The Beginning of a Great Passion
I’m Italian and I’m a great fan of music! Since I was 5 years old I have always listened with great interest the fabulous 80s music (including the great Michael Jackson). At the age of 12, I started to get passionate about musical instruments and to start playing the electric guitar and the keyboard by ear, trying to play the melodies of the songs I liked. Since then I have become more and more passionate about music of all kinds (celtic, medieval, oriental, classical, folk, bluegrass, swing, jazz, blues, rock & roll, R&B, funk, groove, rock, synth pop, italo disco, house , dance etc.).
My Favorite Artists
The artists who have me and still inspire me to play are really many:
Jimi Hendrix – The Animals – Elvis Presley – B.B. King – Django Reinhardt – Duke Ellington – Chuck Berry – Ray Charles – Johnny Cash – Canned Heat – Herbie Hancock – Tom Petty – Booker T. & the M.G.’s – The Who – Led Zeppelin – Deep Purple – The Doors – Creedence Clearwater Revival – Lynyrd Skynyrd – Pink Floyd – Queen – AC/DC – Scorpions – Carlos Santana – Van Halen – Kiss – Dire Straits – ZZ Top – Guns N’ Roses – Nirvana – Pat Benatar – U2 – Stevie Wonder – Bon Jovy – Bryan Adams – Roxette – Michael Jackson – Madonna – Giorgio Moroder – Jean-Michel Jarre – KC & The Sunshine Band – Pointer Sister – Gloria Gaynor – Bee Gees – Boney M. – Sister Sledge – Donna Summer – Dead or Alive – Duran Duran – Rod Stewart – Alphaville – Glenn Frey – Shalamar – Sylvester/Patrick Cowley – Savage – George Michael – Sandra – Blondie – Samantha Fox – Depeche Mode – Phil Collins – New Order – Prince – Barry White – David Bowie – Tears for Fears – Huey Lewis & the News – Lionel Richie – Chaka Khan – Sade – Tina Turner – Cyndi Lauper – Bonnie Tyler – Modern Talking – Eurythmics – Yazoo – Bronski Beat – Pet Shop Boys – Trio – Enya – The Cranberries – Ice MC – Corona – Haddaway – Alexia – 2 Unlimited – U.s.u.r.a. – Scatman John – Snap! – Culture Beat – La Bouche… and many others!
My Favorite Composers
I love the work that these incredible composers have created with their extraordinary talent and with great genius! In particular, I appreciate the soundtracks of:
Ennio Morricone – Franco Micalizzi – Detto Mariano – Guido & Maurizio De Angelis – La Bionda – Ninni Carucci – Hans Zimmer – Brad Fiedel – Harold Faltermeyer – Alan Silvestri – Jerry Goldsmith – Henry Mancini – John Williams – Jan Hammer – John Carpenter – James Horner – Elmer Bernstein – Michael Boddicker – Lalo Schifrin – Sylvester Levay – Vince DiCola
How Do I create My Covers
Many people think that it is not possible to create music without knowing the musical notes and the theory of music in general. I’ve always thought that music is a form of art and therefore it’s like creating a painting… you don’t have to go to painting school to recreate a landscape. It is sufficient to practice “reproducing” reality with its shapes and colors to be able to obtain good results (errors after errors).
I admire musicians who know how to read sheet music and have truly studied music, but everyone must follow his own path and do what he is suited for. I’ve never learned the notes of any instrument and I can’t read sheet music (apart guitar tabs), because I’ve never been brought to learn too much theory (I prefer practice). I have always had the predisposition to follow my ear to find the melodies and sounds of the songs that I want to recreate. Only in this way can I concentrate and “enter” into the music, managing to separate in my mind every instrument or effect present in the track.
My main goal is to get as close as possible to the original by giving similar emotions and to make remember the great movies and the magnificent songs of the past. I have understood for some time that to do something well one must have: PASSION, HUMILITY, PATIENCE, PERSEVERANCE AND SELF-CRITICISM!
My “Little” Equipment
Unfortunately, for economic reasons, I have never been able to afford all the equipment that I would have liked. However, I try to make the most of what I own to make the covers of my favorite songs to the best of my ability. I have a Gibson Les Paul Deluxe electric guitar to which I have made small personal changes to improve the sound. Furthermore, I also own a Yamaha CS1x (which my father gave me) which allows me to create excellent 80s and 90s sounds. Of this synth, I particularly love: the shape, the controls, the leads, the pads and the brass. As for the sounds of real instruments (piano, organ, violin, etc.), they could have done better to make them less “robotic”. Other than that, I love this synth!
To make my covers, I also use VSTs. I mainly use these: Dexed (DX7 emulator), TAL-NoiseMaker, TAL-U-NO-LX (JUNO 60 emulator), Jupiter-8, Korg Mono/Poly, Korg M1 and other VST free.
My YAMAHA CS1x completely disassembled and restored after the video of the cover The Terminator Reese Dreams of Future War.
The “VERSATILE-STRAT”
I bought a Stratocaster style guitar because for the musical genres I like the most, I needed a guitar with the typical sounds of this super classic model. I chose the EKO S-350V because it combines the sounds of the Stratocaster with those of the Gibson SG and Les Paul (thanks to its powerful Humbucker at the bridge). I found this cheap guitar (about 130 €) very comfortable and with a sublime sound.
The original EKO S-350V.
Since I recreate tracks from different musical genres, I wanted to make my guitar adaptable to any type of sound. From this concept, I modified the EKO S-350V that now it became mine “Versatile-Strat”. The strings of my guitar are the Ernie Ball 2222 Hybrid Slinky.
Custom Pickguard In Separate Parts
The most important change I wanted to make was to be able to change the type/configuration of the pikups in 5 minutes to be able to adapt it to what I want to recreate. I created a pickguard consisting of 3 separate pieces (made with 2.5mm thick lexan). Upper part (which houses the neck pickup), central part (which houses both the middle and bridge pickups) and the electronics part controls (knobs and pickup selector). In this way, just unscrew the affected part to change what you want without having to remove all the electrical part and without removing the strings. If you want to fit a different shaped pickup type, just cut a piece of lexan with the suitable housing. I modified the output cables of the pickups by inserting plugs to be able to connect/disconnect them quickly.
The my “Versatile-Strat” in mixed configuration: Single Coil at the neck, Single Coil in the middle and Humbucker at the bridge.
With this system, you can put any type of pickup wherever you want and thus experiment on the sound (as well as approaching the sounds of a specific guitarist/music). In fact with the “Versatile-Strat” I can get typically 50s sounds, spaghetti westerns, country up to Eric Clapton, AC/DC, Van Halen, Scorpions and others… all with one guitar.
Another setup (with its factory pickups). I will purchase a specific Single Coil for the bridge in the near future.
Arrangement Of Controls
Another important change, for my playing, was to change the arrangement of the knobs and the 5 way switch. I tried to group everything in a position as far away from the bridge as possible to be able to move more easily to play palm muting rhythm parts and fast soloists.
Tremolo Block
I also replaced the original tremolo block (see photo) with a 15mm piece of steel (made from a solid piece) which I sawed/drilled/threaded to fit the original bridge.
The original tremolo block.
The new tremolo block created from scratch.
Bridge
To less stress the strings, I changed the attachment point for the strings. They are now attached to the bridge itself instead of the tremolo block.
Electric Improvements
I improved the tone of the guitar with low volumes with the modification “Treble Bleed”, but instead of welding the capacitor directly to the volume potentiometer, I preferred to insert a switch (placed on the back of the guitar) to be able to choose when to activate this change. I also added the possibility to adjust the tone to the bridge pickup.
I have other changes in mind that I will definitely make in the future: for example, that of a quick system to stop the vibrations of the springs (in according to necessity) for some types of musical genres.
Headphones
To better mixing/mastering my music and my tributes, I decided to buy good quality headphones. I chose the AKG K240 MKII. Excellent from all points of view, very comfortable, with an excellent sound performance and complete with many accessories. These headphones are semi-open type and consequently they do not have many bass, but one day I will probably take the AKG K371 to have a more complete range of frequencies.
My Videos
Ever since I created the first cover (The Terminator Main Title), I thought it would have been more beautiful, for those who had watched and listened to my covers, to be able to see a video that remembered the movies, the TV series or the original song with animations, clothing, objects, visual and sound effects. In addition, I try to create my videos so that they can be useful, to those like me, who are passionate about music and want to try to recreate these songs, in which I clearly show where and how they are played on the keyboard.
My Other Passions
In addition to music, I have many other passions including: video editing, graphics, photography, videogames, R/C models, mechanics in general, 3D design, cars and mechanics, restoration, electronics and many others. Also, I really like movies from the 30s through the late 90s, with a few exceptions after 2000 (Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone , Fast and Furious 1, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl).