Gergely Kalapis Music

  Gergely Kalapis · Unplugged Concept "With a very few exceptions, I have always written my songs on an acoustic guitar, and in my teenage years I was more often than not accompanied by one too wherever I went. Being a fan of my favourite artists' unplugged albums, I was also very curious to hear how my songs would sound in acoustic orchestration. In terms of sound and atmosphere, I was aiming to achieve something similar to Jamie Winchester & Hrutka Robert's "Wood and Strings" album, while keeping the orchestration relatively simple with two acoustic guitars, bass, drums, piano, and strings or brass, where appropriate." The album was recorded between October 2023 and early June 2024, with mixing and mastering done in June and July. There were a total of 26 songs recorded for purposes of the release, however only 16 made it to the final record, with many of the excluded songs only featuring demo vocals. Of the final tracklist, there are 3 previously unr...

Ok, so the summer EP finally started to come together nicely - I’d lie if i said it was easy though! First of all, you should never rush this - I mean making an album. But I really wanted to get it out in time for summer - and the songs that have been forming for this album felt really special and perfectly fit in the concept. But they also felt like something that needs crafting to let those little exciting parts to manifest. They are not perfect by any means, if anything, their simplicity and crudity is what I like about them. Something I have been trying to replicate since “Lockdown EP” - so simple, a little rough, but clear and to the point. I suppose overthinking and overdoing were to be avoided here. Hence this time round when recording, I only did some basic mixing on the instrumentals and left them sitting there until vocals were ready to go - so essentially not overpolishing them before the all tracks were in their place. Might sound straightforward but this is not how I used ...

Summer.. you’ve got to love summer. Especially in a country where winters (and every other season) are cold, wet and windy, there is something truly magical about those first days of spring (you know what I am talking about) and the next few months that follow.   In fact, for some reason different seasons feature quite commonly in my lyrics, just think of The Tale of Mary , Heart’s on Fire or Queen in the Head (those who know it), to name a few. But summer songs are something special. They take you back to long days of seemingly eternal sunshine when you almost forgot what it feels like not wearing your winter coat when going down to the corner shop. You’ve got to love summer songs. There is a time and place though, right? Marketing (and common sense) suggests you should release an album with summer songs by the beginning of summer, but that also means you have to write them in winter coat, which invariably suggests all you can write is about the longing and not actual experienc...

Gergely Kalapis  ·  One Step Closer to Heaven Concept The concept of the LP revolves around Heaven - not just the Heaven people commonly refer to, but also Heaven on Earth , a place of content and happiness, one is working towards to day by day, and hopes to experience once in their lifetime. A place where everything has fallen into its place and where tranquillity and harmony defines existence. Although not every song has direct references to this Heaven or the other, in some way, each relates to the journey one has to take in their quest for this ideal place, as well as some of the joys, sorrows, challenges and realisations along the way. Similarly to my previous LPs, I had a number of ideas for new songs, but I also wanted to include some of my older works that  others really liked. I also aimed to be more picky as to what makes it onto the album, so there are a number of songs I dropped from the tracklist in the end. Many of the songs that made it onto the album were...

You might think, "yeah I've got it now" , everything is slowly falling into its place, all you have got to do is just a few tweaks here and there and the song is ready to go live. The more you produce music, the more you realise, mixing is just as important, if not more important, than recording itself. Well, it certainly is important, however it is also a very different process to writing and recording. Some time ago I read that one of Nirvana's albums was recorded in 3 days and mixed in three MONTHS, and this example in itself highlights the possibly most important aspect of the process: time. You might have already listened the mix a hundred times, but if you did it in a space of a few days or a week, you likely missed a number of things that could, and possibly should be improved or fixed - or should it? Before I elaborate on the time element further, I just wanted to stop and give some appreciation to mistakes. Yes, you read that right, mistakes. Of course, I am ...

What a find! Another one from Nextdoor. Every now and then I still browse the “neighbourhood market” just to see what’s on there, even though I now have virtually no space for my instruments lol, plus I have a big project on my mind which I might share some other time. So there I am, thinking, well, you never know what you might find. And indeed! The ad for this guitar with the below picture came up about 2 months ago, it was advertised for £50, which is not a bad deal, but I didn’t really look to buy another acoustic, my old Ibanez served the purpose very well since I got it around 2004. I even remember right before I bought it, I did try a Fender acoustic as I was looking for a standard  acoustic sound, something you can hear on Bryan Adams’ “Room Service” album, for example. Nothing special, just a good all-rounder, almost without a personality. I remember putting the two side by side, and the Fender, for some reason didn’t feel as comfortable, nor was its sound convincing, so d...

So I have explored the first steps leading up to a first demo of a song being recorded, ready to be filled with actual "meaning". And then "wooords... don't come eeeasyyyyy to meee", well in some cases, anyway. I have had times when I saw or encountered something that was "meant to" become lyrics for a song; if I manage to capture them, they become what I call "honest" lyrics, that just come flooding out of you almost word after word, sometimes even rhyming, but sadly, this is only the minority of cases. I guess certain events in your life or strong impulses you occur are commonly what trigger this inspiration on the back of your emotional response to them, but again, this is not exact science. Some events in your life may be so overpowering, good or bad, that you are just too busy processing them and and your emotional mechanisms dictate discipline limiting your creative self. And that is ultimately what you need; unleashing your creativity,...