Ears Please - Emotionally Upbeat Instrumental

[makintunes]

Hi everyone,

I've been submitting to Taxi listings in earnest since late February (today makes it exactly four months), and I'm having a crisis of confidence! Out of 20+ submissions, I've gotten one forward. I was hoping that I could somehow avoid having to reveal my tracks to the Taxi world for feedback, but I can't live in that fantasy world any longer - I NEED HELP! I've created a Soundcloud page and uploaded almost everything I've created over the last few months: https://soundcloud.com/makintunes

The feedback I've received in the critiques from the Taxi screeners makes sense. It may sting a little bit to get rejected, but I am indeed learning from the critiques. I'm just hoping to speed up my learning curve by enlisting some help from you guys. I'm going to try and become an active member of the Taxi community (I was on last nights Ustream chat, and plan to make that a Monday afternoon ritual).

For starters, then, here is the most recent track that was rejected: https://soundcloud.com/makintunes/go-lucky

I submitted this for Listing No. Y170615UI - Emotionally Upbeat Instrumentals. "Please submit well-crafted Instrumentals that have catchy, creative melodies, and deliver a fun, emotionally upbeat feeling. Your instrumentation can range from simple acoustic guitars to awesome beats; to big synthesizer pads… anything could potentially work for this request, as long as it sounds fun and happy."

The critique that I received said only this: "Needs more development in the writing and production."

Last night, I reworked the track from 3:00 minutes down to 1:30 and renamed it: https://soundcloud.com/makintunes/lucky-ducky. I then submitted it for Listing No. Y170626UI - Emotionally Upbeat Instrumental Cues.

Any feed back on this or other tracks is GREATLY appreciated. As I learn more, I promise to return the favor and help others. There are probably some topics that I might have some insight into even now, so I'll just have to check into the forums on a regular basis and see if I can help.

Thanks everyone - tell me it's going to be okay!!!

[ttully]

Hi makintunes,

As far as Lucky Ducky......I never seems to develop and sounds a bit dated
the sounds just do not sound current....(to my ears)


I listened to all of your stuff on soundcloud...
To my ears..everything sounds a bit thin...lacking depth....with a lot of treble.

Alot of the samples seem a bit dated.
Are you using up to date sample libraries?

Also ...everything has a very electronic and quantized feel to it....not organic

Also the volume on most tracks is a bit low.
Are you mastering your tracks and using a good limiter...Waves L2 Izotope (etc)?

Tim

[billhewett]

Hi Makintunes, and welcome to the Taxi forums!!! Spending time here will definitely be worth your while... you'll get great advice on production, on composition, and most importantly on how to interpret what listings are really looking for and parse rejection feedback :)

That said, I'm more of an organic mic'd instruments guy, so I'm not sure how useful my feedback will be for these particular listings, but here's my two cents:

1. Your track sounds a little bit stiff. All of the a la's for both listings feel much more organic. Both of the Pharrell tracks are more electronic than the others, but they still groove in a very non-stiff way.
2. The sounds (particular bass and drum samples) sound a little bit canned, and a little bit 80's or 90's. All of the a la's, again whether "real" instruments or samples, have really deep kick drums and bass sounds (or baritone sax... thanks, Taylor!)

I definitely like the idea. The tune is catchy, and "happy", as both listings call for. You do some nice build and breakdown as the listings always suggest, and I'm not sure if that could be pushed further... hopefully someone else can comment on that.

I would definitely not give up if I were you. Some of us went more than a year before we got a forward, so you've definitely got something to offer. Part of the learning process is definitely figuring out how to target songs for listings, so if you look back at your twenty submissions I bet you will find some that could have been written or produced better but were appropriate for the listing, and some that were just so far off that you should never have submitted them in the first place. Learning from that you can get to the place where you don't waste time trying to force something into a listing.

Hope this helps!

-Bill

[ttully]

Hi Makintunes,

I took me 3 years to get my first deal and hundreds of returns!!!
But every time I learned a bit more...

I also agree with Bill 100% with things sounding 'a bit canned' and having an 80's and 90's feel and being a bit 'stiff' or quantized.

Tim

[makintunes]

Okay, I'm glad I posted this. I'm recording in Reason, and the samples (and synths) I'm using are what come with software (I do have the most recent release, however). I've upgraded a few things (compressors, etc.), but I've not paid for any other sample packs (I'm assuming that sample packs would include synth sounds and not just individual drum hits, etc??). It looks like I'm going to need to invest a few bucks into some more updated sounds.

As for quantizing, I'm trying to go easy on it (I don't set the quantization to be 100% on-the-beat - more like 75%). Based upon your feedback, I'm going to tone it down even more. I've also been quantizing my live tracks (the guitar on Lucky Ducky was played by me, and I've got guitar and bass tracks on other songs you listened to). I'll try letting my natural timing stand on its own and only correct for major timing errors.

I did have one track rejected and the critique mentioned "too much high-end." No mention of that particular issue in other critiques, but it sounds like something that is plaguing many of my songs. I'll also add some more mid-range/low-end parts to my arrangements and try to fill out the sound a little more to deal with the "thin" sound that you are all hearing.

Finally, Tim, you mention the track not really "developing." I have to admit that I'm struggling with that. I think that I have the ability to come up with melodies that are decent, but expanding that eight bars into a song (or even a cue) is difficult. Even when I've got a "verse" and a "chorus" with melodies that seem to work together, I often feel that my songs seem to just switch back and forth between the two. In my opinion, my song "Doppelganger" seems to deal with this issue the best: https://soundcloud.com/makintunes/doppelganger. I really tried to change it up while still making the full three minutes seem like a coherent song. I'm going to try and find some other Taxi member's work that I can listen to and get a feel for how to develop a melody and keep it interesting for the full song.

I REALLY APPRECIATE THE FEEDBACK! I mean that sincerely. I've been super nervous about exposing myself to the world, but I know it must be done... I'm not giving up - no way! I really believe I can do this. It's just time to hit the books and study hard.

[billhewett]

Re: updated sample packs and investing money... my understanding is that even the best sample packs require some fine tuning of the samples and careful consideration of the articulation of notes. The obvious example is that holding down a C major chord on your synth with the sound set to "Guitar" is not going to sound like a strummed or picked guitar part. At best it might sound kind of like a harpsichord :) You can really dig into the samples and tweak things like built in effects, attack/decay, etc. to make the samples sound the way you want them to for a given piece, and then make sure the notes are articulated to match the instrument.

I don't know how to do any of this, as I don't use samples, but it's one of the many things I've picked up here on the board and at the Road Rally :)

[cosmicdolphin]

It's difficult without being able to listen to the tracks that Taxi used for reference or know what the listings for your other pieces were for but you can go to the Taxi blog and see a list of what was forwarded each day:-

http://blog.taxi.com/forward/062017/

If you Google the title and artists you will normally be able to find a few online and compare yours to what got forwarded. That's usually a good way of learning..Play it Like Timmy is the first one I came across if you want to look..I know many musician friends who would struggle with Taxi not because of any lack of talent but because their taste don't run to contemporary music so everything they do sounds like 30 yrs ago when they were in their teens. I'm guilty of it myself, I just think it's a natural phenomena but since I joined Taxi I've listened to a much wider range of today's music and I think it informs what you write and how you produce tracks.

I find Wikipedia a great resource, many times I've read up on a new genre to find out what scene it originated from and gone down a bit of a rabbit hole listening to influential artists, there's also some great Youtube channels with tutorials on all types of music especially the EDM stuff - I've learned quite a lot from those.

Lucky Ducky has a whiff of the dreaded stiff , dated , midi feel that Taxi always say to avoid. That said it may well work for another Listing , we had a forward last year with a piece of music along similar lines.... the listing was for a fake infomercial for one of those crappy gadgets like a Vegetti so the style worked.

Listening to your tracks I think the EDM stuff is better overall - there is no Reason ( pun intended ) why you shouldn't be able to make forwardable material with the tools that come with it, I think you just need to learn some of the tricks & tropes of the genre ..Takin' names for example has some good elements but it doesn't really build....think tension and release...at 0.45s I would have dropped everything out except maybe the lead riff..I would have used a filter that opened up over 8 bars , added a riser underneath, done the machine gun snare thing that everyone does and then for the "drop" you could double that lead part an octave up and bring everything back in. It's not really much harder doing it the right way than not doing it , it's just learning genre expectations.

I wouldn't particularly drop a bunch of money on more sample packs or VstI's ..for EDM it's more how you use them with FX and filters, sidechaining and layering. Youtube is your friend !

Mark

[makintunes]

Thanks for the response, Mark. I added the "Forwards Blog" to my web browser's favorites - I've been wanting to see something like that since I started.

Maybe I'll focus my attention on a few categories of music for the time being and improve my skills on those particular genres. I can expand later as I get better. EDM is my favorite music to produce so far. I'll do some studying of that genre.

[DanL]

Hi!

I listened to your song Go Lucky and to some of your other tracks. I think you're on the right way with Go Lucky. It's emotionally upbeat and I think it could work for that kind of listing, you just have to work on the production/mix. As others have pointed out earlier:

I think it sounds a little 80's, early 90's. If you want it to sound more contemporary maybe you could sort it out just tweaking your sounds and changing some effects.

It's a little stiff when it comes to quantization. Often you want to delay some instruments (regions) to get the groove right, eg. snare drums and hihats (if they are samples/MIDI). In Logic you can quantize something you've recorded and after quantizing you have a command where you humanize the notes too make it sound more as it was played by a human, I don't know if that is possible in Reason but I guess you could solve it in some way. Maybe just move the timing of some notes manually to get some variations.

As mentioned the sound/mix on your tracks is a little too much on the bright side, and overall a little harsh sounding, especially for underscore purposes. You could try cutting out some of the top and hi mids on different instruments. In some cases you could try transposing some instruments down to a lower register too.

Another consideration could be to introduce som grit in your mixes to make them sound less digital. Try using some analogue sounding overdrive/distortion on some of your instruments, it should often be quite subtle though. Often parallell-distortion does the trick, getting some subtle dirt in the mix, making it sounding a little more analogue and real.

Hope some of my comments can be of use!

Cheers,
Dan

[makintunes]

Hey Dan,

Thanks for the response. Reason definitely has the ability to "humanize" the quantization. I'm working on a track right now and messing with all of the quantization options a lot more than I have been. I'm also leaving a lot of it alone (no quantization at all). I'll post it when I'm done to get some feedback.

I like your idea about hitting the tracks with some distortion (tape-like) effects during the mix to warm them up. I'm going to try that on this one. I'm also easing up on the high-end-of-the-Hz-spectrum sounds. It will probably test my mixing and EQ-ing skills make it all audible.

Synthesis is one of the things that I know I need to work on. I got a software tutorial program called "Syntorial" a few months back and am working my way through it. Supposedly, I'll be much better at hearing synthesized sounds in other songs and being able to duplicate them in my DAW when I'm all done with the program. Keep your fingers crossed! I do notice, when listening to Top 40 songs, that there are many synth sounds that are almost identical to one another from song to song (at least to my barely trained ears).

Thanks again!