Too Many Instrumental Listings

[mteezykeys]

We had a drought of instrumental listings a month or two ago. Now it seems to be too many instrumental listings to keep up with. Having a hard time focusing on one genre of stuff to work on. I'm a jazz pianist, so I try to jump on anything jazz related (if i can afford a drummer and bass player), and I also try to write anything piano based. I enjoy writing dramedy cues, but have a very low forward rate in that genre. I can revise some of my pulsing investigative instrumentals that were recently returned for a different listing. Any suggestions on how to focus on a few listings?

[cosmicdolphin]

Any suggestions on how to focus on a few listings?

I've attempted most things since I got into sync unless it's something that requires specialist chops or skills. i.e. solo violin or ironically Jazz piano

The way I look at it , if you can play the keys even a little you can make many different genres in a DAW. The rest is just knowing figuring out how the style works and being good at production.

Youtube is your friend , 30-60 mins on a tutorial can really clue you into how it's put together - it's all out there. I would prioritise by what interests you, what you can make with the tools you have and when the deadlines are.

As for drums and bass for your Jazz - many folks rely on stuff like EZDrummer and EzBass - they are very capable for sync, it's not usually economically viable to hire people for instrumentals.

Mark

[Casey H]

We often see listings for solo piano. Emotional solo seems to be in high demand. I'm with cosmicdophin that if you can play jazz piano, you've got the skills to do lots of other genres on the piano.

Casey

[SubRivers]

re: Bass & Drums - Bass can be done in the box pretty easily (though mixing bass can be hard)

Drums are hard to do well in the box and while I have survived on loops and a bit of editing for many years I have tried to learn to play drums in recent years. I am not talking about mastering techniques on real drums etc. I mean try to jam drums along with stuff you know when listening to music - tapping table, cans and papery stuff for snares.
Then on a real track use KB or a pad to tap with (and great samples) to record.

I now enjoy making drums on tracks as much as playing guitar on them.

I am no where near as competent with the drums as guitar but it feels fresh space to me to explore so it's all good.

it also helps your playing in your "home" instrument as a side effect - probably as the focus on rhythm and sound textures alone without distraction is a workout for some neglected area.