The Secrets of the Trees

NEW UPDATED VERSION - extra verse and outro synth. Now 3 minutes 6 seconds long.

This is a bit of a departure from my usual style of song which I originally wrote last year for the Coursera Song Writing course (highly recommended to others by the way). The inspiration for the song came from Pat Pattison’s song “Hobo Wind” which he uses on the course to demonstrate various song writing techniques.

I had a chord sequence in mind and wanted to create a spooky/mysterious feel (seems appropriate with Halloween around the corner). I auditioned many styles in BIAB before I found the perfect one (CRYSTAL1.STY).

For the original recording I pretty much used the track as it was from BIAB and just overdubbed vocals. This was fine for the purposes of the course. However, I always thought that I would revisit the song one day and produce a more complete version.

For the new version, I started by exporting all of the MIDI from BIAB and into Sonar. I do this in BIAB using the Save Special --> Save Song as MIDI file and then select the clipboard as the destination. I have tried other ways but this seems the most reliable. In Sonar I use a template for my vocals and guitar so I then use Paste Special (start from new track) to get the MIDI from BIAB into Sonar.

Here’s a summary of what I then added/changed/updated (feel free to skip to the lyrics if you aren’t interested in these details):

Vocals – I re-recorded the vocals as the original ones were done with my old Audio interface and mic. I also recorded a short vocal of me saying “What is my secret?” for the “tree sound” near the end (see below). I recorded separate vocals for the “Climbing” part and applied the Eventide Quadravox (Jeff Schumacher - Echoes patch) to create the spacey woodland echoes.

Vocoder – I wanted to enhance the mysterious feel by using a vocoder for the vocals but didn’t like the sound using Vocalizer Pro. So I came across a free vocoder called mda TalkBox and immediately got the sound I wanted! The final vocal is a mix of normal vocal and vocoder sounds. I used Vocalizer Pro to make the “What is my secret” voice near the end sound “tree like”.

Alter Ego – I wanted to create a vocal sound for “woodland faires” in the middle section and used this free alternative to Vocaloid.

Drums – I tried using the MIDI from BIAB with various drum plugins (all of the ones that come with Sonar Platinum) but none of them sounded quite as good as the RealDrum so I kept that and just beefed it up a bit with Waves Maxxbass.

Tinkly synth – I found a nice patch in Hybrid (11 FM Bell - Bells) which has a pleasant airy feel to it. Only thing I changed was the release part of the ADSR envelope as it had a pitch mod making the pitch rise which caused pitch clashes.

Bass synth – I used Hybrid again, this time (03 Brassy - Poly Synths) patch.

Synth at end: Hybrid - Castanetichords patch

Strings and 12 string – I used SampleTank 3 patches for these.


****** Song Summary *************
Title: Secrets of the Trees
Key=B , Tempo 80
Style is CRYSTAL1.STY (Crystal1 - 4/4 New Age Style)
BassCustom Synth is Hi-Q 082 01 Synth, Analog, 80sPad SampleTank.tgs
PianoCustom Synth is Hi-Q 005 01 Piano, Electric, Classic SampleTank.tgs
GuitarCustom Synth is Hi-Q 026 03 Guitar, Acoustic, 12 String SampleTank.tgs
StringsCustom Synth is Hi-Q 050 01 Strings, Ensemble, Movie SampleTank.tgs
Style MIDI Instruments are : Saw Wave Lead (82), Electric Piano (5), 26/1 12-Strings Guitar, GM2 Bank 1, Slow Strings (50),
MIDI Drums :1 Standard Drum Kit (1)

RealDrums will be substituted :CountryEven16: a: Brushes b: Snare, HiHat
*******************

Secrets of the Trees © 2016
Lyrics:

So majestic and so strong,
King of all that you survey,
Leaves are blowing in the breeze,
Haunting with soliloquies,
Secrets of the Trees

Branches swaying overhead,
So ancient and so wise,
You must have witnessed many crimes,
Demons and altered paradigms,
Secrets of the Trees

Forest creatures gather round
Urging me to leave the ground
Ascending into the unknown
Reaching for the danger zone
Secrets of the Trees

Climbing
Climbing
Climbing

Now I stand above the world,
I understand and I observe,
I share unspoken memories,
I feel your strength, your energies,
Secrets of the Trees

Enjoy!
Rec

Last edited by Callie - PG Music; 10/25/16 03:53 AM.
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