Why an Italian town has gone silent to preserve the sound of the Stradivarius violin

Last week, Leonardo Tedeschi broke up two teens kissing in a stairwell outside Auditorium Giovanni Arvedi in Cremona, Italy.

He didn't care what the pair were up to, but their giggling and chatter carried through the theatre's walls and into his recording.

"I went there and I said, 'I am sorry to stop this romantic moment but you should go to a park nearby. Please don't stay close to the auditorium,'" Tedeschi told Day 6 host Brent Bambury.

The 70,000 residents of Cremona — where the first Stradivarius violin was built more than 400 years ago — have been asked to quiet down for a special project.

Since January, Tedeschi and a team of musicians and professional sound engineers have been recording the incomparable sound of Antonio Stradivari's violins as well as historic instruments crafted by Nicolò Amati and Guarneri del Gesù.

The project's 32 ultra-sensitive microphones can pick up even the smallest vibrations from the earth beneath the building.

"We have, very close to the auditorium, this piece of road that is made in cobblestone and the vibration of the cars passing by actually gets in our recording," said Tedeschi, a former DJ and the co-founder of Audiozone Studios.

Until the end of next week, the streets around the auditorium are closed off to traffic, the town's mayor has deployed police to shush noise-makers, and stilettos are all but forbidden on local cobblestone roads. "If high heels pass by, we will hear it," he said.

Asking an entire town to be quiet for more than a month might seem like a stretch, but according to Tedeschi, the residents have been receptive to the project.

"They are really kind with us doing this quiet period for the greater good," he said.

Commercial use

The "Stradivarius Sound Bank" is born both out of a love for the instruments, and a commercial need, Tedeschi says.

"You receive a phone call and they say in three hours I want a full orchestra piece, mixed and mastered," he said. "You have to find these amazing software that help you through the process."

Tedeschi's project is ambitious. Beyond the need for near silence, four professional musicians must spend up to 12 hours each day bowing and plucking individual notes and scales in various articulations and dynamics.

It's a sound that goes deeply into your body and reach your soul.- Paolo Bodini

Two violins, a viola and a cello will be recorded to build a library of thousands of digital sounds for musicians and producers around the world to use in their compositions.

Tedeschi says he's "spoiled" to hear the instruments he does each day. Even though the "drum and bass" DJ has an ear tuned for electronic music, the sound of the Stradivarius stays with him.

"The emotion that you have when the room starts vibrating because a 30-centimetre piece of wood is doing this, it's actually instant goosebumps when these instruments to start play," he said.

The sound of a Strad

Paolo Bodini, a member of the Museo del Violini's board — which houses many centuries-old violins — is encouraged by the idea that these unique tenor of these instruments will no longer be out of reach for so many.

"It was sort of a way of making this aristocratic instruments more democratic; more available to people," he said.

Stradivari's violins are known for their unique tone and quality that, according to some, is unmatched by any other string instrument. But Bodini says there's no one sound that defines a Stradivarius.

Factors like the type of strings, the instrument's age and the musician all play a role.

Bodini hopes the project will capture the sound of the instruments as they sound today, because those qualities will likely change as the instruments age.

"It's a sound that goes deeply into your body and reach your soul, is what I would say," he said.

To hear the full interview with Leonardo Tedeschi, download our podcast or click the 'listen' button at the top of this page.