I borrowed an audio clip of a poem from the FreeSound Project (by user Corsica_S) and made a song out of it. I got a lot of practice with VariAudio. I also stretched out some vowels in a few places. It sounds obviously processed in some places because the original clip is just a reading but I think the song has a digital feel to it anyway. I also used LoopMash at the end. How does the mix sound?
Sincerely,
J.L.
Ode to a Loved One
BTW, the poem is by Sappho, a greek poet from ca. 600 BC.
Do I understand this correctly? You took a poetry reading and then you were able to assign a melody to the reading with VariAudio? I think it is definitely cool. I like it. Must have been a lot of work.
Thanks for listening.
First, I used regions to break the reading up into phrases. Then, I broke the phrases apart into individual words in a few places and stretched the vowels out to fill the space. I also edited the gain in some places. The elastique works very well. I tried this a while back with Cubase 5 and the results were not that good. I did this one with the Cubase 6 trial and got (IMO) very good results (I bought the C6 upgrade BTW). Then I bounced all the audio because I was worried the stretching and VariAudio would bring the processor to a halt. It was a learning experience using VariAudio. Initially, I got some strange sounds but tweeking the “segments” fixed most of it.
There were a few times when I wanted a certain note but it just did not work so I had to choose an acceptable alternate a fifth lower or something.
I am deployed to the desert and working off of my laptop and a 25 key MIDI controller so I have been “experimenting” a lot lately. I am looking forward to getting back home and getting my guitar back in my hands.
Here is a link to the original reading of the poem if you are curious.
Just curious (and you won’t hurt my feelings). When you said it is definitely kool, did you mean that using VariAudio on the reading was kool or that you liked the song?
Sincerely,
J.L.
Both, really! It was a cool way to use a reading and it made a nice piece of music. Good luck out there in the desert!
Good mix too. Could need some change after in the middle of the song though. And a bit to mutch delay. Use it on and of instead. Really cool idea for us who suck at written lyrics (me that is).
After listening to it some more since mixing, I agree there is too much going on with the delay. I think I have it on too many off the instruments. Will have to revisit that. I am learning that after composing, recording, mixing, etc. you really do need to get away from the song for a few days and come back to it. It is like your brain is so used to hearing everything exactly the way it is that nothing sounds out of place.
Thanks for listening and the inputs!
Sincerely,
J.L.
Interesting project! The variaudio-processed voice reminds me of those Vocaloid plugins - got the same sort of digital tuning articacts and ‘robotic’ qualities. It suits the material though. There were parts where I thought the voice was being trampled over a little too much - for example I think it was around 1:30-ish theres a kind of filtered/delayed EP sound which I thought was too loud and as others have mentioned, the delays may be a tad excessive. Perhaps room for more dynamics in the piece?
Cool stuff though. 
Ouaouh ! Nice job and very original result !
Hi,
I remixed this song. It is much cleaner now. I am wondering how you feel about the levels (Is the bass too high?), EQ, reverb, delay, compression, etc. Thanks for listening!
Sinerely,
J.L.
Mix sounds fine to me
The mix is good. Nice job on the vocal track.
I’d still revisit the vocal delay and take off some top from it.
A lot of hi-frequency chatter that isn’t necessary. The problem
is the vocal track itself (in those sections) so maybe you do a bit
of surgery there instead.
wow… this is awesome! and yes, i like the song too 
reminds me a bit of freezepop
the only thing i would maybe try to do is something with is that constant high hat.
Cool and creative use of the variaudio. Nicely done.
Thanks for listening and tips everyone!
J.L.
very cool creativety displayed. diggin the panning sequences, I got lost in it. man that was a quick 4min, made me want 4 more.
nice work for sure
that’s exactly what I was thinking!
cool song, interesting what you did here. i think it’s a great idea. sometimes I like digital sounding tunes and I plan on doing some. it really did remind me of freezepop. nice job.
Thanks. I will have to check out this “freezepop”. Never heard of them(?) before.
J.L.
check youtube for their song “I Am Not Your Gameboy”
Hi,
the vocoding voice sounds good. May I ask, what vocoder software you´ve used?
Greethings
Stefan
Its actually not a vocoder. It is just VariAudio straight from a poetry reading and a couple of stretching of vowels with the elastic algorithm in Cubase 6.
When I have used a vocoder on other songs I like the Vocovee.
You can hear an example of that on my Bandcamp site in the song, “I Am”.
Sincerely,
J.L.