Fresh, Youthful Pop Instrumental

We're putting YOU in the drivers seat!

Moderators: admin, mdc, TAXIstaff

Post Reply
wilkemusic
Newbie
Newbie
Posts: 13
Joined: Tue Jun 25, 2019 9:40 pm
Contact:

Fresh, Youthful Pop Instrumental

Post by wilkemusic » Fri Apr 30, 2021 10:11 am

I've had so many close misses with my listings I am looking for some help/ suggestions!

https://soundcloud.com/andrewwilke/mode ... 98Mo8Wfmsz

Thank you so much!




FRESH, YOUTHFUL POP INSTRUMENTAL CUES are needed by a very successful boutique Music Library that's distributed by Universal for a new product's Advertising Campaign.

This is a catalog you want to be in! Please listen to the following examples the Library gave us to get yourself in the ballpark of what they need:

Instrumental Examples

Quoting the Library: "We’re looking for Pop Cues that sound fresh, bright, perky, lively, positive, and cool. We want music that will drive excitement for an advertising campaign, but no 'dancefloor fillers.'"

Please send well-produced Pop Instrumental Cues with fresh beats and lots of positive energy. Craft your Cues around one clear motif, and create a sense of forward momentum and dynamics by layering instruments in and out as they progress. Avoid submitting anything that has any prominent leads or melodies – stick with one catchy riff/motif. Your production should be slick and feature state-of-the-art virtual instruments and samples. If your submissions could get consumers excited about this new product, you could be onto something!

TAXI Tip: Although they're looking for youthful music, they do NOT want Cues that are childish. Think fun, fresh, and upbeat – not nursery rhymes!

All submissions should be about 2 minutes long, give or take. Good edit points and non-faded, buttoned/stinger endings are required. 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.

User avatar
Telefunkin
Serious Musician
Serious Musician
Posts: 2470
Joined: Fri Mar 20, 2015 12:37 pm
Gender: Male
Contact:

Re: Fresh, Youthful Pop Instrumental

Post by Telefunkin » Fri Apr 30, 2021 3:54 pm

Hi, you didn't include the refs so I'm not sure what they sounded like, but from the listing text I have a feeling that they were somewhat different to your submission. If the listing company is distributed by Universal you might expect the bar to be quite high and the screeners will be particular, so its important to get close to what they ask for.

Picking a few random words form the listing I see..... 'fresh', 'youthful', 'pop', 'bright', 'perky', 'lively', 'positive', 'cool', 'drive excitement', 'one clear motif', 'forward momentum and dynamics by layering'.

I hope this helps without sound too harsh, but on listening to the track, of those words I think you might tick 'cool', and 'one clear motif', but perhaps none of the rest. I'm not sure its 'fresh' or 'youthful' (it sounds more 80's to me), and as its driven by the bass synth it doesn't come across as 'pop', 'bright', 'perky', 'lively' or 'positive'. I'm not sure it 'drives excitement'. Also, although some parts drop in and out I don't sense 'forward momentum and dynamics' because there's little 'layering' evident. Instead, its rather 1-dimensional. I'd also say that I think its the bass synth that is dictating the track's identity, and changing that up might make a big difference to how the track works.

I would have guessed that the refs would exhibit exciting, bouncy pop that's pretty current in style, and certainly not dated. If you still have those links I suggest having another close listen to those tracks and pick out everything you can about every aspect of them - tempo, sounds, drum/percussion sounds, rhythmic patterns, chord patterns, lead instruments, arrangement, development, production tricks, mood/emotion....etc. The more you do that, the more you'll start to absorb the essence of what is being asked for, and perhaps that will explain better than my guesswork as to why your submission wasn't forwarded.

You could even try recreating the sounds used in various refs then mix/match them to create your own track in the same style. Its far from as easy as it sounds to do that, but its worth the effort and you might then have a set of sound you could re-use for other pop projects.

All just my opinions though, so others might see things differently and YMMV.
Graham (UK). Still composing a little faster than decomposing, and 100% HI.

wilkemusic
Newbie
Newbie
Posts: 13
Joined: Tue Jun 25, 2019 9:40 pm
Contact:

Re: Fresh, Youthful Pop Instrumental

Post by wilkemusic » Fri Apr 30, 2021 4:23 pm

Great points! Thank you so much for your time and listening to this.

Heres the examples from the listing. I roughly followed the outline of the track "Dance with me". I do think my bass sound is off target and I am going to see if I can more clearly build momentum.

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/ufia7l1xcewb ... 9EHva?dl=0

User avatar
Zaychi
Committed Musician
Committed Musician
Posts: 518
Joined: Fri Apr 03, 2020 8:09 am
Gender: Male
Location: Netherlands
Contact:

Re: Fresh, Youthful Pop Instrumental

Post by Zaychi » Sat May 01, 2021 1:08 am

The bass sound is way too aggressive for any listing with the word "pop" in it, it might work in club music but not for a listing like this. Check out the ref again; the bass sound there is much smoother and ear-pleasinger (if that is a word?)

philipmojbro
Active
Active
Posts: 30
Joined: Fri Apr 30, 2021 1:21 am
Gender: Male
Contact:

Re: Fresh, Youthful Pop Instrumental

Post by philipmojbro » Sat May 01, 2021 3:02 am

To me the bass in the reference track (Dance with me) sounds like an FM bass. It’s also probably shaped by a filter to be a little less obtrusive but still energetic. I’d suggest searching YouTube for tutorials on FM house bass or other similar kinds of bass sounds and see if you can come closer to the reference sound. It doesn’t have to sound the same of course, just find something that sounds as cool as the reference. Listen a bit to songs in the right genre to get a good feel for the sounds used and keep at it.

Philip

wilkemusic
Newbie
Newbie
Posts: 13
Joined: Tue Jun 25, 2019 9:40 pm
Contact:

Re: Fresh, Youthful Pop Instrumental

Post by wilkemusic » Tue May 04, 2021 10:13 am

Thank you for the feedback! Ya'll are great and I really appreciate your time.

User avatar
swdaze
Impressive
Impressive
Posts: 128
Joined: Mon Jul 13, 2015 4:38 pm
Gender: Male
Location: Rhody
Contact:

Re: Fresh, Youthful Pop Instrumental

Post by swdaze » Fri May 07, 2021 9:11 pm

Hi there!!

"Perky, lively and cool" are mentioned in the sub, your track is cool but feels more like a rap sound bed. You might try adding a melodic hook? Something playing off the bass riff?

Good luck!

Geo
A square peg can be an elegant solution to a round hole

Post Reply

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 6 guests