Monday, 20 January 2020

Lavender Alicorn Blues (WVMIP)


WMVIP stands for "Work Very Much in Progress"! Since a couple of people said they'd be interested in hearing "Lavender Unicorn Blues", here it is. As you will hear, I am not cut out for a career as a blues singer! On top of which, I have a slight sore throat and haven't done any singing since UK PonyCon in October. But I decided to record the vocals rather than just posting it as an instrumental.

As you'll also note, my recording and mixing equipment is primitive to say the least. I don't own anything resembling a high-end microphone, and the outlay to get one is simply not reasonable for the amount I'd use it. So the vocals were recorded on my phone. Then I used Audacity to mix the singing track with the instrumental track I'd made with MuseScore. The result is what you see above.

Other notes: the score is not finished, which accounts for things like the very basic drum track and the lack of any left hand on the piano. There are also a couple of actual mistakes (eg at the start of the bridge) and those I probably will be able to fix. The MuseScore soundfont, though, is as good as you're going to get. As with the mic, I really can't justify shelling out for a better one.

Lyrics are in the video description, but I'll copy them in here – come past the cut to see them! I think I want to change "lose" in the final line to "beat", and perhaps a few other bits and pieces, but the gist of it isn't going to change.

Verse 1

A butter-yellow pegasus flew up to my tree,
She said, "Hey now Twilight, won't you listen to me?
The bunnies are stampeding and the skunk's on the run,
The bats won't go to bed because you won't raise the sun."
I said, "Don't tell me 'bout your mice and your shrews,
'Cause I've got those lavender alicorn blues."

Verse 2

An alabaster unicorn stopped by me next day,
She said, "Hey now Twilight, don't you treat me this way.
The Gala's round the corner and I'm all in a mess,
Until I get your checklist I can't work on your dress."
I said, "I'm sorry if you can't find your muse,
But I've got those lavender alicorn blues."

Instrumental bridge

Verse 3

An orange-coated earth mare hammered at my front door,
She said, "Hey now Twilight, won't you tell me the score?
I got a little problem, and it's one that I ought
To bring up nice and proper-like; get down to your Court."
I said, "Let's skip it and get into your booze,
Might help lose those lavender alicorn blues."

4 comments:

  1. XD Very nice!

    You desperately need a better mic... but yeah, it is what it is.

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    1. Thanks! It's just a bit of silliness, of course, but I've had fun making it.

      And yes, of course. Even my ears can tell how muddy the vocals sound. If I did music even as much as I do writing, I would invest in something that could at least justify the name "mic" -- but since I don't... well. I sometimes remind myself how lucky I am that ponyfic writing is really, really cheap!

      What I might do is to upload just the music, without the vocal track. That would remove the mix problem altogether. And the "Logan's voice" problem -- two for the price of one! :D

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    2. That's not a bad idea. You mentioned that you had a bit of a cold, but honestly, I think this song would be wonderful with a really "gravelly" voice. Tom Waits or suchlike.

      I wish I could sing... like, at all.

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    3. I might do it once I'm finished with rewatching S1, as I'm planning to have a short hiatus (but of course!) before getting going on S2.

      Mind you, if I could sing like Tom Waits, I doubt I'd be sitting here tapping out blog posts about colourful equines!

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