Current-Sounding
I’d like someone to clue me in on the latest version of what the hell ‘current-sounding’ means. If it WAS answered the other day on the livecast the answer was kind of vague or ‘off-axis’ from what I was looking for.
I’m looking for ‘current-sounding’ in terms of a PRODUCTION or TECHNICAL standpoint, i.e. what are the common traits of a record that sounds like ‘today’ regarding mixing styles, in-your-face vocals or slightly under, EQ curves, how much bottom or top, wet or dry (I know things are generally pretty dry nowadays), the presence or absence of backing vocals, also wet or dry. There’s also a tendency for OVERBEARING compression on a record (I know, LOUDER IS BETTER) which I personally find hard on my hearing after a while.
My submissions are typically returned, when they are returned, because of this issue. I can produce lots of styles in my (32-track Pro Tools) studio but can’t seem to put it quite over the top in terms of ‘current’. By turns I get frustrated, fed up, disgusted…and wind up doing things MY way and have fun doing it.
For the record, I’m no spring chicken, have been writing and recording for decades, and frankly don’t much care for popular music en masse these days. But I DO like the sound (and relative intelligence)of, say, Natasha Bedingfield’s work. Would I be so far off to use her records as a sonic ‘model’ for what I’m trying to achieve? I know how fast things morph anymore, but isn’t she still pretty much ‘current-sounding’?
I welcome anyone’s input on this…sometimes I feel like a lamb in the woods!
Thanks,
George Wallace

Natasha Bedingfield still gets referenced (is that a word?) in the 'a las' in Taxi listings, so I'd say you're on pretty solid ground, there. You might try plugging her name into Last.fm to find similar artists to draw inspiration and arrangement ideas from.

I don't know that there's a single definition. Amy Winehouse was winning grammys a couple of years ago for productions that sounded like they came from 1965. So many influential artists get their influences from some bygone era it's hard to say what sounds current. I think great songs, performed well and simply produced will always be timeless... eo.

+1

Keith

It almost seems like you're putting the cart before the horse with this.

I feel that you should have a firm grasp on what style or styles you are putting your music into. Once you know what that is, you've narrowed down the research you have to do with respect to production style.

The term "current sounding" is meaningless unless it is in reference to something like an artist and/or a style.

Find out what genres you are writing or would like to be submitting to and then focus your listening on those areas. Then you'll be able to take some good notes on what things make that style sound like it does. You'll still have to generalize a bit, but at least you'll be generalizing about a smaller slice of the pie.

If you write roots rock music, then Natasha Bedingfield might not be the best reference for you (maybe an extreme example but you get the point). Applying a super pop production aesthetic to music that doesn't support that just isn't going to work.

Just my 2c

Mazz

Yup, Ethan's post was on-point, and current-sounding can be a bit of a moving target in any case, depending on the genre. If it's a problem, maybe the first thing you should try is to focus on your strengths, then build from there. Perhaps you should post the stuff that gets returned, along with the listing(s) it was submitted for-maybe the forum can help you out with this.

Hi

I have only submitted a few songs in my few years here and each time they tell me that.

I do recognise the styles and sounds of the newer music, but i fail to write and produce that way.

I am stuck in a time warp. What are ya gonna do

peace

Paul

Adjust?

George,

Im sure lots of people in here can help, but it's impossible without knowing which genres you are doing and which listings you are targeting.

Different genres require different approaches to instrumentation, arrangement, mixing and polishing..

i don't have much problem creating current sounding material in contemporary rock genre, but i did struggle a lot on this "current sounding" issue when i first joined Taxi 1 year ago.

I changed the way i listen to commercial music. I analyze and try to figure out whats going on.. what effects used? what guitar sound? how many instrumets? etc.. i would pick a song that "i think" i can re-create/re-produce, i wont pick something that is totally out of my range.

the thing i stopped doing (for now) is to make something original. because i want to pitch my tracks, and i want to have tracks that sounds like popular bands/artists so its easy to pitch for film/tv etc. if i have tracks that sound like no other music out there, its very hard to pitch.

i have played and wrote in progressive punk bands, so this was hard to do, cos i never wanted to sound like somebody else and be compared. i actually started to like the process of learning other bands' music and make something similar. its not much different to me now, as i always add my kind of thing (riffs etc) to these tracks, but not too much to change the sound and style.

For new listings, i normally find artists/bands names that are not familiar to me as im quite slow catching up with whats happening in music. but i would just check myspace and itunes for those referenced artists to see if i will be able to re-produce any of their popular songs. i will buy few mp3s and keep listening to them, and analyze them, try to visualize whats going on. try to re-produce it..

its not easy at all, and it will take a while to get to know how to re-create sound of one of these songs.
but if we nail one song, it means we can do few "current sounding" tracks/songs in that style.
for submissions i make sure i wont make everything the same, i always change chords and other things but keep the same vibe.

i dont know if thats helpful at all but it works for me.