The Wagtunes Corner (Featuring My Best Yet)

[Eauson]

I did mean it, sigh
Once a always a

Please take this as a compliment. You're a real character.

Reading your stuff is liking reading a quirky novel.

Anyway, go and relax with your fromage (I had to go look that up to see what it was. )

I've just finished preparations for dinner and was coming back to delete/edit this, does nothing for my street cred dont you know now its there in duplicate < make that a triple!!
Oh well
My manliness was destroyed in the previous post anyway, confidence draining, no it bloody well isn't.

Fromage is my track I can't find

Oh well, please try and be more positive then!
Positive, positive, positive

Quirky, bleeding novel writer, Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy, now that's quirky

[wagtunes]

Another one from my "Broadway" CD "Once Upon A Time"

Where Do We Go From Here

Where do we go from here
Dinner for two
Then say I do
Where do we go from here

Where do we go from here
Night on the town
Into your wedding gown
Where do we go from here

A future awaits us with mystery
Let us not dwell on our history

Where do we go from here
First to my prom
Then meet my mom
Where do we go from here

Where do we go from here
Honeymoon chat
Then a rug rat
Where do we go from here

There's so much to do for a lifetime love
Until we are called by the Lord above

Before our life drags
Let's pack up our bags

But where do we go from here

https://soundcloud.com/steven-wagenheim ... pon-a-time

[wagtunes]

This one from my current project "Pop Madness"

Well, the other day I picked up VSL orchestral stuff and MIR Pro 24 which is a sound stage plugin. The learning curve on all this is pretty intense so this was kind of like an experimental run. Still, after listening this morning with fresh ears, I'm pleased with my initial amateurish results. I'm sure as I use this software more and more, they'll get better.

I kept this one simple as far as the orchestration.

Violins
Violas
Celli
Flute
Drums
Piano
Vocal

The Vocaloid Avanna plugin is very hard to work with as she has a very rich tone in the mids, so I had to EQ her extensively and cut down on the venue wetness for her.

So I am curious as to what you all think. Placing instruments on a sound stage and letting it rip is a lot easier than wrestling with EWQL Play engine and doing it all manually. If nothing else, there is no question that this all sounds like it's coming from a venue.

Anyway, here's a 70s like pop ballad that I kept really short. Hope you like it.

So Very Long Ago

There in my mind
I see it all so clear
All that was so wrong
But it was so
So very long ago
Lost inside a song

Blame it on my youth
Doesn't change a thing
No need to find proof
Lies are all I sing
What's the point to cry
When no one really knows
In the end it was so very long ago

So I go on
And look to days ahead
Because no one knows
And if I find
Time plays tricks with my mind
It was so very long ago

https://soundcloud.com/steven-wagenheim ... lead-vocal

[Harry_HH]

Pros:
- touching melody, which suits to the vocal
- vocal + piano support each other

Cons:
- de-essing + editing some nasal peaks of the vocal needed, but not too much
- tremo violin/viola parts do not work, first change the tremolo, then elaborate the whole string arr.to more full sounding

Remains Eurovision song contest in 60-70's.

Scores: 8,5/10

[Eauson]

Pros:
- touching melody, which suits to the vocal
- vocal + piano support each other

Cons:
- de-essing + editing some nasal peaks of the vocal needed, but not too much
- tremo violin/viola parts do not work, first change the tremolo, then elaborate the whole string arr.to more full sounding

Remains Eurovision song contest in 60-70's.

Scores: 8,5/10

Hiya Wags, another nice piece, agree with the pro/cons advice, wish I had a better way to advise than what I do, but my vocabulary for music transcription is v limited there are some sections where improvement could be made, I'm gonna pm u.

Best regards

[wagtunes]

Pros:
- touching melody, which suits to the vocal
- vocal + piano support each other

Cons:
- de-essing + editing some nasal peaks of the vocal needed, but not too much
- tremo violin/viola parts do not work, first change the tremolo, then elaborate the whole string arr.to more full sounding

Remains Eurovision song contest in 60-70's.

Scores: 8,5/10

Absolutely. I was just doing this as a test of the sound stage. Didn't even bother with multiple articulations.

As for the vocals, forget it. She's a total bitch to work with. If you mess with her too much then you get all these pops and clicks on t's. Love her voice character but hate her programming. They could have done a better job. Other Vocaloids don't give me this trouble.

[Harry_HH]

Maybe - but this bitch sounds much better than your other ladies...

After the output is rendered to audio format, all afterprocessing should be a piece of cake.

[Eauson]

Pros

Scores: 8,5/10

Absolutely. I was just doing this as a test of the sound stage. Didn't even bother with multiple articulations.

As for the vocals, forget it. She's a total bitch to work with. If you mess with her too much then you get all these pops and clicks on t's. Love her voice character but hate her programming. They could have done a better job. Other Vocaloids don't give me this trouble.

Maybe - but this bitch sounds much better than your other ladies...

After the output is rendered to audio format, all afterprocessing should be a piece of cake.

Please gentile hommeez, refrain from the bitch usage, there are kiddies watching
Yes, Wags, post processing, even taking individual phrases and rebuild in something like audacity would help a lot
bitchez,

[noiseboyuk]

I wish you well on your orchestral journey, Wags. At the moment it all sounds GM to me, but I hope with time, patience and practice you’ll learn how to make VSL sing better. Vocaloid is Vocaloid - imo it should be used to mock up for a real singer and nothing else.

[wagtunes]

Maybe - but this bitch sounds much better than your other ladies...

After the output is rendered to audio format, all afterprocessing should be a piece of cake.

I hate to have to break this bitch is just another Vocaloid, albeit with a slightly better tonal quality. But her mid range is very resonant and very difficult to process without bringing out a lot of sibilance.

[wagtunes]

Another one from my CD "Bananas Crackers And Nuts"

Another Notch On My Gun

Big Jim came into town
Bad blood was bout to go down
Six guns at dawn with the crows
We know how that story goes

And now the duel it is done
I'd like to say it was fun
To watch the skunk try to run
Another notch on my gun

More came to test my nerve
I guess that they hadn't heard
Some guys they'll just never learn
And so another one burns

Repeat Chorus 2x

https://soundcloud.com/steven-wagenheim ... s-and-nuts

[wagtunes]

Okay, I cleaned this one up.

https://soundcloud.com/steven-wagenheim ... lead-vocal

This is what I did.

1. I changed the sound stage to Synchron Stage A Wide.

2. I went into the violins and flute and did all my key switching.

3. I put a desser on the vocals.

4. I changed the placement of the instruments.

I think it's a definite improvement.

[noiseboyuk]

Honestly... It's pretty much got all the same fundamental problems. Maybe 3% better? i think you're focusing too much on the minutiae and not enough on the bigger picture.

The arrangement is very problematic, with very basic phrasing that does the piece no favours. And alas it's still got that GM vibe. You have to figure out how to add expression via CC, and also figure out more realistic parts that sound like they could be played by the actual instruments, and orchestrated in a more sympathetic fashion.

But truly, I'm willing you to keep at it. You're investing so much money in kit, you owe it to yourself to invest huge amounts of time in learning the skills to make the most of it all.

My $0.02 etc etc

[wagtunes]

Honestly... It's pretty much got all the same fundamental problems. Maybe 3% better? i think you're focusing too much on the minutiae and not enough on the bigger picture.

The arrangement is very problematic, with very basic phrasing that does the piece no favours. And alas it's still got that GM vibe. You have to figure out how to add expression via CC, and also figure out more realistic parts that sound like they could be played by the actual instruments, and orchestrated in a more sympathetic fashion.

But truly, I'm willing you to keep at it. You're investing so much money in kit, you owe it to yourself to invest huge amounts of time in learning the skills to make the most of it all.

My $0.02 etc etc

Okay, I gotta ask. Just what does GM sound like? Are you saying VSL strings sound no better than what you get in a GM pack? I think they'd beg to differ.

You don't like the orchestration? It's a pop song, not a symphony. I'm not going to arrange a pop song the same way. I keep it simple. The main thing is the vocal and the song. The rest is just window dressing.

Now, you don't like the way I arrange songs? Oh well, such is life. I'm not going to slave 30 days over a 2 and a half minute pop song to do a "professional" orchestration that you still won't like.

But thanks for the 2 cents.

[wagtunes]

Honestly... It's pretty much got all the same fundamental problems. Maybe 3% better? i think you're focusing too much on the minutiae and not enough on the bigger picture.

The arrangement is very problematic, with very basic phrasing that does the piece no favours. And alas it's still got that GM vibe. You have to figure out how to add expression via CC, and also figure out more realistic parts that sound like they could be played by the actual instruments, and orchestrated in a more sympathetic fashion.

But truly, I'm willing you to keep at it. You're investing so much money in kit, you owe it to yourself to invest huge amounts of time in learning the skills to make the most of it all.

My $0.02 etc etc

Tell you what. Since you're the expert, I'll give you the stems for the piano, vocal and drums and you write an orchestral arrangement for it that's actually good. Send me the MIDI and I'll adapt it to VSL.