New Member - Rock Genre

[transam]

Hello...im new to the forum. I have some works in progress if you'd like to have a listen...any feedback would be appreciated as to how "taxiable" my demos are. Im suspecting my intros are too long and the recording "quality" isn't up to standard.Also if you think anything is a stand out that I should concentrate on would be usefull...I think Living Without maybe the one?http://www.xador.co.nz/songs.htmlCheersDavid

[liamkelly]

You're going to find it hard to get meaningful feedback from this forum when it's your first post and you haven't offered any thoughts on other work yet.Having said that - I listened to Living Without and you should first first note that I'm a poor critic of music. I am a rock afficionado though and this song is certainly that.I think the drums/loops are less of a problem than you think. For me, I was struck by two things: 1) the vocals are very indistinct. I don't know if this is as a result of your mixing or as a result of the MP3 conversion. But in any genre vocals are tremendously important. Imagine in rock such as yours, Deep Purple without Gillan or Coverdale, Rainbow without Ronnie Dio, Van Halen without Roth etc. 2) The mix struck me as very top end. Goodish tunes - but I think work on the singing is needed. Personal opinion.Liamwww.myspace.com/liamkellymusic

[hummingbird]

On another forum, David asked if we thought his song demos were Taxi ready. I advised him to come over to this forum and get some help from the pros here... here's what I said:Hi David - I would ask this same question on the Taxi forum, there are musicians & producers there who will give you some feedback (you might want to listen to some of their music too). One of the things I do know (Taxi member or not) is that pitching songs to artists has to be one of the hardest things a songwriter can do. Nowadays they want artists to write their own stuff so they don’t have to pay outside sources. In particular—with reference to Gary’s comments—pitching country songs is extremely difficult. I know people who are getting deals though Taxi - I’m one of them—but the folks I know are writing for film/tv. In terms of your demo - if you are pitching a song, then it is vital that the lead vocal be up front & the words clear. I listened to Sugar and I think the vocals are too far back in the mix. In addition, demos should have short intros and little or short breaks. As to whether this is an commercially-viable undeniable hit song… I’m not familiar enough with Rock to say. OTOH, if this is broadcast quality, then you might be able to pitch to film/tv *if* you know exactly what your sound is. (80s rock a la..., for example) I suggest you sign up to get the industry listings from Taxi (it’s free) and check out what is being looked for and ask yourself if your song(s) fit the bill. I checked, and most of the Rock listings in the last email were for either Artists (interested in being signed) or for Broadcast quality songs for music publishers / music libraries. I didn’t see any listings seeking Songs *for* artists. Hope that helps cheers Vikki So, welcome David, nice to see you here

[liamkelly]

Quote:On another forum, David asked if we thought his song demos were Taxi ready. I advised him to come over to this forum and get some help from the pros here... here's what I said:Hi David - I would ask this same question on the Taxi forum, there are musicians & producers there who will give you some feedback (you might want to listen to some of their music too). One of the things I do know (Taxi member or not) is that pitching songs to artists has to be one of the hardest things a songwriter can do. Nowadays they want artists to write their own stuff so they don’t have to pay outside sources. In particular—with reference to Gary’s comments—pitching country songs is extremely difficult. I know people who are getting deals though Taxi - I’m one of them—but the folks I know are writing for film/tv. In terms of your demo - if you are pitching a song, then it is vital that the lead vocal be up front & the words clear. I listened to Sugar and I think the vocals are too far back in the mix. In addition, demos should have short intros and little or short breaks. As to whether this is an commercially-viable undeniable hit song… I’m not familiar enough with Rock to say. OTOH, if this is broadcast quality, then you might be able to pitch to film/tv *if* you know exactly what your sound is. (80s rock a la..., for example) I suggest you sign up to get the industry listings from Taxi (it’s free) and check out what is being looked for and ask yourself if your song(s) fit the bill. I checked, and most of the Rock listings in the last email were for either Artists (interested in being signed) or for Broadcast quality songs for music publishers / music libraries. I didn’t see any listings seeking Songs *for* artists. Hope that helps cheers Vikki So, welcome David, nice to see you here Snap, Vikki