Newbie: got some Forwards and my first Contract

[BeatleManiac]

Hi Guys and Gals;

I just joined Taxi 4-1/2 months ago. My first 8 submissions were all returned as being "stylistically off-target". Then I started getting a grip (somewhat) on the phrase "in the general stylistic wheelhouse of" ... and 6 of my next 9 submissions were forwarded (with one currently under review). I also signed my first contract.

Here's the link to my Taxi music: http://www.taxi.com/sizemore
I would LOVE to receive comments and suggestions from the veterans and everybody else here.

I'm sure I'll have many questions to ask the veterans; but maybe you guys can give me some advice to help me come to grips with this: Whenever I see a listing that has the word "contemporary" in it, when I listen to the referenced tracks they almost always seem to lack what I call "heart and soul". Is this just my imagination? Or just coincidence that I happen to click on the links to songs that give me that impression? Or am I going to have to learn to create soul-less music, in order to make money in this industry?

One more (2-part) question: I see listings wherein they're asking for original recordings of original music from way back in the past. (1) Why does the music supervisor specifically want that, as opposed to newly-created music that would perfectly create the vintage sound and atmosphere? (2) Do some of you really have old recordings of music you made back in the '50's, '60's, etc?

Ok, that's it for now --- looking forward to getting insight and comments from the veterans!

Andy

[cassmcentee]

... and 6 of my next 9 submissions were forwarded (with one currently under review). I also signed my first contract.
Whenever I see a listing that has the word "contemporary" in it, when I listen to the referenced tracks they almost always seem to lack what I call "heart and soul". Andy

Congrats Andy!
I'll take a stab at your first question to start the conversation...
Depending on the situation, some music is very production/mix specific ie. Dubstep/EDM/Dance
So in some cases the mix needs to be contemporary, in the sense that, you might need to mix towards the sound of the referenced tunes in the listing...
Often the music supervisor will have "temped in" one of those referenced tracks into the scene they need music for.
Then that means that the SOUND/MOOD is working for them...
The closer you can get to the Mood/Sound that has them happy, the more likely your piece can slip right in to replace...
2 cents
Cass

[shorttonpro]

Great on the deal!

Our job as composers is to set a mood and create an emotion (or sometimes simply create the opposite, something completely ambiguous that doesn't distract the listener at all but makes it more interesting than a scene without music). I personally hear and see plenty of contemporary music that has 'soul' and represents the artists message. Throughout history, there is plenty of music that is not about a deep message and is simply about providing a catchy melody/beat for listeners to enjoy and dance to.

I believe many of the artist song listings are looking for more lyrical songs in this manner, so you may want to focus on this direction if that is your strong suit and preference. For TV/Film, it is all about setting whatever atmosphere is asked for whilst keeping specifics to a minimum. At least it can be quite a ride to write to specific listings and genre-hop...gives a great perspective of what is out there and being used. Creating modern 'heartless' songs can be challenge in itself (as you're tracks will be pitched against the big guns)


To point #2
Check out the Taxi interview about the vintage stuff here: http://www.taxi.com/transmitter/1406/ma ... dings.html

Mainly, try though we may, it is extremely difficult to accurately create a recording that sounds authentically recorded in a past era (think of the older mic techniques, tape units, etc...) Sometimes our modern re-creations are indeed passable for the scene, but that label's focus and reputation and is on authentic recordings. Other libraries you get in ma very well take your modern re-creations, and if you're convincing it could be a good niche.

[bobporri]

Andy,

Some pretty cool stuff on your taxi page.

Congratulations on your successes.

Bob P.

[BeatleManiac]

Thanks, Bob; and I'm very glad you enjoyed the tracks on my Taxi page!

[andygabrys]

my 2 cents (eat with salt if need be):

I just joined Taxi 4-1/2 months ago. My first 8 submissions were all returned as being "stylistically off-target".

Very common.

Then I started getting a grip (somewhat) on the phrase "in the general stylistic wheelhouse of" ... and 6 of my next 9 submissions were forwarded (with one currently under review). I also signed my first contract.

Congrats on the contract. May you sign many tracks and get many TV placements as a result.

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Here's the link to my Taxi music:  http://www.taxi.com/sizemore
I would LOVE to receive comments and suggestions from the veterans and everybody else here.

Diverse sounds. I am guessing you play keyboards primarily. Do you play guitar?

In many cases creating "contemporary" productions necessitates knowing how different instruments are used today (virtual or real). A decision to use a direct recorded steel string acoustic guitar can date a production instantly, yet the same piece with a decently well recorded acoustic guitar mic'd with an inexpensive mic in a bed room studio can sound very contemporary.

the same thing goes for virtual instruments that mimic guitars - they are easily heard, and unless well disguised or doubled with other sounds they will sound dated.

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Whenever I see a listing that has the word "contemporary" in it, when I listen to the referenced tracks they almost always seem to lack what I call "heart and soul".  Is this just my imagination?  Or just coincidence that I happen to click on the links to songs that give me that impression?  Or am I going to have to learn to create soul-less music, in order to make money in this industry?

This is an attitude check Andy. If you hear the music as being soul-less, then your attempts to create music "in the style of..." are also going to be relatively heartless. I would say that as we age, and our golden listening age of 12-18 is farther and farther in the past, its more difficult to hear things that are "contemporary" as having the same "soul" that we heard back then. It takes more effort to hear the new stuff and find the "soul" in it. The music still has a lot of heart and soul, but you need to find it for you.

There are so many standpoints to create music from in this industry that you needn't even try to do the types that you feel don't have soul. Like on your page - you have been forwarded for Tension Drones and African percussion pieces. If those are the things that resonate, stick with that. Maybe over time you will expand your horizons and see or feel the call to create in other styles.

One more (2-part) question: I see listings wherein they're asking for original recordings of original music from way back in the past. (1) Why does the music supervisor specifically want that, as opposed to newly-created music that would perfectly create the vintage sound and atmosphere?

If you were doing a movie set in 1983, would you prefer music that was created today with a modern production ethic, or an actual recording from 1983 from a popular band (IDK, maybe Simple Minds or U2 that would be expensive to license) or an actual recording from 1983 from a band that never broke big but had some good material, and could be acquired for a relative bargain (which still might be thousands of dollars)?

As Scott noted, its pretty difficult to recreate old recordings unless you have old gear. Our modern ethics dictate a much more hi-fi approach. Probably the closest stuff IMO to the older sounds is stuff like Sharon Jones and Dap-Kings - recorded all analogue with some great gear to tape. But guess what? even though it sounds amazing, it still sounds much more modern than an authentic record from the 60's. A/B some of it and see if you don't agree. Its brighter, more hi-fi. clearer - not quite as fat. Or maybe as "murky".

Or since you dig the Beatles - listen to your favorites from the Beatles catalogue and then the same selections from "The beatles complete on ukelele" which used to be amiable for free via a Google search. Same song. Different age. Different aim. Different artists. Different outcome.

(2) Do some of you really have old recordings of music you made back in the '50's, '60's, etc?

There are quite a few. I don't. I wasn't in this game then.

[BeatleManiac]

Hi, Andy;

Thanks for the comments --- lots of good and helpful insights there --- I greatly appreciate it, and will be eager to learn more from your experience, as time goes by.... And yes, I primarily play keyboards and percussion. (I'm impressed by your keen powers of observation and deduction.)

I appreciate also your comments about the concept of "contemporary" as it applies to music. In fact, I would like to get as much input as possible from EVERYBODY willing to share on that subject. Here's why: one of my main goals is to learn what (if anything) all human beings have in common with respect to musical appreciation. This has been a fascinating subject for me since I was a little kid, and only in the last few years have I really been able to look at this closely. When I was little, I noticed that practically everybody loved all the most popular music from the 60's and early 70's. Everybody, from all walks of life, different ages and personalities and cultural upbringings --- even crotchety people who vocally complained that "music wasn't music since the big band era" would often secretly enjoy the very music they complained about. I remember the day in 1977 when the album Rumours by Fleetwood Mac was released: I was in a large extremely busy record store, that album was playing, and there was a really old man in his eighties just standing there, motionless with all this business swirling all around him; he was totally entranced by the music. I just watched him; he didn't move a muscle or open his eyes until Side 1 ended; then he said to himself "That was so beautiful", and shuffled off....

So I always believed that the bands in the 60's and 70's had somehow accidentally tapped into something which intrinsically resides in everybody's soul. And then as music started becoming totally commercialized and formulaic and split up into innumerable "genres", that "heart and soul" seemed to me to gradually dissipate. Now, is it a question of me getting older, and somehow failing to perceive something that is really there, but in a different form? If that were the case, then why am I easily able to discern the soul-captivating quality of music from eras that came before I was born? I can easily see and hear and feel the "heart and soul" in the ragtime music and the Russian composers that enchanted the hearts of the people in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. I can see and feel why people were so entranced with the music of the roaring 20's, the 30's, and the 40's --- and I can certainly see what excited people about the music of the 50's.

However, I can't see or feel the "heart and soul" in most of the popular music of the 21st century.

Anyway --- I might be on a fool's errand --- but my goal is to try to identify components of music which will tend to have a similar impact on every human being who actually listens to the music. So that's why I want to fully understand the whole "contemporary music" phenomenon: so I can understand the psychology of enjoyment of that music (even though it seems soul-less to me, personally), and add that new knowledge to my overall understanding of human enjoyment of music.

And then, if I do learn something big and new and true, well, I'll share that knowledge with everybody.

Otherwise, I'll just have fun in the attempt, and hopefully make a lot of cool music that will amuse and delight some people along the way.

Again, I can't stress enough how eager I am to get comments, suggestions, feedback, input, knowledge and wisdom from everybody here at Taxi!

Andy

[SubRivers]

If that were the case, then why am I easily able to discern the soul-captivating quality of music from eras that came before I was born?

Could be explained by you having heard these earlier musical eras before your formative years were over.

[sabalsounds]

I would suggest the OP spend more time discovering new artists.

Dawes, Alabama Shakes, Tedeschi/Trucks Band, Gary Clark Jr, Jack White, etc to name but a very few that have most certainly embraced the vibe/feel of the 60's/70's while contributing new music to the world.

Steven

[andygabrys]

If that were the case, then why am I easily able to discern the soul-captivating quality of music from eras that came before I was born?

Could be explained by you having heard these earlier musical eras before your formative years were over.

I have to agree SubRivers.

Andy - have you read the book "this is your brain on music".

The way it struck me - it was intimately related to what you are talking about - including a lengthy treatise on why you might not get the heart and soul of 21st century music. Daniel is a sharp guy. http://daniellevitin.com/publicpage/