Broadcast Quality?

[vaudlow]

Hey everyone! First post on the forum and am excited to be a part of the community here since what I've read so far has been very useful.

Had our first submission about a month or two ago that was returned and would love to get more insight on what broadcast quality is? I've read multiple things on it all over google, but want to get the TAXI community perspective on it. Thank you all so much!

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SUBMITTED SONG: https://soundcloud.com/vaudlow/wontbackdown/s-pqRfA

LISTENER'S COMMENT: "Pretty solid playing musician wise on this 80's inspired hard rock riff-based guitar rock that is not close enough style wise to the reference examples given. Production is not quite broadcast quality as well."

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Here's the listing:
MODERN GUITAR-Driven ROCK INSTRUMENTAL CUES are needed by a NON-Exclusive, Music Supervisor-owned Library with a huge number of TV placements to its credit. They're currently on the prowl for Mid-to-Up Tempo Instrumental Cues that would fall in the general stylistic wheelhouse of the following references:

“MANTRA” by Bring Me The Horizon

“Dance Macabre” by Ghost

Although the references have vocals, this request is for Instrumentals only

Please submit well-crafted Instrumental Cues that generally reflect the guitar-focused approach of the references above. Your submissions can include some synth elements, but please be certain that they are adding to the contemporary sound of your track and are of high-quality. Drum sounds are also very important and must sound as close to a real drum kit as possible - no thin and synthetic-sounding drum samples! Send them Broadcast Quality Cues that sound like they're done with real players using real instruments. This Music Library is very selective, but the catalog gets lots of placements!

Quoting the Music Library Owner: “Your Instrumental Cues must be contemporary and have clean and crisp-sounding guitars. Be sure your Instrumentals have enough sectional contrast and melodic interest to drive a scene and connect sonically with listeners.”

IMPORTANT: All submissions should be between1:10 and 1:50in length. Good edit points and non-faded, buttoned/stinger endings will work best. Do NOT copy the references in any way, shape, or form. Use them only as a general guide for tempo, tone, texture and overall vibe. Broadcast Quality is needed.

[ttully]

Hi vaudlo,

My only comment is going to be.... the drums are buried.....Just guessing....I take it you are a guitar player and mixed this?


My 1 cent,
Tim

[waveheavy]

These are the type mixes of that style you're competing with:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMZ6_3Mh2Bo

It's good to always use a song reference when mixing. That way you'll learn how your mix is different.

[ResonantTone]

I agree with the drums being a bit buried, but not much. It's not terrible during your A section, but they dip out during the B section a little bit. Other than that, it's an absolutely killer track.

The part that throws me is the "80's inspired" comment. Your song doesn't sound 80's at all to me. Sounds like it fits very comfortably alongside the references, and very modern to my ears. Here's my guess at the interpretation of that comment.

What I'm learning is that it seems the screeners here like a more "produced" sound for modern guitar driven stuff than what you or I would probably think is fitting. If you listen to the song "Mantra", they use a lot of modern production techniques, such as high pass and low pass filters on the guitars, little risers during transitions, hard breaks with no audio tails, stutter effects, etc.

Anyway, hope that helps some. Keep at it! I really enjoyed the song... if I were a screener, it would have gone through.

Andrew

[ttully]

Hey Andrew,

Yes...you are correct...

Now....and this is not going to go over big with the guitar players.....
To the average Joe...... the guitar is just the filler between the drum hits that smack you
In the face... those drum beats are what gets the bead bobbin.

Most (not all) guitar players mixing a track will make the guitar way too prominent.
And yes... I know you (Andrew)...do not mix like the typical guitar player....
You know the importance of all the instruments....and your mixes sound very good.

Again,
My 6 string cents worth,
Tim

[MBantle]

Hey everyone! First post on the forum and am excited to be a part of the community here since what I've read so far has been very useful.

Had our first submission about a month or two ago that was returned and would love to get more insight on what broadcast quality is? I've read multiple things on it all over google, but want to get the TAXI community perspective on it. Thank you all so much!

---

SUBMITTED SONG: https://soundcloud.com/vaudlow/wontbackdown/s-pqRfA

LISTENER'S COMMENT: "Pretty solid playing musician wise on this 80's inspired hard rock riff-based guitar rock that is not close enough style wise to the reference examples given. Production is not quite broadcast quality as well."

---

Here's the listing:
MODERN GUITAR-Driven ROCK INSTRUMENTAL CUES are needed by a NON-Exclusive, Music Supervisor-owned Library with a huge number of TV placements to its credit. They're currently on the prowl for Mid-to-Up Tempo Instrumental Cues that would fall in the general stylistic wheelhouse of the following references:

“MANTRA” by Bring Me The Horizon

“Dance Macabre” by Ghost

Although the references have vocals, this request is for Instrumentals only

Please submit well-crafted Instrumental Cues that generally reflect the guitar-focused approach of the references above. Your submissions can include some synth elements, but please be certain that they are adding to the contemporary sound of your track and are of high-quality. Drum sounds are also very important and must sound as close to a real drum kit as possible - no thin and synthetic-sounding drum samples! Send them Broadcast Quality Cues that sound like they're done with real players using real instruments. This Music Library is very selective, but the catalog gets lots of placements!

Quoting the Music Library Owner: “Your Instrumental Cues must be contemporary and have clean and crisp-sounding guitars. Be sure your Instrumentals have enough sectional contrast and melodic interest to drive a scene and connect sonically with listeners.”

IMPORTANT: All submissions should be between1:10 and 1:50in length. Good edit points and non-faded, buttoned/stinger endings will work best. Do NOT copy the references in any way, shape, or form. Use them only as a general guide for tempo, tone, texture and overall vibe. Broadcast Quality is needed.

I always find this a good source. http://blog.taxi.com/forward/ Sometimes you need to scroll down quite a bit to find a listing similar to the one you are currently working on but once you do you usually get a good impression as to what qualifies for a Forward in the respective genre.
Hope this helps.
Cheers,
Matt

[andygabrys]

I agree with what everyone wrote above. My opinion follows here:

Pretty solid playing musician wise on this 80's inspired - yeah more current than 80's and definitely nice playing. the production aesthetic whatever decade you are thinking of is the main difference though


hard rock riff-based guitar rock that is not close enough style wise to the reference examples given. - yes agreed. Yours is more riff rock, more heavy guitar in focus. Drums are back, don't have the sense of importance that the guitars do. I find the refs to be more guitar in layers, more sense of size and space in general. Not so in your face.


Production is not quite broadcast quality as well. - see previous comments, but the finish on the mix is everything. Your chorus at 0:26 and then when you add more layers at 0:49 approaches the style of the refs more, but the heavy guitars still dominate the texture.

remix to get the drums some importance, and add layers like the refs and this one will get picked up by somebody.

[vaudlow]

These are all very helpful critiques and I couldn't appreciate it more guys!

We are a 2-piece that write together being a drummer and guitarist with the guitarist recording/mixing everything. I totally get the drums being a bit in the back of the mix.

Andrew, yeah the 80's comment doesn't make much sense to me either as we referenced the "Mantra" track as the main inspiration for the track and also side by side.

Thank you guys so much again! I did listen to a couple of the songs that got forwarded on that specific forward and heard the drums being much more prominent in the mix.

- Josh