Original Christmas Listing

[Guitarhacker23]

THe Listing : Lots and Lots of ORIGINAL CHRISTMAS SONGS in ALL GENRES with Male or Female Vocals are needed for a TAXI COMPILATION going directly to A WHOLE BUNCH of our favorite Music Licensing Companies, Music Supervisors, and Ad Agencies for Film, TV, and Advertising placements!

As always, we hold the bar high for these compilations, but the end result is that virtually every Song on our comps gets signed. It's not uncommon for several companies to offer deals on the same piece. It's also not uncommon for the companies to ask our members to create new music for them, especially if they weren't fast enough to nail down a deal before their competitors did

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.

Genres that could work: You’d be wise to go with popular genres for Christmas music like - Singer/Songwriter, Adult Contemporary, Traditional Pop, Jazz, R&B, Indie Folk, Pop, Country, Indie Pop, Indie Rock, Crooner, Big Band, Soul, Gospel, Vintage, Retro, Children's, etc.

TAXI # S230829MS

The Song: https://app.box.com/s/03jomwoccuka4368zw7yiurcy66pwkrl

Ignore the count in. It will removed before it gets submitted. The "no count-in" version is on my TAXI profile.

All comments... song, music, production, but mainly, is it a fit for the listing? Would you "F" or "R" it?

It is a co-write with another TAXI member.

[mteezykeys]

not my genre. but that piano that entires around 1:45 is too loud.

[davidagates]

So, some things worth considering.

Some of the instruments sound quite synthetised. The big offenders as far as I can tell are the drums and the piano. It may be the case they're live recordings, if so then the drums need to be amended and the piano turned down and probably replaced with a good Kontakt piano.

The drums don't stand out much in the mix, one of my biggest things to overcome (as a guitarist predominantly) was getting my mixes to reflect how other people mix, drums will always be loud. Could be that you need to add some compression to tie them together, but at the minute they sound very thin and almost as though they're on a low bandwidth internet or something. Not quite sure.

Vocals sound nice, could do with a bit of verb on there to add some depth, but then I'm a sucker for reverb.

[Guitarhacker23]

So... I have fixed the volume issue on the piano and changed a few things around including the synth I was using for the piano. The original one was the new K7 piano however, it really wasn't cutting it.

I tweezed on the drums a bit but I didn't bump it too much with the reverb on the vox.....

Feel free to listen again and see if this one doesn't do better.

I appreciate the advice and comments given so far.

[funsongs]

FWIW/IMHO: it's clearly Country and it's a good message & song for the holiday.

My ears' critique regarding the production and mix:
1) it's a pretty center-focused mix... and would sound bigger, fuller, better if there was more individual instrument & widening;
2) it's missing the 'tinkle' an* end user might want: so, you might double the piano licks with some chimes to achieve that.

This is one genre that NEEDS the 'bells and whistles' - pardon the cliché.
HTH, Cheers.

*typo corrected

[Guitarhacker23]

FWIW/IMHO: it's clearly Country and it's a good message & song for the holiday.

My ears' critique regarding the production and mix:
1) it's a pretty center-focused mix... and would sound bigger, fuller, better if there was more individual instrument & widening;
2) it's missing the 'tinkle' and end user might want: so, you might double the piano licks with some chimes to achieve that.

This is one genre that NEEDS the 'bells and whistles' - pardon the cliché.
HTH, Cheers.

That is a really good idea.... what's a christmas song without bells and tinsel..... I didn't go overboard but.... a few bells to start and some chimes rather than the piano fills in the 2nd verse.... give me your thoughts..... I'm on the fence about those bells that start it off.....

hows the width sound? I didn't go crazy but is it enough or does it need more width?

[funsongs]

FWIW/IMHO: it's clearly Country and it's a good message & song for the holiday.

My ears' critique regarding the production and mix:
1) it's a pretty center-focused mix... and would sound bigger, fuller, better if there was more individual instrument & widening;
2) it's missing the 'tinkle' and end user might want: so, you might double the piano licks with some chimes to achieve that.

This is one genre that NEEDS the 'bells and whistles' - pardon the cliché.
HTH, Cheers.

That is a really good idea.... what's a christmas song without bells and tinsel..... I didn't go overboard but.... a few bells to start and some chimes rather than the piano fills in the 2nd verse.... give me your thoughts..... I'm on the fence about those bells that start it off.....

hows the width sound? I didn't go crazy but is it enough or does it need more width?

Did you do a remix? Post something new?
IMHO - the chimey stuff can be back in the mix, but audible enough to give it that 'holiday jingle'.