I am Pagan

[malcolmb]

Not really sure I am happy yet with the lyrics of this new piece but I am always very happy to receive suggestions!

I am Pagan

http://soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=11200133

(As with all my vocal pieces, the 'singer' is Miriam Stockley - or at least my computer trying to sound like her - sorry, Miriam!)

Blessings
Malcolm

[DJ Droood]

I always enjoy your music, Malcolm.

Is that you playing guitar, as well?

(As with all my vocal pieces, the 'singer' is Miriam Stockley - or at least my computer trying to sound like her - sorry, Miriam!)

What is going on there? The singer has a lovely voice...a bit muffled...a better mic, perhaps? Or are you saying this is totally computer generated??

[malcolmb]

I did used to play the guitar around the folk scene in southern England in the late 60's and early 70's and one night after a folk session in the back hall of a pub, Bert Jansch gave up half an hour's valuable drinking time to teach me finger-claw picking! But since then arthritis in the hands has stopped that! So it isn't me! I write all my music by notation. So each note of each instrument has been laboriously written by me. I then use various instrument soft-synths within Sonar Home Studio 7XL to play the notes.

As for the 'singer', it is a Japanese soft-synth called Vocaloid based on the voice of Miriam Stockley. As with the other instruments, I write the notes and tell the software which word to sing with each note. Easy? No! The problem is then to try and make the resulting vocals actually sound like a real person. The software was written to suit the Japanese ear which does cause some problems with certain words and computer-generated singing always sounds a bit robotic before you work on mixing it. That takes a lot of time working with EQ, compression, reverb and so forth. Once I have the vocals sounding vaguely reasonable, I then add the vocals to the music. And start all over again because various frequencies will conflict! Panning helps but I still haven't worked out how to fully solve the problem of the vocals being slightly muffled. If only Miriam lived next door!

So yes, all the sound you hear is totally computer generated. I just have to compose it!

Blessings
Malcolm

[DJ Droood]

As for the 'singer', it is a Japanese soft-synth called Vocaloid based on the voice of Miriam Stockley. As with the other instruments, I write the notes and tell the software which word to sing with each note. Easy? No! The problem is then to try and make the resulting vocals actually sound like a real person. The software was written to suit the Japanese ear which does cause some problems with certain words and computer-generated singing always sounds a bit robotic before you work on mixing it. That takes a lot of time working with EQ, compression, reverb and so forth. Once I have the vocals sounding vaguely reasonable, I then add the vocals to the music. And start all over again because various frequencies will conflict! Panning helps but I still haven't worked out how to fully solve the problem of the vocals being slightly muffled. If only Miriam lived next door!

So yes, all the sound you hear is totally computer generated. I just have to compose it!

OMG...never heard of such a thing! That is so cool..I would not have thought "computer generated", although it does have a sort of "lo-fi" quality, but it suits the folk music feel quite well! Amazing....so once you purchase the software, are the vocals you create your property? And do they have male vocals? I'm going to go google this....

[malcolmb]

Yes, I have copyright of all vocals that I compose using Vocaloid. I suppose it is a bit like buying an instrument, writing music and then playing it on that instrument. Vocaloid, like all synths, is just an instrument and the instrument maker does not have copyright. No doubt via Google you will have seen there are a wide range of different voices both Male and Female available as Vocaloid. Most of them sing in Japanese but there are some that sing in English (called Engloids!). I listened to samples of all the available voices and came to the conclusion that Miriam would suit my Folk / Celtic and Jazz / Easy Listening best. And she really does have a lovely voice - despite what I do to it!

Blessings
Malcolm

[malcolmb]

By popular demand (OK, one person asked me!), I have now produced a video for this piece:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jx72qbVI3dA

Hope you enjoy.

Blessings
Malcolm