Romeo and Juliet, a cover by Dr. Biju Raju, featuring Deepak Dev

Romeo and Juliet, a cover by Dr. Biju Raju, featuring Deepak Dev
"All I do is kiss you through the bars of a rhyme" - Mark Knopfler, Romeo and Juliet, 1980.
Open G tuning [DGDGBD] with a Capo on the 3rd fret giving an open B flat and on a Dobra Resonator Guitar; Knopfler’s signature Boogie-woogie mix of classical picking; and of course, the unique voice of Mark Knopfler - enough to keep even the best in the field intimidated. So it was no surprise that a part-time musician like me always looked up to this song, Romeo and Juliet, with awe. I knew that I could never do justice to the great song.
When Deepak Dev, music director, composer, an amazing musician, and one of the best in the field, agreed to record this song with me, I was on cloud no 9. Deepak has a Resonator guitar, or the DOBRO, which has a resonator cone in place of the guitar's sound hole - just holding the Dobro gave me goosebumps!
We were joined by a handsome young lad; Marc George, a budding engineer with a passion for music and tech. His energy rubbed off on us and he kept us on our toes.
Deepak recorded my vocals and guitar tracks at Dev’s Wonderland studio - a state-of-the-art recording studio in Kochi. And when he said he would play the Keys and Piano for this classic, I was thrilled to bits. The guitars were recorded on a Neumann. The vocals were recorded on the most powerful mic modeling system - the Sphere DLX from Universal Audio. The audio was perfectly mixed, and mastered and the genius of Deepak Dev is written all over this mix with all the sounds perfectly glued with their own soundscape - as though sounds are embraced by Deepak’s warm hug in the mix!
Once the audio track was mastered, it was time for the video.
Deepak graciously offered his videography skills for this track, and I was amazed at his creative options and how he captured the shots. The frames of the Dobro cutting through with its brilliant shine and the way he captured the energy of the final verse were fantastic. Add to that the energy of Young Marc, whose innate sense of videography made for some amazing captures on the DJI.
We also had Arjun Ramdas, my nephew, and another budding engineer to help out with the video recording.
This was my first experience in such a well-equipped studio and I have no words to thank my dear friend, Deepak, for our amazing time. His level of skillset in audio production and his creative prowess in videography are superb. And he was humble enough to spend his precious time with a nobody and amateur like me. Hats off to you, Deepak, and thank you, from the bottom of my heart!
Hope you enjoy this work.
The song was written by Mark Knopfler and released in 1980 in the Dire Straits album, Making Movies.

The Gear Used:

Dobro Resonator Guitar (https://www.epiphone.com/en-US/p/Acou...
The resonator is one of Deepak’s favorite and this one is exactly the same model that Mark Knopfler used for the original recording of Romeo and Juliet

Vocals recorded with UA Sphere DLX {the world’s most powerful mic modeling system that combines a dual-capsule condenser with the Sphere Mic Collection plug-in to give the sound of classic mics} https://www.uaudio.com/microphones/ua...

Martin Acoustic Guitar https://www.martinguitar.com/guitars/...
Another fine guitar from Deepak’s collection - this has such an amazing tone!

Fender Roland ready Stratocaster (https://www.roland.com/us/products/gc-1/)

Yamaha 4 string Bass TRBS 174 (Thanks, Bassman Paul [13 AD / Masala Coffee] for choosing this lovely Bass Guitar for me) https://www.guitarfella.com/yamaha-tr...

Komplete Kontrol S49 MIDI keyboard and Komplete 10.0
https://www.native-instruments.com/en...
Drums programmed by Dr. Biju Raju with Studio Drummer for drums from Native Instruments

DAW1 (dRbR) - Cubase with UR44 Audio interface https://www.steinberg.net/en/products...
DAW2 (Deepak) - Logic Pro https://www.apple.com/in/logic-pro/

Piano and Keys by Deepak Dev

Mix and Mastering by Deepak Dev

Captured simultaneously GoPro and DJI Pocket 3 with additional videos shot on Deepak’s iPhone

Videography by Marc George and Deepak Dev

Video editor: Adobe Premiere Pro https://www.adobe.com/in/products/pre...

Video edited by Dr. Biju Raju

#markknopfler #deepakdev #direstraits #music