This post is for Pat Marr, Wiensam and Flatfoot who expressed an interest in knowing how I put different bits of Brightest Day together. I think this covers the important parts.

Regards,
Noel

1. How I used BIAB to develop the song “Brightest Day”
  • Open the demo for -C2_LOS.STY
  • Mute the Melody and Soloist as I only want to hear the accompaniment.
  • Play it over and over until a rhythmical lyric phrase enters my head. (The phrase that first came to me was “Sunrise, bringing me a new day” - the song's first line.)
  • Use this phrase to develop the rest of the melodic rhythm of the verse.
  • Modify the chord progression to reflect the structure of the verse.
  • Develop a workable chorus – maybe temporary, maybe not – from the ideas outlined in the verse. (At this stage the chorus and verse are only rhythmic. No real attempt has been made at melodies.)
  • Structure the chord progression in the chorus to suit the rhythmical outline.
  • Transpose the key of the accompaniment to one that suits.
  • Play the accompaniment over and over saying the words in rhythm and attempt some melodies. Gradually, melodies develop.
  • Work on verse 2.
  • Work on bridge.
  • Song is done.

2. How I used RB to develop the arrangement.
  • Open BIAB file in RB.
  • Record vocal track for TC Helicon. Since this track is going to be the basis for the harmony, I do not use vibrato or vocal “frills”. I need it straight and as true to the note as possible.
  • Run TC Helicon using a “Tenor voice” selection and choosing the harmony as 1 up and 1 down. (Occasionally I use 2 up and 1 down; this time I did not).
  • Generate the harmony by choosing to write the parts to individual tracks. (I kept all voices in the center position between M and F. I also lowered the volume of the dry voice to infinity.)
  • Mute harmony tracks.
  • Use Realtrack to generate a lead instrumental solo to act as fill in for various bars when there is no vocal. This solo may or may not be part of the final arrangement.
  • Export all tracks (panned to center) to individual wav files so that I can bring the arrangement together in Sonar Home Studio 6.

3. How I used Sonar Home Studio to mix the song
  • Load in all tracks.
  • Create a stereo field for the accompaniment and mix a good sounding accompaniment.
  • Use the vocal lead from RB as a scratch track to guide me in recording a new vocal lead – this time using vibrato, etc.
  • Record three other lead vocal tracks – one after the other. (Doing it “one after the other” means that these four tracks will all have the similar voice texture and I now have one foundation track and three other tracks from which to copy and replace out-of-tune phrases. This is usually plenty to work with.)
  • Using copy/paste and cross-fading compile a lead vocal track. (It is very important to have non-destructive editing on as it is necessary to drag tracks out to create cross-fading between the pasted vocal phrases and the lead vocal. It also helps to match words, etc. Without cross-fading, clicks, etc, can occur.)
  • Determine how I want the harmony to work and use volume envelopes on each voice. (At this stage, the harmony tracks are for the whole song. I remove the sections that I won't be using. I also aim to keep the harmony minimal – especially at the beginning of the song when people first hear it. I do this so that the listener doesn't hear it long enough to realise that it's electronic.)
  • When arranging the harmony, vary volumes slightly for each phrase. For example, the lower part might sing the first phrase a little louder than the upper part but sing the second phrase a little softer than the upper part. This helps to create realism. The volume envelopes in Sonar are perfect to do this and to give the nuances I require. Also, the fact that a new lead vocal was created for the harmony means that the lead will be slightly out of time with the harmony at some points and this helps to add to the reaslism.)
  • Mix at normal listening volume on external speakers. In fact, I tend to mix a little softer than I'd normally listen to music. Mac suggested this a while back and it makes mixing so much easier.

MY SONGS...
Audiophile BIAB 2024