guitar as basic examples survive from the 1930s/1940s of solid bodied electric guitars from Rickenbacker, Gibson, Bigsby, and Fender. However, the first one to go into mass production was Leo Fenders Broadcaster (renamed the Telecaster two years later) introduced in1948. In 1950 he introduced the first electric bass, the Precision Bass. The consistent popularity of these instruments is of interest, as many genres of music from the latter half of the 20th Century would not exist if it were for their popularity.