kevin Shields

Born in Queens, New York City. One of the most remarkable aspects of Shields' music is his unusually thick and dreamy guitar sound, associated with his later recordings with My Bloody Valentine.Using Fender Jaguars and Jazzmasters, Shields manipulates the tremolo arm while strumming chords. Rolling Stone described it as, "a strange warping effect that makes the music wander in and out of focus".[4] To thicken the sound, he plays through a Yamaha SPX 90 using a reverse reverb effect. To further augment his sound, he cranks amps to exceptionally loud volumes, causing speaker "breakup" and increasing sustain. On the subject of Loveless Shields remarks, "the songs do have weird timings and things, but the textures come from the guitar tunings."[5] Shields has noted that he uses far fewer effects pedals and overdubs than the music press sometimes makes him out to use - a surprising and perhaps disingenuous claim in light of how unique his sound is. Nonetheless, he has sometimes said his sound is "just a guitar plugged into an amp."Recording techniques have also figured into the creation of his tone. For example, Loveless track "Only Shallow"'s was recorded by enclosing a microphone between two speakers.[citation needed]Many have tried to replicate the guitar sounds on Loveless, with varying degrees of success. Shields even had trouble reproducing the sounds himself, as his live guitar sounds at the time varied greatly from those on the record. He was known to try to duplicate the sheer power of the recorded tone by turning on-stage monitors to face the audience, rather than the band. The My Bloody Valentine regular set closer, "You Made Me Realise" involved a part using lots of noise and feedback that could go on as long as 40 minutes; on which Shields remarked, "it was so loud it was like sensory deprivation. We just liked the fact that we could see a change in the audience at a certain point".[5] Many, including Shields, note that the Loveless-era My Bloody Valentine shows were amongst the loudest rock concerts