Need help evaluating "broadcast quality" standards

[oliverpriddy]

Hi. I've been writing/recording songs for many years. At the gentle prodding of a friend, I've recently started considering submitting some tracks from my catalog. Before I pay for a Taxi membership, it seems like it would be smart to get as much of the learning curve behind me as I can. I was hoping some of the community members here could assist me in evaluating Taxi's standards for broadcast quality. I've used a lot of different formats to record over the years—basically everything from digital decks to reel to reel units to cassette machines. My thought is that some of this stuff is of high enough quality that it could be usable for modern applications, while others that I did in the laundry room with a 6 track would very definitely not work. Then, there is a gray area between the two that I'm not too certain about. If I posted a few tracks from that end of the spectrum, could some of you help me determine whether these pieces would be up to par for professional submission, and if not, what (if anything) could be done to get them there? Here are a few from different ends of that spectrum. Again, I'm mainly just curious about the production standard, as not everything I included is intended to be used for commercial applications. Still, you never know what listings will pop up, so I figured it would be good to know where each of the recordings is on a quality scale to avoid wasting money submitting things that are lower fidelity than what people would be interested in using. Happy to hear any feedback/suggestions.

https://theeviltwins.bandcamp.com/track ... n-anyone-2

https://theeviltwins.bandcamp.com/track/a-tourist-2

https://theeviltwins.bandcamp.com/track ... ng-someone

Thanks!

[nathan]

Hi Oliver,

I’m unable to listen to your tracks now but just wanted to share this episode of Taxi TV in which Michael explains in-depth what “broadcast quality” means. https://youtu.be/EwP1Q3AOxvk

Good luck,
Nathan

[Len911]

I was just going to give the same link as Nathan,lol!

I would just say that broadly "broadcast quality" at Taxi isn't so much the medium used, than it is about obvious faux pas, and context. It can also be things as inappropriate language. The biggest concern imo is sounding "dated", as most listings are looking for contemporary, and those are the examples most given in the listings.

[oliverpriddy]

Thanks for the replies. I'm watching the video as we speak, and he is hitting on some specific areas of concern for me. Two things in particular—and part of the reason why I chose the recordings I posted—are the use of "dated" drum sounds and the presence of "pitchy" vocals.
Lots of my older recordings had live drummers on them, but as we get older our families get bigger and our houses seem to get smaller, and eventually, it's no longer practical to keep your drummer's kit miked up in the living room for days on end. I personally find older drum machines like the one I use to be incredibly distracting in a lot of recordings, so as an individual who doesn't particularly love them, I try to assemble kits with a somewhat critical ear and program patterns with enough variety that it isn't too obvious, but I'm never certain how successful I've been, since I'm the one who did it (and therefore I already know it's a machine).
Also, while I'd never heard the term "pitchy" before a few minutes ago, I Googled it, and that's definitely me. It's not something that I've ever considered categorically to be an artistic detriment since most of my favorite artists have "pitchy" vocals as well, but there have definitely been specific instances where I've thought a particular recording would have gone a lot smoother if I'd had more precision when it came to pitch. As he points out in the video, context is important, but even I know when one of my performances is just bad.
Again, before now, everything I did was just me making music for my own sake, so I was never too worried about commercial viability until this moment. Now that it's a consideration, I'd love to hear some opinions on these recordings from anyone who's had material forwarded. I'm not particularly thin-skinned, so don't be afraid to be direct. If I have to redo some recordings with real drummers or a ringer filling in on vocals, that isn't the end of the world to me. At the same time, it would be ideal to find out sooner so I can get those ducks in a row before I've paid for a membership that's winding down.

Thanks, everybody! If you have time, please sample the links and let me know if these recordings are "yay or nay".

Best Regards,
Oliver

[cassmcentee]

Hi Oliver
Some very nice songs you have there!

Here's my two cents...
If you are going to go the Taxi route...
It's time to set these tunes aside and start writing tunes directly aimed at specific listings from the Taxi Requests
I wasted my first year trying to pitch tunes that I wrote for myself and friends before I realized that wasn't going to work for the long run of Film & TV placements.
I have found, and still find, that the ears of other more experienced writer's feedback given in the Peer to Peer section of the forums help progress you a lot faster!
You have a great talent to share, SHARE IT!
Collaborating is of great value around here as well
Dig into your singing chops, work HARD at singing on key because you have a good voice, it needs to be on point for this journey though...
Sincerely,
Cass

[oliverpriddy]

Cass,
Thanks for listening and for the encouragement/advice. Independent from the topics you specifically touched on, I hope you wouldn't consider me a pest if I asked you this pertaining to my approach moving forward; Do you think the drum machine I used on "A Tourist" is passable, or should I scrap it and switch back to miked drums or maybe some decent software like EZDrummer? More broadly, would you consider recordings of this nature to meet Taxi's standards of "broadcast quality"? The TaxiTV video on achieving "broadcast quality" was useful, but some questions still remain, and I worry that my recording approach could still be dated enough to disqualify me even if I'm catering directly to the listings in all other aspects. If I could coax one more post out of you, what was your impression of my recordings in that regard? (Again, it won't hurt my feelings if you tell me that it sounds like I'm using a bunch of stuff that was industry standard in 1997, because, frankly, I am.)

Thanks,
Oliver

[ttully]

hey Oliver,
In regards to the drum machine track........ scrap it.
The music is not in time with the drums a lot of times....and the drums are way to busy for this type of track.

Maybe try a simple groove with a FEW fills.......it may pass with that approach.

It is a good song though!!!

My 2 cents,
Tim

[oliverpriddy]

hey Oliver,
In regards to the drum machine track........ scrap it.
The music is not in time with the drums a lot of times....and the drums are way to busy for this type of track.

Maybe try a simple groove with a FEW fills.......it may pass with that approach.

It is a good song though!!!

My 2 cents,
Tim

Thank you so much for the feedback. Genuinely helpful. I considered the possibility that I may have been overcompensating with the drum patterns for fear that a simpler, more repetitive pattern might have given the machine away, but I think you're right that I may have just traded one problem for another. I have another mix without drums that my wife liked better, anyway. I might give it a second consideration, or just redo it all together. Much appreciated!

[Kolstad]

Not an expert by any means, but I think your songs could fit listings asking for singer/songwriter, folk pop, coffehouse and indie songs.
A la's like The Weepies, Ingrid Michaelson, Joshua Radin, The Lumineers, Tristan Pennyman, Passenger and A Fine Frenzy and more, could be up your alley.

To me your style sounds contemporary and broadcast quality for these genres. Indie is characterized with a more raw sound, that is not too overproduced. So in many instances, that is what they'll want.

If you agree, it means that you can use those a la's to reference your work in terms of mixing ect.

Get a few tracks of some of them that you like, import them into your daw, and A/B your mix with theirs. Listen for tone in the instruments, volume balances, (subtle)use of fx, beginnings/transitions/endings, how the instruments back-up vocals ect.

What I think will come up is that your vocals needs to be more present in the mix. As is, your vocals are overpowered by the guitars (if you by any chance are a mixing guitarist, that is a common issue), to my ears at least. These genres are lyric driven, which means the lyrics and vocals are the moneymakers, so you need the lyrics and vocals intelligible and up front. Sometimes it can be a good thing to start the mix with the most important element in the genre you are mixing, and then sequence the mixing process for that, which means start with vocals in these styles, then the rythm section, and leads ect last. That way, you might find a better balance between vocals and gtrs here. I think mindful gain-staging and careful use of a good subtle compressor also might do the trick for your mixes. Use the references to evaluate, those are songs you could be measured to, if a client have a temp track on, but cant licence it and wants something in the same mood and style for their production.

Your styles are very sought after, heavily featured in tv/film, and comes up very frequent in Taxi listings, so I'd say you got a great starting point. I would recommend Robin Frederick's books, and she features these particular styes a lot in her book; shortcuts to hit songwriting http://robinfrederick.com

Justmy2c

[andygabrys]

Some super good ideas and feedback above. I agree in a lot of ways. Here are some of my own views on this:

1) broadcast quality is - can you stick your song in a playlist of other commercial artists (like Magne mentioned) and does it sound similar in vibe, volume to the ear, brightness, instrumental sound, lyrical content, lyrical universality, and vocal delivery? If so - then you have produced Broadcast Quality material and its likely that somebody out there will find a way to use it especially if you have some original hooks in your tunes - new ways of saying the same thing people have said for ever.

2) drum machines - nobody cares what you use for drums (or any other instrument for that matter) unless you make it sound amateurish, machine-like, like a stock loop, or just bad. So the use of a drum machine, or a drum plugin like EZDRummer doesn't preclude the use of your material if you take pains to make it sound like a real performance.

The tom fills as pointed out above are really busy, and cam sound out of time if the other instruments don't match the timing of those fills exactly, and the constant hard hit on the center panned crash cymbal gets old by the end of the song. You could salvage that by making the drums play a very simple roots influenced sort of pattern with appropriate very sparse fills and occasional light hits on the cymbals. This performance as it is won't cut it though. the performance on Everyones Killing is much closer although it might be a little static in dynamics - maybe have some more closed hi-hats earlier as the splashy hats might be too little contrast.

Keep on going, listen to some commercial refs for sound, write some specific tunes for listings, read Robin's books on lyrics etc.

You will get there!