Not feeling return...S210529HF

[swdaze]

I will preference this by saying I don't expect to be forwarded for every sub in fact the opposite. I am disappointed when they are returned but not surprised and the critiques are NORMALLY on point and helpful. This is not one of those cases.

HEARTFELT SINGER/SONGWRITER SONGS with Lyrics about "The Light at the End of the Tunnel" are needed for a TAXI COMPILATION going directly to a whole bunch of our favorite Music Licensing Companies for placements in Post-COVID-19 and other Film and TV programming.

Note: Now that productions have started shooting again, we think there will be a wave of TV movies about the pandemic. Many of them are going to need this type of material!

We’re not giving references for this request, as we think they may be too limiting. Mid-to-Up-Tempo Songs are usually more easily placed, but if you have really strong Ballads or Down-Tempo Songs, those could work as well in this context.

Here are some key concepts, keywords, ideas, and phrases to get your creative gears turning, but please don’t limit yourself to just these! We encourage you to come up with some of your own!

Concepts and keywords:

Better days ahead!
Light at the end of the tunnel
Rising from the ashes
Seeing you again
Re-building
Reconnecting
Being with friends and family
Pick ourselves up
Filling our days with light and love
When we can finally hug each other again
Hand in hand
Starting to live again
Getting out and living life again
The promise that a new day brings
We weathered the storm, now…
Getting back to normal
Having hope
When that new day finally dawns
What lies ahead
Please submit well-produced Songs with uplifting, well-crafted lyrics in the general vein of the topics listed above. Stripped-down arrangements or more filled-out, fully-produced songs could both work for this pitch. Whichever approach you decide to take, your production and any and all virtual instruments or samples you use should be high-quality and modern. Heartfelt, well-performed vocals, moving melodies, and solid choruses are all musts for this pitch!

IMPORTANT Lyric Tip: We've been told by our clients that they have more of a demand for positive, uplifting lyrics than sad themes about loss, pain, etc., so please submit Songs with optimistic lyrical themes and avoid sending any "downers."

Also try to avoid lyrics that are "too on-the-nose" with phrases like, "Glad the pandemic is behind us." Non-specific lyrics that are more like the suggestions above will work better.

Our A&R team will have a simple mandate: Is it GREAT? Does it sound ready to go as it is? Would it work well for placements in Film and TV? Would TAXI's Music Licensing and Music Library clients be happy to hear this on the playlist we send them? The bar will be very high for this request.

Note: TAXI has been quite successful in helping our members sign deals via the playlists on previous compilations. Our industry clients like the proactive approach This playlist will be sent to dozens of TAXI's best clients!

As always, you'd be wise to avoid using specific names, places, dates, times, brands, and profanity if you’d like to increase the chances of your Songs getting signed and ultimately landing placements. You'd also be smart to avoid lyrics that specifically say, "virus, COVID-19, Coronavirus," etc. Broadcast Quality is needed.

Because the selected Songs will be going directly to many different Music Licensing Companies, deal terms may vary. However, since some of the Companies are EXCLUSIVE Libraries, we ask that the Songs you pitch for this request are NOT already signed with other Companies or Catalogs. That includes any publishing or publishing administration deals with online distributors like CDBaby, TuneCore, etc. You must own or control your Master and Copyright to submit. Please submit as many Songs 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 (PDT) on Saturday, May 29th, 2021. TAXI # S210529HF

TAXI # S210529HF

My submission: *****UPDATED WITH NEW SOUNDS ROUGH MIX*****
WHEN WILL I SEE YOU AGAIN
https://www.taxi.com/members/kFrx_Q6OQc ... -you-again

REASONS FOR RETURN:

I think you could improve this song by:
You might consider updating the production on this song to help get it closer to the needs of this listing: "any and all virtual instruments or samples you use should be high-quality and modern"
The song uses just drums, bass, guitar, piano, strings and a live flute solo. A pretty standard line up for Singer/Songwriter. Virtual instruments are LOGIC.

Style/Genre is off target with the listing request
Open genre

Mood is off target with the listing request
This is subjective but given the listing says "...avoid lyrics that are "too on-the-nose" with phrases like, "Glad the pandemic is behind us." Non-specific lyrics that are more like the suggestions above will work better." I think I'm good here. The song is about missing someone.

Lyrics off target for this request
Here are suggested lyrics:
etter days ahead!
Light at the end of the tunnel
Rising from the ashes
[glow]Seeing you again[/glow]
Re-building
Reconnecting
Being with friends and family
Pick ourselves up
Filling our days with light and love
[glow][glow]When we can finally hug each other again[/glow][/glow]
Hand in hand
Starting to live again
Getting out and living life again
The promise that a new day brings
We weathered the storm, now…
Getting back to normal
Having hope
When that new day finally dawns
What lies ahead

Here's the final prechorus/chorus of the submission:
I long for the hope....
And I hope for the will....
I will myself the strength I know I’ll need if,
I am ever to wait until....

[glow]I see you again.....
Tell me, when will I see you again....
Can’t wait to hold you in my hands....
Tell me when will I see you again.[/glow]

Think it's a solid tune, big uplifting chorus and it checks a lot of boxes on the listing. To say it's off genre in a listing with no genres seems weird. To say it's lyrically off target when the hook uses two of the suggested lyrical themes seems weird.

Anyway, I gotta go to work.

Geo

[AlanHall]

I like your songwriting chops, great stuff! And think that overall, the instrumentation/mix hold together, but having said that - I feel that the effort just didn't reach the bar that Taxi measures our efforts by.

Full disclosure - I've had just 3 or 4 forwards (and no library contact) out of 20 or so subs in the year and a half I've been a member - so I'm speaking from my own personal experience, no one else's

The piano didn't sell me. Maybe some ambience to place it away from the listener? It was too dry and too 'tinkly' to pass as a modern effort. Maybe just the wrong patch?
I'm always happy to hear a kind of pop/new wave vibe. For that, I think it was great. But far from a modern singer/songwriter vibe. Too busy, too 'high energy' IMHO. So I agree with the screener that it's off the mark stylistically for "HEARTFELT SINGER/SONGWRITER SONGS". That's the genre as I read it, anyhow.
As far as production values, I'd say 'less is more'; there could be improvement on that. For example, I'd expect the flute to be a garnish not a solo instrument in a piece like this (production music, not AOR).
Hope this helps!

[cosmicdolphin]

Right off the bat before the vocals even come in I'm getting " dated " production vibes like an old 80s song. There's 2 seconds of silence and then the piano and strings sounds when they do arrive are not worth the wait. If I was a library owner I'd probably already be 'out' before you'd opened your mouth ( unless it was a retro 80s Listing ) because I can tell within seconds it's just not going to cut it for contemporary. It's not what songs of today sound like.

The actual song itself seems well written and the vocals are fine too but when music all kicks in at 38s the production sound is totally off putting - everything just sounds like a cheap midi keyboard vibe, bass and drums particularly being the worst offenders. It sounds very much like a demo not a high bar broadcast quality production, so I think you need to invest in some higher quality sounds if you want to compete.

The song itself feels too upbeat for the subject matter...I'm not getting heartfelt from it. Google says " The definition of heartfelt is something that is earnest, sincere or deeply felt. " ...your song sounds more Optimistic than Heartfelt.

Did you listen to the Forwards yet ? They are here : http://ht.ly/YgYI30073xb

Overall I agree with the Screener but it's clear you have some writing skills, you just need to learn about modern sounds and production. Not easy but many before you have done it.

Mark

[swdaze]

As always thanks for the comments guys, don't fully disagree just venting really, one of my fav tunes.

I do have a thread going in Peer to Peer rewriting/updating one of my tunes which I will be revisiting (Alan thank you already dropped some helpful comments) once I record the guitar and vocal and start in on production. I hope to get some help then capturing a more modern sound.

Peace.

[swdaze]

I like your songwriting chops, great stuff! And think that overall, the instrumentation/mix hold together, but having said that - I feel that the effort just didn't reach the bar that Taxi measures our efforts by.

Full disclosure - I've had just 3 or 4 forwards (and no library contact) out of 20 or so subs in the year and a half I've been a member - so I'm speaking from my own personal experience, no one else's

The piano didn't sell me. Maybe some ambience to place it away from the listener? It was too dry and too 'tinkly' to pass as a modern effort. Maybe just the wrong patch?
I'm always happy to hear a kind of pop/new wave vibe. For that, I think it was great. But far from a modern singer/songwriter vibe. Too busy, too 'high energy' IMHO. So I agree with the screener that it's off the mark stylistically for "HEARTFELT SINGER/SONGWRITER SONGS". That's the genre as I read it, anyhow.
As far as production values, I'd say 'less is more'; there could be improvement on that. For example, I'd expect the flute to be a garnish not a solo instrument in a piece like this (production music, not AOR).
Hope this helps!

Hey do you have a link to an example of a good piano sound? I use piano in a lot of songs

[swdaze]

Right off the bat before the vocals even come in I'm getting " dated " production vibes like an old 80s song. There's 2 seconds of silence and then the piano and strings sounds when they do arrive are not worth the wait. If I was a library owner I'd probably already be 'out' before you'd opened your mouth ( unless it was a retro 80s Listing ) because I can tell within seconds it's just not going to cut it for contemporary. It's not what songs of today sound like.

The actual song itself seems well written and the vocals are fine too but when music all kicks in at 38s the production sound is totally off putting - everything just sounds like a cheap midi keyboard vibe, bass and drums particularly being the worst offenders. It sounds very much like a demo not a high bar broadcast quality production, so I think you need to invest in some higher quality sounds if you want to compete.

The song itself feels too upbeat for the subject matter...I'm not getting heartfelt from it. Google says " The definition of heartfelt is something that is earnest, sincere or deeply felt. " ...your song sounds more Optimistic than Heartfelt.

Did you listen to the Forwards yet ? They are here : http://ht.ly/YgYI30073xb

Overall I agree with the Screener but it's clear you have some writing skills, you just need to learn about modern sounds and production. Not easy but many before you have done it.

Mark

Thank you for the listen and the compliments. Any suggestions for sound libraries? I use Logic are it's sounds comparable?

Geo

[cosmicdolphin]

Thank you for the listen and the compliments. Any suggestions for sound libraries? I use Logic are it's sounds comparable?

I'm not a Logic user so I am not familiar with the stock sounds , there's loads of options out there I'm sure there are some threads around about various types of sound libraries.

Personally for piano I use Keyscape and a few other Kontakt Libraries. For bass I have Trillian, EZ bass and some Kontakt Libraries like Scarbee Rickenback. Drums I have Addictive Drums 2...lots of people use EZdrummer which is similar. Then I have Omnisphere for a broader range of sounds and various Kontakt libraries for specific things.

[Casey H]

Is this my old friend Geo from years back?? Nice to see you again!

Yea, as others said, this is pretty far off the mark for the listing. It's not a post-pandemic "we made it" song at all and the production is very, very dated. It sounds like you had something already recorded a long time ago and tried it for this listing which is fine but it's gotta really be solidly on target.

Updating your studio environment would help but sometimes those of us who are older sometimes have trouble thinking contemporary in their writing. I know I do. Collaboration helps. Take an idea and work with someone with modern production skills.

You have good songwriting skills, no doubt!

Best,
Casey

[swdaze]

Thank you for the listen and the compliments. Any suggestions for sound libraries? I use Logic are it's sounds comparable?

I'm not a Logic user so I am not familiar with the stock sounds , there's loads of options out there I'm sure there are some threads around about various types of sound libraries.

Personally for piano I use Keyscape and a few other Kontakt Libraries. For bass I have Trillian, EZ bass and some Kontakt Libraries like Scarbee Rickenback. Drums I have Addictive Drums 2...lots of people use EZdrummer which is similar. Then I have Omnisphere for a broader range of sounds and various Kontakt libraries for specific things.

Thank you, appreciated.

[swdaze]

Is this my old friend Geo from years back?? Nice to see you again!

Yea, as others said, this is pretty far off the mark for the listing. It's not a post-pandemic "we made it" song at all and the production is very, very dated. It sounds like you had something already recorded a long time ago and tried it for this listing which is fine but it's gotta really be solidly on target.

Updating your studio environment would help but sometimes those of us who are older sometimes have trouble thinking contemporary in their writing. I know I do. Collaboration helps. Take an idea and work with someone with modern production skills.

You have good songwriting skills, no doubt!

Best,
Casey

Nice to see you again.