Suno Control Plan: Service Not Yet Running

Created after: `composition-brief.md` Created before: `guide-track.json`, guide rendering, and final `suno-prompt.md`

What Must Suno Obey?

82 BPM suspended walking pulse.
D minor tonal centre with B-flat warmth and suspended G colour.
Close, dry female alto vocal with spoken verse posture.
Breath pauses before "service not yet running" and "you have time."
Chorus lift that stays small and intimate.
Sparse station-world arrangement: muted acoustic, upright bass, soft keys, brushed percussion, faint rain/glass pad.
No victory ending; the emotional result is delay, not rescue.

Which Source Leads?

Primary lead: lyrics and section tags. The song is narrative-led and depends on intelligible phrasing.

Secondary lead: vocal phrasing guide. The guide controls breath spacing, section pacing, and the modest chorus lift.

Support lead: style prompt. The style prompt defines the sonic world and guardrails.

Not leading today: custom model, My Taste, Extend, Cover. Dakota voice may be selected manually in Suno if available, but the prompt must work without relying on it.

Guide Type Decision

Chosen type: vocal phrasing guide.

The study justifies a guide because the lyric's meaning depends on hesitation. If Suno smooths the verses into regular lines or turns the chorus into a broad hook, the song becomes a generic departure ballad. A vocal phrasing guide gives Suno a map for the breath spaces, held phrases, and small lift while leaving the final melody, harmony colour, and production details open.

Why Not Other Guide Types?

**Structure guide:** useful, but section tags can carry the arrangement map.
**Groove guide:** secondary. The half-time brush pulse is simple enough to state.
**Motif guide:** less important than phrasing today; the recurring object is a breath-delay gesture.
**Full demo guide:** too controlling and unnecessary.
**No guide:** weaker choice because the study's core finding is prosody and delay.

What Should Suno Be Free To Invent?

Exact final vocal melody and ornament.
Natural guitar voicings and bass movement.
Small harmony choices on chorus repeats.
Rain/room texture and mix depth.
Whether the key-like timetable signal becomes celeste, electric piano, or another soft timbre.

What Must Be Excluded?

Real artist names.
Obvious imitation of any studied reference.
Glossy pop vocal stack.
Arena/stadium chorus.
Big drum fill into chorus.
Cinematic synth pad wash.
Choir swell.
Sentimental piano-ballad default.

Slider Strategy

**Weirdness: 38.** Low enough to keep the lyric clear; high enough to preserve the slight station-board uncanniness.
**Style Influence: 76.** Strong style control is needed so Suno stays in sparse nocturnal folk rather than adult-contemporary pop.
**Audio Influence: 42.** The guide is a vocal phrasing and density map, so it needs more influence than a light motif guide, but not so much that it becomes a MIDI-cover target.

QA Required Before Sending

Confirm `composition-brief.md` exists before guide JSON.
Validate guide JSON loads in the current v5 arranger.
Render MIDI and MP3 with the current arranger.
Confirm declared duration, MIDI duration, rendered duration, start/middle/end audible slices, and regenerated review clip.
Confirm style prompt, lyrics, and guide do not fight each other.

Approved Guide Output

If QA passes, send:

`guide-track.json`
`guide-track.mid`
`guide-track.mp3`
`guide-track-review-clip.mp3`
`guide-track-qa.md`