My First Forward! Now, should I remaster...?

[ReganO]

Hi All,

About a week and a half ago I got the news about one of my tunes being forwarded! I'm really pretty excited about it and hoping to hear from the music library soon (S230412RA Synth Tension). Anyway, I've learned an improved way of going about mastering within the last couple of days and I'm wondering if I should remaster the submitted song? Thoughts from the experts, please.

Thank All of Y'all,

ReganO

[Paulie]

No. Don't touch it. The library will judge based on what they received from Taxi. If they like it they will contact you, and most likely they will not ask for you to change it, they will instead ask if you can make more. If they want it they might want alt-mixes, so don't change the sonic quality at all unless they ask you to.

Congrats!

[BrentI]

Congrats on the forward!

I would also add that some libraries prefer to handle the mastering themselves. You might take the time to remaster only for them to request you turn off everything in your mastering chain.

[Telefunkin]

Just to join the chorus, no, don't do that. Possible outcomes from a forward are:
1) no reply from the library, so any further effort is wasted for this opportunity.
2) the library want what they heard, so changing it risks them rejecting your new master (even if you think its better).
3) the library want stems to master themselves, so no point remastering it yourself.
4) the library might request changes before accepting it, so remastering the current version is a waste of time.

Therefore, make sure you keep the DAW session for the forwarded version totally untouched so you can recall it for the library if you need to. If they do get in touch you'll need it to run off .wav or .aiif versions of the full track and alternate versions, plus cut downs and possibly stems, although you won't know the library spec until that happens.

There's nothing wrong with experimenting to improve your mastering technique, and you could do so on this track, but I would strongly suggest that you do so in a separate session that does not alter anything in the forwarded session. If you hear nothing from this library then you'll have a newly mastered (and potentially better) track to submit in future. However, by the time there's an opportunity to submit the same track you might have got better tools and techniques anyway.

[ReganO]

No. Don't touch it. The library will judge based on what they received from Taxi. If they like it they will contact you, and most likely they will not ask for you to change it, they will instead ask if you can make more. If they want it they might want alt-mixes, so don't change the sonic quality at all unless they ask you to.

Congrats!

Thanks, Paulie!! this saves me some time, and I can focus on completing another piece I'm working on for them...You know, just in case they ask, "What else ya got?"

[ReganO]

Congrats on the forward!

I would also add that some libraries prefer to handle the mastering themselves. You might take the time to remaster only for them to request you turn off everything in your mastering chain.

Thanks, Brent!! Excellent point. I remember hearing something about that in a recent Taxi TV episode, but wasn't sure about what to do in this case as I what I learned recently re: mastering is really the preferred way to go about it. BUT, I'm not gonna "fix" it for now.

[ReganO]

Just to join the chorus, no, don't do that. Possible outcomes from a forward are:
1) no reply from the library, so any further effort is wasted for this opportunity.
2) the library want what they heard, so changing it risks them rejecting your new master (even if you think its better).
3) the library want stems to master themselves, so no point remastering it yourself.
4) the library might request changes before accepting it, so remastering the current version is a waste of time.

Therefore, make sure you keep the DAW session for the forwarded version totally untouched so you can recall it for the library if you need to. If they do get in touch you'll need it to run off .wav or .aiif versions of the full track and alternate versions, plus cut downs and possibly stems, although you won't know the library spec until that happens.

There's nothing wrong with experimenting to improve your mastering technique, and you could do so on this track, but I would strongly suggest that you do so in a separate session that does not alter anything in the forwarded session. If you hear nothing from this library then you'll have a newly mastered (and potentially better) track to submit in future. However, by the time there's an opportunity to submit the same track you might have got better tools and techniques anyway.

Thanks so much, Graham!! All excellent points!! (Like you need me to tell you that. ) I do hope I can master mastering going forward.

You guys are saving me a lot of time, and I greatly appreciate it.

[melodea]

Congrats on the forward!!!

It means you master the style. Stay with it and write some more in this style and submit them with the one that got forwarded in the next listing requesting that genre!
(don't expect any reaction any time soon, only 5 to 7% of the forwards get a response......).

But hey, you're matching industry standards, way to go!!!!