PG Music Home Forums General Discussion User Showcase Let's Take A Walk Together

Let's Take A Walk Together
Let's take a walk together, we need to get away
You can tell me about the whatever
We can talk about your day

High above the rooftops the bright moon lights the way
The work will wait 'till later, but now put it away

   The stars look down and wonder where the lovers have all gone
   Come follow me and we can be the ones that they shine upon

Let's take a walk together just like the old folks do
We can take our time whenever
Hand in hand, just me and you

We're working for our future, but we never get away
Our work will be there later
Right now it's time to play

   The stars look down and wonder where the lovers have all gone
   Come follow me and we can be the ones that they shine upon

   Let me walk with you forever
   That's all it takes to make my dreams come true

   The stars look down and wonder where the lovers have all gone
   Come follow me and we can be the ones that they shine upon

   Let me walk with you forever
   That's all it takes for you to make my dreams come true

The Instruments
RealDrums NashvilleSwing8^2-a:Sidestick, HiHat , b:Snare, Ride
~528:Guitar, Acoustic, Fingerpicking Hank Sw 120
~1679:Guitar, Acoustic, Fingerpicking CountryBrent Sw 120
~1679:Guitar, Acoustic, Fingerpicking CountryBrent Sw 120
4244:Bass, Electric, PopSwingBouncyAB Sw 120
~610:Mandolin, Rhythm Chop Sw 120
2121:Mandolin, Soloist CountryShuffleAndy Sw 120
2641:Piano, Acoustic, Rhythm FolkySwing Sw 110
2641:Piano (Holds), Acoustic, Rhythm FolkySwing Sw 110
~1112:Fiddle, Background CountrySwing Sw 110

The Effects Chain
Master Buss: Ozone Elements Folk()
Lead Vocal: SynthesizerV (Oscar), Vocflex (me), VoiceCentric (Lead Vocal Dry)
Backing Vocal 1: SynthesizerV (Kevin), VoiceCentric (Backing Vocal)
Backing Vocal 2: SynthesizerV (Kevin), Izotope Vocal Doubler, VoiceCentric (Backing Vocal)
Vocal FX: Fame Studio Chamber
Bass: Fame Studio (Bass)
Drums: CLA Drums (Room), Fame Studio (Drums)
Guitars: Fame Studio (Guitar)
Mandolins: Fame Studio (Guitar)
Piano: TrackSpacer, Fame Studio (Piano)
Fiddle: Fame Studio (Chamber)

TL;DR
As usual, any comments and suggestions are welcome. I'll often tinker with a song once it's posted, because BiaB and SynthesizerV make it relatively easy to do that.

The Gory Details
I haven't posted much for several months. It's not for lack of trying, it's just that none of my songs seemed to get past the initial stage. And then I finally got a new computer, and it took quite a bit of work to transfer all my libraries I had over to the new machine.

But really, Netflix is probably the worst timesink. "I'll work on a song just after I watch this..." and then midnight has come and gone.

I started by writing down some lyrics, just to make sure I wouldn't get stuck at the lyrics section like I did with the last few songs. The goal was to keep it simple - two verses, a bridge, a modulation, an instrumental, and then a recap of the first verse. I stuck mostly to that plan.

I found the style _BWSS110, which was more or less what I wanted. I put the chords in, created a backing track, and exported it to SynthesizerV.

I put together a melody in SynthesizerV. Using the guitar parts as a guide, I worked out something that fit. Since then, the backing has gone through numerous regenerations, so the connection isn't obvious. It's too bad, because it was pretty cool. That's what I get for not freezing tracks.

I then started fitting lyrics to the notes until I had something I though sounded like a first verse. I tried to get some alliteration and inner rhymes working were possible. My daughter complained that she could guess all the rhymes, but that's style appropriate.

A bit more work, and I got the second verse done. Hurrah! I went back into BiaB and put the song into the final form and added a transposition, and exported the backing track. Back in SynthesizerV, I put in the ending.

I then worked out the harmony parts. It's nothing terribly interesting - when it could, the harmony note mostly stays on a single pitch against a moving melody. There are few parts where the harmony does something interesting like falling suspensions, but I think they call too much attention, so it was simplified in a number of places.

I'd purchased Vocoflex some time ago, but wasn't able to use in real-time because my computer wasn't powerful enough. I used a vocal part I'd recorded of myself as input. I don't think the vocal sounds much like me at all - more like Glenn Tilbrook, but I'll take that as a win any day.

It was then time to build a bit more of an arrangement. The first thing was to replace the bowed bass. I wanted something more bouncy and simple, and was too lazy to play it myself. I added a piano and mandolin to give some change to the instruments. There was a nice bounce to the track, and the "chop" mandolin helps emphasize on the chorus. I then went back and added automation where I wanted instruments to play, and where they should sit out. For example, the drums are turned down on the bridge, and the guitars are turned up to compensate.

I tried adding a MIDI instrumental, but it was late at night, and was having latency issues with the MIDI keyboard. Even after fixing that, what I played was pretty uninspiring. I generated a bunch of fiddle parts, but the bits that were generated weren't good, either. So I sliced-and-diced up the part until I had surprisingly good solo.

I then went back and adjusted the lyrics a bit, and worked on adding a bit more "snap" and space to the singing.

The whole process took about three or four days, and there was some back and forth in the process. For example, I'd be in the middle of the mix, and decide that I didn't like how something was phrased, and I'd go back and make changes to the lyrics. I put together the initial mix once the first verse got done, just to see what it would sound like. But it was mostly linear.

Edit: Edited the /aa/ in "rooftops", because it was a bit wonky. Made the cut at 2:37 B.D mentioned a bit less dramatic.

As floyd jane would say: Have at it!

I think your efforts have paid off, it's a beautiful song and really well arranged and produced.
I like it.
There's a cut at 2:37 that's a bit harsh, but other than that I wouldn't mess with it too much.
It's fine the way it is.

David, cool tune, nice instrumentation and fun modulation. Think predictable rhymes are more than fine in this classic song style. I don't hear much that I would change but I'm never done with a song it seems, so I get it. If I ever find an app that makes me sound like Glenn Tilbrook I'm springing for it: Finest voice in rock IMHO. THANKS for posting the details. I always read them twice.

The main vocal, along with the pace & jaunty tempo gives it a "song for kids" feel...nothing bad about that.
All very good stuff.
I didn't know what & where to look/listen to hear you as GT...the lead vocal dominated my attention.
Nice thing to be transmogrified into.
Lovely song & package.

Daviod,

You always amaze me with your musical creations - and the backstories are so interesting. That's quite a process. This was worth the wait. I was delighted to see a new one from you. May I say it is charming and makes me smile as I listen? I only say/ask that because it's true. Still smiling, even though I listened twenty minutes ago!

Really, really nice!

Alan

David,

That is an excellent song. Outstanding arrangement and love the detail in your production notes.

Great mix. The Synth V singers sound awesome here.

Love it!

Bob

I like it You should unsubscribe to Netflix, if that's what it would take to get you to write some more

What I think I like most about all of your songs is that they all invariably are so melodious. You know how to write a tune, and THAT's so blooming difficult, I find. Well done.

Great job.

David.

this is very inventive.
its wonderfull what your doing with the tools your useing.

by any chance could you state how many hours of work this song took.
i for one (and i suspect others might be ) am interested,

in this song i particularly like the way the paceing changes.
amazeing your work on the vocs.
great lyrics..

have a merry one.

om

Hi, B.D.

Thanks!

Thanks for the suggestion.

I extended a couple of the instruments (bass, guitar) so they would sustain across the hold. Anything else would require rendering out some more instruments, so I'll leave it at that.

Hi, Ron.

Thanks!

Yeah, there are only so many words you can use for rhyming before they get too "out there" and call attention to themselves.

You've got full agreement from me there!

Heh. Glad you enjoyed them.

We're all songwriters here, and I really enjoy finding out how other people approach the process.

Thanks for stopping to listen and comment!

Hi, Ray.

Nice work picking up on that. I was thinking the same thing as I wrote it. I reminded my inner critic that kid song or not, "Morningtown Ride" was still a great song so it's a fine category to be placed it.

Well, it certainly wasn't in my guitar playing, I promise you that! I pulled up the video for "Pulling Mussels From A Shell", and man, that's some terrific lead playing.

Thanks again, and for the nice comments.

Hi, Alan.

Perhaps you've heard the story of the man who puts his pants on in the morning by holding them up and then jumping into them? It takes him forever, but it's the only way he knows how to do it.

That's a lovely thing to say - thanks!

Hi, Bob.

Wow, thanks!

I appreciate you stopping to listen and comment.

Hi, James.

I'm sure I'd just substitute it with another time sink, like reading a book or something.

Thanks!

Although I think the melody in this song is leaning a bit into "high counter-melody" territory. And I'm still working on is making a chorus feel like a chorus instead of another verse.

Thanks for the kind words!

Hi, om

Glad you liked it!

I've added it to the notes. This took about four days total, which is super fast for me.

Usually I'll go looking through BiaB styles for a base track that matches the sort of feel that I want. I'll then try putting in some sort of melody, which doesn't usually take that long.

On the other hand, lyrics can take days, because they're a slog. But I'd been intending to write this song for a while, so already had some ideas for the verses. Fortunately, I was able to drop words onto the notes.

When I was thinking about it the other week, I'd been intending to write a three verse song. But I decided to go with a two verse song instead, so I wouldn't get stuck in that dreaded tarpit of the third verse.

Thanks! I decided to make the chorus more distinct by not having it start on the main beat, which worked well. It helped that the style has a strong beat, and adding the mandolin "chop" chords emphasizes that. I was tempted to add a fiddle doing something similar, but figured that would just overstuff the arrangement.

I suspect it's more the software than me. Mostly, I just put the notes down and then adjusted the timing.

I'm glad you liked them. This is one of those "less is more" songs that doesn't delve much into details, and I suspect that I should probably lean more in that direction in my songwriting.

Thanks for your comments!

David...this is lovely song...as a user and fan of Snyth V voices I applaud your skillful use of this software and your arrangement of the entire song...love the modulation and all the instruments you chose...very nice!

Really well done, David, obviously a lot of time went into this.

Nice, lush sounding reverb! I've never heard of the Fame Studio reverb plugin before so just spent the last few minutes watching a video about it. Tempting, but man, do I really need yet another reverb?

Nice arrangement, good write, great sounding track.

Enjoyed!

Very cool. David. I encourage you to bring your guitar to Netflix. You'll be putting the show on pause cuz ya just gotta finish your new song.

What a fun walk. I like the melody, and, of course, you did a fine job on those synth vocals. Well crafted hamronies, too. Very cool fiddle solo. Mix is perfect, and you and your daughter are right: the rhymes are predicatable as they should be. Much enjoyed, David.

David, this is an excellent song and should be a showcase song for those synth voices.
Super arrangement, backing band, and mix.
A very catchy melody.

This is a very happy song David!

I really enjoyed it. Excellent production! Fun!