This is a poem I wrote quite some time back. Thing is, I would like to have a melody to it and turn it into a song, sort of folk/ballad like, and I have no experience at writing such melodies. There are some problems here. The poem is 9 verses long, each consists of 4 short lines and no chorus. I have trouble finding a tune that will 'survive' through all the verses. One inspiration would be 'Stones' known from the Ultima games, that's inspiration but not copy. One idea was to have the first verse vocals only, then adding one instrument for each verse as the song gets more intense, peaking at the 8th verse before going vocals only and quiet at the 9th.
It's a dark poem, in a sort of E.A. Poe style, but there's a certain beauty in it too, I guess. So, a melody that captures both the moods in an old, (quasi)medieval style is really what I seek here. Even ideas are appreciated. (And no, It's not about suicide :D, but about breaking away from the past, how hard it can be, failure and dreaming of succeeding)

The Time has come, the End is nigh.
Time for me to say goodbye
Time to leave my Citadelle
Time to leave this Pit of Hell

The Years have slipped and I have slept.
Years of grief, Oh how I wept.
Years as slow as a dead heart
Years that kept us two apart

The Month of Janus saw me first
Months of Winter's frozen bursts
Months I longed to see the spring
Months of Legends, Knights and Kings

The Weeks I searched all through the marsh
Weeks I wandered through the harse
Weeks revealing emtpyness
Weeks that proved be merciless

The Days of Joy are memories
Days of Terror cover these
Days of Youth, of Brave and Strength
Days forgotten in their lenght

The Hour's near, I must be gone
Hours, I have never known the
Hours that I slept in fright
Hours till the morning light

The Minute's hand is crawling, creeping
Minutes now, and still I'm sleeping
Minutes, quick! Make haste or halt!
Minutes as the Torturer's Salt

The Seconds speak of my release
Seconds taunt my disbelief
Seconds! shriek I, is it true?
Seconds silent: Not so soon.

The Time has passed as did before
Time to wait for ever more
Time for Laughs and Love it seems
Time for Life still in my dreams

http://emagination.sitesled.com/uploads/monty.mp3
I own copyright on that, note

Repeat it as many times as you like for your song. If you use it, please contact me so I can grant permission.

Thanks. It wasn't exactly what I had in mind, which was more trad ballad, but thanks anyway for giving me new ideas.

Hey dude, I composed some music for your cool lyrics, it's a ballad (or at least I think it is) with symphonic orchestra and pads. It's not complete though, but I though I show it to you first, and if you like it, I'll finish it up. For the singing, I thought it might be cool to start out the first verses in a whispery voice and get stronger with every line, at the peak it is almost yelling...kinda Rammstein like, but I guess this suits the feeling of the song.

Okay, here is the trial version for ya: BALLAD BY PLAYBAHNOSH

Oh, and I own copyright on that one...just for the record :ok:

So, whaddya think?

Thanks mate! I'll keep a look-out/ear-out for it then :ok:

There's your song dude^ I edited my orig post. BTW I forgot to mention I made that all from scratch in FL Studio, inspired by your cool lyrics, and I have some more cool ideas in mind for the song if you like...

Word!

Thanks a bunch! It got that dark mood alright. Very sad, mournful, I thought, sort of funeral hymn-ish. I like that side of it. Also, it is kind of peaceful in it's sorrow. I'm not sure if the lyrics are. To me they're more like someone's boiling inside, wailing their lungs out, finally collapsing with the disappointment in the last verse, if you know what I mean.

Do you read "notes" and chords? If so, I got a bit, for the sake of melody. Think the Dubliners for this one:

In 4/4 (mid/fast tempo)

Chord C C F F C

Mel: (c---c---c) d-c-d {3}| (e---e) f---e | (c---c---c---c)


(c---c---c---c) is a 4/4 note, (c---c---c) is a 3/4 note, (e---e) is a 2/4 note, and the d-c-d {3} is a triplet

Can it be done to combine the mood in your tune with a melody like this?

About your ideas, let's hear them :)

EDIT: wtf? the spaces doesn't work

Exactly! I told you it's not finished yet, but I saw that in yer poem too :ok: I myself is kinda poetry liking man, so I know exactly what you are talking about. What I'm doing now is to try to brake down the song to a more managable sizes, and add spaces between the verses. I try to add some new percussion melodies to the latter parts and think of some cool pads under the whole thing.

As for the singing, just as you said. Don't you see the dichtihomy there? Starting out in a low whispery voice, but strong breath, you know like someone get pushed to the edge, and getting stronger with each verse, and the end verses is a low voice yelling...like...you know I can't actually sing, I have a voice of a vacuum cleaner, but I try to record a bit of your poem to show you what I'm talking about. I guess you will like it.

As for those notes: huh? :huh:
I mean I tHOUGHT I can read chords and stuff, but I'm not sure about this one. I can mostly read scheetmusic but this is different. I'll try to decode it nonetheless :ok:

I'll be back in the evening with some results ^_^

Thanks for your efforts man, I really appreciate it.

Btw: Did you get the pm about that rhythm? It was way too late for thinking, and I'm not sure if I sent it to you. Also, if you got it, that "9th" should be "11th". Silly me.

O-kay, dial-up sucks. It won't upload grrrr :angry: Okay, I tell you what I did now. I added a "shredder"(distortion guitar) broken down to two gutitars to the last two verses before the 9th, it sounds cool to me, kinda Nightwish/Linkin Park like thing ;) But I can't seem to find a connection melody to connect the verses. I need some filling between the verses, because if I place them all together, it will sound good but it will be too short for a song.... dunno...

Lemme aks you somethin, can you write a chorus for this song? I mean, for connecting the verses, and I make up a solo for the latter part. I thought about a simple rock/ballad like buildup: the 1-2 verses together, then the chorus, the 3-4 verses together then again chorus, then the 5-6 verses together, chorus and a solo, then full power 7-8 verses, (maybe a chorus here, but its optional) then a brake and slowly the last verse. I can do that, it you like, but I need lyrics to build to.

So whaddya say? :ok:

That's the problem, see. :( By adding a chorus, it loses that poem-style I want and instead ends up as an "ordinary song", second it breaks up the pace and the continuity in the verses. Thirdly, it simply would become too long. So sorry, I really don't want a chorus on this one.

Instead of pairing the verses up, they could come "on a line", so to speak, but only if the melody and mood progression makes it interesting. This is more what I'm looking for, really.

EDIT: Here's some examples of "Stones": http://www.joxter.net/

It isn't adding a chorus that makes a poem t an ordinary one. It's the metre, the rythm and the syntax that make a poem to a good one...
Surely it should have some background, too...

Sorry MM, but I have some things to do these days. I'm moving back to campus this weekend, so I gotta prepare my things...and myself...

Okay, so if I understand you correctly, you are more interested in a classic, medieval style ballad, rather than a orchestral or more rocky one. To tell you the truth, I voulanteered to compose a music for you, because I saw a great challenge in it. (and I wanted to try out my new orchestra VSTi :unsure: ) I mean I never composed a ballad before, so I thought I try myself out in this too. Composing electronic and disco music is just too easy, and frankly it gets boring after a while.

But I don't know a thing about composing classic medieval ballad. I mean, I like to experiment, but that genre is a little bit too restricted for me I guess, like you said to my, that you want it more to be like that Stone song.

So here's the deal. I can continue to work on my kinda song, and I take your wishes into consideration in the process. OR I can start to compose a medieval style ("trad ballad" as you said) song, but I don't guarantee ANYTHING, and I mean it. I have only a very faint idea of how to do that. Alternatively, you can bail me outta the project, and save yourself the trouble LOL :D

So? :ok:

Hey man, thanks! I won't "bail you out" :) Look, even if you don't "commit" yourself to this, any suggestion, even the one before, is helping me. It would be great if you found a melody, but don't lose sleep over it, ok? LOL

If you have a playstation 2, then go and buy music 4000. its so easy to use and you can make any music you like.

composing music with Playstation?!?!? :omg2:
Maaan, I really hope you are not serious...

@MM

Cool! :ok: But you didn't answer my question dude. So what's it gonna be? My style with yer tips or the medieval style, which I don't even know where to start with. I only have until the end of the week, because I will move back to Veszprém and I don't have internet in my dig yet. Chance there won't be any for weeks. So I need as many guidelines as you can give regarding the song, so I can work on the project until I get a connection. Give me some ideas on what you would the song feeling to be like, rythm fast or slow, instruments... everything you can think of, so I'll have an idea of what to compose, I cannot do it blindly you know. tell me what you think of my example. What's good, what's not...

okay, I need to go now...

Ok, then. I rather prefer the "medieval" style"/folk/ballad made for "analogue" instruments like guitars and such. If I get Cakewalk working again, I can rush some rough sketches. They'll be in wav format (meaning they will be larger than mp3), then I could email you the sketches if you like.

Other than that, about one beat per 1.5 second I recon (kind of slow) will do. A straight 4/4 beat is also preferable.

If you want some extended ideas, I suggest the Dubliners' ballads (not the up tempo/rowdy ones, but the quiet ones), such as "In High Germany", "Foggy Dew", "Old Triangle" and "Raglan Road". "The Unquiet grave" could also be an inspiration.

I'd like to give it a try. The lyrics allow alot and I have some good idea's on this one. I'll post something once I've got something going to see if you like it.

Sounds great! :ok:

To all: Would you mind if your ideas and sketches were united into something?

I don't know the Dubliners you are talking about, but I know what you mean by analog instruments. I'll try to put together some guitar riffs and some mild padding, maybe that will work out. Do something for me, listen to a song: Nightwish - Everdream, and tell me what do you think about the guitar part on the beginning, I'm thinking something like that one.

I don't know what you mean by unite things, but if that means mixing my music with someone else's...eeerm...I dunno. I don't like the idea that much, but if sounds good, I'm all for it.

Here's the Dubliners "The Auld Triangle" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FqlnVbdLkos

About that Nightwish song: That vocal track is onto something in the early verse.

Here's my first try. It isn't exactly what you had in mind I guess (no single melody repeated x times). I did try to put some medioeval influences in the beat (though it's mainly easy listening/soft rock). The piano should plot out the melody a bit. Tell me what you think about it. If you reject, I'll just release it as an instrumental, so it's not a problem.

MightyMidgetTrial1.mp3 (192 kbit/s, 3:21, 4.61 MB)

I thought it would be cool in the end to repeat that last verse. Maybe saying or whispering the words, or just singing in a monotone way (so I didn't add a melody for that yet).

Bad link :(
Can't connect to server

Weird, I can download it without any problems.

Well uploaded it somewhere else: here

Thanks a ton! I dl-ed it and gave it a go. I'll need time to "decompose" it to look at the different parts.

Btw: Do you know any freeware software that allows me to sketch my ideas without using any external hardware?

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Mighty Midget @ Aug 30 2006, 05:23 PM) [snapback]251877[/snapback]</div>The only free studio I used in the past (besides mod trackers), is Anvil Studio, which is midi composing software. http://www.anvilstudio.com/

There is probably other software around but I found that one the easiest to work with. (I use FL Studio now)

EDIT: here are the chords I used, at some places other chords might fit better.

Heyy MM. What's up with the project? I wasn't around, but if it's still up, I have time to work on in now. Whaddya say? ^_^

The project is as alive as any contribution to the think tank :) As you can see, there have been some new (to me anyway) ideas. I'm having a hard time decide what sort of musical style/genre I will go for, although the initial idea of something quasi-"medieval folk" still holds the biggest fortress, I'm curious about those new ideas.

AAARGH! Just noticed: you have more post now than I, grrrrr :( You have been active lately?

Anyway, I try to think of something for you. I still in need of a acoustic guitar synth, because I only have electronic, and without it I can't do any good riffs. Any ideas where can I get a cool acoustic guitar synth? (like Slayer in FL6, but in acoustic...)

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Playbahnosh @ Nov 13 2006, 05:06 PM) [snapback]266761[/snapback]</div>Hahaa! Look, I posted one more post. Does it make me look any more credible?

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Playbahnosh @ Nov 13 2006, 06:06 PM) [snapback]266761[/snapback]</div>Doing acoustic guitar is always hard to make it sound 'real' with a pc. Slayer2 (from the same creators as Slayer) however can make great acoustic guitar sounds. I use it for nearly all my guitar stuff.

You can download a demo of Slayer2 at the ReFx site.

I got an idea when I read the poem... Really nice poem, btw!!

I guess I could either play it on my clarinet or some of the flutes, or occupy my man's computer and use his Orion... I'll see what i can do :)

@Koen

Yeah I was aware of Slayer2 for some time now, and I'm getting the real thing, not the demo. When I finally get it, I'll do some nice tunes finally, I hope :ok: