Ghost Story

[Romidon]

Well...  This has been a bit of an ordeal....

I wanted my first post to be a submission to the 'Ghost Stories' theme/festival..  The first time I tried to upload the song file, it was too big (9MBs instead of the max 5 required here), so I set out to find out how to compress the file and ended up with 'Audacity'.  I squished the file down to 4.6MBs which hopefully won't get rejected this time..

I was introduced to this site by a friend who told me that just being here has been a tremendous inspiration to him.  So with that kind of a recommendation, I had to check things out.  Right off the bat when I came across the 'Ghost Stories' theme, I indeed felt inspired as I'm a fan of the darker side of life and things supernatural...

The song itself was recorded on my Zoom H6n recorder and though it has abilities to create pretty awesome stuff, MY abilities to access said 'awesome stuff' is VERY severely limited.  So this is a bare bones recording of me and my guitar.  I probably should have waited until I was able to get a more polished recording with multiple tracks for other instruments, but I was so excited about this song I want to get it out there now.....

The song is titled 'Ghost Story' and it is a song where the story is advanced mostly by dialogue.  It was a challenge for me as I've never written a song using this method before.  That plus the challenge of coming up with a song to fit the parameters of the theme made for one excited romi... 

I hope the recording quality doesn't completely stop members from listening and getting the gist of the song.  PLUS, I hope this makes it to the correct page; the 'Ghost Stories' theme jukebox..

romidon.

Ghost Story

written & performed by romidon

From the kitchen her mother called out,
"It's time to go to bed."   The young child
Begged me, "Can we stay here, please?", I told her
"Do what your mother said.
And once you brush your teeth and change
I'll tuck you in real fast."
She stopped and gave me puppy eyes,
And then my daughter asked:
     "Daddy won't you tell me a ghost story?
       I'm a big girl now and I won't be scared.
       Daddy won't you tell me a ghost story
       Before I go to bed?"

I laughed and said, "We'll see; now hurry
Don't make mom call again."
She scampered off excitedly
As I cleaned around the den.  When I
Went to her room, she was in her bed
All smiles and spearmint breath.
She said, "Dad, you know I love you so;
And I'm not afraid of death...  So;
       Daddy won't you tell me a ghost story?
       I'm a big girl now and I won't be scared.
       Daddy won't you tell me a ghost story
       Before I go to bed?"

    Then her mom came in, gave her a goodnight kiss,
    Asked; "Can we read another time?  I've got
    So much to do around the house..."
    My daughter said, "Mommy, it's alright; 'coz: 
       Daddy's gonna tell me a ghost story.  Yeah,
       I'm a big girl now and I won't be scared.
       Daddy's gonna tell me a ghost story     
       Before I go to bed.."

It took awhile, then her mother smiled.
And she said, "Sweetie, that's nice.
I hope it's not too scary, though..
Should I leave on the light?"
My daughter nodded; mom shut the door.  I sat
Beside her on the bed..
I scrunched my brow like I was thinking hard,
Then I smiled and said:
  "Not all ghost stories are meant to scare:
    Some show the power of 'Love'.
    How it can reach beyond the grave
    In ways we've not dreamed of.
    And how a father's love for his little girl
    And her innocent belief
    Can bring his spirit back again
    To ease his loved ones grief..."
       "Daddy won't you tell me a ghost story?
       I'm a big girl now and I won't be scared.
       Daddy won't you tell me a ghost story
       Before I go to bed?"

I looked down and she was sleeping.
I kissed her cheek then stood again.
I whispered 'Goodnight Love' to her mom,
As I faded to a mist....
My being swelled with gladness
My spirit never knew such joy:
My little girl was growing up
And she loved a good ghost story....

Ohhhhhh,   oh, oh, ohhhh.     Ohhhhhh,   oh, oh, oh..                 


fin.

[Mike_S]

Hi Romidom,

Welcome to Songcrafters!

This is beautiful... I actually love the recording quality... it gives a real ambience and enhances that live feel. The lyrics really grabbed me, really lovely - a real nice gentle twist to the whole Ghost Stories theme. Super guitar playing as well, all in all a great song!

Mike

(Just noticed, it hasn't been added to the Ghost Stories Festival Jukebox... one of the admins should be able to fix this)

[64Guitars]

Welcome to Songcrafters Romidon. Love the song. It reminds me somewhat of the great singer/songwriter Harry Chapin.

A few tips to help you adjust to the site:

1) The maximum upload size is actually 7MB, not 5MB. If you export your MP3 file with a bitrate of 192kbps, most songs up to about 5 minutes in length will easily fit within the 7MB limit. For longer songs, you can try reducing the bitrate to 160kbps or 128kbps, or you can upload your file to an external site such as alonetone and link to it in your Songcrafters post using the [singlemp3][/singlemp3] tags. Just insert the URL of the external MP3 file between the tags.

2) You shouldn't add the festival banner to your post. Just add the festival submission message icon (as you did). That icon tells the admins that we need to add your song to the festival jukebox. When we've done so, we'll add the festival banner to your post and change the message icon to the festival icon.

3) The level of your recording is very low. Before uploading, you should always normalize the levels of your recording. You can easily do this in Audacity by pressing Ctrl-A to select the whole song, then selecting "Normalize..." from the Effects menu. I recommend setting the peak amplitude to -0.1 dB.

I've taken the liberty of normalizing your file for you so it will sound better in the jukebox and the volume won't change drastically from song-to-song.

Here's how your posted MP3 file looks in Audacity:



And here's how it looks after normalization:



4) It's a good idea to always include the song title, your name, etc. in the ID3 tags of your MP3 file. You can do this in Audacity by selecting "Metadata..." from the Edit menu. I recommend configuring Audacity to always show the Metadata dialog when you export a song. That way, you won't forget to edit the tags. Select "Preferences..." from the Edit menu. On the left, select "Import / Export", then check the box that says "Show Metadata Tags editor before export" and click OK. The Songcrafters mp3 player in your post will display the song title specified in the ID3 tags if present. Otherwise, it will display the filename as the song title, which isn't always ideal.

[Romidon]

Hi Romidon,

Welcome to Songcrafters!

This is beautiful... I actually love the recording quality... it gives a real ambience and enhances that live feel. The lyrics really grabbed me, really lovely - a real nice gentle twist to the whole Ghost Stories theme. Super guitar playing as well, all in all a great song!

Mike

(Just noticed, it hasn't been added to the Ghost Stories Festival Jukebox... one of the admins should be able to fix this)

Thanks, Mike!  Wow!

This was all pretty much on the fly, and listening to the song over and over, along with listening to other songs released here, I was beginning to think that I was really embarrassing myself by posting this. 

At the same time though, this WAS my first song post; so hopefully as I glean knowledge from you and other seasoned members my songs and home recordings will improve.  I already have felt inspiration to get better in my short time here..

I DO have some original children's songs that were actually recorded and mastered by one of the members here.  He even added instruments along with background vocals and took time to make the recordings sound as professional as possible.  I'll try to dig those up and release them piece-meal (not all at once)..   (BTW:  Children's Songs might make and interesting festival jukebox at some point..     {just thinking out loud....})

Thanks also for helping get the song placed in the 'Ghost Stories' festival jukebox. 

Thank you 64Guitars for the tips and cleaning up my recording.  I actually did mix down (which I assumed was 'Normalizing') the song with my Zoom H6.  The file resulting from converting from WAV to mp3 was 9MB's, then I compressed it further with Audacity which brought it under 5MBs.  I guess I still got a LOT to learn... 

Welcome to Songcrafters Romidon. Love the song. It reminds me somewhat of the great singer/songwriter Harry Chapin.

I appreciate that.  As you'll hopefully become familiar with my music, you'll see that he and other lyrical storytellers have had a tremendous influence on my writing.  I also appreciate the abstract imagery of writers like Keith Reid of Procol Harum and Alex Harvey [RIP] of the SAHB.  I can only dream of coming close to the professionalism that they achieved.

I'm also part of an American-Irish pub band and the influences of the traditional music, rebel songs, story ballads and such that we've focused on through the years have seeped into my writing as well.

2) You shouldn't add the festival banner to your post. Just add the festival submission message icon (as you did). That icon tells the admins that we need to add your song to the festival jukebox. When we've done so, we'll add the festival banner to your post and change the message icon to the festival icon.

Sorry about that. 
I was just really excited about the song and wanted to make sure it made it to the right place.  Can I play my 'newbie' card this one time?
 
Already, I'm on my way.   

romidon.

[Hilary]

Loved it, couldn't wait to get to the end to find out the twist.

Welcome to the site!

[Hook]

Damn brother, that is one he'll of a good song. Really well written amd performed. Excellent 1st post and welcome to Songcrafters, glad you finally made it. I think the low to vibe works really well for the song but the more you use your zoom the better you'll get.
Glad you joined, I wanna get together and try out that H6n.
Rock on!

[Farrell Jackson]

You did a fine job of recording and singing this with just guitar and vocal.....nice! But the highlight for me is the great story you're telling!

Farrell

[Oldrottenhead]

welcome aboard Romidom. what a great way to introduce yourself, bare bones n all. brawtastic!

[Redler]

I'm so happy to have a new active member to this site:) . Welcome from Finland, Romidon! I'm sure you're in the right place!

I liked the first post by you; very melodic and catchy song, so well played and sung. I listened to it twice!

[Romidon]

I'm so happy to have a new active member to this site:) . Welcome from Finland, Romidon! I'm sure you're in the right place!

I liked the first post by you.... I listened to it twice!

Thank you all for your kind words...   Your comments are appreciated.

Redler; I'm from America and besides music I LOVE the cinema!  I have a few Finnish films in my collection and really enjoy their unique (sometimes off-the-wall wacky) take on life.

You DID say the one thing that I would think would make an impression on any aspiring songwriter (it definitely tugged at my heart):

.... I listened to it twice!

Thank you. 

I've tried to get by here when I can and listen to the other music on the site, and so far I'm loving what I hear.  It really is inspiring to be in an environment surrounded by like-minded musicians striving to better their craft.

Again, thank you all.

romidon.