Frustrated with "melody" in ambient tracks?

[MattCurious]

Hi guys

This is a classic problem, and something I keep tripping over. I had another return for this reason and was initially quite frustrated; then I realised that (having had a couple of months away from music) I'd forgotten some excellent feedback I got from Head Screener Andy (below).

I got the return on this track: https://soundcloud.com/matt_curious/dir ... ed/s-ukBVk
Which is a revised version of this track:https://soundcloud.com/matt_curious/dirty-pretty

The feedback on the most recent return was: "Track had more of a drone-like tension cue type structure and sound, rather than an ambient underscore cue with a recognizable melodic theme"

I found the return frustrating because the listing explicitly says: Give them subdued, dynamic, ambient underscore with "textural" instruments and sounds that blend in and out of each other to create a solid piece of engaging music

Rightly or wrongly, if "textural" is emphasised, I tend to read that as meaning "less melodic" - otherwise I'm not sure what the point of emphasising it is.

But the feedback I got from Andy when I challenged something similar a while back was this:

"Melody - needs a stronger melodic theme, with variations to avoid being repetitive. I have found that soundscape preferences are moving towards a more musical interpretation and away from the purely sound-design styled soundscapes, so a more definitive melody, with appropriate development/variations to avoid repetitiveness will make your cue more attractive"

I'd forgotten that when I did my revisions (which focused on the thickness of the mix).

When I went back to Andy's advice, I realised that the listings read a whole lot differently if you're reading them in light of a broader knowledge of the genre and current trends. Yes - the listing is for more "textural" tracks. But if you also know that the trend is for stronger melody, you know that "textural" must refer to the bed on which it sits.

So what's the lesson? Be on top of the trends.

And that led me to wonder whether trend-spotting is something Taxi could maybe make a feature of - maybe through Taxi TV? Or an email shot?

It could be a great way to put all the writers on the front-foot with trends etc, which seems like a good thing for everyone. (Although I emphasise this isn't intended as criticism, or that Taxi should do all the legwork - just seems like a potential virtuous circle).

Alternatively, should we make a concerted effort to identify trends in different genres on the forum? I know that for some this will seem like "giving an advantage to the competition", but there're a lot of people out there needing a lot of music...

Food for thought, anyway.

Cheers
M

[jadams]

Good idea Matt. Thanks for this insight.
Joel

[HowlingUlf]

Cool, but how did you know who were screening?

[MattCurious]

Hi HowlingUlf - I didn't know who was screening.

A few months ago I was really confused and frustrated by some feedback, because it seemed to be completely inconsistent with the listing. So I got in touch with Taxi directly and asked them to clarify it.

I've then tried to take the generalised bits of that feedback and apply it to new listings. Although, as you can see from the above, there were a couple of bits I forgot!

[HowlingUlf]

Hi HowlingUlf - I didn't know who was screening.

A few months ago I was really confused and frustrated by some feedback, because it seemed to be completely inconsistent with the listing. So I got in touch with Taxi directly and asked them to clarify it.

I've then tried to take the generalised bits of that feedback and apply it to new listings. Although, as you can see from the above, there were a couple of bits I forgot!

Aha OK makes sense!

[Onaginoffegin]

Hi HowlingUlf.
I believe Andy is the head screener at TAXI.

And Matt, every time I see "central melodic theme" or "motif" in a listing, I bold those three words and make them three times larger than the rest of the text.


Henry

[MattCurious]

Hi Henry - absolutely agree. I was thinking more of the times when melody isn't mentioned, or where melody isn't mentioned and something else (like "textural") is emphasised.

Point being that the listings aren't always exhaustive, and that part of guessing what's in the client's mind is about knowing the genre and not relying on the listing for all the information.

[Onaginoffegin]

Ah, good point, Matt.


Henry