Automat (album)

Disambiguation: "Automat" is also the debut album from Automat. [www.automatmusic.com] .

Infobox Album
Name = Automat
Type = studio
Artist = Romano Musumarra and Claudio Gizzi


Released = 1978
Recorded = November 1977 – December 1977
Genre = Electronic
Length = 33:52
Label = Harvest Records
Producer = EMI Italy
Reviews =

"Automat" is an album of instrumental electronic music composed by the Italian musicians Romano Musumarra and Claudio Gizzi. It was produced in 1977 and released in 1978 by EMI Italy, through its Harvest label.

All the sounds in this album were generated by the MCS70, a monophonic analog synthesizer designed, built and programmed by the Italian engineer Mario Maggi.

"Automat" was a Musumarra's initiative; after knowing about the new instrument he proposed to EMI Italy the production of an album of electronic instrumental music. Although at the time such a project were considered risky, the answer was positive. EMI suggested, however, that Claudio Gizzi, a more experienced composer that already worked with them, also participated in the project.

The composition work was divided then: side A to Gizzi, who filled it with a long suite with 3 movements, and side B to Musumarra, who composed three shorter pieces.

They had an exiguous time to complete the project: only four weeks in studio. Due this the last track, Mecadence, was left somewhat incomplete.

The sound engineer in charge of the project was Luciano Torani.

Album Tracks

Side A (by Claudio Gizzi):

* 01 - Automat : (The) Rise : (The) Advance : (The) Genus

Side B (by Romano Musumarra):

* 02 - Droid
* 03 - Ultraviolet
* 04 - Mecadence

Equipment

Besides the MCS70 they also used: Sequential Circuits 3 row by 16 steps analog sequencer synced to a 16 track recorder for overdubs, EMT digital reverberation unit, Horban parametric equalizer (x2), 30 band graphic equalizer, natural echo chamber for reverberation, a 2 track recorder for delay effects.

Trivia

*The condition imposed by Mario Maggi to participate on the project was that the MCS70 were the only synthesizer used in it. All the sounds should have to be obtained from it, even the drum sounds. The MCS70 would be presented in the 1978 Frankfurt Musikmesse and, for Maggi, the album would be a demonstration of the capabilities of his new synth.

*MCS means "Memory Controlled Synthesizer". It was common for synths at the time the need to manually adjust every control in the panel to get a desired sound, a task that often took a considerable amount of time. In the MCS70 a sound, once programmed, could be stored in memory and quickly recovered later. Mario Maggi filled the 64 available memory positions with sounds created by him and these were the sounds used in the album.

*Only one MCS70 was ever built. Before going into production, polyphonic synthesizers like the Sequential Circuits Prophet 5 arrived at the market and, all of a sudden, monophonic synths were considered obsolete. Mario Maggi then dropped the MCS70 project and started what would be his most famous synthesizer project ever: the polyphonic Elka Synthex. Under many aspects, though, the MCS70 was superior. The MCS70 has been bought by Patrizio Fariselli, member of the Italian Progressive Rock band Area, and used extensively in the band's 1980 album "Tic-Tac".

*"Automat" was the result of an unrepeatable sequence of events. The final result does not pleased either Musumarra and Gizzi nor the producers. They never collaborated in any other project nor had the opportunity to use the MCS70 again. "Automat" has never been released on CD. Despite of this (or perhaps because of this) achieved a "cult" status among many fans of electronic music. Musumarra and Gizzi followed successful careers as movie soundtrack composers. Musumarra also had many partnerships as a songwriter and/or producer with famous pop artists, among them the Canadian singer Céline Dion. His remarkable style of electronic arranging and composition can be heard, for instance, in the track "Je Danse Dans Ma Tête", from the Céline's 1991 album "Dion chante Plamondon".

*The famous French musician Jean Michel Jarre was the first person to get a copy of "Automat". Still during "Automat"'s production time Jarre released his album "Oxygène", that became one of the most famous works of electronic music ever. Intermediated by Claude Cavagnolo, at the time the representative of Montarbo's audio products in France, Mario Maggi was introduced to Jarre and meet him in his studio in Paris in 1978. At the occasion Jarre auditioned a copy of "Automat" in tape and, after giving an autographed copy of "Oxygène" to Mr. Maggi, a copy of "Automat" was gifted to him. The album was not yet available in the music stores.

*In the back cover, besides the production credits, the album had an enigmatic text:
*:In the beginning there was the "MACHINE"
*:the survival and the organization of the planet depend upon the "MACHINE"
*:the future and the past depend upon the "MACHINE"... the past?
*:but who wanted the "MACHINE" ?:This text was inserted by the EMI's commercial personnel. The artists have nothing to do with it.

External links

* [http://www.geocities.com/automat_br/ A website dedicated to "Automat"]
* [http://www.italianprog.com/a_automat.htm Automat Review on Italianprog website]
* [http://www.romanomusumarra.com Romano Musumarra official website]
* [http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romano_Musumarra Romano Musumarra (French Wikipedia)]
* [http://www.divertimento.it/articoli/2001/07/09/142885.php?ppid=253714 Luciano Torani Interview (Italian)]
* [http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/dec99/articles/elka.htm Elka Synthex review on "Sound on Sound" Magazine]
* [http://www.futureproducers.com/article.php/id/38 Elka Synthex review on Futureproducers.com]
* [http://www.fariselliproject.com/ Patrizio Fariselli official website]
* [http://musik.messefrankfurt.com/frankfurt/en/ Frankfurt Musikmesse website]