Shape Changer (with piano line)

Estella

Genre: Acoustic

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Description

2-yr-old song, trying to add this piano line (sorry to all pianists everywhere)

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Lyrics

You come to me in the shape of a gun
and I pull the trigger
You come to me in the shape of a knife
and I bury you in my heart

You come to me, and I see God
and I am blasphemous
and I'm sorry
for worshipping you too little and too much

His sweet words sound like insults
His distance feels like pushing me away
I'm lost following his finger pointing the way
I am smothered without him even holding me

Let go let go let go
Leave his body now...

Song Stats

Hits: 2339
Comments: 24
Fans: 6
Plays: 193
Downloads: 0
Votes: 4
Uploaded: Dec 20, 2006 - 06:09:05 PM
Last Updated: Dec 20, 2006 - 06:09:05 PM Last Played: Dec 12, 2012 - 04:00:36 AM

Song License

Creative Commons License:
Attribution-NoDerivs-NonCommercial

Song Actions

Comments

rtcooper	rtcooper said 2373 days ago (December 20th, 2006)
	Haunting, but Distant Your voice is lovely and clear, but somewhat distant from the Capture Mic. Common to situations "Wanting" more mic.s than one has. Your interval and pitch control is a joy. The closing descant would only be better by the Capture. FINE Showing. Very Best Regards, Cooper Check out my latest song called The Loon and the Hula Moon (mstr)

Estella	Estella said 2373 days ago (December 20th, 2006)
	grateful and confused your compliments make me feel happy. but I don't know what you're talking about with the "capture mic"? --- *estella Check out my latest song called Insomnia

rtcooper

rtcooper said 2373 days ago (December 20th, 2006)

"Capture" Mic
In the best of situations there is a Mic for every purpose.

Dedicated Vox (vocal), Inst (piano, guitar, etc), FX (room sound or ambiance - space around the energy). No distractions. Clear capture of all important sounds and their energy. An ideal, really; ususally a compromise is in order.

Point being, your voice is a strong and lovely instrument. The first commitment of equipment - microphones - should be to capture what your voice is up to, at any given moment.

Cooper

---
"What you Don't use, You Lose." Get Rockin'

Check out my latest song called The Loon and the Hula Moon (mstr)

alley-oop

alley-oop said 2372 days ago (December 21st, 2006)

I think agree with rtcooper
Lovely song, soft melodies, pretty voice, solid lyrics.
I have a few recording/mixing thoughts. You could adjust this in GB by reducing some of the high frequencies and boosting low frequencies. There is a master track equalizer where you can easily do that. You can eliminate the hiss in the track and add a full richer bottom end by using the master eq.
I'm not sure what microphone you are using. Pinhole mic?
Getting modestly priced condensor mic could dramatically improve the sound/recording quality of voice and instruments.
bravo..thought-provoking tune

Check out my latest song called anymore

Estella

Estella said 2372 days ago (December 21st, 2006)

hissing sound
thank you very much for liking my song!!! and for giving me advice on the recording.

I've been trying to fix that hissing since day one of my garage band experience. for this song, I actually did what you described to both my individual and master tracks. Through trial and error, I lowered the treble gain. What you hear is actually a reduction of hissing! I use an audiospectrum-400 mic and the mic and all my instruments are hooked up to an M-Audio firewire 410. All I can think to do now is, like you said, get a condenser mic, or go into a room with better acoustics. anything else you can think of? take care,

---
*estella

Check out my latest song called Insomnia

rtcooper

rtcooper said 2372 days ago (December 21st, 2006)

All Mic.s Are Different, But
Generally, "Hiss" is a "Signal to Noise" Ratio [S/N] issue. While all electronics generate a hum or, in this case, hiss during operation the S/N Ratio typically renders the background operating noise moot. The 410 likely has a S/N of around 90dB, or a Five to One relationship. So.

The area you are heading for is where the Signal is strong enough to outweight any interference (be sure to use a good Mic cable, by the way; a shielded cable immune to casusal interference from normal household items). Place the Mic for optimum response; closer for Dynamic Mic.s, further for Condensers. Adjust the record Gain (volume) on the 410 and in GB so that a strong sound wave is captured by the channel in GB. The lower you can run the 410, the better.

Select the AU Filter in your channel options and adjust frequency selects and gain to optimize your vocal traits.

Voila. You just saved a year of Trial and Error with GB.

Best Regards,

Cooper

---
"What you Don't use, You Lose." Get Rockin'

Check out my latest song called The Loon and the Hula Moon (mstr)

Estella	Estella said 2372 days ago (December 21st, 2006)
	wow. this is good stuff. thank you. --- *estella Check out my latest song called Insomnia

moorlandt	moorlandt said 2372 days ago (December 21st, 2006)
	great competence This is once again a very enchanting song with lots of potential. You had tons of great tips from fellow MJ-ers, and I see that you take them by heart. Please, continue doing so, because you have a great artistic basic competence. That shows... - Walter Check out my latest song called Free (remix)

	said 2372 days ago (December 21st, 2006)
	very nice your words are filled with contrast beautifull opposites that form the irony in this love you sing about. I like the guitar trhe piano could use more chords. your voice is very delicate and enjoyable. great job

Estella

Estella said 2372 days ago (December 21st, 2006)

Hmmm...
...maybe I'll add a track with a nice base of piano chords and see what that does to the song. Thank you, I was waiting for some comment on the piano because I had a few weeks of piano lessons when I was in middle school and that's the extent of my knowledge, so making up a piano part for this is ambitious of me.

I'm glad you enjoyed the lyrics, guitar and voice.

---
*estella

Check out my latest song called Insomnia

Slotogenic	Slotogenic said 2372 days ago (December 21st, 2006)
	Microphone please! The fact that you still sound really good at this poor a sound quality is a testament to your abilities. Please ask Santa for a good mic! You've got a lot of potential.

Estella

Estella said 2371 days ago (December 22nd, 2006)

okay
well, that's a sweet compliment if I ever heard one. Thank you.

I really love your song, "slow death coming," by the way. I downloaded it, and I'm gonna listen to it on my way to Christmas vacation, along with my other favorites from MJ.

"Santa" (my boyfriend) already got me an m-audio and my other recording hardware for Christmas. We'll get a better mic as soon as we can. I can't wait. I'll do what I can until then.

---
*estella

Check out my latest song called Insomnia

jiguma

jiguma said 2368 days ago (December 25th, 2006)

Great voice
Estellie,
I agree with all of the above - you have a beautiful voice and write very thoughtful, beautiful songs as well. I suspect that all of your problems are connected to your signal:noise ratio. I don't know much about setups other than my own (Rode NT3 and Behringer UB802 mixer/preamp), but it really sounds like the signal you are recording is not strong enough (hence all the hiss) - on voice, guitar and piano - it takes a lot of trial and error before things start sounding right sometimes. This could be a number of things, but I think things should improve if you simply focus on your equipment connections and recording technique for a while. At the moment, I think the hiss is too strong for you to be able to simply filter it out.
I really don't think you need to add any instruments - it's a matter of getting those signals at optimum volume into GB. As I said on an earlier post, you've got what it takes to produce really good songs, but something is letting you down.
Here's an unusual, but relevant link for you - there are many more if you Google "vocal recording technique" or similar http://www.tweakheadz.com/how_to_record_vocals.htm Here's another interesting one http://www.jeepjazz.com/JeepJazzMusic/handbk.html
Keep them coming Estellie, one day (probably quite soon) you'll sort this out and be able to concentrate more on the performance than the recording.
All the best for 2007!
Neil

Check out my latest song called INTO THE BLUE

Estella

Estella said 2367 days ago (December 26th, 2006)

great resource
Thank you. That link is pretty nice - very informative. I think I'm starting to get it. I appreciate your compliments on my music.

When I get back from Christmas vacation, I'll get the mic. I'm researching those now, AND I finally got some results from fooling around with the EQ (thanks to a friend).

I'll upload, "Cigarette Man" next, which I think you guys would like.

---
*estella

Check out my latest song called Insomnia

echoroom

echoroom said 2362 days ago (December 31st, 2006)

Baroque
Hi Estellie - as others have comented on mic issues, i won't repeat them. You have a great, emotional voice whcih suits the acoustics of this song well. The track has a kinda baroque feel to it, that makes it sound almost like chamber music, which gives it a nice, sombre feel. You could go either way with this - keep it dark and acoustic, or add drums etc. to pop/ rock it up.

Nice to find this today - look forward to more postings.

Steve

Check out my latest song called Fire of love (remixed version)

Estella	Estella said 2362 days ago (December 31st, 2006)
	baroque I hadn't thought of it that way, but you're right. I do have a tendancy toward the ornate. Maybe it's my classical music influence? Anyway, thanks for listening despite the noise. this should be drastically reduced for my next upload in the new year. take care, --- *estella Check out my latest song called Insomnia

haribo	haribo said 2335 days ago (January 27th, 2007)
	beautiful.... you are one of those people who can bring out what's deep down there with what's out there! very. touching and atmospheric. love the way it was recorded liked the voice v. much! thanks for sharing this piece Check out my latest song called Clouds

Estella	Estella said 2335 days ago (January 27th, 2007)
	Thank you! Wow. That is a big compliment to me. I appreciate it. Thank you for listening. --- *estella Check out my latest song called Insomnia

five_extra_arms	five_extra_arms said 2254 days ago (April 18th, 2007)
	Another Fine Song Here's a perfect example of good poetry and a well designed mood. I think that someone is going to grab you up and run away, screaming, because of the knife poking them... Good stuff estellie. Check out my latest song called She Was Nowhere

Estella	Estella said 2254 days ago (April 18th, 2007)
	sieben arms... thank you bunches. I glad you like this. and grateful for your listens - these songs are quite rough. --- *estella Check out my latest song called Insomnia

five_extra_arms	five_extra_arms said 2254 days ago (April 18th, 2007)
	The Craft To me, estellie, I enjoy the pure form of the song. We all know they can be polished up to sparkle, and I like that as well. I just really marvel at the preliminary sketches which sometimes are never recaptured in the polishing process. --- five extra arms does not help you sing any better. Check out my latest song called She Was Nowhere

iam0pen	iam0pen said 2098 days ago (September 21st, 2007)
	Pure and Honest!!! I love this song a lot for a couple of reasons... The pianoplay has a slight medieavel sound, I adore that. The metaphoric lyrics appeal to me and your fragile and so gourgious voice please my ear a lot. A definite download....o0ops....won't work :( Kind regards Check out my latest song called What Is It Like To Be You?

lavalamp	lavalamp said 1691 days ago (November 1st, 2008)
	Estella Why don't you ever re-do these songs? You have such a wonderful, soulful voice. Never mind all the instrumentation. The piano line is very fitting. Wish you were around more often. You've got quite a talent. Dave Check out my latest song called A Funky Little Thing

Dj French Toast	Dj French Toast said 1586 days ago (February 14th, 2009)
	DUDE(ette) lyrics are deep on this one....wow . Just needs alittle cleaning up to make this a hit your vocal delivery is sweet and sad and soulful I like your cord progressions on the piano .....So glad I stopped by today :} Toasty Check out my latest song called Sweeter no doubt (Beat by Sweet 79)

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Artist Info

Name: Estella Ramirez
Location: Los Angeles CA United States

I'm just trying to do what I love most at each moment. Wanting to meet others who are doing the same. My Collaborations: Afraid of Love by rsorensen. Stay With Me by Moorlandt. Ornamental Featherweight by Echoroom, with Racerat and Five Ext... [see more]

Check out some of my other songs:

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