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Ulysses - based on the poem by Lord Alfred Tennyson

The long day fades,
the slow moon rises,
voices call me from the deep.

My ship will sail beyond the sunset
across the endless sea.

I will drink life to the lees
Through the scutting drifts vexed by the Hyades

Far away, far apart
Always roaming with a hungry heart

Weak by time and fate,
but back in the old days
we could move heaven and earth
Now we are old and grey

Come my friends,
It's not to late to seek the new world.
To strive, to seek, to find,
and not yield.



The Band
Bass: RealTracks ~700:Bass, Electric, PopHalfNotesPush Ev 085
Piano: RealTracks 892:Piano, Acoustic, Solo-Accompaniment PopLiverpool Ev 065 (A-simple)
Acoustic Guitar 1: RealTracks 3906:Guitar, Acoustic, Rhythm SongwriterSlow16DADGAD Ev16 060
Acoustic Guitar 1:RealTracks ~1676:Guitar, Acoustic, Fingerpicking CountryBrent Ev 065
Drums: RealDrums [NashvilleEven16^3-a:Sidestick, HiHat , b:Snare, HiHat Open
12 String Guitar: Strummed Acoustic 2
Percussion: UJam One
Strings: Orchestral Tools LA Sessions (Studio Strings)
Oboe: 8dio 8diOboe
Trumpet: Embertone Chapman Trumpet
Lead Vocal: SynthesizerV (Anri AI)
Backing Vocal: SynthesizerV (Eleanor Forte AI)

The Processing Chain
Master Buss: Greg Wells MixCentric (GW Party Started), Lurssen Mastering Console (Americana Loose (Less Glue))
Main Vocal: Greg Wells VoiceCentric (GQ Lead Vocal), LX40 Essentials (Plate)
Backing Vocal: Real ADT (Subtle Vocal ADT), GW VoiceCentric (GW Backing Vocal)
Drums: EZMix (Drum Buss), EZMix (Drum Room 2), ReaEQ
Percussion: Vulf Compressor (Master Hump)
Bass: EZMix (Bass Control), ReaEQ
Guitar 1: EZMix (Guitar 3)
Guitar 2: EZMix (Acoustic Guitar with Reverb)
Piano: EZMix (Piano2), EZMix (Studio B), ReaEQ
Oboe: Raum (Grounded)
Strings: Raum (Grounded)

The Story
The song started with the JBALLAD.STY. I decided to try something different and use a fairly simple chord progression.

Once I brought the backing tracks into my DAW, I realized that it was too long and repetitive. Normally, I'd go back into BiaB and fix it there, but I started slicing and dicing and moving things around, all the while hoping that I wasn't going to have to change the key of the song, or I might end up with a lot of lost work.

Spoiler: Of course I ended up having to change the key.

Once I had the form to something shorter (perhaps a bit too short), I imported it into Synthesizer V to work on the melody. Once that was done, I tried simplifying things, but old habits die hard.

Then I started working on the lyrics, but... nothing.

I had a vague idea of a ship on the sea, but wasn't sure if it would be literal or metaphorical. I remembered my Dad used to have a poster in his office of a boat sailing, with a portion of the poem Ulysses by Lord Alfred Tennyson:

      How dull it is to pause, to make an end,
      To rust unburnished, not to shine in use!


Ironically, these key lines didn't make it into the final edit of the song.

Since it was written in 1833, the poem is in the Public Domain. I consider using poems a bit of a cheat, but only because I'm trying to learn songwriting. But it had been a couple of days, and I wasn't making any real progress on the lyrics.

I decided to keep as much of the original language as I could. There are a few words that are completely archaic, and I may decide to go back and replace them. Specifically:

      I will drink life to the lees
      Through the scutting drifts vexed by the Hyades


Once all the words were worked out, it was obvious that I'd picked a terrible key for the singer. I'd used the new Anri voice, although I really envisioned this as something more suited for the Cangqiong voicebank, which I unfortunately don't have yet. I'm not terribly unhappy with the results, but I would have liked to have a voice with a bit more oooph to it.

So I pitched it down to somewhere that sounded better, and regenerated the backing tracks. Fortunately, all the edits stayed in place, and the instruments that carried the melody were all MIDI, so it was much less painful than it might have been.

I worked on the string parts next. Since I keep bugging Shigeki that he should use trills and stuff, I figured it would be hypocritical not to do that myself. wink The parts are simple, but I think they turned out nicely.

I'd been intended to use an English Horn in one of my songs for a while, and had just bought a bunch of sampled double reeds. Ironically, I ended up using the 8diOboe instead - an instrument that I was deeply disappointed with when I got it, but it seemed to fit better than my shiny new sample libraries. Go figure.

I then went back and worked on the articulation. There's currently a bug in SynthesizerV, so there's some EQ to minimize that.

My son then went in and did some polishing. There's not really a whole lot going on in the arrangement - most of the interesting things are happening in the string section.

Any and all comments welcome! laugh


-- David Cuny
My virtual singer development blog

Vocal control, you say. Never heard of it. Is that some kind of ProTools thing?
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For me, this is the best I've heard since you started working with synth voices. But it isn't just the voices that is good about this. The arrangement gets equal billing. The lyrical source was brilliant, too, IMHO. If I have to search for something critical, I would say the harmonies (slightly) reveal the synth nature of the voices more than the lead vocal by itself does (to my ears).

Way to go, this is really a triumph!


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The opening vocal has a different quality, is that the new kid? A chompier attack, more vibrato, more energy. Closer to human.

Excellent production, but of course, of a solid composition.

I hope you don’t really think of these pieces as mere demos because the singing is synthetic! No, it is not human singing, but it is what it is and you are VERY good at making it happen. You are building a set of compositional techniques with this software analogous to what a particular singer masters when developing their individual physical body and understanding of how to drive it. The better the software gets, the more distinctive your singer will be, so, lean it to it, I say. Your singers need not look down and drag their toes in the dirt when a human walks past.

PS – It is good, I think, not to overly focus on the synth aspect by posting the bot specs in the title. One actually has to read through your post quite a ways before one gets that, oh, this will feature an other-than-human singer, and I like that. Music and words, that's what we have here, who or whatever sings them.

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Alfred, Lord Tennyson would be pleased.
I REALLY like the backing and the melody but was/am a little disappointed by the synthvocal on this one. Some clever work but it doesn't carry the Voctorian man with them.


Cheers
rayc
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Really good, David!

I haven't heard all of the music you have created using the synth vocals, but of the ones I've heard, this one is a stand out for me. Not perfect, but getting closer.

The song itself is wonderful, you had me hooked right from that melodic intro, and I really like the arrangement too.

Listened twice, liked it even more the second time. Well done!

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Wow, David. First of all, I really like the explanation of how the tune developed into this wonderful song. Man, that oboe is a great opening. I tried using it once, but switched it out for a soprano sax. The trumpet worked out marvelously too. Those synth voices work really well, and it's a really good melody, too.


Enjoy whatever happens!
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Beautiful production... I'm amazed by the tech, & talent. I love it.


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Originally Posted By: TuneMonger
For me, this is the best I've heard since you started working with synth voices. But it isn't just the voices that is good about this. The arrangement gets equal billing. The lyrical source was brilliant, too, IMHO.

Thanks!

Quote:
If I have to search for something critical, I would say the harmonies (slightly) reveal the synth nature of the voices more than the lead vocal by itself does (to my ears).

You're right about that. There are a couple places that I went back and reworked, but it still retains a very auto-tuned sound. I removed the "doubling" effect on the harmony vocal that was adding, but only help a small amount.

Quote:
Way to go, this is really a triumph!

I'm making a note here: "Huge success". wink (Sorry, couldn't resist)

Thanks again!


-- David Cuny
My virtual singer development blog

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Originally Posted By: Mark Hayes
The opening vocal has a different quality, is that the new kid? A chompier attack, more vibrato, more energy. Closer to human.

It's the Anri voice. I think it's got a voice which is a bit more youthful than Eleanor Forte, and probably not the best match for the lyric. There's another voice that's available (now that the Japanese and Chinese voices support cross-lingual synthesis) that I'd trying to get a hold of that I think would work better.

But you use what you've got, right?

Quote:
Excellent production, but of course, of a solid composition.

Thanks! It wasn't until the final polishing of the song that things started falling into place. Halfway through the lyric, I would have sworn it would never work.

Goes to show what I know! wink

Quote:
I hope you don’t really think of these pieces as mere demos because the singing is synthetic!

Well... yes, that's exactly why I think of them as demos. They give a good performance, as do the string samples. But given my druthers, I'd prefer a slightly more nuanced version.

Most of the improvements are on the side of the software, not in my own skills. But I also think that "writing to the instrument" is also part of it. Things that the voice can't do at all will get thrown out in the compositional process, and things that work well I'll lean into - like being able to write cool harmonies.

Quote:
PS – It is good, I think, not to overly focus on the synth aspect by posting the bot specs in the title. One actually has to read through your post quite a ways before one gets that, oh, this will feature an other-than-human singer, and I like that.

Yeah, dropping that was intentional. Most people on the forum who listen to my songs already know I'm using robots.

And.. .well, one actually has to read through my post quite a ways to get to anything, don't they? laugh

Thanks for stopping by and commenting!


-- David Cuny
My virtual singer development blog

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Lots of things to enjoy in this song: nice lyrics - growing old but positively, the chord progression, vocals sound very natural and clear together with nice harmonies and smooth slides, lovely oboe melodies (really sets the sails of the mood), great work with the strings.

Janne


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This is very nice!

You obviously have put a lot of work into all aspects of this song.

The virtual voices are quite good, I think. Much better than any i have heard before.


If I may , I would like to make a small suggestion:

When the singer is holding a note, the singer should sing through the note in a dynamic fashion.
A real singer usually would not hold a note at the exact same dynamic throughout a note, but would vary the dynamic slightly as the note progresses. i know it could mean a lot of work for you, but i think would add to the realism a little.


You've really done a great job! i'm really impressed with the quality of your virtual vocalists.

-rob

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Originally Posted By: rayc
Alfred, Lord Tennyson would be pleased.

Heh. I don't actually know much about the man. smile

There were a lot of ideas that were left out of the poem, because there was very little space for lyrics. So it's just a very superficial reading.

But from that perspective, it was a good exercise in refining the lyrics down to a single idea.

Quote:
I REALLY like the backing and the melody but was/am a little disappointed by the synth vocal on this one. Some clever work but it doesn't carry the Victorian man with them.
Yeah, I really wish I had a male voice that was a better match. That's one place where SynthV is behind. And all the planned male English vocals are youthful.

But that's just something that I had to shrug about and move on, unfortunately.

Thanks for the comments!


-- David Cuny
My virtual singer development blog

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Originally Posted By: BlueAttitude
Really good, David!

Thanks, Dave! smile

Quote:
I haven't heard all of the music you have created using the synth vocals, but of the ones I've heard, this one is a stand out for me. Not perfect, but getting closer.

Good to hear! I actually didn't spend as much time finessing the vocals. But it's a new iteration of the voices, so I didn't have to.

Some things, like the release of some consonants, are handled better in this version. And I - rather belatedly - found a better range for the vocal, which I think helped.

Quote:
The song itself is wonderful, you had me hooked right from that melodic intro, and I really like the arrangement too.

Thanks! laugh

I think it's structurally a good write. The bookending of the lyric, the bridge - I think these help the song "work" a bit more.

Plus, there are more melody instruments, so the vocals don't have to do all the heavy lifting and there's a bit more variety in the arrangement.


Quote:
Listened twice, liked it even more the second time. Well done!

Glad to hear it! I appreciate you stopping by to comment. smile


-- David Cuny
My virtual singer development blog

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Originally Posted By: BabuMusic
First of all, I really like the explanation of how the tune developed into this wonderful song

Thanks, Marty!

Quote:
Man, that oboe is a great opening. I tried using it once, but switched it out for a soprano sax.

I the double reeds, but in a lot of cases, there's not that much difference between an oboe and a soprano sax... Which is also a wonderful instrument.

Quote:
The trumpet worked out marvelously too. Those synth voices work really well, and it's a really good melody, too.

Good to know. The Chapman trumpet really nails that "Last Post" sort of sound, so it's always nice to find a place where it can be used.

Thanks for the nice comments! smile


-- David Cuny
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Originally Posted By: bloc-head
Beautiful production... I'm amazed by the tech, & talent. I love it.
Thanks - I'm glad you enjoyed it! smile


-- David Cuny
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Originally Posted By: jannesan
Lots of things to enjoy in this song: nice lyrics - growing old but positively, the chord progression, vocals sound very natural and clear together with nice harmonies and smooth slides, lovely oboe melodies (really sets the sails of the mood), great work with the strings.

Thanks, Janne.

The 8diOboe is a pain to work with - it requires a lot of fiddling with note position to get the attacks to work correctly - but has a raw, rustic sound. The intro was longer than I'd have liked, but it gave me a chance to use it, so... smile

I've said before that songwriting is sometimes just an excuse to use all these lovely sounds I've collected and actually use them. And I got to use a bunch of them in this song!

Thanks for the nice words!


-- David Cuny
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Originally Posted By: robsmusic
This is very nice!

Hi, Rob.

Thanks! smile

Quote:
When the singer is holding a note, the singer should sing through the note in a dynamic fashion.

Yes, you're 100% right about that.

I need to go back and work on some of the arcs. I know how to do it with the "Standard" voices, but the new "AI" voices aren't quite as responsive. But that's no excuse - there aren't that many notes to edit, and the song would be better for it.

Thanks for the feedback - it encourages me to work harder!


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Amazing stuff, David.

Vic

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David,

Killer opening. The mix there is exceptional. LOVE the drum sound - especially the snare. And the oboe (?) is stunning.

The bass is SO good - both its sound and its line.
The strings are VERY nicely supportive.

A beautiful song. Nice job on both lyric and melody.

I like this singer. Especially when combined with the harmony (The harmony is outstanding, too). In both voices there is a hint of Judy Collins (her high voice and her low voice). I suppose it helps that this sounds like a song Judy Collins would have recorded.

A superb mix. Really clear. With a perfectly subtle "punch".

fj

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Loved that intro! That bass is outstanding. Loved the trumpet.

But that synth vocal took it over the top for me. You are the synth vocal master for sure.

Fantastic piece of work.


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David,
EXCELLENT work! Very wholesome tune. I will echo some comments on naturality of the vocals and your training of that robo girl. She is getting closer to real one. Super arrangement and mix. Listens very well. Thank you for sharing.

Misha.

P.S. I bet it would make old Lord's T hair move if he heard it in his day (in a good way, rhythmically :))

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Originally Posted By: vicarn
Amazing stuff, David.

Hi, Vic.

Thanks for listening!


-- David Cuny
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Originally Posted By: floyd jane
Killer opening. The mix there is exceptional. LOVE the drum sound - especially the snare. And the oboe (?) is stunning.

The bass is SO good - both its sound and its line.

The strings are VERY nicely supportive.

Hi, floyd jane.

I'm always thinking about your prior comments, especially when mixing bass and drums. Those credit parts mostly goes to the BiaB players, and my son.

And yes - that's an oboe. smile

Quote:
A beautiful song. Nice job on both lyric and melody.

Thanks, that means a lot. I tried to keep a relatively light touch with the lyric and keep as much of the original words as possible. I'm still working on not "trying so hard" on the melody line.

Quote:
I like this singer. Especially when combined with the harmony (The harmony is outstanding, too). In both voices there is a hint of Judy Collins (her high voice and her low voice). I suppose it helps that this sounds like a song Judy Collins would have recorded.

I'm surprised how well the vocalist worked out. I had in mind a different sort of timbre when I was working through the lyrics, but once I took got her into the right register, that "Judy Collins" quality came out.

I think there are two features that distinguish her from the prior voice: she doesn't over-articulate, and she's less nasal.

That meant I had to go back and boost a bunch of plosives and sibilants to add clarity. But it's easier to do that than try to remove a vocal feature.

Quote:
A superb mix. Really clear. With a perfectly subtle "punch".

Again, thanks for that. When I worked on the vocal, the backing track was really heavy with the acoustic guitars. I got used to that sound, and I was a sad to lose that sound. But I'm pretty happy with the final result. smile


-- David Cuny
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Originally Posted By: MarioD
Loved that intro! That bass is outstanding. Loved the trumpet.

Hi, Mario.

It's nice to finally be able to work a double reed into a song.

Quote:
But that synth vocal took it over the top for me. You are the synth vocal master for sure.

Well, I can't really take credit - the AI voices keep getting better with each iteration.

Quote:
Fantastic piece of work.

Thanks! I appreciate the positive comments. laugh


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Originally Posted By: Rustyspoon#
EXCELLENT work! Very wholesome tune. I will echo some comments on naturality of the vocals and your training of that robo girl. She is getting closer to real one. Super arrangement and mix. Listens very well. Thank you for sharing.

Hi, Misha.

I'm glad you enjoyed it! Each iteration of these singers is getting better, and it's fun to write for a singer who doesn't complain even when you keep revising the song over and over. laugh

Thanks for stopping and commenting!


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David,

This is a classy sounding piece of music! Loved the intro...instruments sound great! The song has a lovely melody! You crafted your arrangement so well! The instrumental break with the horn solo is perfect! Love the strings also! Great job! Thanks, Torrey




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Very cool song David. As I have said before that vocaloid blows me away. With harmonies yet. Just an awesome tune. Excellent mix and instrumentation. Drums were excellent. Well done


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Your offerings are always very impressive to me. Your stable of singers are sounding more and more...um, human. This is a lovely song. The music fits the subject perfectly. Using old poems for lyrics is not cheating. Many of the great songwriters use Public Domain material (and even stuff that's not in the Public Domain) - i.e., Bob Dylan for starters.

Great work here.


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Originally Posted By: Torrey Bliss
This is a classy sounding piece of music! Loved the intro...instruments sound great! The song has a lovely melody! You crafted your arrangement so well! The instrumental break with the horn solo is perfect! Love the strings also! Great job!

Hi, Torrey!

I appreciate you pointing things out.

I think I've mentioned that I collect sampled instruments with the hopes of being able to work them into songs, and it's nice to be able to use some of my favorite sounds.

Plus, I can then justify the purchases. wink

Thanks for taking the time to listen and comment!


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Originally Posted By: Scott C
Very cool song David. As I have said before that vocaloid blows me away. With harmonies yet. Just an awesome tune. Excellent mix and instrumentation. Drums were excellent. Well done

Hi, Scott.

I'm a bit surprised that Yamaha let their Vocaloids fall so far behind - it seems they stagnated for years. On the other hand, each update SynthesizerV seems to incorporate fairly cutting-edge technology.

For my purposes, the SynthesizerV voices work really well, but I just wish there was more variety to the voices. They've just recently announced cross-lingual synthesis, where their voices can be trained to sing in other language, with very little accent remaining. For example, here's the Cangqiong voicebank, which is Chinese, using the cross-lingual feature to sing in English:

https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1134y167fc

This voice is still in beta, but I'm looking forward to getting a copy and playing with it - it would be nice to have a more mature voice with more oomph than the soft female English vocals that are currently available.

Thanks for the nice comments! laugh


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Originally Posted By: jptjptjpt
Your offerings are always very impressive to me. Your stable of singers are sounding more and more...um, human. This is a lovely song. The music fits the subject perfectly.

Hi, Sean.

I'm glad to hear it. I would have rather used a more mature male voice here, but I think the Anri voice has a degree of wistfulness that it brings to the song.

Quote:
Using old poems for lyrics is not cheating. Many of the great songwriters use Public Domain material (and even stuff that's not in the Public Domain) - i.e., Bob Dylan for starters.

I agree - I've actually done To One In Paradise based on the the poem by Poe.

But one of my goal is to get some better writing skills, and using someone else's words won't get me there.

On the other hand, once I realized that I basically rewriting the poem, I figured that I should just commit to it and move ahead.

Quote:
Great work here.

Thanks! smile


-- David Cuny
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Hi David,

I can agree with everyone who said this is one of your best performances with the artificial vocals.
Hands down on that!

It must have been a hell of a job to make it sounds as it does, I suppose.

But I hope you will allow me to make a few "buts";
Maybe some more room reverb and wideness will do good in the song.
And I had hoped for some more vocal harmonies. What I heard was beatiful, so I wanted more ;-)
Also I would have let the female vocals ended high or up in the last 2 words where the song ends. Now the voice went down.

But see all this as part of my growing enthusiasm for what you are doing!

Hans


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'dcuny'...

This poem-to-music effort of yours, 'Ulysses', very successfully communicated to me the overwhelming compulsion our ancestors possessed to explore the places and spaces that they imagined existed beyond the limits of their land-bound sight. What courage they possessed! Surely, the vastness of the ocean and its titanic motion must have been intimidating, but they conquered their fears and in doing so brought the peoples of this world together for better, or worse.

Mr. Tennyson's words as edited by you are epic in their import, and yet your musical scoring of the text has a gentle, folksy texture, even, that effectively and quietly contrasts the drama inherent in the poetry.

Because music creation is, for me, almost always about conjuring feelings, I hardly ever comment on the technical aspects of a user's production. I leave that to other listeners who possess more 'expertise' in such matters. As User's Forum member Mark Hayes said in his comments, "Music and words, that's what we have here, who or whatever sings them." However, in the case of 'Ulysses', I must mention how 'realistic' and expressive the oboe and trumpet solos sound. The abrupt ending of the composition was so unexpected that it caused my mind to impose its own fade-out of the volume, which is simply an indicator of how much I enjoyed listening to the song and did not want it to end so quickly smile.

Last edited by bluage; 01/09/22 04:17 AM.

"Music is what feelings sound like."-- borrowed from a Cakewalk Music Creator forum member, "Mamabear".
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Originally Posted By: Birchwood
But I hope you will allow me to make a few "buts";
Maybe some more room reverb and wideness will do good in the song.
And I had hoped for some more vocal harmonies. What I heard was beatiful, so I wanted more ;-)
Also I would have let the female vocals ended high or up in the last 2 words where the song ends. Now the voice went down.

Hi, Hans.

Thanks for the feedback!

I may go back and do a bit of additional widening on the mix. Usually I'll throw a stereo widener in just to do exactly that, but I didn't this time. This arrangement is intentionally a bit simpler than I usually do, and I kept the strings fairly simple as well.

I intentionally did the same with the vocals - there's only one place where the harmony echoes the melody; in the remainder it's fairly simple. I picked a simpler chord progression as well.

As for the ending cadence... well, I've always - and probably incorrectly - read a bit of a melancholy into the poem. So for me personally, it fits.

But you're probably right about that, too. laugh


-- David Cuny
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Vocal control, you say. Never heard of it. Is that some kind of ProTools thing?
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Originally Posted By: bluage
However, in the case of 'Ulysses', I must mention how 'realistic' and expressive the oboe and trumpet solos sound. The abrupt ending of the composition was so unexpected that it caused my mind to impose its own fade-out of the volume, which is simply an indicator of how much I enjoyed listening to the song and did not want it to end so quickly

Hi, Loren.

I appreciate your detailed comments.

It's always better to stop a bit too soon and leave someone wanting a bit more, than to continue and have them wish you would stop, right? wink

Thanks for stopping and commenting!


-- David Cuny
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Originally Posted By: dcuny
I appreciate your detailed comments.

It's always better to stop a bit too soon and leave someone wanting a bit more, than to continue and have them wish you would stop, right? wink



Yup!


"Music is what feelings sound like."-- borrowed from a Cakewalk Music Creator forum member, "Mamabear".
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Hi, David !

...and a Happy New Year too !

IMO this is absolutely
sensational , though I do understand
that vocaloid voices in fact
are human voices ( or am I wrong
when I presume that the original
voices have been modulated from a human ?)
In any case human or not, this is
just marvellous in every aspect !
I can imagine that there has been a lot of
work going into this project, maybe even
more than I can understand and the result
is just wonderful, a masterpiece !

Thanks David for this treat !

Cheers
Dani

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Far and away the best we've heard. floyd's mention of Judy Collins was spot on. The lead and harmonies are remarkable. Keep that lead vocal lady on retainer.

The word here is CREATIVE. Apply it to the synth vocals, the lyric idea, the arrangement and the massive amount of work to produce it all. You have the patience of Job -- forgive us if we've said that before. But, man, it's hard to imagine the amount of thought and computer effort to do this.

The band is high bar indeed. The strings, the oboe and trumpet and THOSE drums (we are suckers for a snare that pops) -- everything is working to present a great soundstage. Our collective heads would still be spinning if we glanced at your DAW.

Would say more about the vocals but kinda speechless...even after four listens. We were both thumbing up from the first couple of vocal bars.

Great and thoughtful listen.

J&B


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Really nice production David.

Very pretty.

Great arrangement and mix.

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Great work. Good composition and well-done vocals. One of your best tracks (of those I've heard)!

There was a lot of hype about Anri, but I actually think Eleanor still sounds the best. Personal taste I guess.

Looking forward to that new American voice coming out later this month. The demos sound good.

Again... very good track!
Will

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Originally Posted By: dani48
IMO this is absolutely sensational , though I do understand that vocaloid voices in fact are human voices ( or am I wrong when I presume that the original voices have been modulated from a human ?)

You are correct. The voice provider basically has to sing thousands of nonsense syllables so there's a collection of transitions from any English phoneme to any other English phoneme. And in English, that's a lot of phonemes.

Quote:
In any case human or not, this is just marvelous in every aspect !
I can imagine that there has been a lot of work going into this project, maybe even more than I can understand and the result is just wonderful, a masterpiece !

Thanks, I appreciate the kind words!

While it's certainly harder than simply singing, this method gives me a chance to play around with different notes and lyrics. And it makes it easy to re-record the vocals, even if my daughter is in the same room watching Knight Rider (her new favorite old show). laugh


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Originally Posted By: Janice & Bud
Far and away the best we've heard. floyd's mention of Judy Collins was spot on. The lead and harmonies are remarkable. Keep that lead vocal lady on retainer.

I'm happy to have her! Although I just got another vocalist (Solaria), so it'll be interesting to see what she can do as well.

Quote:
The word here is CREATIVE. Apply it to the synth vocals, the lyric idea, the arrangement and the massive amount of work to produce it all. You have the patience of Job -- forgive us if we've said that before. But, man, it's hard to imagine the amount of thought and computer effort to do this.

It's astonishing to think of the kind of resources we've got available to us these days.

Back when I was starting out, I only had a Tascam four-track recorder, an old piano I had restored, a $5 old nylon string guitar and a cheesy DR-22A drum machine.

A decade or so later, upgrading to the MIDI-only version of BiaB running through my JV-80 felt like opulence!

Now I've got a RealTracks band, physically modeled instruments, synthetic vocalists using neural networks and a virtual recording studios.

Too bad my music sensibility is still stuck in the '70s. wink

Quote:
The band is high bar indeed. The strings, the oboe and trumpet and THOSE drums (we are suckers for a snare that pops) -- everything is working to present a great soundstage. Our collective heads would still be spinning if we glanced at your DAW.

Ha! I've read your drum processing routine, and your FX chains.

I suspect you'd find they're no more complex than what you're doing. While I'll labor over the vocals and some other stuff, I'm a big fan of leaving things alone if they are good enough.

Plus, I can usually have my son sit in and finesse the track, even if we disagree on some of his panning decisions. grin

Quote:
Great and thoughtful listen.

Thanks for the kind words! It's really encouraging. laugh


-- David Cuny
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Originally Posted By: David Snyder

Really nice production David.

Very pretty.

Great arrangement and mix.

Thanks, David!

Your songs are an inspiration. I sometimes get caught in minutia of polishing and production, tweaking the motes and focusing on the details.

In the meantime, you're writing song after song. And while they're well done, what I hear first and foremost in each of them passion and heart - something I can lose sight of.

I'm glad you gave it a listen! smile


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Originally Posted By: Will Josef
Great work. Good composition and well-done vocals. One of your best tracks (of those I've heard)!

Hi, Will.

I think the AI voices are just getting better and better.

Quote:
There was a lot of hype about Anri, but I actually think Eleanor still sounds the best. Personal taste I guess.

Most of what I see is from the SynthesizerV Forum, and I didn't see a whole lot of chatter there. The advertisements on ANiCUTE made it almost seem like she was an afterthought to accompany the Eleanor voice.

It's a pleasant vocal, but I think Eleanor has a bit more bite. I've actually gone back and lightly doubled the main vocal with Eleanor in hopes of giving a it a bit more oomph. The two voices blend very well - to the point where I wondered if they took took recordings of the same voice provider, adjusted them, and released it as a different voice.

Quote:
Looking forward to that new American voice coming out later this month. The demos sound good.

It was released a week early for early supporters, but I haven't had a lot of time to experiment with it. I'm working on a song right now, and have just finished working out the melody. The lyrics are currently nothing but "La", and haven't got a clue what the song is going to be about.

So I'll be discovering what the voicebank can do at the same time time I "discover" the lyrics to the song. laugh

Thanks for stopping by to comment!


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Good job, I can really feel the amount of work you put into that song. Really well made, you composed a really beautiful song.

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Crisp and clear sound.

Love the instrumentation, especially that trumpet solo.

Melody floats along nicely.

The synth voices continue to fascinate me...

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