Contemporary Enough?

[cosmicdolphin]

How is it that people on the forum fixate with vocals before anything else,

Because in a song that's the money track. You can have the best song in the world but deliver it poorly and nobody wants to listen ( I should know )

[Robertj64]

why not just let Robert sing the song the way he likes it
is anyone going to die because of it?

Maybe a little bit...on the inside...yeah.

LMAO...Priceless comment even if it was at my expense....Good night, Mark.

[crashgates]

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[Robertj64]

How is it that people on the forum fixate with vocals before anything else,

Because in a song that's the money track. You can have the best song in the world but deliver it poorly and nobody wants to list ( I should know )

Yet the screener did not go after that money track. Hard to explain, eh?

[Ted]

Regarding a screener's comments... I'll make this story short. Earlier this year, I accidentally submitted the wrong audio file to a listing. it wasn't til I got the return and they said my track was too short (30 seconds, when I was certain the track I recorded was over 2 minutes) that I figured out what had happened.

What I accidentally submitted was some short work-in-progess that I'd composed in Guitar Pro 7. It was all just cheap sounding MIDI guitar-- not the $2K Taylor acoustic I used recording the track they were SUPPOSED to hear. So I was horrified that the screener heard something I didn't even want anyone to hear-- and what they heard didn't fit the listing either.

Probably the worst part was getting a "bless your little heart" feeling from the screener's compliments on the "I liked the guitar, and I liked x and y" before saying it got returned because it was too short". I know they gotta be that way, but man it made me feel so awkward for the screener and for myself that I cringed a little. I felt like screaming "You don't have to be nice... I KNOW THIS SUCKED!!!"

So what I'm saying is like what Zaychi said-- if a track has got a lot of reasons to return it, they're generally gonna go with the critiques that are going to be the least personally hurtful.


I was once in Taxi before years ago, and back then I REALLY sucked at singing. And I got some returns and they commented on my "interesting voice" but I could read through it that my singing was not good. The stuff I submitted back then was probably worse than the worst of anything I've ever heard on the forums. Like Mark, I later took private lessons and studied singing for a few years.

Last year I did submit a few tracks with vocals and generally on the ones with the least good singing, they didn't even comment on the vocals. But when I submitted tracks where the vocals were closer to the bar but still not quite there, then the screener would mention my vocals and what I needed to do to clear the bar next time.

[Robertj64]

Regarding a screener's comments... I'll make this story short. Earlier this year, I accidentally submitted the wrong audio file to a listing. it wasn't til I got the return and they said my track was too short (30 seconds, when I was certain the track I recorded was over 2 minutes) that I figured out what had happened.

What I accidentally submitted was some short work-in-progess that I'd composed in Guitar Pro 7. It was all just cheap sounding MIDI guitar-- not the $2K Taylor acoustic I used recording the track they were SUPPOSED to hear. So I was horrified that the screener heard something I didn't even want anyone to hear-- and what they heard didn't fit the listing either.

Probably the worst part was getting a "bless your little heart" feeling from the screener's compliments on the "I liked the guitar, and I liked x and y" before saying it got returned because it was too short". I know they gotta be that way, but man it made me feel so awkward for the screener and for myself that I cringed a little. I felt like screaming "You don't have to be nice... I KNOW THIS SUCKED!!!"

So what I'm saying is like what Zaychi said-- if a track has got a lot of reasons to return it, they're generally gonna go with the critiques that are going to be the least personally hurtful.


I was once in Taxi before years ago, and back then I REALLY sucked at singing. And I got some returns and they commented on my "interesting voice" but I could read through it that my singing was not good. The stuff I submitted back then was probably worse than the worst of anything I've ever heard on the forums. Like Mark, I later took private lessons and studied singing for a few years.

Last year I did submit a few tracks with vocals and generally on the ones with the least good singing, they didn't even comment on the vocals. But when I submitted tracks where the vocals were closer to the bar but still not quite there, then the screener would mention my vocals and what I needed to do to clear the bar next time.

That could ring true for you but it doesn't quite cut it for me. I have had many returns which involved the vocal performance. It is my view that people are trying to thread something that isn't quite there. I have the patterns of feedback that disprove these theories. This last critique was so short that he could have at least checked the box but he/she didn't. In my experience, every screener I have come into contact with...never held back with the boxes. In fact, sometimes they laid it on thick.

For example, one screener in particular kept checking the boxes of "inferior samples". After the second time, I sent the head screener a note. I said, "Please confirm that the samples used are indeed inferior and I will go back to Native Instruments and demand a refund. Please send me a signed confirmation so I may do so." She came back and said there was nothing wrong with the samples. I get another return from the same guy ticking off the same box. I threw my hands up in the air.

I approach everything with some critical thinking. I don't subscribe to the idol worship that some people do towards Taxi. I think it is a useful tool and the forum is generally a good place. Some feedback though should be questioned especially where things do not add up.

[gitanosoy]

I have to catch up with this thread!

But today I still had to deal with some emotional issues from yesterday's exposure on my own thread...

I am not responsible that you drank a whole bottle of Tequila because of the feedback..LOL...

[Zaychi]

In my experience, screeners make a series of comments for returns, like continuously raising the bar. Once the first "level" is passed, you're stopped at the next level, which wasn't mentioned when you were returned on level-1 problems. I suspect it is a deliberate policy, ...

... and that is how a conspiracy theory starts.

I'm not saying it is a conspiracy; but I DID say you can feel something like a policy in the screeners. They're obviously under instructions to be "nice" even if the track is utter junk; there's often personal remarks like using your first name; they usually "enjoy checking out your work" or something like that, etc. Even the form represents it: they're supposed to ALWAYS start the review with "What I like about your song" even if there maybe wasn't anything to like... of course we can only speculate about the reasons, we're not supposed to walk off in despair (at the other end, to the libraries, TAXI probably advertizes "thousands of musicians" or smth like that), and yes, artist's toes can indeed be long as well.

Still, I'd appreciate a BIT more of the naked truth myself.

What about : "Great track, but not exactly the mood this listing is looking for." Is that even more advanced/L5? (Padding myself on the back right now... )

Ah yeah, forgot that one. It is between L2 and L3, I'd say?

[cosmicdolphin]

They're obviously under instructions to be "nice"

It would probably be commercial suicide if they just said what they thought. People who give feedback professionally are often taught to deliver a sh*t sandwich.....some nice wholesome bread flattery either side with the real stuff in the middle.

[Zaychi]

They're obviously under instructions to be "nice"

It would probably be commercial suicide if they just said what they thought. People who give feedback professionally are often taught to deliver a sh*t sandwich.....some nice wholesome bread flattery either side with the real stuff in the middle.

Probably not just the pro's... any fart I do is liked by my family as well. There are known stories about decades-long family feuds starting at a negative review. Wives and friends as well... just kids are exempt for some reason.