Again, thank you all for the kind, encouraging words. I didn't expect such a positive reception.
To me, melody, harmony and production is everything. Vocals means nothing to me. The best melodies and harmonies are the ones going in a totally unexpected direction. I feel like I am close to achieving that in the last half of the lead synth part.
I don't know much about music theory, but I feel like songs that are "breaking the rules", are the ones giving me goose bumps.
Sure, no problem.
Notes:
Most of the presets are slightly tweaked.
I don't know the presets used for the Reason+ devices. I'm too cheap to pay for another month.
Drums:
Kong, using a variety of samples from the factory sound bank.
Bass:
Monotone, preset "Swartze Leder"
Low rough bassy thingy (Not sure what to call it) starting at 0:19:
Combinator with:
Thor, Preset Combing Lead
Thor, Preset Fairlight Tubes
Stereo Imager
Compressor
Synth Lead:
Thor, preset Epic Poly
Strings (beginning at 0:19, barely audible):
NN-XT preset SynStrings
Dreamy synth at 0:03:
Scenic Hybrid Instrument
Flute-like instrument at 0:54-0:56:
Thor, preset Mellow FM Keys
Background Lead during the bridge:
Combinator with:
Complex-1
2x Layers
Layers Wave Edition
Synth supporting the vocals (1:04-1:33):
Combinator with:
NN-XT, preset TunedNoise
Subtractor, preset Bright Gate Lead
Arpeggiator at 0:56:
Layers
Some effects are done using Parsec, cowbells are done with NN-XT and all the swoosh effects are from the default factory sounds
Vocals are done with emvoice, modified like crazy in the pitch/slice editor.
Echo of the vocals are done manually using extra tracks.
Speaking part is done with Microsoft Azure AI Text To Speech, and modified even crazier in the pitch/slice editor.
Mastering:
EQ: TDR Nova
Compressor: TDR Kotelnikov
I also used Voxengo Correlometer to help make sure that the track is mono compatible, Youlean Loudness Meter 2 to help with the compression and VAC-6 to make sure clipping was completely avoided.
I mostly composed by playing something horrible (I can't play any instrument), and then moving things around in the piano roll until it sounded ok. Scales & Chord as well as other player devices were of great help making it sound like more than my lack of talent would allow.
It's quite obvious that I have absolutely no talent for lyrics. I used theselyricsdonotexist.com to generate some inspiration. I simply took the most promising lines and replaced some of the words to make it fit the melody.
The video was made in GTA V with various mods to make it look more like Los Angeles. Edited in Lumafusion on iPad.
It took me about 80 hours over the course of a month to complete the track. Most of it was done in the first week, the rest of the time was spent tweaking stuff that annoyed me.
Every hour I was awake during that month, I spent on either this track, or watching Youtube tutorials on music production.
The hardest part was learning how to make it sound ok on a variety of speakers. For example, if it sounded right in my headphones, it would sound horrible in my car.
My solution was:
1. Watch a ton of YouTube tutorials on mixing and mastering.
2. Buy better headphones (Beyerdynamics DT-880)
3. Use great sounding commercial tracks as a reference, and do frequent A/B comparisons during mixing and mastering.
4. Play the track on every speaker and headphone possible at varying volume levels.