Sweet River Flow

Its been quite a while since I last posted a piece here. Spent the last three months mixing, re-mixing, screaming at and tearing my hair out at my annual free CD I give to long-suffering friends on my little Isle. Amazingly, I actually ran out of copies and two people actually admitted to playing it! Wonders will never cease!
 
Anyway, I just thought I would post this new piece here. OK, it's Vocaloid singers! But now the lovely Miriam is joined by the new 'Engloid' (!) called Avanna (supposedly a Celtic singer!) - after all the pre-sales hype, I find her voice a bit weak and lacking in richness but her word clarity isn't bad - but of course to get the richness I overlaid her voice with Miriam and lost the word clarity - Oh well, that's life!
 
Just as I finished writing this song about life's journey, a dear friend died and so I dedicated it to her. May she soar.
 
http://soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=12178217
 
Sweet River Flow
Once was the time I could see so clearly
Knowing the way that my life would be
Living my dreams, no cares for tomorrow
Time passing by meant nothing to me

(Chorus)
Oh Sweet River Flow and carry me
Down from the Mountains and on to the Sea

Love passed me by and I didn’t notice
A whisper of promise just not meant to be
I danced alone to the song of the Sunrise
Each golden day a blessing to me

(Chorus)

Years come and go and my days grow weary
Moments forgotten return in my dreams
Warm summer days that went on for ever
Places and people in my life I’ve seen

(Chorus)
Best Regards
Malcolm
 

Hi guitardood - Sincere thanks. I do take your point about the intro. I write all my music by notation with VSTs and I find writing acoustic guitar parts probably the most difficult of all instruments - trying to get some realism into the sound. So on the rare occasion when I actually manage to write something that sounds almost real (almost!), I tend to get a bit mesmerised by it! I suspect the problem with the song is that it really needs a fourth verse and I left the intro long to keep the length of the piece reasonable while I racked my addled brain trying to think of one. Problem is, there is only so much melancholy I can take without heading for the nearest cliff top! Very many thanks for listening.

mike used used 4 words that i think described this sing to a tee.
intresting,lovely,wonderful and touching.
i could'nt have said it better myself.
just a really great song,took me a few lines to get used to the vocal effect but after that it sounded like it belonged.

your photo for this song (sweet river flow)on your soundclick page is also a perfect match for the feelings i felt while listening to this song.
the little wooden bridge with the small stream flowing below seem to take me where ever it was you where when you wrote this song.had these feelings.
thats what good music is all about,talking the user to a place.
that place for me..it was when i was young.
thank you for that feeling.

Hi chuckebaby - Sincere thanks and so pleased you like this song. I do very much agree about that photo. I remember as a kid leaning against a bridge like that watching the water go by - thinking those thoughts that kids think. I do the same today - perhaps a little wiser but still wondering where the water is going and what has it seen. The photo just seemed to me to be the perfect simile for life's journey and all that was in my mind as I wrote the song. I do plan to visit that bridge just a few more times yet!

Wonderful song! The vocaloid are sounding better and better. Really love the arrangement and the peaceful sound. It really matches the theme of the river

Hi Frank - Very many thanks and so pleased you like this song.

Hi Vicente - Sincere thanks - those Vocaloids really do take a lot of work to get something vaguely approaching clarity from them. I'm getting there - but not yet!

Hi Herb - Very many thanks - By chance someone I recently met turned out to be a sound engineer on my little Isle who produces CDs for some local groups. He actually liked my recent free CD and played it to some members of a local group who also liked it. Sooooooo (!) perhaps there is a chance of a real singer singing my songs - Dreams do come true!

Hi Manny - Sincere thanks and so pleased you like it. Very much agree with "melancholia" - others have said the same to me and apparently two Ladies even burst into tears on hearing the piece - shame on me!

I love your expression "synth-chick"! And so does Miriam! Women are a constant source of puzzlement to me!

Hi Shad - Sincere thanks and so pleased you like this piece. To save cluttering up this thread, I'll PM you here with the wonders of Vocaloid! If anyone else would like to know a bit more about Vocaloid, please also PM me here - as you can hear from the music, I am definitely not an expert, but I am learning!

Malcomb,
 
Really fine song and mix.   The song transports the listener to another place..   Like others' commented, I would like to hear it with a real singer.  
 
Regards

Vocaloid or not, this is a hauntingly beautiful song.  Your writing is full of depth and pathos.  Should you ever get a real singer, your songs will soar.  Cheers.

Good to have you back, Malcolm.  This is a lovely, lovely tune you have here, and I think the Celtic influence shines thru.  The lyrics and melody combine to be at once both joyful and melancholy as befits the subject matter.  Very poetic.

Now, on to vocalists: while the robo-gal is really quite impressive for what she is, I think your music deserves the real thing.  Can you not dig up some songbird at the local pub, feed her a few pints and put her in front of a mic?  Seriously, I think a real singer would make such a huge difference, especially on a song of this calibre.  


I enjoyed this very much.

Hi Philz - Sincere thanks and so pleased you like this song. Local Songbird? Even the ones in my garden rapidly disappear at the sight of me! And the ones in the Pub probably taught Vera Lynn when she was a kid how to sing - and would immediately assume that anyone who bought them a pint had evil intent and would batter them into submission with their walking frames! Joking aside, there is a chance - a local sound engineer is keen to produce a CD of my songs with local musicians and singers - as the only engineer with a studio on my little Isle, he is rather in demand but I am hopeful that we may work something out this year. We shall see.

Hi Mark - Sincere thanks and so pleased you like this song.

Nice song. Vocals are suppose to be up front in a song but these kind a hurt the ears, vocaloid or not. I would drop them back a little bit, so to balance out with the guitar. That's just my own opinion as to what I was hearing on my end. You could hit the vocals with a softening preset or a warming preset, tweaking the preset to a desired value. Just a thought. Great composition.

Peace be with you. Blessings, John

Very folkish on this one to me.  This vocaloid thing blows me away.  I'll have to look that up.  I'm getting too old to sing.  :-)  Nice song and performance, Malcolmb.