Marco Caputo
Biography
I started making music at age 13, when to impress a girl who played the piano, I realized that I had to play an instrument too.
I could not win her over but I kept playing anyway.
The recorder was my first instrument, boring and unpleasant but obligatory in junior high school.
Subsequently, together with my dear friend Tullio Calosci, I decided that the guitar could be a much more stimulating instrument to continue to do something in the music world. So I bought my first little guitar, a few tens of thousands of liras for a piece of wood that still fascinates me. As a diligent self-taught I began to learn the first chords reading some books, watching the older kids that played and especially listening to records.
In those years I had a period of true fanaticism for the Beatles’ music and in a short time I learned to play all their songs.
I've never been a virtuoso of the instrument, but the music, the catchy melodies and compositional talent of Lennon/McCartney stimulated me to write my first songs.
In 1982 I formed my first band: myself, Tullio Calosci, Marco Urzi, Marco Faragli (today part of the band 360 degrees) and Alessandro Cervo.
The band was called "Stage" and of course we played almost all of the Beatles’ songs.
As often happens at a young age, I also began to play at Sunday Mass, led by the great Don Fabio Masi in Vingone.
The musicians who went to church in the 80s were grandiose: the Whisky Trail, Antonio Breschi, Carlo Corsini, Giacomo Gentiluomo.
I learned a lot from them and I had the opportunity also to try to play the piano, an instrument that I was able to purchase much later.
Many of the songs that were played during Mass were original or italianised covers of Bob Dylan. The songs were very beautiful and the parishioners of Vingone expressed the desire to listen to them at home, maybe recorded on a disc.
In 1983 the recordings began:
A side realized by Whisky Trail, at their best at the time, and a side realized by me, Tullio Calosci and James Squire. My first experience in the studio. A month of preparation, an incredible emotion, a unique experience.
The record was released in 1984, the result was interesting and certainly important.
In 1986 a very important new band took shape, one that finally wrote and played its own songs: the Real People. The band, formed by Marco Caputo, Marco Urzi, Richard Pucci (today the Trinovox) and Rudy Maestrelli worked for a year at the Harmonizer studio (my small studio) producing about twenty songs.
In 1987, after a long and difficult birth, the first single was released, a Q disc (a pan the size of a 33 rpm that should have been listened to at 45rpm) entitled "She's underground".
On the back "Only wasting time". The disc was fifth in the sales chart at the Mastelloni store in Florence.
The group’s producer was Steve Eden, stage name that hid a very Italian Stefano Gentili (today in the group 360 degrees). A true master, Marzio Benelli, at Emme studio in Calenzano, recorded the album.
The experience in this studio was devastating for me.
I discovered MIDI, computers, digital samplers and all the technology related to music that left a deep mark in all my subsequent years, a passion that still helps me live as a highly qualified teacher in the field.
In 1988 we released our second single, titled "I wanna be your great time", also recorded at Emme studio, even using a Mitsubishi digital multitrack (we were among the first in Italy to use this innovative technology).
But Real People was already disintegrating due to internal attritions and the track although catchy made little headway.
In 1989 I started playing with a myriad of bands in Florence, in various styles: blues, new wave, funk etc. It was a great experience that broadened my views on music and taught me to play in different styles and musical techniques.
In 1990, enriched by my studio experiences with Real People, I decided to try out a new adventure: as a specialist in audio technologies.
They were two tough years, but with the highest concentration of professional experience imaginable.
I was able to access most of the recording studios in Italy as a representative for Lexicon, Akai, Otari, Summit, Focusrite, Meyer, Godin and many other prestigious brands in the world of sound.
These were years full of travel, international trade fairs, meetings in Tokyo with Japanese designers and I got to work alongside the greats such as Pino Daniele, Vasco Rossi, Ron, Lucio Dalla, Antonello Venditti and many other big artists.
A unique experience and one full of important acquaintances, including the great Lucio Battisti and Ivan Graziani.
But life as a specialist demanded great sacrifices, especially in the area of affections, and also precluded the possibility of continuing to play.
Thus after two years I decided to give my professional life a new twist: return to be a musician. Along with a pianist friend, the great Vanni Cassori, I opened the recording studio I had founded for the Real People recordings: Harmonizer Studio.
After a small expansion in technologies and instruments, the studio was updated and aligned to a good quality standards, which opened up to great job opportunities. We began to work in the field of TV advertising jingles, especially those dedicated to children's toys.
Composing, arranging and recording were our daily bread. We produced about a hundred jingles a year so many that from '92 to '98 we worked on over 500 30-seconds songs. Diaframma, Studio 55, Comark, Alta, B&A, Model T, Profile are some of the agencies with which in a short time we started working.
TV
• Kimbo (1996)
• Kimbo (1998)
• Caffè Kosè (1993)
• Acqua minerale Lete (1996)
• Barchetta Sammontana (video in cartoni animati)
• Monopoli (spot televisivo per i sassant’anni del gioco)
• Clementoni (linea puzzle)
• Super Mario
• Cicciobello
• Tania Innamorata
• Tondo (1986)
• Figurine Panini
• Laser Challenge
• Action Rucksak
Radio
• Buffetti (Natalizio 1997)
• ATAF (1997)
• Crudelia (campagna promozionale 1989)
• Pizza Taxi (1998)
• Runner Pizza (1998)
At the same time, in 1994, together with Giulio Clementi I founded Modus.
Modus was a company working in various fields, including sound consulting, education and planning. In 10 years Modus worked for many companies and provided consultations and training courses for RAI, Mediaset, Cinecittà and specialized schools financed by the European Community. We wrote books and manuals for Berben and I developed several innovative projects including several that became patents.
In 1997 we also began several musical productions, including with Florentine artists Arya and Susy Bellucci.
The project was expanded in 1998 and was joined by Popi Fabrizio, a producer and talent scout of famous artists of the Italian music scene, and Claudio Ancillotti. Together we worked on some of my songs and, in 1999, finally came out with the first single, "Foglie d’Autunno” (“Fall Leaves”). With this piece we took part in many music festivals (Caltanissetta, Belluno, Montecatini, Girofestival of Pescara, Benevento etc) with unexpected results placing ourselves always in the first places. By a whisker we didn’t go to the Festival di Sanremo.
In 2000 we released our second single "Dammi Te” (“Give Me You") with interesting results. The project had a following until 2002. During these years the musical jingle market suffered a major crisis, which saw me heavily involved.
And now everyone knows how difficult it is to live as an artist, especially a musician. So I started to look for resources in other areas.
In those years I started an interesting collaboration with a longtime friend: Andrea Baggio.
Andrea for some years had started to provide electronic solutions to the problems that were created in the classical and lyrical world every time the orchestra had to play expensive instruments, that were difficult to transport or even unobtainable.
Through the use of digital samplers, a wise use of recording systems and a sophisticated sound processing, in a few years Andrea’s library established itself as the standard for quality and still boasts the credits of the greatest orchestra conductors.
My collaboration in this activity still sees me engaged in many projects today scattered around Italy and abroad. My extensive background in music and technology leads me to be required often in many schools as a teacher of Italian music, including the famous Lizard Music Academy.
A new emerging field, which fascinated me and where I could see interesting resources for the future, was that linked to the Internet world. For a couple of years I studied all the audio and video technology that revolved around the web’s multimedia and finally, on May 26th 2004, along with two old friends we brought to light the current Modus Multimedia.
And this brings us to today.
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