Forever July

Please catch me, 'cause I'm falling
Look at me now, I'm lost just like a child

Lost in a fairy tale, I'm Alice in Wonderland
Life seems just a dream when I'm holding your hand

In the golden afternoon, leisurely reclined,
Down lazy rivers we glide

Sparrows spin and pirouette in the endless sky
Stay with me now the sun is so high
In my Forever July


Look at me now, 'cause I'm landing
Standing with you
Held in the warmth of your smile

I was a ship that sailed
Tossed about on stormy seas
But now I'm safe in your harbor
Safe with your arms around me

Soon the golden sun will set
And the hours will chime
Leaving our shadows behind

Autumn frost will come some day
Summer days will die
Stay with me now
The sun is still high
Be my Forever July


Instruments
~700:Bass, Electric, PopHalfNotesPush Ev 085
~365:Guitar, Acoustic, Fingerpicking Ev 085
~1118:Guitar, 12-String Acoustic, Strumming Ev 085
~363:Pedal Steel, Background Ev 085
3669:Piano, Acoustic, Rhythm NewAgeArp16 Ev16 090
1856:Cello, Background PopCountry Ev 085
1680:Guitar, 12-String Acoustic, Fingerpicking Ev 085
~365:Guitar, Acoustic, Fingerpicking Ev 085
~2503:Piano, Acoustic, HeldChords 085
3765:Vibes, Rhythm PopBallad Ev 085
RealTracks in song: 2195:Piano, ElectricVintage, Rhythm CoolJazzPopHeld Ev 085
RealTracks in song: 912:Piano, Electric, Rhythm SmoothPoppy Ev16 090
RealDrums in style:NashvilleEven8^5-a:Snare, HiHat , b:Snare, Ride

Mix Chain
Master Buss: Ozone Imager 2, HoRNet Master Tool, Lurssen Mastering Console
Vocal Buss: GW VoiceCentric, TR5 Sunset Sound Reverb, Raum
Vocal: HoRNet AutoGainProProMkII, Nectar 3 Elements
Drums: TrackSpacer, CLA Drums, EZMix (Mellow Drum Room), ReaEQ (low cut), Raum
MIDI Drums: VD PHAT, TrackSpacer, Raum, Ozone Imager
Piano: TrackSpacer, EZMix (Piano), Raum
Pedal Steel: EZ Mix (Chorus Guitar)
Cello: TrackSpacer, GW VoiceCentric
12 String Guitars: EZMix (Acoustic Guitar), Raum
Electric Pianos: TrackSpacer

Edits: Modified lyrics, Adjusted vocal track volume, balanced guitars, adjusted drum settings
More Edits: Added "Please", fixed cello at end, added cut on drum so it plays nice with the bass

Short Details
Any comments are appreciated!

The Sordid Details
Another super-slow song lacking a strong chorus. Do not listen to while operating heavy machinery!

This started out with I found a demo track in BiaB that I liked - Guitar, 12-String Acoustic, Strumming Ev 085 demo - and then I started messing with it until I had a chord progression I liked. I loaded that as a backing track into SynthesizerV and started working on a melody.

Once the melody was in place, it was time to try to start fitting in lyrics. As usual, I didn't have an idea for the song, and the melody lacked a strong chorus. But that's never stopped me before.

I'd started out using "Eleanor Forte" as the voicebank for the song, but Dreamtonics released a new "Natalie" voicebank. Someone mentioned she had a bit of a Karen Carpenter vibe, so I brought the melody down an octave and it seemed to fit the voice well, so that's what I ended up going with.

After putting down a couple of lines, I realized that I was cribbing from songs I'd written before. I've visited this topic before, but then, so did Lewis Carroll, who I've liberally borrowed from.

I also managed to make the usual mistake of writing all my ideas into the first verse, and still didn't have anything to put into the chorus! The next couple of days were spent trying to dig myself out of that mess by adding a second verse and moving things around so the second verse wasn't just a restatement of the first.

Song structure? Rhyme scheme? I certainly wasn't consistent about applying it here. wink

There are a lot of tracks, but they obviously don't play all at once. For example, there are a pair of acoustic guitars that play on verse 1 and the end of verse 2. They are swapped out for a pair of 12 string guitars at the start of verse 2. I doubt anyone - including myself - can actually hear the difference, though.

I bought a bunch of plugins from HoRNet, so I decided to try them out in the song. I also really like the Raum reverb, so I plastered it all over the mix.

To help keep all the tracks in place, I'm using TrackSpacer, which is an auto-ducker. That means I can automatically turn down one track (such as the cello) when another (such as the vocal. What makes TrackSpacer special is that it only cuts where the frequencies overlap, as well as allowing a high/low pass range of frequencies that don't get ducked. That helps prevent the noticeable "pumping" when the volume drop is too obvious.

At this point, the song is pretty much complete. But I'll still probably tweak the mix and lyrics, so feel free to make suggestions!

-- David Cuny
My virtual singer development blog

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