ELECTRO HOUSE ears needed

[Ted]

Tom , the best part about your track is this: Listening to it on Soundcloud while having a separate browser window open to this forum page and watching your repeating Beatles avatar while the music plays-- as it passes from George, Ringo, Paul to John-- all bobbing their heads to your tune. Well done!

I don't know anything about this genre, but hey, if it's good enough the make the Beatles dance...

[Robertj64]

This is what I have for an Electro House cue so far. Any good?

https://soundcloud.com/ctwf/taxi-s20111 ... thwjqcFpgM

The styles of the refs are very diverse. The Dua Lipa track sounds more Deep House to me than Electro, but what do I know. I find this listing therefore a bit tricky, but I have also never before attempted that genre.

Tom

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Several ELECTRO HOUSE INSTRUMENTALS and/or INSTRUMENTAL CUES are needed by a NEW Music Library started by a successful Editor for Major TV shows that loves the music they've been getting from TAXI Members!
NOTE: We previously ran this request as TAXI Dispatch Listing #D200929EH, but the Library didn't find what they were looking for. If you submitted to listing #D200929EH, please send different material this time around.
Note: This company has already signed music from dozens of TAXI members, and they need a lot more to fill up their catalog!
Because this is a new company, they're essentially building their full stash of Mid-To-Up-Tempo Instrumentals (and/or Cues) that could fit on a playlist with the references below:
WARNING: The references may include graphic and explicit lyrics. Listener discretion is advised.

“One Kiss” by Calvin Harris, Dua Lipa
https://youtu.be/XWCPbRsMb0Q

“It’s My House” by Ship Wreck & Dillon Francis
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bbdx9n2lOXo

“Feel So Right” by Marten Hørger & Otosan
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AMpreDYsArc

Although the references have vocals, please submit Instrumentals (and/or Cues) only for this pitch.
Give them super modern Electro House Instrumentals (or Cues) with tons of current-sounding ear candy; buzzy, pulsating bass; and danceable beats. They're looking for music that could be heard at an EDM music festival now – not at a rave in the '90s, so any electronic elements or instrumentation you use should sound super fresh, current, and not dated-sounding.
IMPORTANT TAXI Tip: Sometimes EDM sub-genres tend to blur together, so be sure that the Instrumentals/Cues you submit really fall into the Electro House genre. Electro House music is generally characterized by tempos between 125 and 135 beats per minute and heavy bass. You can learn more about Electro House music by clicking on this link.
All submissions should be about 2 to 4 minutes long for Instrumentals and roughly 90 seconds to 2 minutes for Cues, give or take. 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. Do not submit any material with unauthorized samples of other artists’ songs, sounds, or any other form of media. Broadcast Quality is needed.
This company offers a NON-EXCLUSIVE, 50/50 deal. They’ll get 100% of the Publisher’s share, and you’ll keep 100% of the Writer’s share. This is a gratis library where the artist and publisher are paid through PROs only – Not unusual...actually, very common these days, especially for Reality TV Shows. You must own or control your Master and Copyright. Please submit as many Instrumentals and/or Instrumental Cues as you'd like, online or per CD. All submissions will be screened and critiqued by TAXI. Submissions must be received no later than 11:59 PM (PST) on Wednesday, November 18th, 2020. TAXI # S201118EH

Hey Tom,

I like the atmosphere of your song. I listened to the track examples. Two of them start very minimal. The reason they do that is to build up the tension of the track before jumping in with the main idea. I would not go full on with the drums until maybe four to eight measures in. What you started at around 43 seconds in should be at the very beginning of your track. That is a great build and it takes you straight to the main theme. I am not sold on those tom fills. That may be a matter of style for me but those fills seem a little dated. I like the melody but I think the structure and the drums need to be tweaked. This is just my two cents on what I heard and by no means am I an expert in instrumental cues. I enjoyed listening to your track and congratulate you on the work you put in thus far.

Cheers!
Robert

[cosmicdolphin]

The refs are pretty cool, In already familiar with the Dua Lips track. Listened to all 3 most of the way through.

When I got to your track it hit me immediately that it's not House music and it isn't anything close to the Refs.

Firstly listen to your the toms & snare... Do you hear anything like that on the refs ? Totally out of context for House. Most house music doesn't have a snare, it's replaced by a clap so it's quite small sounding and gives more focus to the kick.

Kick is just not strong enough here, it's the key ingredient in the style. I get the feeling you probably haven't got access to any of the right type of kick sounds as you're relying on freebies. In use a plugin called Kick2 for all my EDM kicks. There's tons of great presets in it and it's highly tweakable, so you can tune the pitch, length, layers etc. Without good source sounds you'd be hard pushed to get close to the reference tracks. Maybe pick up the 14 day trial to finish the track.

I can't really tell what's going on with the bass , some of it sounds panned over to the right, the rest is too deep and murky to know what's happening down there. But again it doesn't seems like the right type of sound.

The pan pipe flute type thing is again not something you would hear in this type of music. The refs have all got pianos to some sort.

Overall it's just way off the style, feels like you've not really studied what's going on with the other tracks. Even if you haven't got a collection of decent synths and drum samples you could still get closer by playing what you have got the way that they do.

I suggest you go and find some house related tutorials so you understand what the key ingredients are, get some proper sounds together and then try again.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MA5ecep ... usicSchool

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CzW6NOb ... annel=BigZ

Mark

[cosmicdolphin]

The refs are pretty cool, ...

Thanks for listening & commenting, Mark - it's the kick in the butt I needed as a 1st timer at this.

I've only ever made 3 House cues..not really my thing but in my very first month of Taxi I have on my spreadsheet that I made an Electro House cue. It got returned in March 2016 but it ended up in a Library and got a placement last year sometime. Doesn't really sound very House-y to me now though, I can hear why it was returned.

It's actually my earliest cue that's ever been used, being the 5th one I made.

[cosmicdolphin]

It sounds more like House once it gets going but honestly the production and sounds are quite poor IMHO

There's a difference between a track being off target and a track being just too far below the production bar to be useful to a library or their clients.

This is quite far off broadcast quality so it would be very surprising to me if anyone took it later down the road if and when you've bagged a few libraries.

You've got a lot of learning to do in this genre if you want to succeed at it.

[Robertj64]

Hi Tom

I think the drums are getting in the way of the "House" feel. The kick has to be deep. Your drums need to be more sonic....right now they come out as 2 dimensional where as the rest of the mix is trying for more. I love the track from 32 seconds on. It has got potential and I think you need to adjust your sample choices if you are not limited by them.

If you are limited, then I would suggest you fiddle with some effects for them. Try compression, EQ, tuning and maybe even some flange to see if you can get a deeper kick. I would get more basic toms for the fills. If you have a basic tom sound then you can play around by putting effects on them. Add a little reverb on the claps and pan them slightly left or right. I think with House, you probably should put in a riser or two, instead of tom fills. It would make nice for variety.

[cosmicdolphin]

If you are limited, then I would suggest you fiddle with some effects for them.

Better to select the right sounds from the outset than waste time fiddling with sub standard ones. Tom seems reluctant to invest in good sounds that are a composer's bread and butter when it comes to creating music that libraries will want for their clients.

I just checked " Kick " and "House " and there are over 30,000 samples to choose from over at Splice ! But it seems Tom would rather waste $5 after $5 submitting stuff with sounds that are never going to cut it.

$7.99 a month gets you 100 Splice Sounds credits and whatever you don't use rolls over. The people you are competing with for Library spots and ultimately placements are not relying only of free plugins.

[Robertj64]

If you are limited, then I would suggest you fiddle with some effects for them.

Better to select the right sounds from the outset than waste time fiddling with sub standard ones. Tom seems reluctant to invest in good sounds that are a composer's bread and butter when it comes to creating music that libraries will want for their clients.

I just checked " Kick " and "House " and there are over 30,000 samples to choose from over at Splice ! But it seems Tom would rather waste $5 after $5 submitting stuff with sounds that are never going to cut it.

$7.99 a month gets you 100 Splice Sounds credits and whatever you don't use rolls over. The people you are competing with for Library spots and ultimately placements are not relying only of free plugins.

LOOK AT YOU! The Splice salesman...lol Did they give you a code so we can get a discount?

[cosmicdolphin]

Funny thing is: In my ears, the Dua Lipa kick is lame - it sounds neither deep, nor particularly strong to me

You probably need to develop your critical listening skills if you think it sounds lame. What you may not have understood is that there are two ways yo can go ....Deep kick with skinnier bass above it ...or deep bass that sits below the kick so the kick sits above.

Did you research your reference track first ? I am guessing not. I've learned more from Google about how to make these things than any Taxi feedback. And it's free. Took me 30 seconds to find this.

https://www.masteringthemix.com/blogs/l ... perstar-dj

But which one of the 30,000?

The right one. The one that works with your bass.

I have now several NI VIs with kicks at my disposal, have many samples, etc. I still need to make choices if I get Splice and could still mess it up. I need to develop the ears for it first, no?

I don't think many people will be using NI drums for EDM - unless you mean Battery ? . Many will just drag in samples from Splice or wherever ..stuff like Kick2 is far more flexible for Kicks etc. repitching it , making it longer or shorter etc.

[cosmicdolphin]

LOOK AT YOU! The Splice salesman...lol Did they give you a code so we can get a discount?

Not a Splice sales rep, just an advocate of doing this right from the get go.