Country Rock Instro 200902CR

[AlanHall]

Since I'll be away from home for the rest of the week, I made tonight my deadline for this listing, due Sept 2nd. Here's the link to my Taxi page:

Aggressively Playful

Please feel free to rip this to shreds, it'll make the screener's return sting a little less

The Listing:
Lots of CONTEMPORARY COUNTRY ROCK INSTRUMENTALS and/or INSTRUMENTAL CUES are needed by a NEW Music Library started by a successful Editor for Major TV shows who's already signed a bunch of TAXI Members' music!
Because this is a new company, they're essentially building their full stash of Mid-To-Up-Tempo Instrumentals (and/or Cues) in the general wheelhouse of the references below:

Fast N’ Loud Preview
“Lights Come On" by Jason Aldean
“Somethin' Bad” by Miranda Lambert ft. Carrie Underwood

Although the references have vocals, please submit Instrumentals (and/or Cues) only for this pitch.
Please submit top-notch Instrumentals and/or Instrumental Cues with a distinct, modern Country Rock sound and production style. If your submissions would feel at home on promos for TV shows like Fast N' Loud, Pawn Stars, or American Restoration, you might be on the right track! If you're using any Virtual Instruments or samples while composing your pieces, we'd suggest adding some real, organic instruments (guitars, drums, etc.) to help with their authenticity.
All submissions should be about 2 to 4 minutes long for Instrumentals and roughly 90 seconds to 2 minutes for Cues, give or take. Non-Faded, buttoned/stinger endings will work best. Do NOT copy the references in any way, shape, or form. Use them only as a general guide for tempo, tone, texture, and overall vibe. Broadcast quality is needed.
This company offers a NON-EXCLUSIVE, 50/50 deal. They’ll get 100% of the Publisher’s share, and you’ll keep 100% of the Writer’s share. This is a gratis library where the artist and publisher are paid through PROs only – Not unusual...actually, very common these days, especially for Reality TV Shows. You must own or control your Master and Copyright. Please submit as many Instrumentals and/or Instrumental Cues as you'd like, online or per CD. All submissions will be screened and critiqued by TAXI. Submissions must be received no later than 11:59 PM (PDT) on Wednesday, September 2nd, 2020. TAXI # S200902CR

[AlanHall]

A thing I just noticed about my link:
When I click on a title in the Taxi member page for another user; I get a page for their tune, it plays and everything's peachy. When I do that on my Taxi page (or click the link embedded in the post above) I get the page for the tune but it doesn't play. I've tried it on several uploaded files. Strange that I can't audition my own tunes individually, but they work on the Taxi member page? Anybody else notice that?

[regardner]

Hello Alan,

Your link doesn't work for me, either.

Obviously there is a trick to linking directly from your Taxi page, but I don't know it, either.

Best,
Bob

[AlanHall]

Thanks for trying! Here's a soundcloud link (I hope)


BTW, I listened to your AD music tune. Great work!

[johndalenow]

Alan,

I liked that there was distinct separation of sounds, even with all the stuff you have going on, which, at times, seems a bit overwhelming. I only listened to your track with headphones and I would have to say that in spite of the good separation, the balance of instrument sounds needs more of your attention. One of the guitars has considerably less volume than the others, unless you were intentionally doing that as an effect. Also, you might do well to focus on doing more in the way of defining your melodic material, at times it sounds too much like ad libbing. Try putting your "kick" on EVERY beat to avoid sounding too much like starting and stopping too many times. I hope my comments were a helpful perspective. Best! JD

[cosmicdolphin]

A few thoughts as listening

Bass is not in the pocket...drum sound is 80's

As soon as the guitars come in the sounds you've used make it feel very dated.

@17s the timing is all over the place

@28s more fizzy dated guitar sounds

The mix is not very clear either. Did you drag any of the reference tracks into your DAW so you could A/B them ? I would if have probably tossed it into the return bin within about 20 seconds personally if I were a screener, I don't think there is too much wrong with the basic ideas but none of it is very well executed.

First up you gotta be able to play things in the pocket, some of the timing here is in schoolboys first garage band territory. That's going to take a lot of a practice. Next up you gotta stay away from those 80s production sounds ...I don't hear anything like that in the references..so why use them ?

Then you need to substantially improve your mixing and production chops, best way is to A/B with a well produced reference track and use something like Magic A/B so you can jump between your mix and theirs during the process.

Mark

[regardner]

Hello Alan,

The previous replies have said a lot of what I would have said, but I think it's worth pointing out that your slide playing is very well done. I assume you played it, yourself. If so, great job. In fact, all the guitars sound well played.

In regard to the rhythm of your track, it does seem loose, but I wonder if this has more to do with latency than any fault in your playing. The rhythm of your track sounds just like mine does when the latency is too high, so I'm guessing that's the issue. I personally need to set the latency at about 64 samples to record something in time. Any more than that and my playing is noticeably late.

There are a couple of ways to fix this issue in your track, one of which is to rerecord. On the other hand, If you want to keep the performances you have, you can try to line things up to the grid visually, but then you run the risk that if you line things up *too* well people will say that it sounds stiff and overly quantized.

I think in styles like country-rock where live instrumentation is the norm, there is a Goldilocks zone where the performance is just tight enough, but not too tight. It's hard to hit, and I, myself, miss it all too often.


As others have mentioned, the tone of the distorted rhythm guitar could use some work. I think it has a lot of 2-4k, which must be used sparingly, and not enough of the lower mids.

I recently had a return on a somewhat similar listing looking for blues-rock tracks that could be used in the Pawn Stars type shows. The screener returned it because I had a rhythmic breakdown in the middle of the song. The screener said this breakdown disrupted the groove in a way that would be hard for the music editor to edit around. I'd be willing to bet your screener might say similar things.

[AlanHall]

none of it is very well executed.

Ouch! Yes, I did ask for that. I'm still trying to balance 'good enough' with 'quick enough'. And coming up with not enough of either

First up you gotta be able to play things in the pocket
Next up you gotta stay away from those 80s production sounds
Then you need to substantially improve your mixing and production chops

Points taken. A few months into my 5-year plan, I'm working on bringing myself up to speed on these issues. And each requires a separate mindset and curriculum to master. I think of these three, the hardest will be to get my ears away from what I know; and onto what I actually hear when listening to the ref tracks.

best way is to A/B with a well produced reference track and use something like Magic A/B so you can jump between your mix and theirs during the process.

I did jump back and forth between the ref tracks (in a youtube window) and my DAW. I know it's not optimal, but it did give me some direction. And I fully acknowledge that I chose NOT to try to emulate the instrumental sounds in the vocal refs, I thought I could take a shortcut through southern rock territory after listening to the bed tracks for the car show. There's the 80s for ya!

[AlanHall]

Alan,

I liked that there was distinct separation of sounds, even with all the stuff you have going on, which, at times, seems a bit overwhelming. I only listened to your track with headphones and I would have to say that in spite of the good separation, the balance of instrument sounds needs more of your attention. One of the guitars has considerably less volume than the others, unless you were intentionally doing that as an effect. Also, you might do well to focus on doing more in the way of defining your melodic material, at times it sounds too much like ad libbing. Try putting your "kick" on EVERY beat to avoid sounding too much like starting and stopping too many times. I hope my comments were a helpful perspective. Best! JD

Good observations! Yes, helpful - as I did struggle with (well, thought about) adding/deleting/modifying the track in the ways you mention. In the end it is what it is due to my poor time management skills. But for the future, the suggestions you made will be more attractive to my process.

[AlanHall]

The slide playing is very well done. I assume you played it, yourself. If so, great job. In fact, all the guitars sound well played.

The slide playing is not me, it is a temp track that I did not get to replace. Most of the rest is mine though.

In regard to the rhythm of your track, it does seem loose, but I wonder if this has more to do with latency than any fault in your playing. The rhythm of your track sounds just like mine does when the latency is too high, so I'm guessing that's the issue. I personally need to set the latency at about 64 samples to record something in time. Any more than that and my playing is noticeably late.
There are a couple of ways to fix this issue in your track, one of which is to rerecord. On the other hand, If you want to keep the performances you have, you can try to line things up to the grid visually, but then you run the risk that if you line things up *too* well people will say that it sounds stiff and overly quantized.

Something to look at in my setup. I did notice my bass playing was not lining up exactly to the kick, it was a "shrug" event for me. Next time I'll be more attentive. If hardware doesn't fix it, I'll try playing with sliding a track around by a few pulses, just to hear the result. Something to get into my toolbox.

I think in styles like country-rock where live instrumentation is the norm, there is a Goldilocks zone where the performance is just tight enough, but not too tight. It's hard to hit, and I, myself, miss it all too often.

My assumption is that I lead a semi-charmed life. Rarely pans out.

the tone of the distorted rhythm guitar could use some work. I think it has a lot of 2-4k, which must be used sparingly, and not enough of the lower mids.

I kept pushing the passband of the EQ up, bit by bit, to try to avoid the muddiness that I was hearing. I need a new process there (probably more subtractive EQ?) but I find it's a fine balance between warm and too muddy.

rhythmic breakdown

I had a 4-on-the-floor beat ready to fly in, but ran out of both time and the motivation to see if it would do any good. I always tell myself - in hindsight - to keep the drums simpler until absolutely necessary.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________
I want to thank everybody who listened for their time, and for the observations/suggestions offered. It is a tough journey to take, facing the need for great and constant improvement; I am encouraged, not disheartened, by your tough love. Peace!