Sometimes Dreamers

I used to sit and wonder why the chances passed me by
waiting on the sidelines of life
There's no place for dreamers in the cold light of day
watching my chances slip away

But sometimes dreamers fall in love because sometimes dreams come true
Sometimes dreamers just like me and you
There's no time for dreaming when the moment arrives
seeing your reflection in their eyes

   We'll leave all our yesterdays behind us and look to the future instead
   We don't know what we're gonna find there but we're moving full speed ahead

But happy ever fades and times get hard and tough
What's a pair dreamers to do?
But just to keep on believing that we can make it through
Find our way togther me and you

   We'll leave all our yesterdays behind us, looking to the future instead
   Though we don't know what we're gonna find there, still we're moving full speed ahead

Instruments and FX
Main Buss: Sunset Sound Studio (Live Room, Studio 1), Lurssen Mastering Console (Americana Tight (Warmer))
Lead Vocal: SynthesizerV (Hayden 2), Ghz Vulf Compressor, Nectar 4 Elements
Backing Male Vocal: SynthesizerV (Liam), Nectar 4 Elements
Male Vocal Reverb: Sunset Sound (Plate 1)
Female Vocal: SynthesizerV (Natalie 2), Ghz Vulf Compressor, GW VoiceCentric (GW Backing Vocals)
Female Vocal Reverb: Abbey Roads Plate (Vocals)
Bass: 2358:Bass, Electric, MotownRnBUptempo Ev 165
Drum 1: EZDrummer3 (Seventies Rock, Mark Arnold Basic)
Drum 2: SouthernPopFast8ths^06-a:Sidestick, Kick1 , b:OpenHat, Kick2
Drum Buss: Fame Studio (Studio A Live, drums)
Guitar: 1120:Guitar, 12-String Acoustic, Strumming Ev 165, ReEq (Mud Free)
Guitar: 1031:Guitar, 12-String Electric, Fingerpicking Ev 165, ReEq (Mud Free)
Guitar: 1681:12-String Acoustic, Fingerpicking Ev 120
Guitar: 691:Acoustic, Strumming AcRockBright Ev 120, ReEq (Mud Free)
Guitar: 2535:Electric, HeldChords Gritty, ReEq (Mud Free)
Piano: 2494:Acoustic, HeldChords 120, ReEq (Mud Free)
Piano: 2495:Electric, Soloist JazzFunkMovin Ev16 130, ReEq (Mud Free)
Piano Buss: ReEq (Mud Free), Fame Studio (Studio A Live, piano)
Accordion: Rhythm OldWorldWaltzHeldPlus Ev 180, ReEq (Mud Free)

The Story
Short Version: It's been much too long since I made a song, so I finally sat down and kept at it until it was done. Feel free to skip the following section, and just listen. Comment if you want!

Edit: I've modified the male singers, for... reasons. I've also replaced the abrupt ending with a fade.

This started out as most of my songs do, by looking through the various styles. I decided to use something a bit more up-tempo than I usually did, and _ROMEO.STY seemed like a good choice.

I went through the existing demo and changed the chords, especially in the chorus. (I will always add major7th chords to the chorus). I'd been watching YouTube videos on "interesting" chord progressions, and decided to use a couple of them here. That choice certainly made working out a melody difficult, and even harder to find a working harmony.

Once I got an arrangement I thought worked, I rendered it out and imported it into SynthesizerV to figure out a melody line that matched. There's a new "group" option that makes it easy to copy song sections, so that sped up the process a bit.

I tried to work out a balance between chordal movement and repeated notes. Most of my melodies tend to be based on arpeggios, so I went back and reworked the verse a bit.

Typically, it takes forever to work out lyrics, but this one came pretty quickly. I actually got half the chorus done first (not a huge feat, it's short), and then the verses. One of the reasons it was a fast write was because it's cliches you've heard over and over again, which means it's perfect for a pop song. wink

I waffled on giving it a bridge, deciding not to mostly as an easy way out. I figured that it was going to have an instrumental, but that didn't happen.

Once I'd worked out the lyrics, I did something I don't usually do and changed the key so it wasn't quite as much a reach for the singer. I tried out a bunch of voices, and eventually settled on using Saros on the male vocal, and Natalie on the harmony. I duplicated the lead track and added An Xiao to balance Saros' harshness. But at the last minute while mixing the song, I swapped them out so An Xiao is the dominant male vocal.

I then went back to Band in a Box and changed the key from Ab to G, and restructured the song. I figured I'd work out an ending at some point, but never actually did, which explains the unsatisfying ending where I just edited it a bit. So yes, the final cadence isn't great, and I'll fix it eventually. laugh

I worked out the harmony parts for Natalie, and ended up changing the melody of chorus after the first time. I hoped that adding a repeat of the chorus (with a modulation, of course) would make up for the lack of instrumental and bridge.

Then I went back into Band in a Box again and generated a bunch of additional instrument tracks, most of which ended up not getting used. I then plowed through the mixing process, trying not to get bogged down so I could get this out the door and finished. The initial mix was a wall of sound, so I did the usual trimming, automation, and removing instruments until it hopefully sounded like it was sort of coherent.

For no compelling reason, I've got an electric piano on one side, and and acoustic piano on another, both playing simple chords. I've added a second drum track using EZDrummer. I'd hoped to simply replace the drums, but got lazy and just blended them. And by "blended", I mean left both tracks in. The rest of the instruments are pretty much guitars.

Hrm... it looks like the accordion track was a waltz-time accordion. That explains the gaps in the playing.

I spent some time trying to figure out a good balance for the vocals, finally using the Ghz Vulf Compressor and really liking that sound.

The general sound I was going for was something sort of vintage, so I initially added the Fame Studio room sound to the final track. I ended up taking that off (but leaving it on the drums) and using the Sunset Sounds Studio A room instead.

The first rendering of the song was hilariously over-compressed, so I went back and tweaked things until there was at least the appearance of dynamics.

I should probably go back and add a proper ending at some point, but for now, I'll post it As-Is.

As always, feedback is appreciated. To borrow floyd jane's words: Have at it. laugh

Bonus Points: Mention that the title doesn't appear in the chorus. Point out that I should have figured a way to get the title into the chorus. wink

-- David Cuny
My virtual singer development blog

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