My first critique

[andreh]

I've submitted to several Dispatch listings and gotten a few forwards & returns, but none of them had any critiques (besides those offered by you generous forum dwellers).So, I was happy to get my first official critique recently for 3 electronic tracks I submitted for this listing:Quote:An L.A.-based Music Library needs fun, upbeat, uptempo ELECTRONICA SONGS & INSTRUMENTALS in the general range of Moby, Fatboy Slim, Thievery Corporation, the Chemical Brothers, etc. to pitch to their clients. In fact, they just signed a deal with one of cable TV’s biggest networks. They’d prefer tracks that are around 2 minutes in length and that have breaks in the music for easy editing purposes, but that’s not necessary. But they don’t want any over-long and continuous tracks -- no 7 minute epics, please. =-) They offer a non-exclusive deal [they re-title your track and split any license fee/royalties 50-50.] They did mention that they generally prefer that you don’t submit material that is already with another library, but if the track is outstanding, then they’ll definitely consider doing business. If you were forwarded for D060526EL, do not submit the same material. Broadcast quality needed [great sounding home recordings are OK]. Please submit one to three songs online or per CD, include lyrics. All submissions will be screened on a YES/NO BASIS ONLY - NO CRITIQUES FROM TAXI. For ground submissions, please enclose a S.A.S.E. if you would like a response. Submissions must be received no later than Sept. 26, 2006. TAXI # S060926ELThe tracks were forwarded, which I'm of course happy about, and the critique contained some helpful, informative comments about the songs.I'm trying to understand how to interpret the scores, which were mostly 6's with some 7's, compared with the written comments, which were very positive with one or two exceptions.Are 6's and 7's better numbers than I thought, or isn't there always a correlation between them and the written comments?AndréPS - Thank you listener #92 for your time and input...feel free to respond here if you'd like!

[spariam]

Andre,Congrats on your forwards.Not sure about the 6's and 7's - one of my lowest scoring pieces was forwarded as well.That's a style I'd like to get more into, but I'm still doing a lot of listening before I even attempt

[davewalton]

Quote:I'm trying to understand how to interpret the scores, which were mostly 6's with some 7's, compared with the written comments, which were very positive with one or two exceptions.Are 6's and 7's better numbers than I thought, or isn't there always a correlation between them and the written comments?Someone here recently posted a track that got 10's across the board but wasn't forwarded because it was more of a Pop song that was submitted to a Country listing. What I take from that and from your post (and from my own experience) is that being appropriate for the listing is more often than not, more important than being jawdropping from a sound and engineering standpoint. This is especially true for music library listings where there is a little more latitude than a high-bar listing. In that realm they are certainly looking for quality, make no mistake about that, but mostly they're looking for good, mood setting music that fits the listing description. It's been a while since I've submitted to something that gave a critique but mostly I've received 7's and 8's with a few 9's along the way. Never a 10 that I can recall. With those slightly above average marks I've never had a critiqued song returned because of a lack of quality.Just from a set of critiques from a single screener I wouldn't get too concerned. You need more information from other screeners before you can really draw any conclusions. If you get, say, a half-dozen critiques from various screeners and you're still averaging out to 6's and 7's, it's not the end of the world but you probably would want to work at least on getting rid of those 6's. Congrats!Dave

[andreh]

Thanks for your input Spariam and Dave! I'm not stressed out about the "grades" or even whether or not I get forwarded; every song is a learning and growing process. I was just a little confused about the 6's in Production and Engineering categories followed by comments like, "All three [tracks] have a high degree of production."There was a comment about the need for some warmer sounds (which I agree with, though these tracks were meant to be pretty edgy), so maybe that balances things out.Anyway, I'm stoked to be getting some feedback that does seem appropriate for the songs I submitted...kudos to the screener. Andre

[matto]

I honestly don't pay much attention to grades...never have .Seriously though, grades vary from screener to screener. Some more liberally award those 8's or 9's, others are more stingy. Thus I always look at the grades in relation to one another, not absolutely. If I get significantly lower marks for engineering than music (by 2-3 or even more numbers), or the other way round, it tells me that for this screener part of my submission lagged behind. If I get a similar "point spread" for the same track with different screeners, that would be cause for concern.Oh and congratulations to you Andre!

[andreh]

Thanks matto! Good idea about watching the relative instead of absolute "point spread" (which is a good term considering we're all taking a big gamble here ).Andre