Is this submission quality?

[JAK]

Before I go submitting I'd like to know if this song is submission quality, and help with the genre. I want to primarily write songs and really am not interested in performing. Any and all help is appreciated. The song is "Trying to Understand" and the url ishttp://www.taxi.com/jimmyjak

[davewalton]

Hi Jimmy,

There's several issues here that keep it from being "broadcast quality". Some are issues that I had several years back when I first started submitting to Taxi. All are "do-able" in terms of fixing them but it sometimes takes a bit of time and additional listening to what others are doing.

The main thing I'll mention is what my main issue was... stylistically "out of date". That covers a big area... it's the overall style, it's the mix, etc. If you and I were 20 years old, we'd be "in the moment"... listening to and writing what's current now, because we'd have no music history to fall back on (and sometimes plague us). In my case, I was kind of stuck in the late 70's/early 80's... that's where my influences were when I was 20-something and that's what stuck with me. To be honest... appreciating the sound and style of what I was hearing in current music took a while too. I preferred what I was used to but the more I listened to "what my kids and their friends were listening to", the most I began to appreciate it, especially when I tried to do that and found it was harder than I originally thought to capture that style. And of course when I asked myself (regarding my music) "Is this what my kids and their friends are listening to?"... I had to answer "no".

For me, I started reading the listings and picking a few that I wanted to tackle. Then I did a lot of listening to the groups (the "ala's) that were mentioned in the particular listings I was wanting to shoot for and started to "write to the listing"... writing specifically for those listings with the idea of creating a song to match the requirements of the listing. One thing that was effective for me as a learning tool was to "sandwich" a ten or twenty second snippet of my track between equally long snippets of two tracks who's sound I was targeting and then listen to it to see how close I was getting. At first it was OBVIOUS which track was mine but that at least gave me the perspective to hear what I needed to do. Here's one of those examples I did sometime back where I was getting pretty close to my goal (only one of these three snippets is me, the middle one)...

http://www.DaveWaltonMusic.com/PrivateA ... IsDave.mp3

It doesn't mean giving up artistic freedom. From my perspective I'm getting to be creative while at the same time focusing my music on my end goal... music on film/tv.

Anyway, I think that if you consider some of those suggestions, continue to keep a presence here on the forum, listening to others as well as posting your own stuff for feedback, that your journey will be a successful journey.

Hope that helps!

Dave

[JAK]

Thanks Dave...I appreciate the advice and will continue to work toward getting current. Interesting snipet and I will try this with some of my music to see if it helps.

[wings]

Hi JAK,
Cool piece! But it's not my genre, so take it for what's its worth. I do hear some "engineering" issues, not really "song" issues. From my experience here, it's the engineering issues that will stop you from going forward. So, I've learned to spend more time in engineering a piece than actually creating it - at least that's been my experience.
With that in mind, I'd spend time on placing your instruments (including your voice) into a spot in the air. Carve your instruments out so that they fit. There are a few people here who are experts at doing that- and as a result, one's ear won't be picking apart the piece, but will be listening to what you're singing about! Right now it's a distraction, but something that can totally be fixed.
Hope this helps!
All my best,
-jdg

[JAK]

Thanks jdg the more critiques I get the better It will get what genre do you think it is?

[wings]

Thanks jdg the more critiques I get the better It will get what genre do you think it is?

I'm not a genre expert by any stretch of the imagination, so I really don't know. I'd fix up the song, then send it to a taxi critique. Ask them. They may help you catagorize the song a bit more.

[glender]

Hi, and welcome to the forums.

This song is what I refer to as the "Taxi reality check" song. It's what every member has to deal with in the beginning. We need to know where our music fits in, in the grand scheme of things. Is it great the way it is? Does it need a little tweaking? Unfortunately most if not all of us find out the first few times we post, that our living room music isn't quite up to spec. We all went through it so we know what it feels like to get that first bit of criticism. As I recall it didn't feel that great But what it does do is put us on the map. Once we pin point are location in the Universe we can work towards our goal of writing hit songs. Congratulations on taking that first step. I for one know it's not easy to put your stuff out there in the real world. Our family and friends can tell us how good our music is all day long, but until we hear from complete strangers how do we really know.

As for this song, I would tuck it away in a drawer. It probably has a lot of sentimental value but sounds nothing like what's on the radio,TV or film these day's. It sounds like something that might have been popular in the 70's or early 80's but by today's standard I just wouldn't spend the time trying to dress it up. Hopefully it's something you wrote ten years ago and no last week.

Stick around and open up your ears to what people are saying and doing today. Look at the charts and pick out some songs that you like and study them. Look at the structure, lyric content (story), melody. Then figure out how your going to create something that competes in this market. Don't stray off into your own little niche, stick with modern reality. This is what your going to need to come to terms with to make a buck in this business.

Good luck in your quest for the holy grail

[JAK]

Wow thanks for the critique....I value each bit of input and will use it to become better. It is a bitter pill but if you take it and change accordingly within reason, then it's all good.