As usual, way too many details below! laugh

Time and Tide

One thing that she hated was a long goodbye
Why she had to leave, I'll never know
Leaving me in endless grief that wouldn't die
A ghost of her that wouldn't let me go

I just can't believe how alone I am
I can't get past this broken heart
Wishing that I knew how I could start again
The only thing I do is fall apart

CHORUS:
They say time heals old wounds
Time brings the mountains down
With just one single drop every day
Even with my heart in a tomb
Buried beneath the ground
Until time wears the heartache away

Slowly, gently, the water softly falls
Wearing the mighty rock away

I know I keep on saying that I'm moving on
But it seems I'm stuck in yesterday
Like a broken record sings the same old tune
It's time to put that sad old tune away

CHORUS:
They say time heals old wounds
Time brings the mountains down
With just one single drop every day
Even with my heart in a tomb
Buried beneath the ground
Until time wears the heartache away

Slowly, gently, the water softly falls
Time and tide will bring a brand new day


Style is _ASPEN.STY (Aspen Songwriter Pop)

Bass, Electric, PopHalfNotesPush Ev 120 (#683)
Piano, Acoustic, Rhythm PopPowerPushArp Ev 120 (#1533)
Guitar, Acoustic, Rhythm FolkPulse8thsFintan Ev 110 (#2935)
Guitar, Acoustic, Strumming AcRockBright Ev 120 (#691)
Drums, NashvilleEven8^2-a:Sidestick, HiHat , b:Snare, HiHat
Cello, Background PopCountry Ev 085 (#1856)
Piano, Electric, HeldChords 120 (#2495)


As I've mentioned before, I figured that I need to step up to the plate this year and start writing songs, so I can justify all these digital music toys I buy. This time around, I decided that I should go 100% BiaB. So I went searching through the various styles until I found the _ASPEN style. Sweet! I put in a different set of chords, and worked out a nice melody to go with it. I worked that out in BiaB, this time around trying to stick with lots of stepwise motion to make it easier to sing.

All that was left was to add lyrics.

And then... no progress. In addition to writer's block, the chorus I'd set up was way too freaking long. But I stuck with my self-imposed rules and kept at it, failing again and again. There's a quote in Johann Joseph Fux's Gradus ad Parnassum:

drops wear the stone
not by strength but by constant falling

Well, I was constantly falling, that's for sure!

Eventually, that idea became the chorus (although stated less well), and the verses a justification for the chorus. The genesis for the song was someone's comment following several celebrity suicides that "It gets better." I'd used the theme of a singer being left by someone before, but figured that it was an acceptable proxy. I believe I also used the phrase time and tide in a recent song, so claims that I'm running in creative circles are probably well founded. smirk

I had intended to use more colorful, descriptive language in my songs. That didn't happen - even the non-color grey didn't survive through the rewrites. Maybe next time, I'll write about sparkling rainbows over green pastures of shamrocks.

Once I'd finally worked out the lyrics, it was time to sing it - something I always dread. Learning from past mistakes, I actually tried out a number of keys before settling on F - pleasantly high, but no out of reach notes. Of course, that was before I added the high harmony part, something I wish I had considered.

I put together a scratch vocal track, which was really pitchy and filled with vocal scoops - a vocal habit I've never been able to rid myself of. The idea was to use it as a guide and replace it. But after spending so much time fixing the track with Waves Tune, I decided to use it as the main track - not really the best decision, because vocal are the key instrument, right? So there really isn't any good excuse for me not going back and singing it properly, mea culpa. laugh

For the harmony part, I used BiaB to generate the parts using TC Helicon, because the zplane Intelligent Mode harmony function wouldn't track my vocal. I ended up singing along with those to make it less robotic, and the final background vocals is a mix of both. Pitch correction for those tracks used Reaper's ReaTune. It's a bit ironic that I was up until the wee hours of the night singing background vocals, but loath to re-do the primary track. crazy

The song needed some instrumental sweetening, so after trying out lots of options, I ended up using the cello, and a touch of electric piano to fill things out.

That cello is really lovely - Matt Nelson did a wonderful job.

Once I got a working mix, I got my oldest son to work on the final mix. He did lots of EQ moves with Neutron Elements, along with free Spitfish plugins and EZ Mix. We used Ozone Elements for the "mastering", along with a Reaper stereo widener.

As usual... I didn't use reference tracks while mixing, and I'm sure it shows. I'm suitably ashamed. But next time..! Extra effort was made to get the mix to be more cohesive, and the vocal less shrill.

As floyd jane says - have at it! I hope you enjoy it. The fact that you folk crank out such awesome songs is an inspiration for me to keep me working on these songs.

All comments are welcome.

-- David Cuny
My virtual singer development blog

Vocal control, you say. Never heard of it. Is that some kind of ProTools thing?