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Posted By: jannesan A Fading Love Song - 01/08/15 01:37 PM
A Fading Love Song is the first new song I have written entirely during this new year. And naturally I have used new BIAB real tracks quite extensively :-) Those background guitars are simply amazing, especially when used together making intro and solo sound really beautiful. Unfortunately the string quartet real tracks could not play my chords nicely, so I had to use some midi strings. Sorry for the gloomy lyrics, it is this dark winter that has inspired me. Vocals are made again with Vocaloids, Avanna singing the lead, Yohioloid and Oliver backing (until a real singer volunteers ;-)

Instruments used:

Couple of string tracks from the style HRPORK44 played through GPO VSTi
Real Drums: NashPopBallad
Real Tracks:
Acoustic Bass Bowed HeldSimple #2489
Electric Bass #1759
Acoustic Guitar CelticAir Fingerpicking #1814
Acoustic Guitar Strumming #362
Acoustic Piano Rhythm NewAgeAlbertiPretty #2461
Cello #1856
Electric Guitar Background PopDreamyBrent #2448
Nylon Guitar Background CountryBrent #2200
Electric Guitar HeldChords Gritty #2535

Mixed in Adobe Audition with the usual effects.

Lyrics:

I've carved tally marks on the windowsill
I've been systematic, careful, but still
I have lost the count of the winters passed by
when God sleeps loneliness will petrify.

Earthly memories I will erase
I have used my period of grace
profiles didn't rhyme
strangers out of time
only shadows play along
a fading love song.

Devotion is a theme buried in the snow
right to be forgotten - lapses long ago
water of the Lethe I would like to drink
discords into oblivion to sink.

Earthly memories...

I would rather count stars above the shore
than failures to find bond to play the same score
accepted that the time of my visitation's gone
but hear me chant this elegy of a swan.

Earthly memories...

-----------

Janne
Posted By: Greg Johnson Re: A Fading Love Song - 01/08/15 02:00 PM
Very pretty song!! Some beautiful lyrics and really emotion-evoking music. You really need to find a singer. There's another fine writer on the forum who has the same issue. The vocaloid thing is interesting but a singer can do so much more. Beautiful song!! Take care. Greg
Posted By: FredM Re: A Fading Love Song - 01/08/15 05:29 PM
Janne,
Plenty of long shadows in Finland this time of the year I guess. These lyrics are beautiful, with a female Celtic voice this would be outstanding.
But on the other hand, it's your story, so why not take a microphone and sing, or even speak your lyric.
I surely will listen and enjoy, as I did now.
Love to hear more of you
G
Fred
Posted By: jannesan Re: A Fading Love Song - 01/09/15 11:37 AM
Thanks Greg for your kind words. I know that a real singer would make a difference, but to find one is a more difficult task than to make a vocaloid sing late at night :-)

Fred, thanks for commenting. Actually it is so dark in Finland now that there are even no shadows ;-) I agree with you - a female celtic voice would fit perfectly (anybody out there with a microphone!?) Originally I thought the song for a male voice, but I like Avanna's voice so I changed my mind and also modified the lyrics to fit her better.

Janne
Posted By: boehm Re: A Fading Love Song - 01/09/15 12:23 PM
Hi Janne,

beautiful song! Beautiful lyrics and very emotional music.
I keep my fingers crossed that you find some real singer for this tune. But I understand when you say "to find one is a more difficult task than to make a vocaloid sing late at night." How true.
Very enjoyable listen.

Guenter
Posted By: jannesan Re: A Fading Love Song - 01/10/15 05:28 AM
Thanks Guenter! Glad to hear that you liked my tune :-) Yes, I really hope to find a real singer. I hope people don't get offended when they hear too often these computer vocalists... Vocaloid is such a great tool for a songwriter - first you can find problems with vocal range or rhythm of the wording during the composing phase. Then you can demo the song for a singer with this preliminary vocal track. Or put the song online like I've done and get real feedback, like on this forum, and then fine-tune nuances based on the feedback before hiring a real singer. It would be quite costly to do that for each iteration of the song.

Janne
Posted By: PgFantastic Re: A Fading Love Song - 01/12/15 01:06 AM
Nice lyrics, and performance; thanks for sharing!
Posted By: Charlie Fogle Re: A Fading Love Song - 01/12/15 09:52 AM
This is really nice work on this tune. Good lyrics and good choices of instrumentation throughout. Enjoyed my listen.

Charlie
Posted By: Scott C Re: A Fading Love Song - 01/13/15 12:22 AM
Very nice tune. loved the lyrics
Posted By: receder Re: A Fading Love Song - 01/14/15 09:46 AM
Hi Janne,

What a beautiful song and lyrics with great imagery! You have captured the mood perfectly.

The guitars work really well and sound gorgeous. Are these all RT guitars? If so then wow!

I don't dislike the Vocaloid vocals but wonder what it would sound like with a "Judie Tzuke" style vocalist instead.

A good listen, thank you for sharing.

Rec
Posted By: jannesan Re: A Fading Love Song - 01/14/15 12:31 PM
Thanks PgFantastic, Charlie, Scott C & Rec for your kind words!

Rec, those are all RT guitars. Wow to PGMusic to make them sound naturally Real :-) Thanks for mentioning Judie, I have never heard of her before, so now I'm listening to her on Spotify, what a beautiful voice.

Janne
Posted By: MarioD Re: A Fading Love Song - 01/14/15 05:21 PM
This is a fantastic song!

I also think that you should find a singer. Why not do a collaboration with someone? Send them two takes, this one and one without the vocal. I'm sure that you would get a taker or two.
Posted By: Noel96 Re: A Fading Love Song - 01/16/15 10:35 AM
Hi Janne,

Wonderful songwriting! The composition and the arrangement combine to create a very emotive performance. This is very skilful work. I thoroughly enjoyed the journey.

Regards,
Noel
Posted By: Guitarhacker Re: A Fading Love Song - 01/16/15 10:46 AM
The song has a haunting melody and feel to it... kinda sad in a way...

I agree with former comments on the vocaloids. This is, however, one of the better renderings of the vocaloids I have heard. Still, finding a living singer would be so much better.
Posted By: Janice & Bud Re: A Fading Love Song - 01/16/15 10:49 AM
Originally Posted By: Noel96
Hi Janne,

Wonderful songwriting! The composition and the arrangement combine to create a very emotive performance. This is very skilful work. I thoroughly enjoyed the journey.

Regards,
Noel


A big PLUS ONE here!

J&B
Posted By: floyd jane Re: A Fading Love Song - 01/16/15 10:56 AM
Originally Posted By: Janice & Bud
Originally Posted By: Noel96
Hi Janne,

Wonderful songwriting! The composition and the arrangement combine to create a very emotive performance. This is very skilful work. I thoroughly enjoyed the journey.

Regards,
Noel


A big PLUS ONE here!

J&B


.... and another! Nice backing. A very nice melody...interesting all the way through..

floyd
Posted By: tommyad Re: A Fading Love Song - 01/16/15 12:57 PM
This is a very interesting chord progression. I like the haunting melody. I also vote for a live singer. Very nice. I enjoyed it. And very nice understated guitar. Tom
Posted By: RnAM Re: A Fading Love Song - 01/16/15 06:30 PM
The music's nice, the melody the vocaloid sings is beautiful, but for the fact that it is artificial.
Try to find a human singer, who can do it at daytime laugh (when you're asleep?)

Rob and Anne-Marie
Posted By: dani48 Re: A Fading Love Song - 01/16/15 07:48 PM
Hi, Janne !:))


This is a very nice tune
and I really liked the Alannas
singing in harmony on this fine
tune !:))

I´d say this was really an
outstanding write !!

Cheers
Dani
Posted By: Pat Marr Re: A Fading Love Song - 01/17/15 03:14 AM
Janne,

this is a very interesting and mournful song... there is an eerie quality to it that is enhanced by the vocaloids. I weigh in favorably on the choice to use them.

Another reason is that your melody is innovative and I'd guess that might make it difficult for a human to sing, but a vocaloid can do whatever you prescribe. VERY interesting melody! Without the surgical precision of the vocaloid's voice, I think a human might very easily sound out of tune singing certain parts of this song.

The instrumentation is very delicate and minimal, but also very beautiful and tasteful. Good selection and arrangement of real tracks.

I like the recurring motif of vocaloid harmony, and the interesting chord progression. Everything about this song seems quite original and fresh to me. That's quite an accomplishment!

Posted By: jannesan Re: A Fading Love Song - 01/20/15 02:56 PM
Thanks Mario (I like your signature, so true :-)), Noel, Dani, Rob and Anne-Marie, Herb, J&B, floyd, Tom. It's great to get such a positive feedback :-) So many votes for a real vocalist that I'll probably hire one, I've already contacted one candidate.

Especially thanks Pat for your positive and detailed comments :-) Interesting comment about originality, I've had a feeling that I have copied someone, but I do hope that only myself ;-) It is true that you can make vocaloid sing things that real vocalist could not do, but on the other hand, it is much harder to make vocaloid sing like a human would! I hope I'll learn how to make a vocaloid sing gently and softly in the upper register...

Janne
Posted By: dcuny Re: A Fading Love Song - 01/20/15 05:09 PM
Good song all around. Nice arrangement, very evocative.

Yep, that's a tough melody to sing, which I think is why intelligibility is low in places. Vocaloids don't know where to put emphasis on words, so "tally" gets emphasized on the second syllable, and "window" comes out as "wind of".

Using Vocaloids can be maddening... But they're better than nothing. Hopefully a vocalist will step up for this song!
Posted By: jannesan Re: A Fading Love Song - 01/21/15 06:51 PM
Thanks David! I appreciate your words, you have done excellent work with vocaloids, Love's Forgotten Song is a good example.

English is not my native language, so I usually accept whatever Vocaloid sings, I don't have an ear for noticing small problems. In the "Window" case I have used low velocity value for "sill" to make "s" longer, thus making "dow" too short. But now I noticed that moving sill ahead and removing portamento setting for this part make things better. Lots of tweaking and trying different tricks :-)

Janne
Posted By: jannesan Re: A Fading Love Song - 03/20/15 12:05 PM
I finally managed to make a version with a real vocalist. Here is a snowy video for the song on YouTube. I tried to get a singer with more ethereal sound, but it didn't happen. This singer is bit different one, but I really like the color of her voice, suits perfectly for the song, almost makes me cry smile

Janne
Posted By: Guitarhacker Re: A Fading Love Song - 03/20/15 01:01 PM
This new version with a live singer is very nice....much better than the vocaloids could ever do.

You mentioned that you'd like to have a more ethereal sound. This, I think could be accomplished from the mix you have.

To me the instruments were very dominate and the bass especially seemed to be heavy. Lighten it up. Use a bit of a low cut or high passing of the entire mix to lighten it up all around. Back the level down a bit too. There's a lot of mids and low mids to low frequency musical energy that can be reduced a few dbs to make this more airy and ethereal sounding.

Place a low level dark plate reverb on the overall mix. You don't want it up too much, just enough to blend things a bit better.... And place a bright plate reverb on the vocalist. You just want enough reverb to add a sense of greater space to the mix and ESPECIALLY to the vocals. Panning a bit further from center on the backing rhythm instruments will also impart a sense of width and space.

Depending on the sound you are going for with the doubled vocals... it sounds to me like cloned tracks and not true doubling.... they're "too prefect" to be separate takes. You can play with reverbs and panning as well as delays on the doubled tracks....just use a nice bright plate on the lead and center it up.... then, experiment with levels, panning, reverbs on the the doubled tracks.

Don't go crazy on the reverbs to the point where it's obnoxiously reverbed. And remember, reverbs in series add.

I listened on 2 systems to confirm my opinions on this.
Posted By: Pat Marr Re: A Fading Love Song - 03/20/15 04:37 PM
Janne,

I really like this song! The vocalist did an amazing job of singing that tricky melody! Where on earth did you find her?

I already made most of my comments the first time you posted with the vocaloid singer... but the video is also very nice.

Boehm (Guenter) has done a lot of work with vocaloids and also remixes.. I find myself wondering how he would build a remixed background for this amazing vocal.

NICE job Janne! Thanks for resurrecting this song with a human singer! It really takes the song to a new level in my opinion!
Posted By: RichMac Re: A Fading Love Song - 03/20/15 10:10 PM
Magnificent! Cold and moody and the video is beautiful.
The lyrics, vocals and production top notch in my opinion.
Classy song. Cheers.
Posted By: jannesan Re: A Fading Love Song - 03/21/15 04:57 AM
Herb, actually I meant that originally I wanted a singer with ethereal voice, not the song to be ethereal. I asked one such singer, but she never replied so I chose more "mundane" candidate. But thanks for the interesting ideas. I'll certainly take them into account if I ever have a chance to remake the song with a heavenly singer smile

Pat, thanks for commenting again smile I agree with you, she takes the song to a new level, like turning it into her own song. I rented the singer from a company called Supreme Tracks. I'll certainly rent her again if I ever compose another song good enough smile

RichMac, thanks for your kind words!

Janne
Posted By: Charlie Fogle Re: A Fading Love Song - 03/21/15 09:15 AM
For this song, the singer was worth the investment. She added the nuance and color that at this point in time, vocaloid vocals can't do.

This is a superb write and performance.


Charlie
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