WEBSITE WITH OR WITHOUT MUSIC?

[Nihat Iyriboz]

Dear RPF Friends, I'd appreciate your feed-back on the following issue.

I combined my photography with my guitar playing and singing in public spaces before the internet existed. Having done it for over thirty years gave me conviction to do the same for my website. I thought bringing my work in both B+W photography with romantic guitar together was an excellent combination.

I may have overlooked one essential element in this approach. The past shows had a social agreement. People knowingly chose to come and watch a folk or classical music recital with a slideshow.

Recently, I have been looking into some other ideas on blogging, and found out that combining music and photography website was an old, failed concept. To examine my perception, I've turned the guitar recordings off on my website for now. I may keep it that way.

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I'm thinking, maybe it is a good idea to have a video section or to offer the slideshow+guitar productions in a blog at the viewers' choice, rather than leaving no option to the viewer from the start of the website.

What is your opinion?

 

[Brian Moore]

Nihat,...usually I'm put off by music on websites. However, when I went to your website and heard the music along with the pictures I wasn't put off at all. I liked it. First because I like classical guitar and second because I knew you were the musician. I think that was the key thing: I knew it was you playing so I was predisposed to like. This is analogous I think to your observation that there was a social agreement in your past shows.

Perhaps if you were to offer the option of being able to listen to your guitar work--but the viewer/listener must know its you playing--then that would be a good compromise solution for someone who--like me in most cases--doesn't want to hear music on a website.

 

[Rob MacKillop]

You know my thoughts on this, Nihat. I'm not very good at doing two things at once. Whenever I hear music, everything else switches off. I love your guitar playing. And I love your photos. But the two together...Why a stunning shot of Yosemite is enhanced by a Romantic guitar pieces, such Lagrima, is beyond me - and also vice versa. But the problem, as such, is mine, not yours. It's your website, and you should present your art the way you want to. It won't stop me visiting and enjoying the site, and I can always hit the mute button, then return to your playing later.

Video is a good place to combine music and images, and I've dallied with it myself in the past, but I never felt happy about it.

I think Brian makes some good comments - especially letting people know it is you, and that the site is for a combined aesthetic.

You also have good text, background stories to the images. I like that a lot. But there is no way I can read and listen and watch at the same time!

But it's your site. And as far as I'm concerned, it's all good!

 

[Glenn Clabo]

Nihat...
IMHO...Music and websites should be an option. When I go to a site and music starts playing it really turns me off. If there is an option to play music I tend to try it. I sometimes just can't listen to music or watch a video. I read and go to sites in many places where it is simply not okay for voices or music. Like last night...I don't sleep well so I tend to read on my IPad in bed. I went to a site and a video automatically started and I forgot to mute the sound. When my lady woke...I really felt bad.
However...Like Rob said...it's your site. I love your music so I hope you at least give me the option.

 

[Paul Lange]

I think it is often a case of what is anticipated. People don't usually expect music to come out of their computer when view webpages unless they have specifically requested it, ie. pressed the button on the webpage that makes it happen.

Also if you watch a music video or some other music / video combination the visual element is usually in sync with the musical one. When you have music automatically played on a webpage it is usually out of sync and I personally find this a little disconcerting.

Maybe you could try video clips where it is clear that the button has to be pressed to activate it and that viewers know exactly what to expect. The clip could be a single image for the whole duration or a slideshow where the timings match the music?

 

[Lesley Jones]

I appreciate that a lot of people think this is a bad thing and to be honest, if I was subjected to the average choice of music, then I might find it offputting. However, I remember trying to listen to what you posted a while ago, but getting frustrated because of our rubbish connection. I really would have liked to have your music with your photographs.

Having said that - I have chosen to put music on my own site because it goes with how I feel about what I do. However, I regard my site like a personal display cabinet. I recently changed the colours and in time I may get fed up with the music. I think if the idea is to sell or promote interest, then perhaps someone should take note of general likes and dislikes. Otherwise I would suggest you do what makes you happy

 

[Nihat Iyriboz]

Thank you very much, Brian. Your open points are well taken.

I've made some changes that I feel content with. Besides the cosmetic changes, there are some structural changes that eliminated the music altogether from my photography website. It's focus is on photography only.

However, there are two links on menu and social bars. Menu has a blog selection where you can reach text+photo and slideshow+guitar articles. The bottom social network section has Google+ and YouTube selections where the videos with guitar will be displayed. This way, the choice of having an audio-visual experience is entirely up to my guests.

Appreciate it, Brian.

 

[Nihat Iyriboz]

What you say makes sense, Rob. After making the changes I described above to Brian, my wife and I sat back and watched the end result... We liked it. In addition, not having music all the time, is really music to my poor ears.

As far as slideshows with guitar recordings are concerned, I have not tried syncing the separate video and audio recordings. Perhaps, you could share some insight.

Thank you very much for your points. They mean a lot. Especially, you mentioned text. I think text with photography in a blog is OK. Perhaps, if I can do, some videos with my playing recorded, some with slideshows is a good start.

- - - Updated - - -

Glenn, Thank you very much for giving me some important tips that really expanded my sense of web reality. [doh] With the changes I made, the venues are all separate now. I kind of feel that it will be more productive for my photography as some elements of the combination were distracting. For now, the music is reachable from the bottom social bar where the YouTube arrow is located. In the future, as I add more variety of short music video productions, I may bring them to the menu bar where my guests can choose to watch and listen. Thank you for your kind response, Glenn.

 

[Nihat Iyriboz]

You have a very good point, Paul.

I thank you for your feed-back. It was concerning to me too. The music was not in sync. I have not solved the iMovie synch issues either. I got some work to do in that department. I don't know the full capabilities of iMovie.

I saw James Taylor teaching his guitar style on his website with self-attached GoPro type HD cameras, once edited looks dynamic and engaging. Multiple cameras, perhaps, some good post-production.

Thank you very much, Paul.

 

[Nihat Iyriboz]

Thank you for taking the time for your detailed feed-back, Lesley.

First of all, I should mention how much I enjoyed you natural writing for each image on your website. The music sounds beautiful, and it goes really well with your style.

You are right, in the start combining my photography and music was really my personal statement. Some of my friends, having listened to my guitar really liked it, included mom and dad. Yet, it brought some issues, such as needing to rotate the music and the slideshow, On the other hand, the intent of the site is commercial too. So, I made some changes I am exited about.

 

[Beth Carter]

unless it's a music website i would say no music. there's nothing worse than opening a bunch of tabs and then having to go through them to figure out which one is playing music. esp. if i happen to be at work where we record traffic stuff for our am radio station, or worse, talking to the yards or police over the 800mhz radio and have music from a website come on all of the sudden.

 

[Nihat Iyriboz]

Thanks for sharing your particular situation, Beth. It all makes sense.

Now, it's all without music, unless you choose to go and watch in YouTube or in Guitar menu.

 

[Hamish Gill]

Beth's example perfectly highlights why you shouldn't have music on a website play without some sort of interaction from the user.
It might be the best music in existance, but playing without someone pressing play is an intrusion.
We have this come up at work once in a while, we have never once allowed anyone music on their website play automatically ... The "worst" we have allowed is a menu that tweets like a bird, and that was under duress!

That said, web design will almost definitely become much more multimedia based as time goes on - html5 has the <audio> tag which makes such things a lot easier to achieve ... But have a look at this page about it Crank Up the Volume with HTML5 Music
the "tip" ... Says it all ...

 

[Nihat Iyriboz]

Dear Friends,

Thank you very much for all your invaluable opinions. I've updated my website viewing and the guitar recordings. Please see the following links. Cheers.

Website slideshow without my guitar music. You can also choose portfolio from the menu and review my work at your pace. Portfolio section has titles for the images.
http://www.nihatiyriboz.com

The following link is for my guitar recordings on my website in the guitar section. You'll need to click on the thumbnail to open the video, still needing to start for play. They are also available on YouTube and Vimeo.
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[Rob MacKillop]

Perfect. It's a BEAUTIFUL site, Nihat. You've put a lot of work into it, which I'm sure visitors will appreciate. I'll let my Facebook friends know about it.

 

[Nihat Iyriboz]

Thank you very much, Rob. I'm quite happy with the way it turned out. Thanks my friend.

Torija is recorded with a flamenco negra guitar tuned at 420. Strings are Savarez 520B.

 

[Rob MacKillop]

The low pitch really adds warmth. Beautiful playing. I closed my eyes to listen attentively, so as not to be distracted by those eye-catching mages

 

[Nihat Iyriboz]

Thank you very much, Rob. Your inspirational guitar playing and recommendation of Savarez 520 strings did make a real difference. Appreciate it.

 

[Pete Askew]

It's a nice site Nihat and I really don't think it needs music. I enjoy your slide shows with music but I prefer web sites without.

 

[Nihat Iyriboz]

Thank you very much, Pete.