I’m a long time lurker here who some of you might recognise - yes I’m looking at you Brian! My life has been a bit turbulent recently so I have not contributed much on this board, but I hope you’ll allow me to share this collaboration. The back story: I was in Athens on business last September and my driver (Iraklis) and I struck up conversation about music. Turns out he’s a singer and has written lyrics for a lot of songs, but never done anything with them. I told him my musical background and we talked vaguely about collaborating, which raised the first problem - all his lyrics were in Greek. My duo lingo version of Greek is nowhere near good enough for that to work so he translated his lyrics to English, I tidied it up and we were off. I worked on writing a song over the next few months when I could and recorded all the parts and mixed them in February. The next step was to get my niece Sara to work on a video for the song and she duly obliged. I came up with the name “Panopticon” (a circular prison) cos it sounds good to my ears, is Greek origin and has a bit of philosophical ambiguity about it. Next I created the Youtube account and we’re up and running. I’m not sure where this will go from here, but when all’s said and done this is a learning tool for me, so I’ve already got something out of it. Cheers all!
Good to hear from your Neil. Hope nothing untoward in the turbulence.
Just for clarity, Iraklis contributed just the lyrics?
Song sounded great, lovely arrangement and well produced. May be my imagination but felt like it reflected the influences of the covers you’ve shared over the years.
Only slight niggle was being able to make out the lyrics. I struggled a bit on that. Maybe a little low in the mix or maybe some fx on the lyrics, perhaps some EQ needed to help with that, maybe less of something like reverb if you added. Don’t know.
But that is a minor. Overall enjoyed it and the happy holiday fun times video.
Hi David, good to hear from you again, I hope all’s good with you. Iraklis contributed the lyrics and I created the music. I’m hoping that Iraklis has a hand in the melody for the next effort and perhaps the vocals if he can get to any recording equipment. We’ll see. Your comment re “reflecting the covers…” is interesting. I have a sound in mind that I’d like to create, but my work always does seem to end up with the same sort of sound. Something for me to work on. Reverb is a perennial comment I get back and did tail it back somewhat, but possibly needs a bit more off it. Thanks for commenting. I believe you’re one of the mods here now, if so can you drop me a line to my email as I’ve got a question I need to run by someone.
Neil
Rogier, Many thanks for taking the time to listen. I’m fortunate to be a regular visitor to Greece and love the place. Everyone should go!
mfeeney0110, thank you for the kind words. Not sure there is an “MTV Top Forty” any more, LOL!
Eddie, I completely agree with your comment of how music is a greater connector even in random circumstances like I experienced. Thanks for commenting.
Have to say I like the sound you produced, Neil. I am not knowledgeable enough of that genre and perhaps era to call our specific influences but find it to be a melodic cool pop/rock vibe.
Reverb and fx in general can be so subtle. Just dialing it back 5% in a wet/dry blend and it may be just a finest tweak makes a huge difference. I find that even with levels, sometimes just 1 or 2dB makes a huge change.
I am a Mod now and you can send me a direct message as a starter.
Argh, Don’t do that, Neil!
These days posts slide down the list like a waterfall, and I no longer read all the stuff, so am sure I miss loads if I’m not tagged
How nice to hear from you again. Yes, I can see the attraction of Greece over Merseyside or even the Isle of Man.
I hope your ‘turbulence’ has not been of the too unpleasant variety and things have settled.
Thoughts on Panopticon: I wasn’t aware of the prison connection but do like the idea of ‘all-seeing’. I believe I have ‘panoptic qualities’…
You’ve produced a very pleasant jangly, indie feel pop song here.
Cool.
I’m presuming you did a Macca and played all the instruments yourself as well?
Vibes
My only two niggles are, like David, I struggled to make out the lyrics. That’s a waste in my book. If Iraklis went to the trouble of writing and translating them, and you finessed and sang them, what’s the point if we can’t understand them?
For your homework copy and paste them under the video (you can even use the ‘Hide’ function if you want)
I’d also consider asking Iraklis to record himself singing it and sending you an MP3 to do a Greek remix. You could simultaneously toy with reducing some of the reverb (if that’s not blasphemy )
Also, the video- I’m a visual guy and whilst the visuals were pleasant and light, I have no idea if or how they relate to the piece. Babes, Bali beaches and luxury resorts are the kind of prison many would hope for though…
In short: Good to hear from you again, and the whole package made me
Thanks for sharing! I loved the story about how you and Iraklis started collaborating together. The video was fun and the song had a nice groove to it.
I agree with the others that have commented about the lyrics being too low in the mix/hard to understand. It would be great if you could post the lyrics like Brian suggested so that we can see and appreciate Iraklis’ work I love reading other’s lyrics as it helps me give me a fuller understanding of the song.
Not sure how to tag you Brian, my assumption was that you’re kind of omniscient on this Board (or perhaps panoptic?)… I did indeed “do a Macca” and played everything on account of the fact that I’ve got no friends that can help and I don’t know Macca to enlist his help! Re lyrics, I tend to be more melody-centric and treat lyrics as colouring around the melody, whereas I know a lot of the bards here are lyrics first, so that probably accounts for the lower attention I pay to the clarity of lyrics. I’d like Iraklis to sing the next song, if for no other reason I haven’t heard his voice in song yet, so we’ll see what happens on that. Re the video, I suggest you take that up with Sara, but good luck getting a word in - I think she could even out-talk you Brian! Thanks for commenting and great to hear from you again.
I love reading other’s lyrics as it helps me give me a fuller understanding of the song.