On The Wings Of Love
Every night, city lights call out to us
The spotlight shines as we both take our places

The curtains rise and we stand together
Once again the we play our parts with burning hearts

You want to live in this world forever
Like the sun you're shining bright
Letting go, you spread your wings and take flight

You want to ride on the wind forever
Soaring high, forever young
Your dreams are songs that were never sung

    Let's fly together
    Aim for the moon and the stars high in skies above
    on the wings of love

In endless flight, like satellites,
we circle round, falling down
entangled in our gravity

Just you and me, we can't break free
But why would we?
Here with you is the only place i want to be

I want to be in your world forever,
every day and every night
Side by side, we'll catch the wind and take flight

We're gonna ride on the wind forever
In the sky, forever young
Our dreams are songs that have just begun

We're gonna last forever
Cause nothing can stand in our way

    Let's fly together to every star in the sky high up above
    on the wings of love

Edit 1: I went back and replaced the bass part. It's not as nicely played as BiaB does it, but hopefully it meshes a bit better with the other tracks.

Instruments and Effects

RealTracks
1749:Synth, Rhythm ModernDancePopOctave16thsA-B Ev 120
629:Guitar, Electric, Rhythm PopAmericanDirty Ev 120
1744:Synth, Rhythm ModernDancePopRaveDrops Ev 120
RealDrums, ModernDancePop^16-a:Snare, Bass , b:Bass, Cymbal

Master Buss: Hornet 32Mk II, Fame Studio Reverb, Lurssen Mastering Console (Pop Rock, Warmer)
Lead Vocal: SynthesizerV (Saros), Hornet Sleek, Greg Wells VoiceCentric (Collar Grab Vocal), LX480 (Joe C Vocal Plate), Waves Doubler
Bass: Ibanez GIO, EZMix2 (Bass 2)
BiaB Drums: Chris Lord Alge Drums (Room)
MIDI Drums 1: Addictive Drums (Farifax Vol. 2, Big OH and Room)
MIDI Drums 2: UJAM Phat (mixed really low)
Percussion: UJAM Groovemate One (Pop Standard)
BiaB Guitar: Trackspacer, Panagment 2
BiaB Synth1: Trackspacer, Panagment 2
MIDI Picked Electric Guitar: Indiginus Generation (Clean Twin)
MIDI Picked Acoustic Guitar: Indiginus Renegade Acoustic
MIDI Strummed Guitar 1: Native Instruments Electric Vintage
MIDI Strummed Guitar 2: Native Instruments Electric Mint
String Runs: Red Room Audio Palette Arps And Runs (Strings)
Strings: Red Room Audio Palette Primary Colors

The Boring Details
TL;DR: All comments are appreciated.

I'd been intending to do something outside my wheelhouse for some time - a poppy dance song. I found the DANCERK.STY demo. I playing around with the chords until I had something that wasn't a total copy of the demo.

I used Saros on the vocal, but I've got mixed feelings about him. He's got a high level of energy, but when he's belting a song out, he can he a bit... much. I originally, had the song in D, shifted it up A as a better register, moved it down to G so he wouldn't be so tiring on the ears, and ended up in F to bring him a bit lower, with the final modulation to G.

As usual, the lyrics were a struggle for me. Finally, I just threw in dummy lyrics to get something written, and after listening through them a couple of times, decided they were 80% good enough. I continued to tweak the lyrics as I worked on other aspects of the song. I realize that I'm overusing the word "forever", and I've traded in a solid rhyme scheme for inner rhymes. I wouldn't be surprised if I decided to make changes later on.

I'd had the string runs library for a while now, and kept intending to use them... eventually. I think they work nicely here. The other string parts are pretty simple - just glue to the runs, and a bit of filler.

I tried adding some harmonies, but it didn't really seem to work. I tried auto-generating harmonies with BiaB, but that was a disaster, because there are lots of jazzy chords that change early and often. So it's basically a solo.

The mix lacked variety, which I expected from choosing a style that was already full with only few instruments. I added some MIDI rhythm guitars, which seemed to punch things up a bit. Changing to fingerpicked guitars (technically, they are strummed, but whatever) on the bridge added some additional contrast.

I thought could alternate between the BiaB track and a basic drum track. There was a sale on an inexpensive Linn Drum library, so spent money and I was pretty happy with it, until I had my son listen to the mix, and they pointed out the places where my drum part was fighting against the BiaB drum. sigh.

They suggested I could try leaning into the EDM sound, but that would mean having to listen to EDM, That required more effort than I willing to make. That wasn't going to happen, because I knew the vocal part would then have to be changed.

And rather than do that, I decided to find another drum track.

After lots of experimentation, I eventually went with the Fairfax Volume 2 kit in Addictive Drums, which I think added a lot of punch and had the vintage sound I was looking for.

Then I played around with the balance of the instruments and figured... good enough for now.

But it's probably not, so feel free to offer suggestions and critiques. At least I remembered to add a modulation at the end this time!

"That would mean having to listen to EDM...required more effort than I willing to make. " Ha! A laugh out moment for me.

David, thanks for the detailed account. Think a song like this is more about the journey than the destination, and it sounds like you had many learning opportunities along the way here. And that's enough.

But I like what you've done with the song (though not a genre I'm an expert at) and it sounds great to me. You describe Solara as sometimes "belting a song out", a characteristic that I hear as "singing show tunes". So I can't help but hear this as a show tune. But there ARE folks on the stage dancing, so it is a dance tune to me as well.

Anyway, CONGRATULATIONS on your thoughtful excursion. Looking forward to your next one!

This sounds really cool man.

Great energy!

WHoa! I pushed Play and it pushed back. Hit me in the face with a very powerful punch of a good song. Very impressive work on the synth, Saros. Hard-hitting abnd is perfect and the melody works so well, too. Nice build with dynamics. Cool composition and well produced. David, I always thoroughly enjoy what you call "The Boring Details."

Hmh, I'm a bit on the fence about this song, David.
I really like what your singer is doing, you've written a _really_ great melody.
The backing tracks sound like a mix of styles, but they're not consistently woven together.
IMO they're lacking the glue.
I think a simpler arrangement with a clearer focus would do better justice to the beautiful vocals.
They deserve it

BTW, I really love your 'Boring Details'. The journey to the end result is always interesting.

David,

Wow! That is really impressive! The song has great energy and the singer has an epic voice!

Love this production - you have a great touch with this technology and you know how to make it completely musical.

Awesome!

Bob

David, I must agree with your quote above.

I felt a bit unmoored and drifting when listening and had difficulty searching for a structural scaffold that I could anchor to, although the vocals were hi-energy.

I agree with B.D. "The backing tracks sound like a mix of styles, but they're not consistently woven together. IMO they're lacking the glue."

A lack of glue is one way to put it, another is a lack of identifiable repetition that can anchor the listener.

That said, I can see a lot of work went into this production, skills that I certainly don't have. And I found the mix to be well balanced .

Hi, Ron.
Yep, every song teaches me something new.

Well, a song may not start as a showtune, but if Saros is on the track, that's the way it's going to end up.

Thanks, I appreciate you stopping to listen and comment.

Hi, David.

Thanks!

Not as much as some of your songs!

That for commenting!

Hi, Marty.

Yeah, not really my normal style.

Thanks! I wasn't sure the melody would match the style, so I'm glad it works.

Thanks!

And thanks for your kind comments!

Hi, Bob.

Thanks! I'm glad it worked for you.

Hi, Steve.

Well, the verse and pre-chorus all share the same progression, so there's a lot of sameness there. And it doesn't have a strong rhyme scheme, which doesn't help.

Also, most of the chords are inversions of some sort, which doesn't give the harmony as much stability as it might.

I've gone back and re-done the bass line, but I doubt that fixed the structural problems you're talking about.

I'll see what I can do to make the next song more clearly constructed.

Thanks, I'll take the good with the bad. It's all a learning experience.

I appreciate the feedback, good and bad. Not every song works for everyone.

Hello David
I like your song and what's interesting is that you talk about technical problems. I have recently been using the V synthesizer and it is true that the range is not very wide and this raises the question of writing the song, we cannot do everything like with a Midi instrument. The singer (saros) I find very good on short notes but on sustained notes he is less convincing. Is that what you think?
laurent

David...man your are a master at this level of "tech-writing and composing"...not my genre for sure but you killed the process and created a incredibly realistic pop song...I'm still amazed! you probably have this down pat but wow what a learning curve it takes...I enjoyed the song and reading about your process!

David, this is a super song.
I find nothing wrong with your backing tracks and in fact I liked them.
I thought the vocal was a little over the top but that is only my opinion: I didn't think it sounded as "organic" as some of your other songs.
It is nice to venture into unknown areas isn't it.
I did like this song.

David

I really liked those string runs. Nicely put together and a good listen.

Peter

Hi, Laurent.
Yes - they very much have the qualities of the original singers in different registers, and quirks of pronunciation.

I don't have an issue with the longer notes, but there are times when I'll adjust the amount of vibrato and scoop one notes. Saros tends to over-emphasize some things, which doesn't always work. They tends to "over sing" notes, as if they're always center stage.

I'm not sure that answers your question though.

Hi, Dan.
Well, it's not really my genre at all. I'm more a middle-of-the-road kind of guy.

But the audio engineering problem solving part? Yep, that can be pretty fun.

Nope, every song is a new learning experience. I had three songs that I'd started on, and wasn't convinced that any of them would make a viable song. I had one of my daughters have a listen to all three of them (lyrics still in the "la la la" stage, and she picked this one. So I plowed ahead.

There are other ways of getting the melody into SynthesizerV, but I've gotten used to it.

Writing using piano-roll notation isn't at all a natural way of doing things, but it allows me to go slow and do lots of experimentation.

And there were plenty of times during the song when I wasn't convinced it would gel together. Even now, I'm debating changing the lead singer to Kevin. But it's probably best not to make too many changes at this point. If they come out with a more "rock" style singer, it wouldn't be hard to go back and swap the voice out.

But I just trust in the process and move forward. Fortunately, I haven't had to discard toomany songs.

Thanks for the nice comments!

Hi, Mario.
Thanks!

Yeah, I spent some time this evening seeing if Kevin would make a better match. But for now I'll leave it in place. After all, it's just a song demo.

You should know - you're always doing interesting things!

Thanks for listening and the positive comments.

Hi, Peter.
Thanks!

And it's about time I got some return on investment on those strings! I knew I was going to have to write a disco-ish song just as an excuse to use them.

Wow! First of all, Saros sounds like Peter Frampton. Cool.

The fusion of different styles works great and the strings were perfect little highlights.

The power vocal ending was awesome.

Thanks for all the production info ... I wish more folks did such.
We love CLA Drums (Room Beef typically for us) and they sound great here.
Nice poppy mix as in genre and sound.

Enjoyed it!

J&B

David

This is certainly different from what you usually post, but It sure does sound great to me!
One thing I noticed about the synth voice that I was wanting to hear, was that It would have been even better if the longer sustained notes at the end of some of the lines had a bit of vibrato to them! I don't even know if that's a possiblity with the current technology!
Your mixes and production are second to none as far as I'm concerned! This is excellent!

Thanks, TB

Hi, Janice & Bud

Ha! I didn't even make the connection. I was watching some old Midnight Special shows on DVD last month, and there were a couple performances and interviews.

I'd played around with other SynthV voices on the track, but none really push it over the edge. Saros does, and then some.

I'm glad it worked for you. There are some purists who (rightfully) can't help but hear it differently.

Thanks! With Saros singing, it's almost obligatory.

Me too... Just about everyone here is a one-person show where they create the backing tracks, sing, mix and master. That's a lot to juggle!

BiaB goes a long way to making that manageable, but it's always nice to see what other people are using to help with their productions.

Speaking of production information, I bought it because I noticed it was part of your effects chain. And you've always got great drums.

Thanks, I'm glad you liked it.

I appreciate your positive comments!

I read your notes after listening (usually the other way around)... you talked about several of things that caught my attention.
The string runs were so nice. I didn't know there were Libraries! Well used.
I really liked the drum track. (AD is one of those things I've gotten and almost never use...)
The Bass track was well done.

I was quite impressed with your singer. By far the best I've heard "go after it" in the upper range. In a Very realistic way. That first line of the song Really impressed me. A whole song of that go-after-it did wear thin toward the end... (still.... impressive).

The Mix is quite good.


fj

Hi, floyd jane.

Thanks! I figured they would work in a dance song, but I didn't expect them to work so well.

I got this AD library on sale at Christmas, and I've already got way too many drum libraries.

But in this case, I was looking for something a bit punchier than what I had in BiaB. The ambient sound made me think of ELO, so I went with it.

Thanks! I did everything I could to avoid doing it myself, including putting down a MIDI track. But eventually I realized it would be simpler to just play it.

Then I had to actually learn the chords to the song.

Yeah, Saros can be tiring on the ear after a while. And the second half was basically a restatement of the first, without much new material added in the process,so that didn't help.

I did a number of experiments, but ultimately decided to leave the vocal with Saros and perhaps revisit it later when another rock oriented singer comes out. Until then, "good enough" is the name of the game, because "perfect" is the enemy of "good".
I'm always happy to hear that!

Thanks again - I appreciate the detailed comments

You defiantly found the right key because the voice soars. I can see why you lowered the key: it would have been a bit irritating that high. Awesome production. The rhythm section worked out well. Good work putting all those many elements together. I love the strings.

Hi, David.

Listened to this a couple of days ago but didn't have time to comment.

First of all I really like the vocal melody! Very adventuresome. I would never come up with a melody like that 'cause there is no possible way I could sing it Your vocalist handles it with ease.

I really like that string run that goes up after the vocal lines, very effective.

This is a genre I don't listen to and know nothing about so can't comment on that, but I like what you have done here, very well produced. Kudos for stepping outside of your comfort zone!

As far as the boring details go I don't always read them, but often I do

David, this is one of those songs that you can hear right away how much work it was to put together. The vocals and melody are fantastic. The string runs are powerful and a great addition. This is an energetic and interesting listen that is produced at a very high level. I loved it,Tom

A really good song and you've used a lot of techniques and instruments.
We agree on what you say about the belting of the singer
We also agree on the lack of variety, but we don't think it's a problem, because the song is rather fast and agile (if that's the right word here ).
But the modulation at the end is a nice variation.

Rob and Anne-Marie

David,

As usual, it is very elaborately made.
However, the melody is simple and easy to remember.
There are various tricks that will keep me entertained.
The string runs are used very effectively.
The selection of Synth V is also accurate.
Enjoyed my listen a lot.

Best regards.

Shigeki Adachi

Hi Dcuny,

I like the construction of this composition. It's very alive. I appreciated.

Jani.

Hi, Scott.
Yeah, I've sort of resistant to do that in some cases, but BiaB makes it so easy, there's really no excuse for me not to explore different keys.

Thanks! I've got a collection of various sample libraries that have some really cool sounds. To some extent, songwriting is a chance to use some of those sounds that have been gathering dust, so I don't feel so guilty about spending all that money.

I appreciate you stopping by to comment!

Hi, Dave.

That's OK - I thought I had already responded to these comments last week!

Yes, it's nice to explore melodies without having to wonder if I could sing it. (Spoiler: not very well!)

Thanks!

That's OK, it's not really a genre I'm at all familiar with, either.

I'm glad you enjoyed it!

Hi, Tommy.

Thanks!

Thanks for letting me know you enjoyed it, and which parts worked best - I appreciate the positive feedback!

Hi, Rob and Anne-Marie.

Thanks!

I played around with mixing the vocal with another singer to "tone down" the vocal, but didn't like the result.

I'll probably revisit the vocal at some later point when I've got other vocalists.

But I think he gives the best "flavor" for the song, which is enough for my purposes.

Ha!

I think you were looking for a polite way to say "The song isn't too long."

Yes, I'll need to add it to my "bag of tricks, because it works so well for so little effort.

Thanks, I appreciate hearing from you!

Hi, Shigeki.

Thanks!

My goal is to "keep you entertained", so I'm glad that worked for you.

Thanks, I appreciate your comments!

Hi, Jani.

Thanks!

Refreshing to notice you are experimenting a different style, although it took some time to get used to the dance style Not so much to my taste musically and lyrically as your previous works, but full of energy and upbeat excitement. Keep on stepping outside the box, I'm sure there are shiny pearls to be found... and more use for your vast collection of instruments

Great work with Saros to give love the wings, sounds powerful, I'm happy Saros a virtual singer, otherwise I would be worried about how long he can sing this hard without losing his voice I think some growl would make Saros sound more natural, but I guess Synth V doesn't provide tools for that yet.

Janne

As a side note, after listening to your song, I wanted to listen to The Alan Parsons Project's Vulture Culture album, their jump to more dance oriented sound, never really liked those arrangements, but the songs are still their best.

Hi, Janne.

Thanks for the positive comments.

Musically, it didn't quite land where I'd like it to in a number of places, but I'll revisit it when SynthesizerV is more up to the task.

To be honest, I was a bit hesitant to do this at all, but I figured I needed to get over myself and stop treating each song as so precious.

Nope, no growl.

An earlier version of SynthesizerV had support for "vocal effects", but it pretty much required you to be an speech pathologist to understand, and even then, it was hard to get good results. You can also simulate it with a very fast and wide vibrato, as there are 'false vocal folds' that interact with the 'real vocal folds' causing every other vibration to go wrong.

I bought a plugin effect that sort of gets that sound via distortion, but... not quite. So I'll wait until it's got proper support, or hand it to a different singer. But for now... I'm putting it aside.

Heh. Big Alan Parsons fan, but I agree that the songs on Vulture Culture are hit and miss. I still remember getting the album and thinking... What went wrong?... Except for 'Days Are Numbers', which remains a big favorite of mine.

There's another (almost) APP song from Eric Woolson's 'Freudiana' album called 'Let Yourself Go' that has a sax section on it, and it annoyed me so much that I created a remix that removed those parts of the song. (The saxes are actually excellent, I just didn't think it fit the tone of the song).

I've studied sax arranging, but it's a lot of work - you need to write out all the chords, and then split them out onto separate tracks. Of course, BiaB could do the heavy lifting if I did that inside the program...

There's a cool sax library called Austin Saxes that I look at every now and then, but it reminds me of 'Vulture Culture' and 'Hawkeye', and think Maybe not.

Very intense song David. Amazing you can achieve this level of quality vocals from this technology. You definitely a master at these vocaloids. Was an awesome song as well.

Would've been a George Benson hit.
He'd've mellowed the rhythm section a bit but would've dug the groove.
The bass is ace.
Everything is ace.

Hi David,

I'm very late at this party.
I was impressed by the vocals, however after a while I hoped a new swing would enter this singing.
But that is, because this (EDM) style is not really my thing.
But the way you composed and play all this is very good!
I had some tiny doubts on the sound of the drums, but then I realized in EDM they have to sound more electronical.

The nicest thing is that you experiment with those vocals and music styles. Like that very much.
We need to be creative all the time!!!
So, good work Dave,
Hans