Baffled Once again!!

[onelight24]

Hi Chuck, Hazineju, & Rob, thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts!

- Chuck, I suppose I must disagree! Firstly, I expressed my concerns, not my frustration! As I've mentioned in this very thread, its business, & I will ask questions when my money is involved! Secondly, faith is a choice which acts as a bridge, & I place my faith on my Spirit, my intuition, my inner wisdom, not on something outside of me! I trust this Spirit to get me where I need to be! Even if it implies that my humanness is expressed in the process through joy, sorrow, or laughter! If Big Brother is watching & chooses not to work with me because of this, then I've gained, nor lost, nothing!
Thirdly, you've proven with your words that there are many paths up the proverbial mountain! I'm glad for you for choosing your path of 'blind faith in Taxi'. I for one have chosen a diverse path. Hopefully those around here, who are peers, will respect the difference!
I truly do thank you for your council, it is appreciated! I hope to some day meet you in person & simply honor you by shaking your hand!
Thanks Chuck!

- Hazinju, thanks for your words of encouragement, it is appreciated! Sorry to hear about your returns, as you say, 'didn't work this time around'!

- Rob, you are quite the motivational person, perhaps you ought to consider a different profession! Thank you for generous words! Take time off is exactly what I'm doing & painting the bedroom, as I promised my wife!

Thanks again to all of you!

Cheers,
Vincent!

[crs7string]

Vince,

I certainly realize there are many different paths and approaches to developing a successful career as a composer.

I believe that concerns one has about TAXI should be vented with TAXI, not on a public forum. I have had concerns similar to yours and have had open ears with both Michael and Robin. They know that this is an imperfect process and actually want feedback that can help improve their service.

TAXI is only one and for me it's been a good one. Several of the composers that are members have been able to develop strong trust relationships that have evolved to the point of referring each other to our library contacts. None of this would have happened without our TAXI membership.

But, the operative word in my above statement is "trust". My point to you about posting your concerns on a public forum is does that help create trust. Do the other members of the forum read the posts and say to themselves "I think I could trust him to contact my best library and do a good job of presenting himself and making me look good in the process?"

Would a library owner read the posts and respond the same way?

If you can reflect on those thoughts and answer that posting your concerns has a neutral or positive effect on moving potential trust relationships forward, IMO you don't have to change a thing.

Posting concerns in public is sort of like telling an off color joke in mixed company. How does the joke impact people's perception of you? Is it a positive reaction?

Believe it or not. I'm trying to help you. Becoming a successful media composer entails far more than writing great music.

Developing a philosophy and approach that can sustain you until one becomes a successful media composer is a key ingredient to keeping on track and focused.

Respectfully,

Chuck

[onelight24]

Chuck, once again, thank you for sharing your thoughts, it is appreciated!

Cheers,
Vincent!

[davewalton]

Hi Vincent,

Yes... if you're using EWQL Gold you can get a much better sound from the solo violin than you're getting. Using the full "exp" patches, maybe combined with short or legato patches works well. I will say that of all the "instruments" in EWQL Gold that the solo violin is the weakest (IMHO). As a matter of fact, I've never used it because it's so hard to get a good sound from (as good as the EWQL Gold package is).

That brings up a general concept that I picked up around here... writing to the strength of our virtual instruments. In one way it's a limiting concept. I hear a solo violin in my head as part of a track I'm writing but I don't use that because I know that it'll take a *lot* of time to make that certain patch sound realistic. So I limit myself then to the patches that do sound great in and of themselves or with very little tweaking. Of course the end listener never knows what I originally wanted... the important thing that is whatever I pick needs to sound great to them even if i's my second or third choice from an arrangement/composing standpoint. If it sounds good to the listener, they'll think it was my first and only choice!

Also another semi-related thing. One or two really good sounding instruments (like your accordian and guitar in the piece I listened to) are *much* better than a full arrangement of instruments that lack good quality realism.

hth,

Dave

[onelight24]

Hi Dave, thanks for your continued input! I was not aware of the issue with the EWQL solo violin patch! Working with sampled libraries is less than a year under my belt, so perhaps I should have just stuck to the guitar, accordion (which is a live player) & the bass! Onward we go as I learn!

Thanks again!

Cheers,
Vincent!

[mazz]

The live playing is well done and in contrast, any samples that aren't as well done tend to stick out. I'd love to hear these with everything but the live players muted, just for fun. Let's see if our assessments are heading you in the right direction! Why not?

[onelight24]

That would be a great idea! So I've uploaded the tracks here, & I've left in the mandolin & tambourine on one or two of the tracks ( live playing by yours truly)
Any thoughts on these tracks would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks & Cheers,
Vincent!

http://www.reverbnation.com/tunepak/2919061

[mazz]

Vincent,

I'm not hearing any difference in the tracks. Can you mute everything but the live instruments? Accordion, guitar, mandolin only?

[GEOKOS]

Well Onlelight, You make a good point regaurding where your money is spent .. I myself have questioned Taxi's rep.. And like yourself and many others that complian about the screening process over there at Taxi we are just out of luck! !! Not being rude just saying .. I actually stpped submiting and when I did I got email after email from Taxi the most emails I have ever gotten from taxi the whole time I was a member ...lol my last submission was in july I think and to be honest I never received any new listing emails from them in awhile ....But I guess since the whole cambells soup bomb shell exploded everything is screwed up over there . Money avenue this way
I let it lapse for awhile and still gotta send in my refund letter . If I am gonna bet on a longshot Id rather go to the track or casino atleast there you can see who just pooked your pooch haha oh well good luck in your choice !

[Len911]

Vincent, after listening, and I noticed a lot of "Napoli" songs, I was going to mention that Pino Danielle sounds a little more current, and then I saw that you mentioned him. Although I have some old worn out cassette tapes from the 80's stored somewhere, I youtubed him, and figured I better listen again before making such a comment. My favorite song Terra Mia, and Napule e are what I was thinking were probably the more traditional Italian sounding, however I noticed the "traditional" was very subtle. It's a tough call for me really because yours are instrumentals and don't have a vocal, and for an instrumental with this listing and no Italian vocal to actually authenticate them as "Italian", I can understand the slight exaggeration of the Italian-ness or the accent on the traditional.
I don't know why they were returned.