Hey Screener 132

[solmack]

Did someone piss on your cornflakes this morning? There is this thing called constructive critisizm you should give it a try sometime. You single handedly made up my mind not to renew with Taxi next year...

[Casey H]

Did someone piss on your cornflakes this morning? There is this thing called constructive critisizm you should give it a try sometime. You single handedly made up my mind not to renew with Taxi next year...

Why don't you contact Taxi to discuss it? They always want to hear feedback regarding the screener's comments, style, etc.

1-800-458-2111

Best,
Casey

[solmack]

Hey Casey,

I hope all is going well with you. I appreciate the advice but I just don't feel like getting into it with them. The comments on the critique were ridiculous especially since both of these songs have been picked up by different libraries and one has already been licensed. It just makes me wonder sometimes. I know music is subjective but the comments made little sense. While it is true that the songs may have been a little more leaning in the direction of CCR, I actually used real drums on these tracks?

The songs are: Breaking me down and Swamp Thing on my Taxi page

Comments: Breaking me down
The music track has a stiff & mechanical drum loop that takes away the authentic feel & vibe of the song.The programmed parts also don't always fit well with the guitar parts & rhythmic changes.The recorded sound & performances also fall short of the high Bar Broadcast Quality standard that was needed.

Swamp Thing:
Drums are mixed too high when compared to the guitar parts.Why feature the rather stiff drums rather then the authentic sounding instruments. Guitar lines are appealing but are not memorable nor have signature melodic themes. In both of the songs the tone, texture,& overall mood of the track does not evoke the swampy subdued & sensual feel that was needed by the listing. The Recorded sound & performances also do not have the Broadcast Quality standard that is a must have for TV placements The forwarding criteria that was set forth by this listing was not evidenced in your submission & I will be unable to forward as a result. Thank you..

All input accepted!

[andygabrys]

you should post the entire listing text from the ops you submitted these too if you really want people to examine your music from the context of the screener's comments.

what I hear - the devil is in the details.

yeah the drums might be loud, but its the rhythmic feel.

listen to the swing https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wIjUY3pjN8E

so if that is what the listing was referencing........

[themichaelscott]

"high Bar Broadcast Quality standard that was needed" - This line gets me. Most listings I submit to say something like "broadcast quality needed (excellent home recordings are fine). Like Andy said, maybe need the listing. But I don't really question the quality on these songs. There do seem to be some timing issues here and there though.

Overall, I see these critiques as constructive and don't sense any negative connotation.

Michael

[solmack]

Thanks for the responses. Below is the listing. Like I said I may have missed the mark a little but the listing does say they will listen to tracks with a fuller compliment of instruments. I guess the thing that gets me is the programmed parts comment, when there was none.Real drums were used

SWAMPY SOUTHERN ROCK INSTRUMENTALS are needed by an Independent Music Library pitching to a variety of Popular TV shows. Strap on your overalls and give them down and dirty Instrumental Tracks that have a Southern Rock, or swampy Blues inspired sound, with a slight Contemporary Rock twist. All tempos will be considered as long as the tone, texture, and mood of the tracks provide the swampy feel they need. Your tracks should be authentic sounding, with backwoods instrumentation like banjos, harmonicas, Dobros, acoustic guitars, fiddles, etc. They'll listen to basic guitar/fiddle tracks or tracks with a fuller compliment of instruments! Tracks that have easy edit points and buttoned endings (not fades). This Company offers a NON-EXCLUSIVE 50/50 deal. You'll keep 100% of your Writer's share, and the Library will get 100% of the Publishing. The Company splits sync fees 50/50 with you. You must own or control 100% of your Master and Copyright. Broadcast Quality is needed (great sounding home recordings are fine)

[andygabrys]

Thanks for the responses. Below is the listing. Like I said I may have missed the mark a little but the listing does say they will listen to tracks with a fuller compliment of instruments. I guess the thing that gets me is the programmed parts comment, when there was none.Real drums were used

SWAMPY SOUTHERN ROCK INSTRUMENTALS are needed by an Independent Music Library pitching to a variety of Popular TV shows. Strap on your overalls and give them down and dirty Instrumental Tracks that have a Southern Rock, or swampy Blues inspired sound, with a slight Contemporary Rock twist. All tempos will be considered as long as the tone, texture, and mood of the tracks provide the swampy feel they need. Your tracks should be authentic sounding, with backwoods instrumentation like banjos, harmonicas, Dobros, acoustic guitars, fiddles, etc. They'll listen to basic guitar/fiddle tracks or tracks with a fuller compliment of instruments! Tracks that have easy edit points and buttoned endings (not fades). This Company offers a NON-EXCLUSIVE 50/50 deal. You'll keep 100% of your Writer's share, and the Library will get 100% of the Publishing. The Company splits sync fees 50/50 with you. You must own or control 100% of your Master and Copyright. Broadcast Quality is needed (great sounding home recordings are fine)

well the mistake you made is that your real drums sounded good (I mean the recorded sound) LOL - I think the screeners assume at this point that most people are using sampled instruments for drums, orchestral stuff, pianos, electric pianos etc. In 90% of the cases that's probably accurate.

The only way to pick out the real programmed stuff from the real recordings is the real recordings either have warts on them soundwise, like children screaming for their dinner in the background, or bad room sound that sounds like a small bedroom, or the playing is really suspect timing wise, cause that is a lot of work to fix and not every DAW's version of elastic audio does it transparently, and that kind of time-correction is a brutally thankless task.

On the other hand, even using loops, its a difficult thing to play 5 different instruments and get them all to agree timing-wise, for a lot of people that's going to take some editing.

Looking at the brief, I would think the client is looking for something a little greasier and acoustic inspired looking at the list of suggested instruments, either sparse or could be a whole band. The screeners comments seem to not even mention the instrumentation, so I assume if it had the right kind of greasy feeling your tracks would have worked. I wonder if this brief is looking towards the kind of music used on Porter Ridge or Duck Dynasty?

just my 2 cents. I get after this experience you could go and write a couple more and really hit the vibe they were looking for. And probably should. this kind of music is definitely hot based on the number of similar listings looking for this kind of music.