[Dorian]

An 80s inspired popsong I created:

https://soundcloud.com/dorian-urac/true-love?si=c54d694a88a64a2a883a4dda8a11f37d&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing

Let me know what you think of it, especially in regard to my singing and pronunciation (English is not my native language and I’m eager to learn 

Credits
Anna M. background vocals & initial idea for the song text topic.

Lyrics
The stories used to say
A prince will come your way
He’ll be coming home

Alone in your bed
Thinking of this man
How’d you know
How will you find
All reasons for doubt

Script in your ball book
It’s written in gold
But you crave to know
Where is your true love

True love

The fairy tales all state
True love it is your fate
He’s your soulmate in your darkest hour

No more pain
In your lover’s arms you’ll finally be whole
Your knight in shining armour
Keeps you save at night

True love

There was no one who used to say
It doesn’t help to pray
Locked up behind your castle door

There’s someone in your life
But is she the one
She is your lover
Who you adore

Will you know
Will you find
Among millions under the stars
All you crave to understand
Where did the white horse run

True love

[Dorian]

For all the nerdy ones out there who want to know more :

I found that I really like it when others share what chords, gear and mixing tools and such they used.
So, hoping to inspire you all to do the same, here’s some nerdy & extensive info on the song 

_____

Used instruments
Ample sound guitars, OT Sine guitalele, EZbass, AD2 + UVI 707 drums, Arturia modular V3, G-force String machine, M-tron pro, UVI Farfisa Polychrome, UVI Saturn 4, UVI Sid mode machine, OT Sine chimes.

Chords
Written in the scale of C-sharp minor. The ample sound rhythm guitar plays two chords throughout the whole song, going back and forth between C-sharp minor and G-sharp minor7. The root notes of the bass guitar follow a different pattern: C#, B, A, B.

What puzzles me a bit is that the chorus (“True Loooove”) has been lingering in my head as an ear worm for weeks, while it only consists of two notes a semitone apart. Hope there’s a music theory expert here who can explain to me why and how this works.

The mix
Mixed in Mulab (a fairly obscure DAW which I prefer over Cubase).
Signature sound mixing VSTs: Kazrog, Audiority, Overloud, Fabfilter, Sonimus and others.

About the lyrics
The lyrics are about the harmful effect of telling youngsters there’s this one-and-only true love out there waiting for them, as pictured in romance novels and romantic comedies. Without the alleged soulmate one is said to be not complete as a person (…) This imagery of a “one-and-only-true-love-who-meets-all-of-your-sky-high-expectations” sure is a recipe for disappointment, loneliness, self doubt and disaster.

To my humble opinion, lots of people have the potential of becoming a lovin’ partner and it isn’t all roses and sunshine. A future partner might not even tickle all boxes at first glance, let alone those of parents, family, friends and society. In modern times it’s all a matter of trial and error, and a willingness to experience emotional growth.

[MonnoDB]

You sound a little Bowie in this @Dorian. Interesting lyric and theme..

Thanks for sharing the background to the recording - it's interesting and in fact we've gone through phases here of sharing and then not sharing. I'm always interested to read the nerdy details!

Great sounds here supporting that lovely vocal and melody line. I think you've done a great job with - love in particular the synthy parts.

Very catchy!

Karen

[Dorian]

@MonnoDB
Yesss, someone who appreciates nerdy details! Wasn’t sure if anyone would like my babbling on such things 

love in particular the synthy parts.

Synths are sort of my roots. Some years ago, I had 40 (or so) vintage analog synths and drum machines stacked in my bedroom. Had some ambient songs released on a Belgium label. Synths are all sold now, in exchange for in-the-box virtual synths/instruments, which are much easier to work with. Seem to have drifted towards synthpop nowadays, as well as cheesy outdated 50s/60s inspired music, which is less synthi 

Cheers! Dorian

[Carlonely]

As mentioned above, your voice really sound Bowie-esque and that song would definetely fit on his "Let's Dance" album!
Still, as the 80ies pop sound is kind of modern again, I don't get any old-times-vibes on your song. Imo it's perfectly contemporary these days
Great work on the arrangement btw

[Elvis Nash]

it does have a Bowie vibe , Dance tune . cool production man
Good luck on promotion

[Bankie]

I'm no expert, but part of the reason the "True Love" bit is catchy is that it's repeated over different chords so those notes become different parts of the current chord, which keeps interest without losing simplicity.

Anyway, yep - it was catchy, and I didn't find the non-native accent off-putting at all. Your English is good, and nothing to pick up in the song, though a couple of small errors in writing the lyrics (though they sound ok):

How’d you know >> How d'you know (short for how did you know - apostrophe in this context replaces the missing letters)
Keeps you save at night >> Keeps you safe at night

Nice job - well done. Only thing I didn't like is the Ample guitar; rarely sounds good in my opinion.

[Dorian]

I'm no expert, but part of the reason the "True Love" bit is catchy is that it's repeated over different chords so those notes become different parts of the current chord, which keeps interest without losing simplicity.

That makes so much sense! Thanks.

Anyway, yep - it was catchy, and I didn't find the non-native accent off-putting at all. Your English is good, and nothing to pick up in the song, though a couple of small errors in writing the lyrics (though they sound ok):

How’d you know >> How d'you know (short for how did you know - apostrophe in this context replaces the missing letters)
Keeps you save at night >> Keeps you safe at night

Even more thanks. I’ve changed it on my Soundcloud page.

Nice job - well done. Only thing I didn't like is the Ample guitar; rarely sounds good in my opinion.

Yes I know, it’s a hard nut to crack. I’m not entirely happy with it, but it’s okay enough for now. Still, it’s the closest that comes to an actual guitar. I used the free version and only the strumming part of the vst. The paid version has much more options, but it’s quite a lot of money. I do play guitar myself, and before you wonder: “why didn’t you play yourself?”; ample might provide me with guitar models (sounds) I don’t own (like a Rickenbacker, a western guitar and a lapsteel), as well as better acoustic recordings than what I can achieve in my humble home recording studio. The extensive editting (to make it sound good) is what’s still holding me back. Still pondering…

@Bankie
Just wanted to let you know that I truly appreciate your in-depth review. It helps me get in the right direction.

Cheers, Dorian

[rightly]

Hi.
Just going off the concept, the theme
This sort of reminds me of
Dylans "true love tends to forget"
This is refreshingly eccentric

I almost wrote a song called true love
Where'd I'd try to express those things that define a good love story
And not just about getting mixed up with the complications such a story can bring.

The voice is theatrical, like a phantom of the opera figure.
A bit creepy, but I like theatrics.
It has an eighties sound too. Reminds me a bit of bowies "this is not america"
I like the cover, the image
The coveted B side.
Nice stuff 👏

[Dorian]

I like the cover, the image
The coveted B side.

Thanks for commeting @rightly
Yes, all my songs are pictured like the B side of a record. It’s my sense of self spot; not taking myself too serious, knowing my songs will probably end up in oblivion in the long run, while still working hard to make them sound right. That’s the duality of it all. Guess I’m a nihilist-existentialist at heart 

Still, as the 80ies pop sound is kind of modern again, I don't get any old-times-vibes on your song. Imo it's perfectly contemporary these days

@Carlonely
The initial goal was to sound as eighties as possible. but sounding contemporary in the meantime isn’t such a bad thing i guess    After all, we’re living in the now aren’t we? No sense in trying to live a past life.
You got me thinking: maybe it would work to create vintage sounding songs, but with an obvious contemporary part that contradicts, Like an acid house TB303-synth in 50s rock 'n roll, or shoegaze guitar noise cutting through dixieland tunes  Worth a try… or doomed to fail? We’ll find out. Thanks for listening and for your comment!

cool production man

This sure is a great comment coming from someone who obviously knows how to produce a song. I mean: to my ears calling a song a ‘production’ instead of a ‘recording’ or ‘song’ might mean that my bumpy mixing learning curve of last two years is eh... (silent whisper) noticed?  It sure is a lot of work; watching tutorials on mixing all the time while learning how to truly listen, but fun nevertheless. I sure hope I’m getting somewhere in the end.. Thanks! @Elvis Nash

[rightly]

I like the cover, the image
The coveted B side.

Thanks for commeting @rightly
Yes, all my songs are pictured like the B side of a record. It’s my sense of self spot; not taking myself too serious, knowing my songs will probably end up in oblivion in the long run, while still working hard to make them sound right. That’s the duality of it all. Guess I’m a nihilist-existentialist at heart 

Still, as the 80ies pop sound is kind of modern again, I don't get any old-times-vibes on your song. Imo it's perfectly contemporary these days

@Carlonely
The initial goal was to sound as eighties as possible. but sounding contemporary in the meantime isn’t such a bad thing i guess    After all, we’re living in the now aren’t we? No sense in trying to live a past life.
You got me thinking: maybe it would work to create vintage sounding songs, but with an obvious contemporary part that contradicts, Like an acid house TB303-synth in 50s rock 'n roll, or shoegaze guitar noise cutting through dixieland tunes  Worth a try… or doomed to fail? We’ll find out. Thanks for listening and for your comment!

cool production man

This sure is a great comment coming from someone who obviously knows how to produces a song. I mean: to my ears calling a song a ‘production’ instead of a ‘recording’ or ‘song’ might mean that my bumpy mixing learning curve of last two years is eh... (silent whisper) noticed?  It sure is a lot of work; watching tutorials on mixing all the time while learning how to truly listen, but fun nevertheless. I sure hope I’m getting somewhere in the end.. Thanks! @Elvis Nash

That Lizzie Borden song
Completely and irretrievably won me over.

And I'm sure you've other delicious bunnies in your hat.
If I were you I'd... etc. 😆
I like diversity, keep em coming
YOu beednt be nihilistic,
 there's more to songwriting than Comparing oneself to
Sheernan or swift. Im sure you get a lot out of writing songs.

[CorkingCrackBand]

Hi @Dorian

All of our songs, including The Beatles, will end in in oblivion one day. The important thing is now, the foreseeable and doing what makes you happy without harming others. I imagine this song will do the opposite of harm, as it's a lot of fun.  You write English better than I do so no worries on that front. 

  The only thought I have is that the bass could potentially come out at around 2:12 to just give the low end a reprieve and it might create a nice bit of space in the mix for it to jump in to and heighten the dynamics of the song. Other than that thought (and it's only a thought and not necessarily one that anyone would agree with) I think it's a really well put together song. Congrats.

All the best,

CCB

[Dorian]

there's more to songwriting than Comparing oneself to
Sheernan or swift. Im sure you get a lot out of writing songs.

@rightly
Last time I looked in the mirror I most definitely didn’t compare myself to Swift.
I’m waaaay more pretty of course haha     

You’re right of course; like the others visiting this forum I sure do get a lot out of song writing. The nihilistic thingy is 'just' an ominous rumble in the background of the mind, while generally I’m happy and content with my life. Hence my comment on duality. Isn’t that what sparks music? But then again: what do I know? (Probably only just about 0,0000000000000001% of all available knowledge I guess

Dorian

[Dorian]

doing what makes you happy without harming others.

@CorkingCrackBand
Hey, that has truly been my life’s motto throughout life! Especially the “without harming others” part, otherwise it would be selfish.

Will look into your bass line suggestion.

Thanks, especially for your flattering comment on the English lyrics part. !’m always pondering whether I write or say things grammatically right in English (hm not sure if grammatically is a word… see there you have it already haha   Will probably continue to do so for eternity

I see you uploaded a song as well. Will have time to listen to it tonight.

Cheers, Dorian

[Elvis Nash]

I like the cover, the image
The coveted B side.

Thanks for commeting @rightly
Yes, all my songs are pictured like the B side of a record. It’s my sense of self spot; not taking myself too serious, knowing my songs will probably end up in oblivion in the long run, while still working hard to make them sound right. That’s the duality of it all. Guess I’m a nihilist-existentialist at heart 

Still, as the 80ies pop sound is kind of modern again, I don't get any old-times-vibes on your song. Imo it's perfectly contemporary these days

@Carlonely
The initial goal was to sound as eighties as possible. but sounding contemporary in the meantime isn’t such a bad thing i guess    After all, we’re living in the now aren’t we? No sense in trying to live a past life.
You got me thinking: maybe it would work to create vintage sounding songs, but with an obvious contemporary part that contradicts, Like an acid house TB303-synth in 50s rock 'n roll, or shoegaze guitar noise cutting through dixieland tunes  Worth a try… or doomed to fail? We’ll find out. Thanks for listening and for your comment!

cool production man

This sure is a great comment coming from someone who obviously knows how to produce a song. I mean: to my ears calling a song a ‘production’ instead of a ‘recording’ or ‘song’ might mean that my bumpy mixing learning curve of last two years is eh... (silent whisper) noticed?  It sure is a lot of work; watching tutorials on mixing all the time while learning how to truly listen, but fun nevertheless. I sure hope I’m getting somewhere in the end.. Thanks! @Elvis Nash

Producing is fairly new to me also , Its a lot of work . I use alot of session players and professional people to get results . Doing it all yourself deserves a huge pat on the back my friend