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Smoke & Mirrors (collab)


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Description
Thetiler offered me the chance to write a melody line and lyrics for his song, and I happily accepted! He wrote and played the guitar and synths. When I first heard the guitar part, I related right away to how it went back and forth between happy sounding verses and a darker chorus. It reminded me of how my pessimistic side always creeps up on me. So that's what I wrote about. Melodies, harmonies, and lyrics are by me, and all instruments are performed and written by Thetiler. You can hear his original accoustic version on his page. It's very good so listen to that one, too, if you haven't already! The art is by Eric Bragg.
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Lyrics
She walks alone every morning down the same old street
and yearns for something, anything to make her life complete
like in a movie where the hero comes to sweep her off her feet
They'd run away

But when you look behind the scene
there's a projector and a screen
that's flashing images of lies
There's nothing there believe your eyes

(Watch out...It's smoke and mirrors)

Day after day waiting tables, small town girl cliche
She serves the same old faces hoping that she'll make it out someday
Her feet are tired, but strong enough to carry her away

Friend of a friend has some room; live's in NYC
She's never been there but convinced there's no place she would rather be
She'll live the city life, the one she's only seen on her TV
She'll get away

But when you look beyond the stage
there's a director and the pages
tell them what to do and say
It's just a story, just a play

(Wactch out...It's smoke and mirrors)

Who could do it?
See right through it

She's lived her life taking orders both at work and home
She plays the role of someone confident enough to be alone
but she's smoke and mirrors and when someone starts to break through the unknown
she runs away

Watch out... It's smoke and mirrors
Song Stats
Hits: 2067
Comments: 25
Fans: 1
Plays: 487
Downloads: 77
Votes: 15
Uploaded: Mar 22, 2005 - 02:14:21 AM
Last Updated: Mar 21, 2005 - 11:07:31 PM Last Played: Nov 24, 2009 - 12:53:45 AM
Song License
Creative Commons License:
Attribution-NoDerivs-NonCommercial

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Comments
Tom Atwood said 1709 days ago (March 22nd, 2005)
Beautiful tune, lovely vocals
My only criticism is with the production. Tiler's guitar
sounds compressed & tinny, almost like he's in another
room. I heard the original instrumental and it sounded
much richer, more present. Also, your voice is so pure and
clear, I'm not sure if you need quite so much reverb,
although it does add to the dreamy quality of this flowing
piece.
Check out my latest song called Keep Looking for Jesus (MJRF)
said 1709 days ago (March 22nd, 2005)
Cast appearances
I concur with Tom A. as far as production values. Emily's
voice comes in too "hot" initially, then nicely nestles into
the ambience of the guitar bed. Overall, too much reverb
which makes it hard to understand the good words
being sung. In fact, sometimes the flanking harmony
voices are crisper than the centered lead voice. I suggest
duping the lead vocal and setting one instance to no
reverb and the other instance to 40-50% reverb. Ask Tiler
for his un-reverbed guitar track. You can also do the same
track duping with the guitar track. This method provides
both immediacy and chamber-sized ambience. Your final
unifying step is to bring it all into the same
soundspace by adding some reverb globally on the Master
Track. Try Classical Hall, Warm Classical or Club Master
presets. Do not use any of the Ambient master track
presets. Be careful of too much accumulated compression
(as Atwood pointed out).

The lyrics are wonderful! The smoke and mirrors theme,
for me, harkens back to Plato's "Allegory of the Cave"
where those in bondage see and hear only the shadows
and echoes of real objects which they are constrained
from seeing directly. These prisoners mistake
appearances for reality.

Tiler, your guitar playing is magnificent. You create some
very rich, harmonic and moving passages in this piece. I
love your chord progressions. Emily, you have done a
fantastic job of applying your writing skills and beautiful
voice to Tiler's instrumental composition -- not an easy
task when the musical foundation is already set.
Emily Rohm said 1709 days ago (March 22nd, 2005)
Cast appearances
Thanks for your comments. Wow, Plato...what a great analogy.
I understand your production comments. This is my first ever attempt at
using Garageband. I'm still figuring it all out... I had a hard time getting my
outside microphone to work well with my powerbook at first, and I think I
finally got it when I recorded the backup vocals (hence the better sound in the
harmonies). All the production inticacies are things I need to learn, so thanks
for your advice so far!
Check out my latest song called Monica's Waltz
thetiler said 1709 days ago (March 22nd, 2005)
Cast appearances
I know production is cross I have to bear.

I till trying to learn more. I came in here as a guitar player, I just didn't realize
how hard it is to prefect the craft as a recording engineer.
I am trying my best. I know it is still not good enough on my part.

I wonder if getting Logic Express will help?

I hear good things about it.





---
The Tiler
Check out my latest song called The Bluebird Cafe (with two other guest)
said 1709 days ago (March 22nd, 2005)
Cast appearances
Tiler: your guitar stuff is great. Just be sure when you are sending a guitar
part out for collaboration to cut back on the reverb. We've already talked
about that. I know it's hard to do that when you think you have the reverb just
right. You have to anticipate that more reverb will be added in when the other
person mixies it in with their stuff. Better to send two files: one that is un-
reverbed and a sample of how you'd like it to sound. I look forward to a
future remix. You have all the elements for a top-flight cut! I'd be happy to
help in any way you'd like. Logic Express may help the cause...but don't give
up on GarageBand quite yet.

---
Aspiration requires perspiration.
http://www.schletty.com/indwellings
TobinMueller said 1709 days ago (March 22nd, 2005)
Excellent songwriting
Emily, these lyrics are great. Excellent songwriting. The
content that comes from real life rings true; the differing
line length and use of unusual rhymes is compelling and
drives the piece; and the melodic phrasing reminds me of
Stephen Schwartz. Really well done. Very nice use of
counter melody too. I just wish the production was better;
it is very muffled and uneven. But the performances and
writing are superb.
Check out my latest song called Forge A New Life (MJRF)
Emily Rohm said 1709 days ago (March 22nd, 2005)
Excellent songwriting
Thanks Tobin! Your compliments about the songwriting mean a lot coming
from you! And like I said a bit earlier, I know I have a lot to learn when it
comes to production. I appreciate any advice. Thanks!
Check out my latest song called Monica's Waltz
thetiler said 1709 days ago (March 22nd, 2005)
Excellent songwriting
Thanks Tobin

I know I need to do more homework.

I hope it doesn't hurt too much in grading Emily's pretty
singing.

Thanks

---
The Tiler
Check out my latest song called The Bluebird Cafe (with two other guest)
said 1709 days ago (March 22nd, 2005)
Excellent songwriting
Knowledge and love are more important than fickle rankings. Know that we
love what you and Emily have done here.

---
Aspiration requires perspiration.
http://www.schletty.com/indwellings
said 1709 days ago (March 22nd, 2005)
Great lyrics...

married to a great musical composition, and two great
performances. When Bill said he was getting someone
to write lyrics, I commented to be sure to get lyrics
worthy of this golden guitar piece.

He did. Kudos!

Jack
Emily Rohm said 1709 days ago (March 22nd, 2005)
Great lyrics...
Thanks so much!
Check out my latest song called Monica's Waltz
thetiler said 1709 days ago (March 22nd, 2005)
Great lyrics...
Thanks jack for the comments. They are appreciated.

---
The Tiler
Check out my latest song called The Bluebird Cafe (with two other guest)
K.I.S.KISMET said 1709 days ago (March 22nd, 2005)
Bravo
wow, guys...this is really good! emily, I think you've done an outstanding job with all of the writing and sweet job on the vox, ESPECIALLY the harmonies. I can relate to your mic issues. what kind of mic did you get w/ your powerbook?

tiler, your playing was dreamy as usual. what a nice collab. some of the guitar kinda reminds me of 'dust in the wind'. the only thing i didn't really dig was the synth part, it seemed the wrong sound, but in the right places


(?_?)
~


Check out my latest song called Your's
Emily Rohm said 1709 days ago (March 22nd, 2005)
Bravo
Thanks for the compliments. I didn't like to sound of the built-in mic on my
powerbook, so I hooked up my professional mic with an adapter, which for
some reason was muffled until I played with some of the effects. I'm still
trying to finding a good balance, but I'm learning! Glad you like the song.
Check out my latest song called Monica's Waltz
daphna said 1709 days ago (March 22nd, 2005)
great collab
Emily, I love your voice! (big surprise) It sounds great
here, and I love the harmonies/countermelodies you've
put in. For instrumentation, I think some of the synths
were a little bit too much, maybe not so appropriate for
the song - that comment goes to thetiler, but otherwise,
very nice.
Check out my latest song called I Love My Mac mjrf
Emily Rohm said 1709 days ago (March 22nd, 2005)
great collab
Good to hear from you, Daphne! Thanks for listening.
Check out my latest song called Monica's Waltz
Warren Smith said 1709 days ago (March 22nd, 2005)
running away
Nice writing to go with nice playing - a wonderful collaborative effort! I agree it suffers because of the production values, but I expect that can be fixed in the computer. I like the twist at the end, where she herself turns into the "smoke and mirrors" she has been rebelling against - in effect, running away from running away.
Check out my latest song called Pushing and Pulling
Emily Rohm said 1709 days ago (March 22nd, 2005)
running away
Oooh, thanks for noticing! I'm always self-concsious about my lyrics, so I'm
glad you enjoy them.
Check out my latest song called Monica's Waltz
Peter Greenstone said 1708 days ago (March 22nd, 2005)
lovely
The first thing this made me think of in the beginning was
"Suzanne" by Judy Collins, but it quickly went its own
lovely way. This is a great combination, your voice and
Tiler's guitar. The only part that didn't sound so good to
me was when the synth came in in the latter half on the
right; just too loud and piercing to my ears. Everything
else, great.
Check out my latest song called From Nothing
said 1708 days ago (March 23rd, 2005)
Silver pipes
Wow. What a great voice. Love the angelic tonal qualities.
Really sounds natural and effortless. Beautifully crafted
intelligent lyrics. Please lose the synth and make this just
Tiler's guitar and you. And yeah, I hear the production
issues. But this song has a solid foundation. And the
production problems can be fixed. Love the harmonies.
Thx for sharing Emily.
Stun Nutz said 1708 days ago (March 23rd, 2005)
my thoughts exactly!
There is some beautiful singing and guitar playing
here! However, I agree with pgreenstone and skipper
- the louder synth part later in the song was
distracting... and the type of synth sound that was
used sounded a little cheesy. The more subtle
"string-section" type synths used elsewhere seemed
to blend better and sounded OK to me...
Check out my latest song called Gossamer dissected
Truth42 said 1708 days ago (March 23rd, 2005)
Really fantastic
This is very, very good. A fantastic meldoy and a great
song. The quality here goes up all the time. Well done!
Check out my latest song called Hide And Seek
virtualruffy said 1661 days ago (May 9th, 2005)
very nice
excellent work.
Check out my latest song called no sanctuary
FEEL said 1653 days ago (May 16th, 2005)
Got to get your voice in a song of mine
This song is great...loved it, Outstanding vocals. kind of
sounded like dog and butterflyish...Composition was
wonderful too. I would love if you could sing to one of my
pop tunes...
Check out my latest song called Pigs Fly
macgalver said 1446 days ago (December 10th, 2005)
Gorgeous
Is there anything else to say? Loved the way you used the lyric smoke
and mirrors. Not wild about the synth but, overall I thought it was
really good. The chorus and verses liked each other and, imh, really
complimented one another--Great bit of songwriting, Emily. The tiler,
the man, the myth. You are all that and a bag of chips...love, kelli
Check out my latest song called First Sight
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Artist Info
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Name: Emily Rohm Gilmore
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Hi! I'm a singer/actress/costume designer trying to make it in the theatre biz. I am a member of the Actor's Equity Association and living Chicagoland. Went to school to sing opera & music theatre but I have a pop singer in me that needs to come out ... [see more]

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