Nobody Knows

Winter is gone
Spring's come along
Sunshine follows the rain

Kids mowing lawns
Life's moving on
But still it all feels the same

Watching the world spin round
Counting the hours run down
Feeling like one more day is slipping away

Somewhere down the road
Somewhere down the line
I hope that there's something left to find

      In the blink of an eye love can go away
      No one can say if it will come again

Searching around all over town
Lost like a leaf in the wind
Once I belonged; now it's all gone
I'm back on the outside looking in

Watching my world burn down
Seeing it all fall down
I couldn't stop you from walking away

I'd make a new start
But you've taken my heart

      Nobody knows why love goes away
      No one can say if it will come again (No one can say)
      No one can say when love will come again


Instruments
3501:Bass, Electric, NashvilleRadioBalladAB Ev16 075
3654:Guitar, Acoustic, Fingerpicking IndiePickingBright Ev16 075
3655:Guitar, Acoustic, Fingerpicking IndiePickingSoft Ev16 075
624:Fiddle, Soloist George Ev 085
1856:Cello, Background PopCountry Ev 085
3182:Guitar, Acoustic, Rhythm GrungeUnpluggedQuinn Ev16 090
3656:Guitar, Acoustic, Rhythm IndieGentlePush Ev16 080
2024:Piano, Acoustic, Rhythm CountryJohn Ev 085
~593:Fiddle, Rhythm Bluegrass Doc Ev 100
RealDrums:AmericanaRoots16th^01-a:Toms, b:Snare

SynthesizerV: Qing Su (lead and backing vocals)

Effects Chain

Mix Bus: Sunset Sound Studio (Studio 2), Lurssen Mastering Console (Americana Tight, Less Glue)
Main Vocal: Sunset Sound Studio (ISO Room, Studio 3), Sunset Sound Studio (Chamber, Studio 1)
Backing Vocal: Finisher Retro (Double Tracker), Greg Wells VoiceCentric (Factory Default), Sunset Sound Studio (Chamber, Studio 2)
Drums: Finisher Retro (Too Old Tube), EZMix2 (Drum Enhancer), TrackSpacer, Sunset Sound Studio (Live Room, Studio 3), Izotope Imager, ReaEQ (low end cut)
Bass: Neutron Elements (bass)
Cello: TrackSpacer, ReaEQ (low end cut)
Fiddle: TrackSpacer, LX480 (Small Hall)
FP Guitars: EZMix2 (Acoustic Guitar with Reverb)
Piano: Finisher Retro (Dreamer)


Errata

• Boosted the high end on the guitars, as suggested by floyd jane.
• Modified "Watching my world burn down" to get rid of that crunchy minor second in the harmony, as suggested by Mark Hayes. Modified the melody on Seeing it all fall down to make it a bit less dissonant.
• Minor adjustments to plosives and sibilants, suggested by rayc. Lowered drum volume, added TrackSpacer to drums.

Short Blah Blah Blah
All comments welcome!

Longer - But Not Necessarily Better - Blah Blah Blah
I started out by browsing through the demos, and found _SALLY Demo - Sally Fingerpicking Guitars.

I went through it and altered a bunch of chords in an attempt to make it more interesting - IV/V, descending bass lines, that sort of thing. The result was a pretty backing track, but a bit slow. I bumped the tempo up to 85 BPM, but figured in order to have the song fit in less than 3:30, it would need to only repeat once.

I exported a backing track and loaded that into SynthesizerV. The melody was pretty easy to write, but the chorus didn't really sound like a strong chorus. Sigh... another one of those "not gonna have a catchy chorus" sorts of songs.

The lyrics on this took a stupid long time. Usually I put together some "dummy" lyrics, in hopes that something would click. I got the usual unhelpful "The wind is blowing through the trees" sort of uninteresting lyric drivel that comes out when I lack any sort of inspiration.

That continued for about a week. In desperation for some sort of inspiration, I read through The Waste Land - isn't that what everyone turns to for inspiration? - and read the first few lines:

     April is the cruellest month, breeding
      Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing
      Memory and desire, stirring
      Dull roots with spring rain.

Stealing that idea got the first few lines written, up to the pre-chorus. At that point I once again noticed that despite all the syllables being devilishly tricky to fill in, I was starting to run out of room to actually say something.

I had no idea what the chorus was going to be, and all I had written was some light "I'm sad" sort of lyrics.

Plus, it read a lot like a cliches from a sad teenager's poem. At least I was getting that part right!

I had watched a video on the travails John Fogerty had with his record label. The narrator related that after coming up with a cool guitar lick, John went searching through his notebook of song titles to see if he could find and idea he could build the lyrics around. He ended up choosing the title "Somewhere Down the Road", which became "The Old Man Down the Road".

I ended up using that for the pre-chorus, and what I had previously written in the pre-chorus moved to the second verse.

In the process of working on the lyrics, I'd changed the voice from Kevin to Qing Su. I'd not actually tried her out in the upper range, where she had a sort of airy Suzanne Vega sound.

Yes, she sounds a bit hoarse in places. I'm probably overly fond of this breathy performance style. What's a bit ironic is that I got Qing Su because she's got an impressive "belting" voice.

I eventually wrote something for the chorus, and noticed again there was nothing in the first half of the song that remotely looked like a song title. I wouldn't have had this problem if I'd followed John Fogerty's example!

Since the song is pretty much symmetric, writing the second half was less time consuming than the first.

Once the song was done, I resisted adding a harmony part because I was tired. But I eventually added bits on the end. I had a lot of trouble making it fit, until I got the obvious idea to drop it down an octave. As usual, the harmony added a lot to the song, and I was glad I'd done it.

Mixing was the usual process of cutting out parts to so not everything happens at once. TrackSpacer was helpful in keeping the fiddle and cello from getting in the way of the voice.

The hardest bit of the vocal was getting the lyric "I'd make a new start" to sound right. Qing Su really didn't want to put the /d/ in "I'd", so I ended up cutting and pasting it from a different word.

I cut and pasted the drums as well, mostly to get rid of a lot of cymbal crashes. I was too lazy to remove them all, but I might go back and do that.

One of the fingerpicked guitars had a lot of squeaks. I ended up reducing the volume at those parts, and hopefully it doesn't detract too much.

My son doesn't get any blame on this one - the mix is all mine.

Next time, I promise... I'll try to write something with a chorus.


Since I have a habit of tweaking songs long after they're posting, all suggestions are appreciated! Heck, I just changed the title of the song.

David,

LOVE the BAND!
Those drums are SO interesting.

Your singer sounds great! Harmonies are really nice, too.

A good write.
"Once I belonged; now it's all gone
I'm back on the outside looking in"
Nice!!

Cool melody. (at "blink of an eye" it "lost me" for a moment).

I really like what you've done with the piano.
I wanted the acoustic guitars to have a bit more high-end EQ to cut through the mix more.
(the rest of the mix is good).

Always enjoy reading your writing notes...

Good stuff.

fj

Man, that singer is the best yet I think, David, although I suspect some of it is because you know how to get the most out of them.

The phrasing used in

"Watching the world spin round
Counting the hours run down
Feeling like one more day is slipping away"

with the pauses is a good example, very realistic.

Nicely done!

Things were going along smoothly and pleasantly enough... then came 1:50 *

I'm open to the possibility this is intentional, but would need to hear that from the author. =8^)

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

* Disregard, piece has since been changed!

Hi David.
Amazing synth vocal again.
Instrument wise I think the drums maybe a little busy for this lyric.

Vic

There are a lot of songs where, once I actually pay attention to the drums, they're not doing what I expect them to do. I wasn't enamored with the drums, but I figured I'd give them a chance.

You might have noticed that there was a lot of processing on them to get them tonally where I wanted them to be.

The biggest issue - to me - was how it changed from a cajon to a more full kit. The crash cymbal is an example of that. Plus, the cajon was also lower. I think removing a number of crashes and cutting the low end helped balance the two parts out.


Thanks! I was really on the fence about adding harmonies, and this is one of the first songs where I've almost put the harmony softer than the melody.


Thanks! I'm glad that it finally (mostly) came together in them.


Was is the dissonance in the melody, or the change in the feel? I know that the "pre-chorus" isn't that strong, so when this part comes in, you're probably expecting a return to the verse, and not a second pre-chorus.


This is one of the few songs where I'm not using an electric piano. It's probably the second-most processed instrument here to help give it a bit more "grit" in the few places where it gets to punch in.


Good idea! I mostly did volume changes on the guitars, but the fingerpicking (which is why I chose the style in the first place) is a bit understated and lacks the "sparkle" it should have.




Thanks again for your support!

Thanks!

I suspect you're partly right!

But although they're still robots, I think each release is able to capture more of the singer's actual personality.


And it's also necessary, to avoid the lyric sounding robotic.

These are the sorts of decisions a good singer brings to a song that don't make it to the sheet music. Which is fine, until you get a choir director who insists singing what's written and it kills the feel.

Ooops, did I get on a soapbox again? Hehehehe.


Thanks again. I appreciate you stopping by to comment!

Hi, Mark.

There's so many things that could be wrong here, could you be a bit more specific?

I take it you're not a fan of the harmony? That clash on the first note in the melody? Or the breaks between in the phrases?

Inquiring minds want to know!

Yes, the vocal harmony at that particular moment, on the word “down”.

Interesting, since "All" is more of a clash - and a mistake, at that!

In any event, I'll work on it and post a corrected version.

Funny how, after hearing stuff for so long, you stop hearing things.

Thanks!

Hey David, great to hear from you again. I really like the voice you chose for this song...amazing. And the writing throughout is fantastic. I especially loved that line "Lost like a leaf in the wind."

Hi, Vic.

You could easily be right. I suspect that I'm too lazy to make a major change to that track, but I'll keep it in mind in case I ever do.

Thanks for the feedback, I appreciate it!

Hi, Brad!

Likewise! I hope you're enjoying the summer-like we're having.


Yes. She's actually a Chinese voice that's been trained (via a neural network) to sing in English, so it's even a bit more amazing than you might think.


I appreciate you noticing my one use of alliteration in the song!

Thanks for stopping by to listen!

A very sweet song, David!
And we like this somewhat "breathy" voice. Works fine here.
The music suits the springtime very well.
Enjoyed.

Rob and Anne-Marie

For a singer without a soul, this singer sure sounds soulful...

I loved your song and really enjoyed the vocal magic...

David, you've always commented on my songs but I haven't heard many of yours until today. I love this, it's mellow, and the vocals are breath taking...

Nice one...a very cool example of the synth vocal sitting in a good song.
There're a few sibilant thngs that could be addressed...most particularly in the 1st Sunshine.

Very nice. Well done.

The vocals had a really jazzy feel right there in the middle just before the drums kick in.

Wait! The vocals are fake? I tell you, they actually sound more real than some of the auto-tuned vocals from actual humans that I've heard.

Hi, Rob and Anne-Marie!


Thanks!


Glad you liked the voice. I have a tendency to lean toward "soft" instead of "rock", and this seemed a good match.

Thanks for stopping by to comment!

Thanks for the kind words about the song and vocals!

Hi, Ronnie!

Glad you could stop by for a listen!


Thanks! Middle of the road seems to be my wheelhouse. I keep telling myself next time I'll do something more rocking, and then get distracted by all the pretty electric pianos and fingerpicked guitars in BiaB and end up writing something like this.

Thanks for listening and commenting!

Thanks, ray!


Yeah, I really should go through this and do a bit more cleanup.

Part of my motivation is that I wanted to get it out the door (so to speak) and figured it was "good enough".

That's not really a good reason, is it?

The other thing is that I'm a bit leery about overdoing the correction of the sibilance and end up with a bunch of lisping vocals. Since the aspiration is on a separate track, I really don't have any excuse not to apply a de-esser. I guess it's time to pull out BlockFish and learn how to use it.

Thanks, Byron.


Pretty cool, huh?

I used to post a bit more prominently that I was using synthetic voices, but I figured most people had figured it out by now, so it wasn't necessary. As long as they don't distract too much from the song, it's fine for my purposes.

Yeah. That's a pretty amazing piece of software. Its not really obvious, but when you listen closely there is something "not quite right" about the vocals. I think it is that they are too pitch perfect and lack the various inflections that real singers have. But I also think that because they are initially generated pitch perfect they also lack some of the weird artifacts that heavily auto-tuned vocals have.

There's actually an option to "auto-tune" the vocals, that does the exact opposite of what you might think. In the Vocaloid and UTAU community (which is where SynthesizerV came out of) the term doesn't refer to pitch correction - the pitch is already "correct", as you hint at.

"Tuning" in this context refers to the process of adding the elements of performance such as vibrato, over and undershoot, and the "imperfections" of a real vocal performance.

SynthesizerV is trained on example songs in the singer's style, so it's able to apply the performance "tuning" automatically. At least, as far as the pitch is concerned.

So the vocal actually does have the imperfect pitches inflections that a real singer has.

There are a lot of other factors that you can control in SynthesizerV, such as Loudness, Tension, Breathiness, and so on. But there's no obvious way to observe these features - and thus train a neural network on them - so only Pitch Deviation is the only "automatic" feature in SynthesizerV. The rest would have to be tweaked by hand - which in this case, I didn't do.

I'd heartily recommend not using a de-esser but using a pre effects volume envelope to reduce the level of the esses. It'll take a little longer BUT the results are better. If your DAW allows spectral representation then it'd be even easier.

What a brilliant job of creativity, David. Right from building the band, modifying the changes, picking the singer. Man, I really like the drums you've fashioned here. Terrific strings, too.

I had as much fun reading your notes in the OP as I did listening to this song. I enjoyed your blow by blow on how you did things, paying attention to the smallest details to get it right. I liked how you copy and pasted the "d" in I'd to have it sound correct. That sounds like one of my editing sessions.... "hey, that kick/drum fill sounds good there.... I'll drop that fill into THIS spot and...waaa laaa, yep, that's so much better!"

So much work went into this. I'm 100% with you on lyric writing.... to me, that's always the hardest part of any song project...so many starts and an almost equal number of dead ends. One never knows where the next flash of divine inspiration will come from.

You have become a master of the synth voice. Unless one listens closely, it is very difficult to tell this is a synth. The amount of learning to get that sounding real, is astounding.

I thought I heard a really clicky sounding drum track.... but I listened on my buds and in the buds, this sounded even better...fuller, with a nice ear candy kind of sound and the clicky drums were not in evidence. So it must have been the crappy computer speakers on this desktop.

Nicely done.

Hi, Ray.

That's what I normally do.

But I figured I'd take this as an opportunity to actually learn how to use the de-esser, even though in the end I'd likely go the route you suggested anyway.

Edit: I just watched this video showing that Reaper lets you select a time segment, and use Ctrl+Shift+MouseDrag to quickly build volume envelopes. That's a time saver I wish I knew about that'll make this much easier. I should spend more time reading the manual, little things like this make a big difference!

Hi, Marty.

Thanks, I appreciate your positive comments!

I'm still a bit on the fence about the drums, but probably too lazy to change them.

After a while, things start to grow on you... even parts of the song you might not have been so keen on from the start.

Hi, Herb.

Actually, there were a number of things that I skipped, like fixing the level of the plosives and sibilants. Gotta go back and do that now. I also didn't do the usual shaping with the other Parameters, because I was happy with the results as they are. I might go back and see if playing with those makes any difference.

You know the story - you're never finished with a song, you just run out of time.


I keep promising myself I'll do it the other way round, but I never do. It feels like I don't have a natural-born storyteller bone in my body. Instead, writing is a process of refining via editing, and it takes a while to figure out what a song wants to be.

David Snyder kindly gave me a chorus the other month, and I found I couldn't do anything with it. I just haven't figured out how to make my brain work that way. I suspect that a lot of it has to do with my inner editor insisting that I try to write something original, despite the fact that it's all been said before, and said better.

I think one of the reason this "backwards" process works with me is that eventually my inner editor to throw his hands up in exasperation and accepts that it's OK to write a simple song.


I'd like to take some credit here, but a lot of it is the program.

Plus, I've heard what others done that just blows me away. It reminds me that there's still a lot that I need to learn!


There's another place where I skimped. I've got a bunch of speaker simulations that let me test the mix under different settings. And I haven't listened to it in my car yet - the most brutal of all test for the mixes!

Thanks for your in-depth comments!

Hey man. This sounds cool. Loved that style. I will have to try that one out myself.

Really nice arrangement here.

On the finger squeaks, I mentioned elsewhere that I lucked into an inexpensive version of Rx9 Standard and they "have an app for that." It works really well and is super easy. I will be using it a lot.

There was not enough information about your process though. Could you add a few more pages???

Hi, David.

Glad you could make it by!

I have a feeling that your song using this style will be entirely different than anything I could imagine!



Way back when, I'd purchased Spectro for doing spectral edits. But it's now built into Reaper, so I could have used that.

But why do it the right way when the quick and dirty solution works just as well?


That's what I'm doing responding to people's comments. Can't you tell?

Thanks for listening and commenting!

Spring with quite deep melancholy, surprising combination. Not inside looking out, but outside looking in.
Interesting chord progression, wasn't sure whether there was a discord, but it works anyway.
Nice calm arrangement, I like especially the cello and picking guitars.
Qing Su has a nice voice, little bit breathy, but doesn't bother me.
And I'll be waiting for your song with a chorus in it

Janne

Firstly we enjoyed reading the track listing, the fx section and the entire backstory.
I wish more folks would include "how it came about" and "what's in it" info.

Janice immediately noted how much she likes the prosody of this ... and all your lyrics.

We like the new singer and, yes, she does have a bit of the Vega vibe ... had to sneak in an alteration.

Nine RT's and a RD and yet the mix sets up an excellent soundstage.
That ain't easy to do in our book.

Last but assuredly not least the melody is excellent.

Dunno how you do it but you do it well and we enjoyed the listens.

J&B

Amazing vocal AI ... I have never heard a AI sound so real. Where do you get this from?

Hi, Janne.


Well, there's a season of Lent that precedes the Easter that's traditionally a time for introspection and change. So it's sort of baked into my Liturgical calendar, even if I stubbornly refuse to make any progress from year to year.


Good ears! It flirts just a bit with chromaticism and a bit of ambiguity of key in places.


Thanks! There are some really pretty sounds in BiaB, and these are some of my favorite.


I'm glad the voice worked for you.


That makes two of us - I'll see what I can do.

Thanks for stopping to comment!

Janne [/quote]

Chorus? What chorus?

David, amazing write. Neat mix of genres. Very creative stuff. Robo girl stood up well against this non-mainstream tune. Mix is excellent to my ears. Smooth listen. Good one!
Thank you for sharing.

Misha.

P.S. I have a non-BIAB musical buddy. He was playing around with vocal synths for BGVs, but when I played your last song for him, he was totally blown away.

David,

Very sweet song!
SynthesizerV: Qing Su is wonderful.
And the drum sound is so interesting.

I think that the chord progression is well devised, including the pedal point of the bass.
However, since various melody motifs come out, that is, the composition of the song is a little complicated, I am worried that it is difficult to remember all the melodies.

But the whole atmosphere is very nice. It's very comfortable.
I also think Qing's voice fits this song very well.
Enjoyed my listen a lot.

Best regards.

Shigeki Adachi

Remarkable quality of the vocal synth, delivering a cleverly rhyming set of lyrics.

Your choice of band members sits perfectly with this song, and the subsequent 'tweaking' has provided a worthwhile result.

Nice job, no question.

Hi, Bud (& Janice!)


I'm sure that for some people, songwriting really is a matter of just sitting down and writing lyrics. But it doesn't seem to work that way for me. Getting my brain to think like a songwriter (instead of self-absorbed and unobservant software developer) is tough


Thanks! There's something about putting down the rhythm first that points to particular phrasings. It can be infuriating when it doesn't work. It's almost like solving a crossword puzzle.


Heh. Well played!


Ironically, I was thinking that I was actually using less tracks than usual.

Mostly, I like to have texture and instrument change between sections, so the guitars are mostly strummed guitars, to give contrast the fingerpicked guitars, or the cello to give some relief from the violin. They're all lovely sounds, but they can wear out their novelty after a bit.

That, any way too much time listening to The Alan Parsons Project!


You're making me blush.

Do go on...


Thanks for stopping to listen, and all the nice words!

Hi, Elliott.

I'm using a program called SynthesizerV. You can find the free "Basic" version of the software here, and the Lite version of Eleanor Forte AI voice here, and the Lite version of the Solaria voice here. The free versions have non-commercial use restrictions, and the Basic Studio lacks some of the more advanced features.

There's no current manual, but you can find the video tutorial here.

The voice I'm using here is Qing Su, which is a Chinese voicebank. However, some the AI voices use the advanced Studio's "trans-lingual" feature, which allows them to sing in English, Japanese and Chinese.

If you've got any questions, you can shoot me a message.

Hi, Misha.

Ha! You're exactly right about that.


Good to hear, especially from you!


Even though I work with these programs regularly, people are posting things that completely fool me. They can only do certain things in narrow constraints - but they're starting to get really good within those bounds.

Thanks for stopping to comment!

Hi, Shigeki.

Thanks!

I'm still really curious to see if you'll do anything with this program. Of course, you've got excellent singers, so it's entirely unnecessary.


I agree - that's one of the problems with the song. I rewrote the melody for the bridge, and then decided to use both versions.

I liked how it sounded... but you're right. It's got too much going on, and in a pop song, less really is more. It's asking too much of the listener.


Thanks again!

I really liked the tone of her voice - and her English is a lot better than the male trans-lingual voices. Of course, that may be fixed later.

I'm glad my favorite string arranger on the forum was able to stop by!

Thanks!


Good to hear. Sometimes too much tweaking just makes it... much worse.

Amazing work with the robot voice. The phrasing is sounding more and more natural. Again---amazing!
Lovely melody. Instrumentation feels seamless.

David,

You are becoming—scratch that, you have become—a maestro of the vocaloid. It’s moves along so smoothly, mellifluously—and those harmonies are lovely. The arrangement is stellar. Boy, seems I'm late to the party listening to this, but glad I found my way to it. Outstanding!

All my best,

Deej

Thanks! I'm glad it came together!

But I think it's synthesis software that's adding to the naturalness - not me. I suspect that they're training it on larger chunks of audio, or something.

I'm still a bit on the fence about some of the percussion, but I think I'll leave it alone and come back to it once my ears are rested.

I'm glad you could stop by to comment - thanks for the kind words.

Thanks, Deej!

I appreciate you mentioning the arrangement and harmonies!

Thanks for the nice words!

Hey David,

I really liked this. The band sounds great and I'm pretty impressed with how good you have that synth voice sounding!

I use a lot of IK Multimedia products myself. I love Sunset Sound Studio (looking forward to adding the Fame Studio down the road), and I use the Lurrsen Mastering Console as well. I also recommend T-Racks 5 for mastering, all the modules work great as DAW plugins as well.

Nice Job!

Greg

David, I am really impressed with your synth vocal work. You are a master of that technology. You have made me a believer.

Your skills as a musician highlighted the vocal with your outstanding composing, phrasing and mixing skills.

This is your best to date IMHO.

Loved it.

This song just about slipped by me. Lovely song David. I must say your vocaloids are sounding so really. Awesome work. Really well done.

Hi, Greg.

Thanks!


I'm trying to resist diving to deep into IK Multimedia. There are upgrades for Modo Bass and Modo Drums coming out that are threatening to empty my wallet.

IK also has a habit of putting out products that includes displays of products that I haven't purchased yet, as if I haven't spent enough money already!

Most of what I need is already in my DAW, so I suspect it's really just a matter of learning to use the tools that I've already got.

Thanks for listening and commenting!

Hi, Mario.

Well, they certainly are useful in helping me put together songs in a house that's entirely unfit for recording in, that's for sure!


Wow! Now I just have to make the next song even better!

Thanks for your detailed comments, I appreciate them!

Hi, Scott.

Thanks, I'm glad you enjoyed listening!

Beautiful song, really beautiful lyrics. And the AI voice worked really well, here. Well done!

Another excellent production. I love how the lyrics fit the vocalist. I just imagine an AI pining for a lost love. Outstanding.

Hi dcuny,

Very nice composition. I like the lyrics and the vocals. Everything is well done. I appreciated.

Kindly regard
Derochette
alias JaniJackFlash

Hi David,

I had a holiday and no contact with the forum.
So I'm a bit late to judge your song. But I read a lot of the posts on it, all positive!
And that is exactly my feeling too. You made a very nice song, nice melody and the vocals are very, very, very close to real humans. It's getting dangerous now for the humans...
I only had some hesitations on 0:58 and 2:17. To my opinion the vocals could use a pitch correctio there.
But on the other had, the harmony starting at 1:50 was very good.

Can your vocals sing Dutch too? Then I have a song or two in where they could be used. Especially the vocals used in this song.

So, lots of compliments and you earned them!

Happy Eastern, or take care with eating to much eggs!
Hans

I dropped by for another listen.
This time I ignored the source of the voice and just listened to the song.
LOVELY!

Hi, David !


What a wonderful tune and so
delicately sung too ! I´m
completely awed at what can
be done with modern technology !

She sounds just like a real singer !!

WOW !

Cheers
Dani

Thanks!

I appreciate you taking the time to listen!

Hi, Sean!

Yeah, it's nobody knows how hard it is to be an AI.

But seriously, thanks for listening and the kind words.

Hi, Derochette.

Thanks - I'm glad you liked it!

Thanks!


Yeah, it's a bit dissonant. At some point I need to re-mix it, so I'll see how I feel about it then.


In case anyone is curious about the answer, I sent Hans a PM.

There are only a handful of phonemes that Dutch has that are lacking in English so it could be done. But Hans suggested that sticking with English - at first, anyway - is the safer approach.

Thanks, Ray!

I've been busy with other stuff, so I haven't been able to get to the forum in a bit.

So imagine my surprise to see the song back on the front page again.

I had a listen to the mix in my car, and... well, the car speakers are brutal to mixes.

I'll just say it's due for a bit of a re-balancing when I get the time and energy.

Thanks again!

Hi, Dani.

I'm glad you liked the song.

Yes - this technology is very cool. Not the same as having a real singer, but a lot better than having none at all.

Thanks for stopping and commenting!

A nice piece!
You've come a long way.

moto

Hi David
Sounds fantastic
The vocals are absolutely top
The song itself is perfectly arranged
and has a great melody
This is really outstanding David
Many greetings
Andi ;-)

Wow David! You put an incredible amount of work into this beautiful song! You really made an extensive use of the BIAB program in this! A total pro job all the way around on this! Thanks, Torrey