The Secrets of the Trees

NEW UPDATED VERSION - extra verse and outro synth. Now 3 minutes 6 seconds long.

This is a bit of a departure from my usual style of song which I originally wrote last year for the Coursera Song Writing course (highly recommended to others by the way). The inspiration for the song came from Pat Pattison’s song “Hobo Wind” which he uses on the course to demonstrate various song writing techniques.

I had a chord sequence in mind and wanted to create a spooky/mysterious feel (seems appropriate with Halloween around the corner). I auditioned many styles in BIAB before I found the perfect one (CRYSTAL1.STY).

For the original recording I pretty much used the track as it was from BIAB and just overdubbed vocals. This was fine for the purposes of the course. However, I always thought that I would revisit the song one day and produce a more complete version.

For the new version, I started by exporting all of the MIDI from BIAB and into Sonar. I do this in BIAB using the Save Special --> Save Song as MIDI file and then select the clipboard as the destination. I have tried other ways but this seems the most reliable. In Sonar I use a template for my vocals and guitar so I then use Paste Special (start from new track) to get the MIDI from BIAB into Sonar.

Here’s a summary of what I then added/changed/updated (feel free to skip to the lyrics if you aren’t interested in these details):

Vocals – I re-recorded the vocals as the original ones were done with my old Audio interface and mic. I also recorded a short vocal of me saying “What is my secret?” for the “tree sound” near the end (see below). I recorded separate vocals for the “Climbing” part and applied the Eventide Quadravox (Jeff Schumacher - Echoes patch) to create the spacey woodland echoes.

Vocoder – I wanted to enhance the mysterious feel by using a vocoder for the vocals but didn’t like the sound using Vocalizer Pro. So I came across a free vocoder called mda TalkBox and immediately got the sound I wanted! The final vocal is a mix of normal vocal and vocoder sounds. I used Vocalizer Pro to make the “What is my secret” voice near the end sound “tree like”.

Alter Ego – I wanted to create a vocal sound for “woodland faires” in the middle section and used this free alternative to Vocaloid.

Drums – I tried using the MIDI from BIAB with various drum plugins (all of the ones that come with Sonar Platinum) but none of them sounded quite as good as the RealDrum so I kept that and just beefed it up a bit with Waves Maxxbass.

Tinkly synth – I found a nice patch in Hybrid (11 FM Bell - Bells) which has a pleasant airy feel to it. Only thing I changed was the release part of the ADSR envelope as it had a pitch mod making the pitch rise which caused pitch clashes.

Bass synth – I used Hybrid again, this time (03 Brassy - Poly Synths) patch.

Synth at end: Hybrid - Castanetichords patch

Strings and 12 string – I used SampleTank 3 patches for these.


****** Song Summary *************
Title: Secrets of the Trees
Key=B , Tempo 80
Style is CRYSTAL1.STY (Crystal1 - 4/4 New Age Style)
BassCustom Synth is Hi-Q 082 01 Synth, Analog, 80sPad SampleTank.tgs
PianoCustom Synth is Hi-Q 005 01 Piano, Electric, Classic SampleTank.tgs
GuitarCustom Synth is Hi-Q 026 03 Guitar, Acoustic, 12 String SampleTank.tgs
StringsCustom Synth is Hi-Q 050 01 Strings, Ensemble, Movie SampleTank.tgs
Style MIDI Instruments are : Saw Wave Lead (82), Electric Piano (5), 26/1 12-Strings Guitar, GM2 Bank 1, Slow Strings (50),
MIDI Drums :1 Standard Drum Kit (1)

RealDrums will be substituted :CountryEven16: a: Brushes b: Snare, HiHat
*******************

Secrets of the Trees © 2016
Lyrics:

So majestic and so strong,
King of all that you survey,
Leaves are blowing in the breeze,
Haunting with soliloquies,
Secrets of the Trees

Branches swaying overhead,
So ancient and so wise,
You must have witnessed many crimes,
Demons and altered paradigms,
Secrets of the Trees

Forest creatures gather round
Urging me to leave the ground
Ascending into the unknown
Reaching for the danger zone
Secrets of the Trees

Climbing
Climbing
Climbing

Now I stand above the world,
I understand and I observe,
I share unspoken memories,
I feel your strength, your energies,
Secrets of the Trees

Enjoy!
Rec

It works for me. Congratulations.

Hello Receder, Nice work! - I really dig the Vocoder sound, overall has a very fantastic vibe to this. well done!

Thanks Ed, appreciate it.



Hi Joe, thanks for the positive feedback. I hadn't used a vocoder in any songs before and spent ages auditioning presets before looking elsewhere.

Cheers
Rec

Hi Receder,what an interesting track,excellent vocoder work and a quirky and charming yet eerie song,i was surprised it was so short but it worked out well,nice arrangement and well written,enjoyed it a lot.
Ricc.

Vocoders can be very powerful! - Native instruments has one i'm quite fond of called "The Mouth" which I've used in my own productions. Very intuitive and easy to use. Check it out here!: https://www.native-instruments.com/en/products/komplete/effects/the-mouth/

Thanks for stopping by to listen to my track and I'm glad that you enjoyed it. I thought about adding another verse to make it a bit longer but decided to leave it as is.



Hi Joe, Funny you should mention that as I almost bought it previously but just missed getting it when it was on a special deal. I figure I might wait until around Black Friday as there are often good deals to be had then and I now have more vocoders than I know what to do with

Hi Receder, its definately one of those "Wait to get it on sale" products for sure. I only picked it up when it was available for $50.00. - As another great trick, try running drums through vocoders, you can get some very interesting textures that way!

Receder,

This is a beautiful and very original composition. Very atmospheric too. The vocoder works great all around!
We will check out those VSTs you mentioned in your post.

Rob & Anne-Marie

Receder,

A very good song idea and I like the lyrics, chord progression and melody - moody and stately at the same time.
I`m not sure about the vocoder sound (- this is just my own discomfort with it from overexposure to Dr Who!)
You have put a lot of thought into the arrangement and it`s atmospheric - I loved the bridge with airy vocals and the overdubs of the tree voice works well.
I`m going to delve into your details on the production as there`s lots to learn there so thanks for that.

Robert

Thanks for this Joe. I notice that Vocalizer Pro which I also picked up in a sale (less than $20 I seem to recall) has quite a few drum presets so that should make for some interesting sounds.

Cheers
Rec

Thanks Very much Rob and Anne-Marie for your kind comments which are much appreciated.

The TalkBox plugin is very basic but easy to use. You pan the vocal track hard left and the synth track hard right (I used a basic SAW patch) and feed them both to a bus with the TalkBox plugin as an insert effect. The plugin is part of a large bunch of free plugins which can be downloaded from here. I haven't tried any of the others but I did run Kaspersky and MalwareBytes on all of them just to be safe.

Thanks again,
Rec

Rec,

I'm glad that you have become a "regular" in the Showcase. Your music is so enjoyable to listen to. Always interesting. Very creative. Often thought-provoking... showing different sides of BIAB along the way...

This is excellent - for all those reasons. Nice mix, too.

The songwriting is just as creative and the instrumentation. All of the couples at lines 3 & 4 are inspired!

"Leaves are blowing in the breeze,
Haunting with soliloquies,..."

"You must have witnessed many crimes,
Demons and altered paradigms,..."

"I share unspoken memories,
I feel your strength, your energies,..."

The more listens, the better....

floyd

Floyd,

Thanks so much for your very generous comments. I do enjoy spending time here listening to all great songs from the more established and professional BIAB songwriters like yourself to those just starting out. There's always something new and creative waiting to be discovered. The wealth of talent here also helps to inspire my own thought processes when writing.

I also hope to continue writing songs and putting them here for critique although I am nowhere near as prolific a writer as some of you so there may be quite long gaps between songs.

All the best,
Rec

Hi rec
This is excellent! Very creative. I was very pleased to see your detailed explanation of how you got that great vocal. Well done and much enjoyed.

Really cool stuff here, Rec. Kinda reminds me of The Flaming Lips. I love the vocoder -- that's not a sound we hear around here too much! This is short but you get a lot out of those 105 seconds I love the deeper voice that comes in at the end. Was that pitch shifted down?

Thanks a lot Joanne. I do appreciate you taking the time to listen and comment. I'm also glad you enjoyed the explanation. I'm always worried that people will get bored if I write too much detail but then again others do like to see what was done (and I am a bit of a detail freak .

Thanks again,
Rec

Hi Will,

Thanks for your kind words I do vaguely remember The Flaming Lips but just looked them up on YT and see what you mean! They must have somehow seeped into my psyche.

For my voice at the end, the patch I used in Vocalizer Pro (13 Hardcore Sounds - pad 4) includes a -1 octave pitch shift. I find many of the patches in Vocalizer Pro not much use for vocals but I nearly fell off the chair when I auditioned that one!

Cheers
Rec

Hi Robert and thanks very much for your encouraging comments. I'm really pleased that you enjoyed the song.
Your comment about Dr Who made me laugh as I remember, as a child, hiding behind the sofa when the Daleks came on Although I think they used ring modulation for the Daleks' voice and vocoder for the Cybermen (equally terrifying).

Cheers
Rec

Vocoders are a beautiful thing!

Hi receder, this works for me also. The vocoder works also. But on top of that I love the melody in this little song. I would love to hear you at some point come back and expand on this with another verse/chorus. Thanks Torrey

Indeed!



Thanks for your comments Torrey. You know, I had another look at the song yesterday and there is an obvious missing verse between verse 2 and the bridge which I have now written. I also had an idea about an outro synth part. So, watch this space for version 2 of TSOTT!

Cheers
Rec

Hey man,

I really enjoyed this. Great work with the vocal effects and midi!

receder - Great work on this song! I also really enjoyed the Vocoder sound you chose. The time you spent auditioning the presets was time well spent

This is our "Hot Forum Topic" for today!

Thanks a lot David. It was fun making it too Stay tuned for version 2 which might even reach the 3 minute mark!

Rec

Thanks a lot Callie. I feel honored to be the Hot Forum Topic.

All the best,
Rec

Very, very cool Rec!! This definitely has the retro feel of a time when bands used their imaginations to come up with interesting music. I thought the vocal fx were perfect. Wish the song was longer! Great job!! Take care. Greg

Thanks very much Greg. Really appreciate your comments.

I nearly have a new version completed which runs to just over 3 minutes. Just working on the ending. Should be posted tomorrow.

Thanks again,
Rec

Rec,

I love that title. There's a really old huge Oak by my house and you wonder at all the changes that giant old tree has lived through.

Very creative writing and production that sounds great.
Also interesting reading how you put it all together.

Much enjoyed. Well done.

Hi Josie,

Thank you for listening to my song and for your kind words.

I have now finished the new longer version which is still on the same link as the original.

All the best,
Rec

Good and original work; nice sound

Sergio

Thanks Sergio, much appreciated.

Rec

Rec,

I love this. Sounds like music from the future. Very tight writing carried along on an interesting melody. Enjoyed it.

BTW - is your avatar a Dickens character?


Regards,

Bob

Thanks a lot Bob. I appreciate your comments coming as they do from a master of songwriting.

My avatar is the Mad Hatter (the previous one was the Caterpillar). These are photos I took at a park in Ripon (N Yorks, UK) of a tree sculpture depicting characters from Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Carroll spent time as choirboy at Ripon Cathedral and is said to have been inspired to create the characters by the cathedral's animal carvings. The sculptures were carved using the trunks of a cypress tree.

All the best,
Rec

Ah...Mad Hatter. York, you say? One of our senior members is in York City - ROG. I've always wanted to see York Minster myself.


Regards,

Bob

I'm about 25 miles from York and I visit there quite a bit. York Minster is an amazing place although I haven't been there in a while. I do recall seeing posts by ROG. I'll have to look him up.

Cheers
Rec

I thought it looked familiar! Very impressive artwork! It must of taken them a while to carve them out with the style they portray. Do you have photos' of the other ones?

Hi Joe,

Yes here's a photo I took of the whole thing...



It includes the Cheshire Cat, Alice, White Rabbit, Caterpillar, Mad Hatter and I think it might be the Dormouse.

Cheers
Rec

Rec,

Interesting! I enjoyed that blast back into an 80's vibe.

And a good read about the effects of Coursera and Pat Pattison.

I am enjoying your music Rec, glad you are back posting!!!

Alyn

Very nice and it's not every day you hear the words "soliloquies" and "paradigms" in one song!

As I respond I'm looking out a window at a 150+ year old hardwood forest. Janice and I walk or mountain bike through our forest everyday so your song is even more special for us.

The vocoder works well for us and we are struck at how much work must have gone into this production. We have much enjoyed our listens and thanks for including the back story.

Superb!

J&B

Rec,

The added verse and outro synth work well - the song feels more complete now. Terrific production all round.
If there`s ever a Lord Of The Rings stage play this would work well as Treebeard walks onstage!

Robert

Thanks Alyn, glad you enjoyed it and I am glad to be back!!!
Otherwise I might have missed "That's Cool" :-)

Cheers
Rec
P.S. That cider's giving me double vision, lol!

Hey J&B, now that made me chuckle



It sounds amazing. I had a look at some of the photos on your website and it looks even more amazing. Pleased that the song struck a chord with you (no pun intended).



Thanks for your generous comments. If I get the thumbs up from you guys I know I must be doing something right. Seriously though it was great fun seeing what I could do with the original idea.

All the best,
Rec

Hi Robert,

Thanks a bunch and I'm so pleased that you approve of the new version. Maybe I should send a copy to Peter Jackson in case he has any LOTR stage plays in the works

Cheers
Rec

Sure a lot of comments on this original style. The synthesizer and the vocal give it a majestic sort of digital futurism, but there is also a kind of authoritative feel to it, kind of like the instructions to the population coming over the loud speakers in the year 3000. "Now hear this!"
Remember that song about "Major Tom" ?
You have your own style, if you can stay with it and keep producing to it.
You don't want to sound like the new age ruler -0- then, maybe you do

Thanks Ed, It's not my usual style of music but I enjoyed making it and it seemed to fit the subject matter. The "Major Tom" song - did you mean David Bowie's Space Oddity?

I quite enjoy trying out different styles and BIAB gives you the luxury of having a ready made backing band in just about any style you care to name. I quite fancy doing a metal song next but need to eat some gravel before I attempt that

Cheers
Rec

Very, very cool! I wouldn't know how to even begin a project like this, quite the production! Very much enjoyed the listen!

Hi Rec,

I've been looking at the title of this for a week or so now and I've been trying to work out what kind of song it would be... arrangement, production, etc.

Well, all I can is that my imagination let me down very badly. I didn't anticipate anything like what you've composed. I tip my hat to you. This is excellent. You've used BIAB and Realtracks in ways that I can't remember hearing on the forum before. Really creative work!

All the best,
Noel

Thanks Dave, I am so pleased that you enjoyed the song. I am enjoying your work as well, especially your cool guitar tones

Cheers
Rec

Hi Noel, Thank you, that is so kind of you to say and very much appreciated. I hear a lot of songs on here from the real BIAB/RB experts like yourself and often marvel at the RT wizardry. It was also very useful to get feedback from other folks here about the original song being too short and I think the final version feels much more complete now.

Cheers,
Rec