I mentioned recently that installing the Fostex FE108-Sol drivers and removing the notch filters opened a new chapter in my audiophile journey. Yet without good recordings, this journey leads nowhere. In the context of my minimalist approach, based on crossover-less single-driver speakers, tube amplification, and a non-oversampling DAC, a good recording is one conceived through a process of utmost simplicity — using a single pair of microphones, with no electronic manipulation or artificial correction of the signal — as the only way to produce a natural-sounding recording.
It turns out that the founder of Fonè Records, Giulio Cesare Ricci, not only follows this principle but even takes it a step further by recording performances in their natural acoustic spaces rather than in a studio. The discovery of Fonè Records actually made my journey possible by transporting me through time and space as convincingly as very few other recordings have been able to do.
In Sight captures the dialogue between the voice of Eleonora Bianchini and the double bass played by Enzo Pietropaoli. The recordings took place in the Auditorium Hall at the Piaggio Museum in Pontedera, a location where the first Vespas were assembled in the early 1900s and a place particularly appreciated by Giulio Cesare Ricci for its truly excellent acoustics.
Recording with fonè is a hard yet exciting challenge. This recording method allows capturing both the magic and the frailty of the instrument, which in turn must be used with accuracy and precision. The “dialogue” between the double bass and the voice marks the record, and it somehow recalls the relationship that stands between the funambulist and the tightrope he walks on: the physical contact with the rope creates confidence, giving strength and control to the tightrope walker.
Eleonora Bianchini
The second stage in the musical path of DOS brought us to a new place in which the third element of the band, namely acoustics, had changed. This gave us new emotions and different solicitations, especially in our relationship with sound. As per the previous experience, it has been a stimulating, constructive challenge, the umpteenth “photo” of an authentic moment never-to-be-repeated.
Enzo Pietropaoli
This record, as well as Pietropaoli’s Solo album, are by far the most realistic double bass recordings I have ever heard. Capturing the atmosphere and the timbre of the instrument in such a vivid way is an art in itself.
When I record, I follow all my senses, which means not only what I hear, but more importantly the feelings that come into the soul and to the heart. For me, placing the microphones is something of a sacred ritual, almost a mystic art. I have to find, and I know that it exist and is waiting to be found, that pocket-handkerchief sized space of air where the whole atmosphere can be felt.
Giulio Cesare Ricci