100% clobbering ... wow ,

[ExcelMusicStudio]

wow ... 100% returns ..what a clobbering.. disbelief & shock ... 2 dozen submits in & not one of my tunes got past the screeners.. that's gotta be more disheartening than some girl pushing a pie into your face because she don't wanna dance with you.. I'm mortified. what does it take. ?

[themichaelscott]

Great production quality. The mixing and instrumentation is on. But as soon as I saw the banner on your youtube page I thought "I bet it's 80's"

There were some parts of the sample reel I could imagine behind picture (the 2:00 mark.) For the most part I think most of the sample reel sounded authentic 1980's. Most Taxi listings want up to the minute current. That also means the sounds of the instruments. Post some links to what you submitted to Taxi for better input from the forum.

Michael

[ExcelMusicStudio]

thanks ,, Mike , might be better to strip down the instrumentation to classic voc + gtr.. that makes it timeless , dateless , immune to every twitch of fashion.

I think there may be many members who share this same situation. being dated ?.. OK .. but is it still a great song , creative original idea.. ?

my youtube for original songs is https://www.youtube.com/user/0orangejules/videos
happy to have folks get something of value here..

best regards Jules.

[cosmicdolphin]

I'm a newbie to Taxi too, took the plunge after about 5 years of lurking! I do this together with my great mate of 40yrs so we are definitely middle aged and a bit out of touch. We have had 15 submissions screened since we got our membership at the end of January with 5 fowards so we're not doing too bad.

I hear a lot of skill in your music but much of it sounded dated, not just a bit but quite badly at times. I think a lot of it is choice of sounds and partly production techniques, some of it reminds me of the type of music you can hear backing entertainers at a holiday camp. Are you using some kind of workstation keyboard because that's what it sounds like?

Strangely enough our first forward was a cheesy sounding piece that I hated but the listing was for a shopping channel style advert in a TV show so that was what they needed... Not every listing requires bang up to date style and sounds. We've struggled too with not sounding contemporary and those have all been returned but we got a 70s funk , and a simple acoustic guitar track forwarded too, just had to make sure we used the appropriate EQ/reverb etc for each of them. You can still date a simple piece with the wrong mic placement, or reverb, compression level etc.

You have the chops, you just need a change sound you use and maybe target the best listings for yourself

[ExcelMusicStudio]

yeah ,, cool ... they are stock songs from a large catalog..& can be / should be updated , yep they've been done over the years.. just getting up to speed with new gear.. Kronos.. live drums.. ( exhaustive list here .. )

Korg M1 , is the staple of my studio .. I know it upside down & inside out ... but new songs are emerging that I really love the best & are the highest quality so far.

I always thought that the feeling you get from music was more important than some trendy quirk .. my lyrics , arrangements & melodies are solid quality.

coz , they're always looking for the next BIG THING .. Bwaaaa ha hah.. but they don't know what it is until the public decide to follow/buy ,, .. then they ( industry moguls names here ) follow with copycat attempts to cash in ..

hey when they want 80s.. I guess I'll clean up ,, ha !> anyhow ,, , back to the future..

[andygabrys]

Many of us have had similar results, and still do after we push the boundaries and try genres / styles that we haven't mastered. It gets better as you spend more time working on it.

#1 reason for a return (my own experience and others):

What you think you wrote isn't close to the listing. Its either dated stylistically, or sound wise, or the performances don't reflect the kind of performances that the ref tracks have. Not saying you need to copy the ref tracks exactly (in fact thats not a good idea AT ALL) but you need to be able to objectively say "this is in the ballpark" or "this is not close". Which is difficult after you have worked on a specific direction for an afternoon / day / week / month.

Your submission might even be a really fine piece of music (in some style) but if it does not fit the brief, its going to get returned.

If you want specific feedback from the forum, post the ENTIRE listing (including who the client was - music supervisor, publisher, library etc - it matters), the screener comments, and your tune (soundcloud link is nice because people can listen on mobile devices or TAXI link)

One other thing to consider:

At one time the Korg M1 was a workhorse. But now just about everything about it screams a certain time period that isn't contemporary. Most people these days are using software for sounds, rather than hardware units. The sampling technology moves so fast that hardware units become quickly out of date. Part of it is that the M1 and other units like it are made with "mix ready" sounds, complete with modulation / chorus, delay and reverb, meant to be played live. These effects often date the sound as well as the specific use of effects has evolved since that unit was made. You can get into the settings of every sound and turn off the effects, but its certainly a pain (ex- Motif user here).

So if you are using drum sounds from the M1, try to get objective whether they are contemporary. If they aren't, then consider your options. Sure there is going to be a learning curve if you start using some new software, but it will likely be worth it. Most software works in mostly the same way.

Regarding 80's sounds - yeah they are all over the latest "hip" productions from many superstars. But the way they are used in the mix, and the kind of sounds they are used with are way more contemporary than 80s. So if you can take something old and make it new by the way you produce it, you likely have a winner. If you take something old and surround it with other old things with a dated mix style, then you likely have a clunker.



I assume you are recording on a DAW - which do you use? Pro Tools? Logic?

signed,

Child of the 80's. lol

[ExcelMusicStudio]

Andy ,,, you are a god send.. thanks.. great info buddy .

getting slammed down for my old gear & stylistic likes.. isn't ever getting easier.

funny thing is I've also got futuristic music ,, with no current applications.. huh .,. that's bizzarre..
I'm either from the past ,, way behind.. or waaaay in front..
Gort,,, "Klaatu barada nikto" .. ... etc. where's my silver underwear..

Cubase VST 5.2 ,,, & Cubase 6 ..

it's so heartening to have fellow creatives rally around.. thanks much to all..

[ExcelMusicStudio]

I might still console myself with chocolate biscuits..

[Russell Landwehr]

I think there may be many members who share this same situation. being dated ?..

It's a constant struggle.
Luckily I listen to enough new stuff to hear and trash my stuff when it is too dated.... well... mostly... i DID get a recent return on a "contemporary" listing that I hit the "classic" target too bad the listing didn't mention classic

But hey! There is a listing for 8bit video game music. It doesn't get any more dated that THAT!

Russell

[ExcelMusicStudio]

aHHHHH yes... bleep bleep dit dit dit blooop ... issat really music ?.. thanks Russel.,, down here in the scrum .. with ya.