28 down, 6 to go

[Aidy]

This is getting depressing now, just had a flick through my submission history, 28 tracks rejected so far, nothing forwarded and 6 more awaiting feedback.

Before joining I watched several videos and read several articles about Taxi, claiming that decent home recordings were adequate, and that with tv/film listings only a small clip of the song would be audiable in that situation anyway. I actually feel as if this isn't the case and that before joining I should've gone into a studio to record or master my stuff.

Outside of Taxi however, I appear to be doing okay, just been signed to a small label and I'm going to be working on some music for an upcoming documentary.

Oh and I've only got 19 more tracks to go on my 'Song A Week' project at Aidy.com, after which I'm gonna attempt to record some new "Taxi friendly" tracks to see what happens to those.

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http://www.Aidy.com
http://www.MySpace.com/AidyMusic

[mojobone]

Are you getting good, consistent feedback? If not, post up in Peer To Peer and we'll see about some possible fixes.

[Aidy]

Hi mate, cheers for that. Appreciate it, I've actually been trying to blog the responses as I've been getting them, but I've got a bit behind. A few people I know were in 2 minds about joining Taxi so it was more for them to create an unbiased view of the service etc..

http://AidyMusic.BlogSpot.com

I'll get some links to the other ones, cheers

[elser]

I don't view Taxi as an easy way in. I believe Taxi has higher standards than many publishers and labels. But the publishers and labels that come to Taxi for talent are top shelf. That's the advantage.

[matto]

Before joining I watched several videos and read several articles about Taxi, claiming that decent home recordings were adequate, and that with tv/film listings only a small clip of the song would be audiable in that situation anyway. I actually feel as if this isn't the case and that before joining I should've gone into a studio to record or master my stuff.

Aidy, I would say at least 90% of Taxi members getting forwards, signing deals and even making a living via tv/film listings are recording at home and do not use pro studios for recording/mastering. So it not only can be done but it is done everyday by many people.

Of course, what exactly does "decent home recordings" mean? Probably different things to different people. I personally would never aim at producing merely "decent" music and recordings, I definitely try to aim a bit higher...

As far as only a short clip of the music being audible, that is true in many (but not all) cases, but the song/recording still has to be strong all the way thru, cause you never know which short section the end user is going to use.

HTH,

matto

[mazz]

Another way to look at the quality level of the work you submit:

I can make a "decent" photocopy of a photo that's already been copied once, or I can use the high quality original to make my copy, in which case, the resulting copy will look much better.

In much the same way, if the music editors are going to turn your music down behind some dialog and sound fx, the better the music sounds in the first place, the better it will hold up when turned down that low.


There's a couple of different ways to approach this TAXI thing:

One is to write to the listings as they come out.

The other is to write as you wish and feel, and then find listings that match the resulting music.


Either approach is valid, but IMO, they take somewhat different skill sets. To write to listings, you have to have a good handle on several different styles, or at least be well versed in a few different ones. With the second approach, it takes having a very solid idea of what your already produced music is stylistically and where it fits, which is difficult for most people to do, but is a key skill to have when targeting existing music to opportunities.

I think the term "TAXI ready" that you use is not quite accurate. I think that you can make something "TAXI ready" production-wise, which means it would be ready for pretty much any usage in or out of TAXI. As far as writing goes, "TAXI ready" really means, to me at least, either waiting for the right opportunities to pitch existing music, or writing to the specs of the listings. Or both, of course, which is the best approach if you can swing it.

The bar is high, no doubt, but in the beginning, it's really about finding and honestly acknowledging where your personal bar is, how high that bar is in relation to the rest of the world (TAXI included), and then deciding if you want to raise your bar to meet that or not.

Good luck!! Hang in there and learn, there's always more to learn!!

Mazz

[rnrmachine]

...Before joining I watched several videos and read several articles about Taxi, claiming that decent home recordings were adequate, and that with tv/film listings only a small clip of the song would be audiable in that situation anyway. I actually feel as if this isn't the case and that before joining I should've gone into a studio to record or master my stuff...

Yea... I had a gripe about that too. No big deal though IF you are serious about music, which you seem to be.. you will get it!!

I think it is time they dump that and move it to a higher notch recording... because all of my rejections were better then the audio on that "clean recording" UNLESS it's a new one already...

Rob

[hazineju]

hi Aidy, don't feel discouraged! i just listened to the first 3 tracks on your website, and imo i think you definitely have broadcast quality material and a super cool voice and vibe. you'll get some forwards!

my question to you is this - are the "not broadcast quality" boxes getting checked frequently for your reason for return? what about the "not on target for this listing" box?

one thing i will say about broadcast quality - ML has mentioned in recent rallies that we members are raising the bar on ourselves as we improve our home recording techniques and use higher quality software, etc. So the "good home recordings are fine" line begins to mean more and more.

as i said though, it sounds to me like you have broadcast quality music - i'm sure a forward is right around the corner.

[hazineju]

ok, so i just popped over to your blog and saw your post about "rejection #3" and it looks like it wasn't so much an issue of broadcast quality, but not matching the listing to the song. granted i didn't listen to the songs you submitted, but based on the 3 that i did hear, i definitely wouldn't consider your music to be remotely country. also something to keep in mind for country and for tv/film submissions - they generally are not too keen about "explicit lyrics," so that could be another factor. as the reviewer mentioned in the bottom of the critique - if you submitted those same songs to an "alternative" listing, it might get through.

[Aidy]

Hey folks, thanks for all the encouragement and advice, I genuinely feel slightly better about the whole situation now, I'll take onboard what you've said, stick to it, and to keep submitting.

Hazineju, thanks for taking the time to listen, with regards to the country listing, I agree most of my stuff is within the indie rock genre but I had a couple of tunes that sounded like they matched this country listing, this was one of them:

http://www.aidy.com/MP3s/Song%20A%20Wee ... 0Kelly.mp3

Mazz, some great tips there, I think it's a great idea to try write to the demands of some specific listings.

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http://www.Aidy.com
http://www.MySpace.com/AidyMusic