S210925EC Chill Instrumental Cue

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S210925EC Chill Instrumental Cue

Post by NMN » Thu Sep 16, 2021 5:49 pm

Hello all, feedback requested on a Chill Electronic Instrumental track! Listing details below. Thanks in advance!

Chill Instrumental 1
Lots of CHILL ELECTRO INSTRUMENTAL CUES are needed by an extremely busy Music Library with a tremendously long list of killer placements in Hit TV Shows!

This Library is on the hunt for a bunch of Mid-to-Up-Tempo Instrumental Cues that are in the general stylistic ballpark of these references we got directly from them:

"Beach Memories" by Sum Wave
"Jacuzzi" by Jobii
"I Will Wait" by Anton Vlasov
"Rain Check" by Dylan Sitts

Please submit top-notch Chill Electro Instrumental Cues with a laidback sound and style. Your submissions should have solid beats, modern production, and super fresh, high-quality virtual instruments and samples. Craft your Cues around a singular motif and mood, and create a sense of forward momentum and dynamics by layering instrumentation in and out as they progress.

IMPORTANT: This Library really wants to find top-notch Composers – not just people who combine different samples or loops without altering them at all. Cleared sample libraries are okay to use, but any samples or loops you include in your pieces should be altered enough that they're indistinguishable from the originals. Basically, if you Shazamed one of your tracks and another artist's song comes up, your music would definitely be disqualified by this company.

All submissions should be about 90 seconds to 2 minutes long, give or take. Non-faded, buttoned/stinger endings are strongly recommended. Do NOT copy the referenced tracks in any way, shape, or form. Use them only as a general guide for tempo, tone, and overall vibe. Do NOT submit any material with unauthorized samples of any other artists’ music, sounds, or any other form of media. Broadcast Quality is needed.

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Re: S210925EC Chill Instrumental Cue

Post by DouglasKnight » Thu Sep 16, 2021 7:34 pm

NMN wrote:
Thu Sep 16, 2021 5:49 pm
Hello all, feedback requested on a Chill Electronic Instrumental track! Listing details below. Thanks in advance!

Chill Instrumental 1
Lots of CHILL ELECTRO INSTRUMENTAL CUES are needed by an extremely busy Music Library with a tremendously long list of killer placements in Hit TV Shows!
Wow! You've got a lot of cool elements happening. Really dig the jazzy direction, for sure. Wondering, though, what the guitar might sound like without so much processing? Also, they are recommending a "buttoned/stinger ending" so that may be something to work towards. Lots of cool stuff though, good work!
DK

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Re: S210925EC Chill Instrumental Cue

Post by Telefunkin » Fri Sep 17, 2021 1:34 am

I think the general vibe of the track is cool, but there are several things that occur to me on listening, and I think a few 'fixes' would help the chances of a forward.

I get the impression that the track is a loop collage. There's nothing fundamentally wrong with that, notwithstanding the proviso in the listing...
"This Library really wants to find top-notch Composers – not just people who combine different samples or loops without altering them at all."
It can make it difficult to provide variation, 'B' sections and endings though, and that's what I notice here. For example, the track is exactly the same if I flick between 1:02 and 1:55, but there's little point repeating sections for sync because the editors can loop sections themselves if they need to. Giving them more options is preferable, and the ref tracks cleverly provide a subtle sense of variation and development as they progress, even though their loops might be repeating. For me, the stutters break the chill vibe, but that's just my taste. However, there are a couple of note clashes at 22s and 1:47s, and the high sound that's wide left pokes through a bit much and makes the stereo feel out of balance to me. Finally, a 'buttoned' ending is often stated as a requirement on the listing, but even if it isn't I'd suggest providing one, because the good folk in TV land can use that to conclude a scene.

No doubt others will say its all fine though, so take anything that helps from the above.
Graham (UK). Still composing a little faster than decomposing, and 100% HI.

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Re: S210925EC Chill Instrumental Cue

Post by NMN » Sat Sep 18, 2021 3:07 pm

DouglasKnight wrote:
Thu Sep 16, 2021 7:34 pm

Wow! You've got a lot of cool elements happening. Really dig the jazzy direction, for sure. Wondering, though, what the guitar might sound like without so much processing? Also, they are recommending a "buttoned/stinger ending" so that may be something to work towards. Lots of cool stuff though, good work!
DK
Thanks Douglas, I completely missed the obvious with the ending of the track so thanks for pointing that out! I really like the guitar effect used on the "Jobii-Jacuzzi" reference track for this listing so that's my attempt to add a similar "lo-fi" effect. I have no idea what effects he's using but the guitar sounds really overly processed and so good/pleasant sounding at the same time. I think my track has an overall chill vibe to it, but it has more energy than I initially anticipated so I'm looking for additional effects and production to apply to ensure chillness.

I will have to look around for good examples of "button/stinger" endings. I am using a vinyl effect plugin in certain places so I'll try the "spin-down" effect for the ending and see if that works well. Thanks for the feedback!

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Re: S210925EC Chill Instrumental Cue

Post by NMN » Sat Sep 18, 2021 3:58 pm

Telefunkin wrote:
Fri Sep 17, 2021 1:34 am
I think the general vibe of the track is cool, but there are several things that occur to me on listening, and I think a few 'fixes' would help the chances of a forward.

I get the impression that the track is a loop collage. There's nothing fundamentally wrong with that, notwithstanding the proviso in the listing...
"This Library really wants to find top-notch Composers – not just people who combine different samples or loops without altering them at all."
It can make it difficult to provide variation, 'B' sections and endings though, and that's what I notice here. For example, the track is exactly the same if I flick between 1:02 and 1:55, but there's little point repeating sections for sync because the editors can loop sections themselves if they need to. Giving them more options is preferable, and the ref tracks cleverly provide a subtle sense of variation and development as they progress, even though their loops might be repeating. For me, the stutters break the chill vibe, but that's just my taste. However, there are a couple of note clashes at 22s and 1:47s, and the high sound that's wide left pokes through a bit much and makes the stereo feel out of balance to me. Finally, a 'buttoned' ending is often stated as a requirement on the listing, but even if it isn't I'd suggest providing one, because the good folk in TV land can use that to conclude a scene.

No doubt others will say its all fine though, so take anything that helps from the above.
Hi Telefunkin, thanks for the feedback. It is a loop-style collage that's similar to the reference tracks. All of it is original. Everything but the guitar and vocals are MIDI-composed. The MIDI is cut and pasted in various places to create loops. This allowed me to create some variation and follow the guitar with the bass line for the chorus parts, for example.

I agree with you with the notes at 22 and 1:47. The strings add dissonance there but also didn't sound necessarily bad to me so I kept it as-is for now. Thanks also for the stereo balance suggestion, I think I need to rearrange some instruments to find a better counter-balance for the right channel.

I'll think about trying a few variations to the 2nd chorus guitar. Each verse section or chorus has some production variation, like adding ride cymbal, vocal parts, bass line changes, muting of various instruments, etc. Most tracks I have listened to in the "chill electronic" genre have some repetition or the appearance of repetition so if they're looking for true tracks of this genre, I don't know how or why they would want to avoid that. If you are getting the impression of too much repetition than I will work on changing some things up. Thanks again!

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Re: S210925EC Chill Instrumental Cue

Post by gitanosoy » Sat Sep 18, 2021 5:36 pm

As a guitar player I love to solo and play more notes but I have learnt to tone it down for sync, just simple lines that repeat through out the track with a little variation moving forward with adding some sparkle here and there and keep the busier licks,runs,noodling for personal compositions.

Nice track but too busy in my opinion hence the word "CHILL"

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Re: S210925EC Chill Instrumental Cue

Post by NMN » Tue Sep 21, 2021 10:45 pm

Thanks again everyone for the helpful feedback! I have made some updates to the original track. I gave it a stinger ending and removed the extra guitar effects. I also added some more lo-fi elements to various instruments to ensure maximum chillness.

I added a 2nd version that is simpler. It has a lot of the synth pads removed. I personally think it's more boring and less lush, but I think I will submit both versions to see if they like one over the other. Please have a listen and let me know what you think!

Chill Instrumental 1 -- Stinger Ending
Chill Instrumental 2 -- Stinger Ending

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Re: S210925EC Chill Instrumental Cue

Post by Telefunkin » Wed Sep 22, 2021 1:32 am

IMHO the 2nd version is far better. V1 sounds like the bass end is missing until 2/3rds of the way through. However, even V2 it feels a bit too busy, including the beat (I find the hi-hat tick a little distracting). I get more chill and more subtlety in the changes from the refs. Good luck with the submissions though.
Graham (UK). Still composing a little faster than decomposing, and 100% HI.

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Re: S210925EC Chill Instrumental Cue

Post by NMN » Wed Sep 22, 2021 5:50 pm

Telefunkin wrote:
Wed Sep 22, 2021 1:32 am
IMHO the 2nd version is far better. V1 sounds like the bass end is missing until 2/3rds of the way through. However, even V2 it feels a bit too busy, including the beat (I find the hi-hat tick a little distracting). I get more chill and more subtlety in the changes from the refs. Good luck with the submissions though.
Fair enough. I've boosted the bass slightly in the first V1. In V2, I've pulled back the drums and cymbals a bit, as well as the guitar. I changed the tick to a shaker - good call on that one. The lack of other instruments made that stand out more and after listening to the track 100s of times I think that my ears just got used to that sound too much. Thanks again for the constructive feedback!

Chill Instrumental 1 -- Stinger Ending
Chill Instrumental 2 -- Stinger Ending

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