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0. Abstract When everything has become clear, it could have been a May afternoon but actually it was August. Summer you're cruel. It could have been during a thunderstorm, while sitting on the quivering axes of his favourite bench and observing the migrating geese, flying in lines over the disappearing edge of the horizon that he started to wonder where the clinical shyness has gone. Where? When he's been the wish talker he has always been. The expert of plans and design sketched over the transparency of rice-paper sheets. Indulging in his own way of sending coded messages, drawn on paper boats that he knew would have sunk anyway. It would have been so much easier to make a phone call, if he ever had a telephone. And anyway, what took you so long to pick up the receiver? Meanwhile, crawling around the four corners of the room, he realised and said to himself -I fear time-. But time should have never been feared, as it cannot be recalled. There were enough chances to find the right words to apologise, surely, if he had ever wished to. 1. Introduction My Dear Killer presents the first album as a collective, in which Stefano S. plays the guitar, the tapes, the noise generators and does the voice. Lorenzo T.bplays the guitars, the bass and noises. Marco G. plays the lap-steel guitar, the tapes and the noise generators.bMauro M. and Luca S. play the keyboards. Lindsey B. wrote the story. 2. Experimental Procedures Original recordings: A May Afternoon, Clinical Shyness, The Wish talker, Words and To Apologise were recorded using home built apparatus, consisting of random wave generators, biased amplifiers, detectors and recorders. The sound sources were a Jolana (mod. Proxima II), a Fender (mod. Music Master, home-modified to fit a second single coiled pick-up) or a Gibson (mod. Les Paul standard) guitars amplified through thermoionic tube amplifiers (Gibson mod. Mercury, Sovtek mod. Mig100). Distortion was obtained biasing the pick-up output through a combination of home-built units, based on previous releases from MXR (mod. Distortion +,Diode Silicon, type 1n4148, Germanium type 2N1948, LEDs 1n4566), Electro-Harmonix (Mods. Muff Fuzz, Big Muff) and Dallas Arbiter (mod. Fuzz Face, Ge-Transistors NPN AC-128). Sounds were collected from the ambient by dynamic microphones (Shure Mods. C606N and BG 2.0 and Paso Mod. M701) placed at about 5 cm and 1.2 m respectively from the signal source and sent to a conventional mixing device (LEM mod. S16DE), connected to a seven minus one track reel-to-reel recorder (TEAC Co. Tascam 80-8). The tape was a ½ inch Ampex 499, grandmaster multi-track mastering tape (courtesy of Nasten'ka). 30 IPS. OVU reference fluxivity 520 NanoWebers per meter at 700 Hz. 1.4 dB overbias at 10 kHz, bias level referenced to -10dB VU.(Lorenzo T. and Stefano S.) |
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Additional recordings, [Easter Session @ Magnetic Punch-in Floor]: Phone Calls and (I Fear) Time were recorded with
a similar set-up as described above, with a few modifications. The sound sources were a Fender guitar (mod. Jaguar) and
an Eko bass (mod. Unknown). The detection equipment was the same as described above, with the exception that a
½ inch Ampex 456 mastering tape has been used, (Lorenzo T. and Stefano S.) [Summer Session @ Under My Bed studio]
additional recordings on (I Fear) Time and To Apologise<. The sound sources were an Ibanez (mod. AR300) or a Racine
(mod. Telecaster-like) guitars, amplified by a Peavey (mod. studio-pro 110) solid-state amplifier. The signal source and sent to a conventional mixing device
(Beheringer mod. MX1604A), which was on some occasions directly fed from the (stereo) output of the distortion-modulation
line, and finally connected to reel-to-reel recorder described above.(Marco G. and Stefano S.) [Summer Session #2]
Additional recordings on Clinical Shyness. The sound sources were a Roland (mod. Alfa-Juno 1) and a Chicco
(mod. unknown) keyboards. The sounds were either directed to a mixing console (Yamaha mod. MG 16/6) or taken by a couple
of narrow cardioid condenser microphones (ADK mod.SC-1/AKG C1000S) from the inbuilt speakers of the keyboard
and then directed to a analogue-digital converter (Echo, mod. Layla) plugged in a personal computer. (Mauro M. and Stefano S.)
[Christmas Session @ 67 The Burroughs]. Additional recording to A May Afternoon, Clinical Shyness, Wish talker,
and (I Fear) Time. The sound sources were amplified through a Fender (mod. Vibrosonic reverb) amplifier.
The output of the microphones was directly sent to a 4 track tape recorder (TEAC Tascam 424mkII); a metal (type IV) tape
cassette (SKF mod. ZX90) has been used as a magnetic recording support. (Niki E. and Stefano S.) Sampling: Samples on A May Afternoon and Clinical Shyness is from 'The Night of the Hunter'; samples on To Apologise are from '2001: A Space Odyssey' Digitalisation & Mastering: Pre-digitalisation was done by an Echo (Layla) analogue-digital converter (by Mauro M.). The digitalisation of the finally mixed tracks was obtained by an Edirol (UA-3FX) analogue-digital converter, operating with a bandwidth of 48 KHz and resolution of 24 bit. The signal from the Ampex (mod 601) recorder was sent into a home-built three-stage solid-state linear amplifier (bandwidth 50 KHz), and then to a home built five-bands (100Hz, 500Hz, 1 KHz, 5 KHz, 10 KHz) parametric equaliser and a compressor-limited unit, operating with a fix output gain of -1dB and a threshold of -50dB. The output signals were directly sent to the analogue-digital converter, employed in the final digitalisation. 3. Results A May Afternoon Clinical Shyness The Wish Talker Phone Calls (I Fear) Time Words To Apologise |
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4. Acknowledgements This record would have been impossible to make without the invaluable coordination skills and dedication of Onga, who brought the syndication step by step in producing this record. Also precious was the help and effort of all the people involved in the Shyness Syndication: Alex Viccaro at Eaten By Squirrels, Stefano 'Momi' Doro, The Under My Bed Recordings, Federico Zanatta, Paolo Moretti & Madcap Collective, Figlio Tucano. We would also wish to acknowledge the support of all the special people we have met, shared time and lived with in the last three years. In particular, we would wish to thank Lorenzo at Magnetic Punch-in Floor, Marco at Under My Bed and Mauro for the efforts and troubles shared during the recording sessions, spread over several months. | ||||||||||
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A few people deserve a special mention for kindly supporting and comforting the
band over the time we have been around, I am particularly indebted to my wife Nicola for enduring support
and belief in the project and noticeably for keeping myself sane. My brother, Luca and his light sky-blue
Peugeot 205 also deserve a special note, as they have been the official touring car and he's been the driver around
the Lake's land for quite a few years. We would also like to thank everybody who have supported the little
My Dear Killer has done in recent years. Of those we wish to mention, first of all my mother Mary and then A
Andrea Brovelli (The Kuan), Stefan Gabriel (who scanned the shells) Carolina & Gavin Baker (Jet Johnson, Billie Mahonei), Myriam Bardino,
Jeff (Turn Records),
Ian Scanlon (Hey Colossus!), Andy Pascal, Kenneth Chu, Robert, Helen Leech, Amanda Brindley, Chris Syme (Atlas Cider),
Helen McGoldrick, Paula Friar, Andrea Lombardo, Luigi Foscarino (BuioOmega), Matteo Laudati (My Shell, BuioOmega),
Rachel & Andy Jones (Silver Rocket), Jim Taylor, Rachel Queen, Mark Hester, Saijalisa Pursiheimo, Mirkka Herranen,
Luca Galuppini (ONQ), Lynsey Callaghan, Davide Landini (Morose, Straight Saranza), Lorenzo Detomasi, Rachel Greenway,
Luciano Perondi (Molotro), Ian Anscombe, Mauro & Luca & Marco (Mr60). A special note is due to Elio DeAngelis, Mika Hakkinen and Damon Hill for their incommensurable genius. Collected Reviews. | ||||||||||
