Classic Country Cues

[mojobone]

CLASSIC COUNTRY-Style INSTRUMENTAL CUES and/or FULL-LENGTH INSTRUMENTALS are needed by a busy Non-Exclusive Boutique Music Library that needs to develop that genre in their catalog. They’re eagerly looking for Down-to-Mid-Tempo Instrumental Cues that you’d find on the same playlist as artists like Buck Owens, Ray Price, Webb Pierce, etc., etc., etc. Please listen to the following references to get in the stylistic wheelhouse of what they’re looking for:

“Act Naturally” by Buck Owens

“Heartaches By The Number” by Ray Price

“Why Baby Why” by Webb Pierce

Although the references have vocals, please submit Instrumentals only for this pitch.

Please submit well-crafted Instrumental Cues and/or Full-Length Instrumentals with an old timey Country approach. Traditional sounding instrumentation that includes anything from simple guitars, pedal steel, fiddle, and percussion will work great for this pitch. If you’re submitting Cues, please build them around a simple, yet focused melody, using layering of instrumentation as the Cue progresses to keep them from sounding too repetitive or linear. If you’re taking Country Songs and pulling out the vocals to create Instrumental Tracks, consider adding a simple melody part if the lack of vocal makes it sound too much like a rhythm track that’s missing a vocal.

TAXI Tip: When filling that vocal void, you don’t always need to add back all of the vocal melody’s notes! Sometimes that can sound cheesy, so try a more sparse melody!

Be sure all your instrumentation sounds, or is natural/organic for this pitch. Guitar samples probably won’t cut it! Good edit points and Non-Faded/Buttoned endings will work best for this pitch. Your submissions should be at least 2 minutes in length – longer for Full-Length instrumentals.

Do NOT copy or rip off the referenced songs in any way, shape, or form. Use them only as a general guide for tempo, tone, and overall vibe. Broadcast Quality is needed (great sounding home recordings are fine).

They offer a NON-EXCLUSIVE 50/50 deal. Writers will also get a percentage of any sync fees, which will be negotiated on a case-by-case basis. You must own or control your master and copyright to submit to this pitch. All submissions will be screened on a Yes/No basis - No full critiques. Submissions must be received no later than 11:59PM (PDT), on Friday, July 15th, 2016. TAXI #Y160715CC

Do you think the listing party is aware that two out of three of the 'a las' are considered mid to uptempo, when what they're asking for is mid to downtempo?

[Merryband1]

Could be they don't, Mojo. What I gathered from the listing was that they really want Mid-Tempo, but nothing faster than the a las. I have two songs I want to do for the listing, both being classic country, but a third song is more up-tempo and would be better suited for a Bluegrass listing.

Question: I only have guitars (Alvarez dreadnought, Takamine a/e cutaway, electric copycat Strat, classical [I know, not that one!]) and a fiddle. I could add in keyboard bass for some bottom end, but that's about it. Don't have a pedal steel, or even a lap steel (on the wish list). Do you think a guitar or two and fiddle for riffs would be enough for this listing? I was going to do the regular rhythm guitar (with walking bass notes) and then the melody line with another guitar, using the fiddle for decoration. Do you think that would sound too stripped-down and acoustic (although I know they're mostly looking for acoustic at this point) Thanks for input. I'll be recording later today, I hope.

[Len911]

Aren't they basically what is called a country shuffle??

[Merryband1]

Well, I'm not going to make it by the deadline. However, this did me a favor, because it got me recording again. I'm still having trouble with my old (read "desperately in need of an upgrade") DAW, but I'm making it work with the IO4 and the fantastic Gauge M57 I won a couple of years ago on TAXI. The sound is great. I also discovered how to do tight background-noise-canceling. It really works. Can't even hear the cicadas and katydids shouting outside the windows. I'm going to go ahead and record the songs just as if I was submitting to the listing. Who knows? They may run it again if they don't get enough cues/songs.

Merryband

[mojobone]

I didn't make the deadline, either. Despite having tons of this stuff laying about, it all pretty much features other players, and work-for-hire agreements woulda taken a month.

Yup, a pretty standard shuffle beat, but I'd assume they'll also want some 6/8 and waltz stuff, given the time period. I ended up using a Kontakt factory upright bass patch with some treatment and got an acceptable doghouse sound, but I went to grab my lap steel and found that the stoptail bridge had bent so badly from the Hank Williams-approved C6th tuning that half the strings wouldn't note cleanly. I guess some thing aren't meant to be, but I'm not giving up; if it comes around again, I'll have a template set to go.

Question: I only have guitars (Alvarez dreadnought, Takamine a/e cutaway, electric copycat Strat, classical [I know, not that one!]) and a fiddle. I could add in keyboard bass for some bottom end, but that's about it. Don't have a pedal steel, or even a lap steel (on the wish list). Do you think a guitar or two and fiddle for riffs would be enough for this listing? I was going to do the regular rhythm guitar (with walking bass notes) and then the melody line with another guitar, using the fiddle for decoration. Do you think that would sound too stripped-down and acoustic (although I know they're mostly looking for acoustic at this point)

I don't know why that wouldn't work, except the a las all have drums, mixed way back. Fiddle fills are something I coulda used, but my guy was tied up all last week. I'm slowly coming to the conclusion that live instruments take too long, anyhow. If you have a bar and a volume pedal handy, you can fake a lap steel, just by retuning any single-coil axe and playing lap-style, but I wasted too much time trying to find a tuning that would work with my busted bridge.

[Merryband1]

Aw, I'm sorry you messed up the bridge, Mojo! Reminds me of what I did to my first guitar. I didn't have a capo, and thought it wouldn't hurt to tune it up from E to G. Poor old guitar still won't play right (although I have tried to fix it a few times over the years). I need to take it apart and just flatten the soundboard, if that would even work.

The basses in my keyboard sound pretty good, and I guess I could throw in just a standard keyboard drum a la 50s/60s (e.g., maybe just brushes or something soft).

Let's both get some ready for the next time this listing (or one similar) comes around!

Merry