I'll post more info from the listing, as well as a link to the version of the recording I'd submitted to TAXI and the feedback I received below, but first (especially in case of getting to TL;DR status with the rest of this post), here is a link to the revised recording, which I've put on my TAXI profile, simply for convenience:
https://www.taxi.com/members/2RucHBvoSL ... h-revised-
The listing read:
The version of the recording I submitted for the pitch is at:Lots of ORIGINAL PATRIOTIC INSTRUMENTALS are needed by a very successful EXCLUSIVE Music Library. This company has a very long history of lots and lots of really AWESOME placements, tons of which have been for TAXI members!
NOTE: We have other listings running for this company's request for Patriotic COVERS. Please note that this one is for ORIGINAL compositions.
This Company is looking for Instrumentals that are in the style of the following references:
"Washington Post March" by John Williams, Boston Pops Orchestra, & John Philip Sousa (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BznPqj4CTSo)
"Stars and Stripes Forever" by John Philip Sousa & The United States Marine Band (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRQWP-TL4gk)
"America The Beautiful" by The United States Air Force Band (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-MtQXJVeg1Y)
"Hail to the Chief" by James Sanderson & The United States Marine Band (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1aiOqHC8yqA)
"The Star Spangled Banner" by The United States Army Band (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJ-ycDXD2e8)
Please submit original Patriotic Instrumentals that capture the spirit and feel of the references. Compelling and Patriotic-sounding motifs are needed for this request.
VERY IMPORTANT: Traditional Arrangements ONLY, please!
Orchestral instrumentation that's in the general stylistic ballpark of the references will work best. Please make sure that any virtual instruments or samples you use are high-quality and sound like the real deal.
...
(deleted the standard boilerplate about not copying, deadlines, and such)
https://www.taxi.com/members/2RucHBvoSL ... mary-march
The feedback I received was as follows:
* What I like most: I like the melodic figures you've written, they're a good for this style.
* I think you could improve by: The trumpets are mixed a bit low and sound muffled rather than the bigger brighter sound we'd expect from this style.
* I returned this song because: The whole mix could be brighter, letting the trumpet and piccolo really bring out their lines. Just simple EQ can help breath more depth into the overall mix.
The reviewer also checked "Song instrument sounds or samples sound dated or of a lower quality" and "Recording/Mix needs improvement" in the Recording and Production section.
I was very short on time to work on the recording prior to the deadline. It is actually a piece I'd originally done back in 2008 to try out a marching band library I was reviewing for an ezine at the time. When I saw this listing, I thought I'd see if I could redo the recording, using an entirely different (and newer) library, editing the MIDI to work with the newer library, trying to pay more attention to the expression an articulations, etc. By the time the deadline came around, though, I'd only gotten through a few of the more prominent tracks, but I submitted anyway, partly for the feedback and partly just "hoping beyond hope".
Much of my time working on the revision has been spent trying to address the "dated/lower quality" instrument sounds, though also hoping to take into account the mix issues and generally get closer to the references and what I heard from the forwards blog examples. I'm especially interested in whether I succeeded on the instrument sounds front, but also anything else that might affect whether this recording would work for this sort of context in case of future opportunities. (FWIW, my mainstream areas tend to be on the song side, especially singer-songwriter, pop-rock, country, etc. Most of my use of band and orchestral instruments to date has been adding some flavors to those sorts of recording, as opposed to making the instruments the primary focus for traditional pieces.)