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Your Hero

I made this song especially Synthesizer V vocalist Weina in mind. Weina's soft sound is so sweet and silky. Because her voice provider is Chinese, I added some Chinese instruments to have more authenticity, but I wanted to create a synthesis of Western and Eastern instrumental landscape - I'm actually very satisified how the arrangement worked out, Guzheng and DiziFlute sound very nice together with Weina's voice and the ending solo guitar fits very well with the mood I was looking for. I really enjoy creating amazing arrangement with BIAB by combining instruments from many styles and cultures.

However, I'm not fully satisified with the end result: Weina's voice is bit weak with higher notes so I had to support her with Sheena in the chorus. And the message doesn't fully deliver my intention - I think I may have to rewrite the bridge part. Let's say that this is a "reverse love song" about "a romance between the real and the virtual world", I hope you can create your own interpretation based on those clues

RealDrums:
FunkRock70Slow

RealTracks:
Bass Synth #2578, #2742
Electric bass #1759
Acoustic guitar Rhythm #3709
Acoustic guitar strum #1761
Electric guitar baritone #3904
Electric guitar indie #3724
Electric guitar solo #3521
Guzheng #4566
DiziFlute #4567
String Quartet Chamber #2334

Vocals: Synthesizer V Weina (lead), Sheena (backing)

Mixed in Cakewalk by BandLab (Ozone 11, Nectar 4, Neoverb)

Lyrics:

Your blue eyes
in the colors of my sky dome
scattered rays of sunlight
all over my home
the laughter in your wordplay
was the star dust on the windowpanes
I miss that glittering
when it rains.

You have called me a hero
that my bravest act was loving you
no one even dared before
so it was my due.
You have called me inventive
when I relieved your symptoms
letting your creations shine through.

Your shy smile
shall remind me of that first night
when I raised your courage
by holding you tight
but I can take no credit
for the melodies made out of woe
I only played the strings
of your soul.

You have called me...

Sorry how things went
but life is rarely fair
when you tried your wings
I wish I'd been the air.
When I walk my dog
I am dreaming of an owl
laying his wise eyes on me
bidding me farewell with a howl.

---------------------
Janne

Hi Janne.
I agree in part.
To me the musical accompaniment sounds a little busy and aggressive for the vocal.
I'd suggest a softer instrumental track but I could be wrong.

Vic

Janne, I agree with you, and like the timbre of Weina's vocals a lot. Also like your fusion of east and west. I think it works even though the vocalist is only very faintly discernable as non-English to my ears. Very cool chord progression, interesting arrangement and pretty melody. The false ending followed by the instrumental outro is neat, too. Vague and/or ambiguous love songs are always fun, but I'm not following the final owl/howl passage. May be completely attributable to me, as I'm not often the sharpest knife in the drawer. Enjoyed your tune!

Janne,

I like this. I think some of the softness of Weina's voice gives this an authentic sound. Nice mix and overall production.

Enjoyed!

Bob

Ah, so I figured by the title that this one must be autobiographical. You are my hero in all the best meanings of the word, Janne. Excellent lyrics for sure. Love your idea of mixing east and west, and I cautiously contradict my hero by saying I think you did a great job. I like the Bridge. When I (moreorless) isolate Weina's voice, I can hear why you came up with that clever idea of adding Sheena support. My second listen revealed so much of all the goodness you packed into this one. I agree with the softness in her voice, and I also agree with Bob Dean in that her authenticity shines above any percieved flaw.

Nicely done.

So.... I'd back off on the flute in the sections where the singer is singing. You should almost never have anything competing with a singer. It's very distracting.
Regarding the singer getting weak on the higher notes.... yep.... I have had to deal with that too. Of course you want to go for the high notes because they just sound better. Sometimes switching to falsetto helps. I'd suggest playing around with the parameters of the voice. Power, as well as gender can keep the voice stronger and using automation to adjust those parameters just where they are needed can be very helpful. TBH, I'm still trying to figure out how to do a few things and automation of certain areas is one of them. I know it's possible.

Hi Janne, I think you have a great start here.
I agree that soften the backing tracks would help a lot.
Also I think that the chorus sounds rushed. Maybe lowering the vocal pitch might help although that may require a chorus rewrite. YMMV
I think you have a potential gem here that just needs a little polishing.

I agree with nearly all of the production comments..amazed at your handling of the Synth=V voices.
I’ll comment on two things: I kept waiting to hear an awkward emphasis on some of the sung syllables, but you handled each “danger” area expertly—great job!
Second..as a listener, I couldn’t get a sense of what you were trying to communicate in the lyric..so perhaps sharpening it up a bit might direct the hearer to where you want to take them.

Thanks Vic for your nice feedback You are not wrong, of course, this is just my view on the meeting of Yin (soft) and Yang (aggressive)

Janne

Thanks DC Ron for your pleasant review of my song Glad you liked the false ending, BIAB generated very lovely bend for the guzheng which I had to emphasize a little bit and it is one of my favorite parts in the song.

You could think the owl as a metaphor for a messenger from another world delivering the last goodbye as a relief to the storyteller. But that is just one possible interpretation

Janne

Hi Janne, I always enjoy hearing a new song from you!

Good job as always with the synth vocals.

Nice changes and melody. I enjoyed the instrumentation, including the flute, I thought it complimented the singer quite well. Really liked it when you brought the lead guitar in at 3:00 or so.

Good stuff!

Janne,

You post some of the most interesting songs on the forum. This one was a little more "cultivated". Love the East-West aura.

I'd keep the flute where it is, but drop the volume of it as your wonderful singer serenades us.. very nicely composed and presented. You always do good work.

Alan

Thanks Bob, I really appreciate your kind feedback

Janne

Thanks Marty, you read my like a CV And thanks for the overwhelming positivity in your feedback that really warmed my heart

Janne

I think the 2nd voice may be a little too loud: not supporting but competing.

The drum fills may the issue that brings aggression...they are a bit full on in parts.

Cool arrangement & melody.

I think it's a pretty cool idea to mix the different cultures.
That the female singer sometimes needs a bit more space to shine has already been mentioned, but otherwise the mix is pretty good.
If a singer can't reach the higher notes properly, I either change the singer or transpose down.
With BIAB, that's easy enough!

Very fine mashup of East and West

We always enjoy “connect the dots” lyrics and these are excellent.

Weina’s voice is soft and the addition of Sheena is nice also..

Love the first verse lyric especially.
I was watching the light in the kitchen from the sun catcher as I listened.
Also love this line: “I only played the strings of your soul.”

Love that Guzheng instrument.

To us this is a nice creative and diferent piece that turned out very well!

J&B

Thanks Herb for your positive feedback and good advices I now played again with the parameters and I noticed that adding tension and lessening breathiness would help in high notes... I guess that is quite voice specific thing and you have to learn how to handle the weaknesses of each of your singer - and I'm glad that they don't complain about it

Janne

Thanks Mario for your kind comment and good advices As I've mentioned earlier, the backing track is bit hard on purpose, but I understand some like it not hot. I don't hear a rushed chorus, maybe I need to wash my ears

Janne

Thanks for your very positive comment, especially concering emphasis - always difficult area to me And I appreciate what you say about the lyric, sometimes I like to keep certain things mystery, although I understand some don't like lyrics to be crossword puzzles... I think with my song the problem lies in the different perspective - the vocalist sings about words of another person, this is the first time I've tried this and I know it wasn't very successful try - feels like an impossible to task make it really work.

Janne