Nothing Needed

Update: 1/9/2024

Attempting to Sing Better

The original vocal recording has been replaced by a new recording. There is also now an instrumental version available for download.

It has been over a month since I finished the first published version of this song. I had a few ideas about how to sing the vocal for the song better, so I decided to try them out and to record the song again.

Specifically, I tried reducing the microphone gain so that I could sing louder at times, which I figured would allow more vocal dynamics. I also decided to reduce my own voice in the monitoring while recording and to only listen to the music with a single earbud instead of with headphones. I figured this change would make my singing more natural since I would hear myself more like the way I normally hear myself when I am not recording.

To improve my pitch accuracy, I decided to record instruments playing the melody. This step provided a few benefits, one being that it helped me solidify the notes I wanted to use for the melody, which were not fully fixed in my mind when I made the first published recording. Another benefit was being able to attempt to correct my own pitch as I sang to keep in tune with the instrumental melody I was hearing in the earbud. Yet another benefit of this step was the creation of the instrumental version of the song.

I had intended to use the instrumental melody to perform automated pitch correction on my new vocal recording. However, after getting the pitch correction software set up and working, I discovered that I did not like the artificial sound of my pitch-corrected voice as much as the natural sound of my voice.

In the end, although the improvement in vocal quality seems only slight, I am happy to have had the experience of testing the ideas that led to these new versions of the song.

Date: 11/21/2023

The Making of a Music Single (with Lyrics)

Since I have been making background music for video games and listening to music on the radio, I thought it would not be too difficult for me to make a new song with original lyrics. I decided to give it a try. I wrote out some chords. I drafted some lyrics. I started making a music single in the soft rock genre.

Today I finished the song and am publishing it here on itch.io. Although I enjoyed creating this song with lyrics, it was much more difficult to produce than I originally imagined. A song on the radio will typically be structurally more complex than the type of background music I have been making (which is based stylistically on roughly one-minute-long tracks that would play in the background of early 90's video games). The most difficult part of this project for me has probably been the addition of lyrics: coming up with words that fit the song's theme and rhythm and just singing in tune. I was surprised to discover that it has been over a year since I wrote down the original chord progression for this song.

The virtual instruments used for making this song come from Plogue's chipsynth MD, Garritan Instruments for Finale, and Native Instruments.

If you like the song, you are welcome to share it with others.

The Lyrics

You pour your heart
   into all you do
to give to the world
   something new.
You fight all the doubts
   to hold on
and cling to the hope
   of a glorious dawn.
The voices you hear will not cease
   when the sun has taken its rest.
The ghosts you chase through the night
   will put your will to the test.
But there’s nothing I need you to offer,
   nothing that I need to see.
I just want you all to myself.
   Just be with me.
You lend a hand,
   serving with a smile,
while bearing the load
   the extra mile.
You rise ere the sun
   to put food on the plate.
You clean up the mess
   of the small and the great.
But when weariness leaves you in sorrow,
   no one makes you feel like you belong,
and instead of kind words offering thanks,
   people share all the things you’ve done wrong.
But there’s nothing I need you to prove,
   nothing that I need to see.
I just want you all to myself.
   Just be with me.