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Time

There is time and there is time
until the coming of the day
time to sail upon ocean
time to let it slip away

There is time for me
and all my friends
no matter how I've grown;
time for wishing on the starry sky
and forgetting what I've known

There's Mister Allistacious
he knows just what to say
He dreams to fill the nighttime
and he listens in the day.
But if there's something he's discovered,
well he's kept it to himself
with all these childhood friends I've got here
sitting on my shelf

Here's Ollie Uncle Elephant,
he's heard all that I've said
and the whispers from my yesterdays
dance inside his sawdust head

For there is time for me
and all my friends
no matter how I've grown
Time for wishing on the starry sky
and forgetting what I've known

There is time for me
and all my friends
no matter how I've grown
time for wishing on the starry sky
and forgetting what I've known

Instruments/Effects
Lead Vocal: SynthV (Natalie) -> Greg Wells VoiceCentric (Lead), LX40 Essentials, Panagement, vocal buss
Backing Vocal: SynthV (Qing Su) -> Greg Wells VoiceCentric (Backing Vocal), Panagement, vocal buss
Backing Vocal: SynthV (Hayden) -> Greg Wells VoiceCentric (Backing Vocal), Panagement, vocal buss
Backing Vocal: SynthV (Kevin) -> Greg Wells VoiceCentric (Backing Vocal), Panagement, vocal buss
Master Buss: HorNeT ThirtyOne MkII, Lurssen (Pop Rock, Warmer)
Reverb Buss: LX 480 Essentials (960 Vocal Plate)
Bass: BiaB, ~2482:Bass, Acoustic, Bowed Held Ev 085
Ac. Gtr x2: BiaB, 1595:Guitar, Acoustic, Fingerpicking Pop8thsSteady Ev 065 -> Panagement (Heaven)
Synth Strings: BiaB, from PJONI.STY -> TrackSpacer, Panagement, Raum (Airy)
Drums: NashPopBallad^03 -> Panagement (Wood)
Violin: SampleModeling Strings, Violin -> Reverb Buss
Viola: SampleModelingStrings, Viola -> Reverb Buss
Cello: SampleModeling Strings, Cello -> Reverb Buss
English Horn: SWAM Woodwinds, English Horn -> Panagement, Reverb Buss
Solo Violin: SampleModeling Strings -> Pangement, Reverb Buss
Celeste: CineSamples, Mister Rogers' Celeste -> Panagement, Reverb Buss
Music Box: Orange Tree Samples, TinyBox -> Panagement, Reverb Buss
Rhodes Piano: The Famous E Electric Piano (Angela) -> Reverb Buss
Tremelo Strings: LA Sessions, Studio Violins (Swells long) -> Reverb Buss


The Story
This is a song I wrote over 30 years ago, semi-inspired by Tom Waits' Time. I made a couple recent attempts to record it, but my voice isn't up to the task.

I decided to have a go at it with SynthV. I'd envisioned it with a male lead, but I auditioned all the voices I had, and Natalie sounds great.

After rendering out the song in BiaB, I imported it into SynthV and worked out the notes. I'd already had the lyrics, so that part was - for once - simple.

Once that was done, I decided to try out some harmonies, so I've got Kevin, Hayden and Weina on the background vocals. I ended up shuffling some of the sections around.

The piano part was very MIDI-ish, so I ended up redoing that myself on a sampled Rhades piano. There's a string pad already, but I thought it might be nice to have a string trio, so I played that using SWAM instruments my EWI.

The extra instruments are playing "gestures" more than melody, and my daughter complained that it needed more melody. So I added a SWAM english horn, also using the EWI.

There's a spot for an instrumental, which after trying various instruments went to the cornet... also played on the EWI.

The music box/celeste was a last minute addition, as the introduction wasn't really working that well. I'd gotten the Mister Rodger's Celeste some time ago, and it's got a lovely sound. I'm glad I finally got a chance to use it.

I added a bit of tremelo string swells, and thought I'd call it a day.

Then my daughter complained that the english horn after the instrumental didn't really fit... something I'd been hoping could slide by. So chopped out half the instrumental so it merged into the chorus, and repeated the chorus. It was something I'd arrived at by accident, but intended to do from the start. So after a bunch of cutting and pasting and making a general mess of things, I think I've got a final version of the song.

The mix might be a little hot, I've been playing around with various mastering effects.

And yeah... I really need to work on coming up with better song titles.

My wife says that the cornet is too much of a "jump scare" and suggested I use a violin instead, even though there's already a violin in the mix. No doubt my schmaltzy playing doesn't help.

Edit: I replaced the cornet solo with a violin, which works much better. I've also replaced the SWAM solo strings with SampleModeling strings, as they are a less synthetic.

As usual, any feedback is welcome. I'll probably continue to tweak this as time goes on.

David,

This is whimsical and beautiful . . . the synth vocal works just perfect . . . as do the BGV harmonies. Really like the cello in the breaks. Yeah, I'm not sure about that horn in the break following "forgetting what I've known" . . . it sounds a bit harsh and not a fit for the tune. I like the horn that follows after the last verse better . . . it's softer and better suits the feel of the tune. Absolutely love, love, love, those vocal harmonies in the close--just brilliant!! You really do work wonders with the vocaloids.

All my best to you,

Deej

Hi, Deej.

Thanks!

There's actually a string trio in there, but the balance/mix obviously needs a bit of work for you to hear that.

I've replaced it with a violin that fits a lot better.

It's an "english horn", neither english nor a horn.

I agree, it's got a lovely sound.

Thanks, they really did this song a lot more justice than I could. I know, because my version was pretty cringeworthy...

Those harmonies are my favorite part of working with the synthetic voices. Once I've got a melody, it's fun to play around with harmonies and see what comes out. Sometimes I get lucky!

Thanks, I appreciate the positive feedback!

David,

Love this... You absolutely own this space. The song, SynthV vocals and production is really outstanding. Backup vocals are wonderful.

Bob

Beautiful.
It's almost (but not quite) a Carpenters song, and I really enjoyed listening to it.

My only (minor) nit is the harmonies, which are beautiful in themselves, but I think the guys somehow don't fit in.
I'd take Cong and Solaria for the job because I know from my songs that they harmonize very well with Natalie.
But I wouldn't worry too much about it, it's very nice the way it is now.
Good job

A beautiful song, you will have to introduce me to your singer. Well done
Laurent

I agree with the above sentiments.
A big masterful effort with the singers getting better and better.

Tom Waits For No One --best all-time album title. Man, I love how you created this, David. There is so much in there and everything sounds to add just the right amount of right. Beautiful song. Great job hiring and developing Natalie. Cool harmony, too. This is so entertaining and good that I had to dive in for another spin. A beautiful song, David, and so well crafted. Time was surely different 30 years ago.

Stylistically this'd probably fit on Heart Attack & Vine if there was a croaky male lead.
Lovely narrative and melody.
Personally I'd drop the snare level or eliminate it entirely.
As I was listening I was mentally comparing this to "On The Nickle" and noted the lack of low mids which makes the track sound a little thin against my brain's template. There's no achieving the grittiness of TW in BIAB I suppose.
Lovely song.

David

Very Pretty song. A lot of work has gone into it, and it shows.

Enjoyed it.

Peter

Wow! The time you spent on this shows up in spectacular fashion. The instruments you used are perfect for this. The vocals are super. The duet towards the end is great! Aside from the pro production and absolutely beautiful melody, the lyrics are poignant and poetic. Can you tell I liked it? Tom

This is beautiful David.

Hey, if you ever need someone who can pull off Tom Waits, give me a holler, but give me enough time to run out and grab some filterless Pall Malls and some Cutty Sark.



Love this tune sir. Well done.

Hi, Bob.

Thanks!

I appreciate you stopping by to listen and comment!

Hi, B.D.

Thanks!

Natalie's got a strong Karen Carpenter vibe, and Karen is one of my favorite singers, so it's a win all around!

I'll try then out and see what happens. I picked the voices because of the clarity of their English, but that's not really necessary for background voices. And the English has gotten a lot better in the last release.

I like the sound the contrasting voices have, but your point is well taken.

Thanks again!

Hi, Laurent.

Thanks!

You can find Natalie here: https://store.dreamtonics.com/product/vdb-natalie/

Hi, Steve.

Thanks! I'm glad you enjoyed the song.

I suspect it's the technology that's improving, and not me... Especially since it's a song wrote long ago.

Hi, Marty.

Hehehe.

Thanks! I'm glad you liked it.

30 years ago it was just me plonking away at the piano. It's amazing the creative tools we have available these day.

Hi, Ray.
I can do a few seconds of Tom Waits, but that all my throat can handle!

Hoarse and gravelly voices are a lot more difficult to synthesize than normal phonation. The first version of SynthesizerV actually had a version that allowed glottal effects, but you needed a background in speech pathology to understand how to use it, and it got dropped.
Thanks!
Unfortunately, it's not MIDI, so that means either EQing that frequency, or manually editing all the snare hits - something that doesn't have a lot of appeal to me.

I've actually already done some drastic EQ cuts on it already, so...

I may go back and replace it with a MIDI drum track at some point, since it's a pretty generic part.
Which track is thin - "On The Nickle" or "Time"?

Thin or not, "On The Nickle" is a brilliant bit of writing.
Thanks! I'm glad I was finally able to get it decent version of it recorded.

Hi, Peter.
Thanks!
That's the important bit.

Hi, Tom.
Thanks, I appreciate the kind words.