U120903RK return.... 0/33 so far on returns/submissions

[TimWalter]

I'm relatively new to Taxi (at least within the past 6 months or so). I have submitted 33 songs, and so far none have been forwarded. (there still are maybe 5 or 6 that are still "pending", but I imagine that if they were going to be forwarded, that would show up a few days after the deadline, otherwise timeliness would be an issue. I imagine reviewers taking time to write reviews for Returned songs.. at least that would be my least favorite part of the job.. like giving an employee review at a company, managers are famous for hating that part of their job... who likes giving bad news? but I digress.) I understand the need and service Taxi offers, and not complaining about or addressing that, just really discouraged.

Also idly wondering if a reviewer looks at the submitter's history before listening to a song and, for example, sees they have 30+ Returns with no forward if that might negatively affect their review of the latest offering. Hey, its human nature, and the "power of suggestion" has been proven in countless blind tests.

1st Question: What is the record for most submissions without a forward, I am wondering? Is 33 anywhere close?
(benchmarking is always a vital business management tool.)

Realizing insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results, I realize I need to change something, and perhaps I have to solicit some feedback, so that is why I am here. I printed out and reviewed all the critiques I have gotten (and even on yes/no listings, there is some info that is beyond the obligation of the reviewer, I appreciate that). I have been reading posts in this forum, and it seems that "stylistically off target" is one of the most common reasons given, so I understand that. But I also have gotten a few "retro" or "not contemporary sounding" comments. Granted, my "impressionistic" era was the '70s, and perhaps my stuff does have a '70s feel. I am studying Robin Frederick's book about hit songwriting, and recently changed my listening habits.. no more music not from the 21st century. no exceptions. Maybe after a steady diet of more modern music some of it will come out in my song writing, but that will take time.

Second question: do any of you have suggestions on how to modernize your sound quickly (following suggestions in Robin's book hopefully can help, but still wondering if I can actually pull it off.) Any other practical suggestions would be appreciated.

Reviewing the reviews, some of the reviews like my voice. Comments I've gotten include "I like your voice" and "you are obviously an experienced and accomplished guitar player and singer" (I was walking on air after that one). Others (like reviewer #332) apparently doesn't like it so much, and repetitively check the "vocal performance" box as a reason for returning. I know I don't have a "pure" voice, and perhaps its an acquired taste. And, perhaps my vocal performance varies from day to day. (I have heard comments from former band mates like "you were really on today, pitch-wise!", which implies that other days, perhaps not so much. lol) Some of the reviews have suggested resources which i will try, maybe I still can learn to improve my voice we'll see.

Recording quality has also been somewhat "hit or miss". Some reviews say it is ok/no issue, some say it is one of the reasons for return. I have worked really hard on my home recording/mixing/mastering skills, but not a pro by any means. Any way I could improve I'd try to embrace. Regardless, I think I am still learning and improving at a pretty good clip and have a ways to go before I'll "max out" my learning curve.

Anyway, I was really discouraged on a return earlier this week (U120903RK). The opportunity was for a theme song for a tv show. They were looking for a rock song, and mentioned ZZ Top as one of the referenced songs. I wrote a song (modeled after zz top) incorporating most of the themes they were looking for in the lyrics. I really thought I had a shot. The song is "Brotherhood on the Open Road", you can hear it here.
http://soundcloud.com/bluzmannn/brother ... pen-road-1

The reviewer returned it saying "not as contemporary sounding as what the music supervisor has requested regarding this specific theme song opportunity. The network's Music Supervisor specifically asked us to find a 'Greasy, Gritty, Contemporary ROCK SONG' in the following genres ROADHOUSE, BLUES ROCK, EDGY CLASSIC ROCK, OUTLAW COUNTRY, CONTEMPORARY INDIE ROCK with an EDGE in a range from Hank WIlliams III, the Black Keys to ZZ Top, Gov't Mule, Kid Rock, etc"

He/she also checked the "recording" box for reasons.

QUESTION: How did I miss the mark? Also, is there a problem with my recording quality, and if so, what do you hear? (I have a touch of "busted speaker" effect on my vocals, in an attempt to add some grit to my vocals). I guess I jumped on the following words and thought I had it from that: ZZ Top, Blues-Rock, Gov't Mule. heck even Roadhouse, but something went terribly wrong somewhere.

(NOTE: Roadhouse..what does that mean? I always think of the movie Roadhouse with Jeff Healey Band , RIP, as my go-to for that sub-genre, which is in my mind is just another way of saying "blues-rock", but if I am off please correct me.)

I truly am wondering if I will ever figure out the "code" to match up well enough to get through the gate with a forward. Heck, I'm not looking for any deal right now, just a "forward" would do wonders for my wounded psyche. Please help me out. Anything would help from, "I can't believe they returned that, you NAILED IT!" (lol) to "you suck, man, give it up now!". I'll accept the gamut. Hey just writing this has helped a little (but not much)... cheers.

---------------------------------------
Listing U120903RK

THEME SONG needed for a HIGHLY ANTICIPATED NEW MAJOR CABLE NETWORK SERIES. The network's Music Supervisor specifically asked us to find a "Greasy, Gritty, Contemporary ROCK SONG" in the following genres: ROADHOUSE, BLUES ROCK, EDGY CLASSIC ROCK, OUTLAW COUNTRY, CONTEMPORARY INDIE ROCK with an EDGE in a range from Hank Williams III, The Black Keys to ZZ Top, Gov't Mule, Kid Rock, etc.Ê Although stylistically this listing is similar to U120829RK, the network has asked us to run a separate listing because this is for the show's THEME SONG and the terms of the deal are different (and much sweeter!). Quoting the music supervisor, "We're looking for a GRITTY, INSTANTLY COMPELLING and DISTINCTIVELY EDGY SONG with UNIQUE, SMOKY, THROATY, MACHO, "WHISKEY-SOAKED" MALE VOCALS about being a BIKER, the OPEN ROAD, LIFE ON THE ROAD, ROAMING FREE, HIGHWAYS, RIDIN' WITH THE WIND, TAKING CARE OF BUSINESS, STEPPIN' UP, LIVING BY A CREED, WHAT IT TAKES TO BE A MAN, STICKING BY YOUR BROTHERS, any references to RISING LIKE A PHOENIX, SURVIVING, LIFE ON YOUR OWN TERMS, OUTLAWS, etc. Lyrics should be intriguing and not necessarily on-the-nose." They're not looking for "outdated 1980's hard rock," metal or punk. Tempos can vary but the song should have a visceral, muscular energy about it. Because this will be a THEME SONG, your song will need a super strong hook.Ê Songs should be a minimum of two minutes long and the network will edit it down to :10-:60 from there. Don't underestimate the audience -- tough-minded, no B.S. men -- and give them something that suits their very macho, living-on-the-edge lifestyles. Quoting the music supervisor again, "The song should grab you from the first downbeat and the hook should reel you in." If the network chooses your song as the theme song for this show, you will be paidÊ$5,000-8,000 for all media, worldwide in perpetuity. You will keep 100% of the publishing and writers share! NO SAMPLES of other songs or artists can be incorporated into your track. You must own or control 100% of the master and publishing. This is DIRECT TO THE NETWORK so you will keep 100% of the upfront fee, publishing and writer's share. Broadcast Quality is needed (super-excellent home recordings are fine.) Please submit one to three songs online or on CD and BE SURE TO include your lyrics. Please make sure your photos and bio are up to date and include them with your submission. ALL SUBMISSIONS WILL BE SCREENED ON A YES/NO BASIS by a screener hand-picked by the music supervisor. No full critiques from TAXI. Submissions must be received no later than Monday, September 3, 2012, 10:00AM (PDT). TAXI #U120903RK

[TimWalter]

should have said 0/33 on forwards/submissions.

[Len911]

Bluzmann, the "busted speaker effect" sounded like a tin can or a really cheap computer mic. You don't have gritty vocals to start with. The drums don't do anything for the rhythm, especially when they start "swimming in cymbal". Thank goodness I listened to some of your other songs! I about fell out of the chair from surprise as I listened to "This Is the Real Life", what a contrast, I couldn't believe it was the same person. I would compare your voice to David Byrne of the Talking Heads. The guitar playing is so spot on and great, but sometimes the drum track becomes out of sync and I hear those swimming cymbals again. I think that when the drums lose their rhythm that it causes you sometimes to lose the rhythm with your singing, and when the drums are right your singing is spot on also. From what it sounds like, you lay down the guitar track, then make a drum track, then lay down a vocal track. The weak link is the drums imo. If the rhythm is off imo it can affect the vocal pitch, I mean if you're fumbling for the rhythm in your head, how can you possibly conceive what note to sing and when??
If you focus on bringing your "David Byrne voice" into the 21st century and drop the "gritty ZZ Top vocals", and make changes in the drum track, and submit for the right type listings for your voice, I don't see how you could not find more success and forwards.
The variation in your "vocal" reviews are not consistent probably because your vocal range isn't. I would probably have much better reviews for my "Johnny Cash voice" than my "Whitney Houston voice", lol!! Lumping all the reviews into one, would offer no insight either.
Suck- gritty style vocals, drums
Nailed it-David Byrne style vocals on other songs, guitar

There, that's my opinion Well actually not all the drums sucked.

[TimWalter]

Thank you Thank you Thank you.
Len 911, thank you so much for taking the time to listen to some of my stuff. Thats what I need is an objective opinion. You are EXACTLY right, when I write a song, I first come up with the rhythm guitar beat, often its somewhat unique beat or rhythm (a drummer in a band I played in commented that my rhythms were unique (not neccessarily good or bad, just different, I guess), and he enjoyed the challenge of learning how to play them, he might have been completely blowing smoke, but it sounded good!), then I try to find an EZ Drummer beat that matches as close as possible (some songs close, some not so close). I am not up on the midi making of my own beats yet, perhaps I need to.

You've given me a TON of info to help me fine tune what I should focus on etc.

I am NOT a drummer, dont know beats that well, so sometimes I pick sucky beats, I can see it. Do you have a suggestion on how to get drum beats to match my songs? Thanks so much again. Appreciate you time and honest critiques.

Thanks for the comment on the busted speaker thing, I need the straight truth if something sucks I wanna know.
Thanks again.
Tim

[mikeymike2000]

Hey Bluzz,

I am a “freshmen” going on “sophomore” here at Taxi. I have learned a lot in this first year and at least ½ or maybe even more has come from the forum feedback in peer-to-peer.
A few things:

Did you submit 33 different songs or the same song 33 times? There is a big difference there.
I find that talking about more than one song per post can get confusing fast, especially when there is only one link up.

I totally feel your frustration, just got a return myself today that was forwarded on a previous listing so I thought for sure it was a shoe in. And so it goes...

Every listing is different in what they want. I am guessing Taxi screeners don’t have the time to check how many returns/forwards are in your history cause they have hundreds of songs to listen to each day.

For this particular listing when you are talking about a THEME SONG and/or when there are several thousand dollars in the bounty you are talking a listing of the highest bar in terms of production. So, the track should sound like it cost several thousand dollars to produce even if you do it at home.
When I first heard the song I thought, this could work but when the blues riff came in I ruled it out as a “theme song”. The opening vocals of spoken word were difficult for me to understand, all in all I was hoping to hear more of a melodic vocal line. Although it started out good, for this specific listing for a theme for what sounds to be a national show, I am guessing they would want a tighter sound with a memorable “hook line”. To me this sounded kinda bluesy and somewhat sparse in terms of arrangement. (when we are talking national theme song)

I don’t think I have seen you in peer-to-peer yet or if you are there I didn’t see the posts. Because I know what it feels like to be where you are at I took some more time and listened to the 5 other songs you have on soundcloud. “No Regrets” is your best vocal out of this group. I like when you sing better than when you do the spoken word ‘vocal throws’. I also like the lower end of your vocal register. When you go up it gets kinda stretchy. It also to me, sounds like you are singing with a different style or genre then what the music under the vocal is doing. You should add more grit to the vocals in these kinds of arrangements.

I would suggest to write things for the lower register of your voice. You sound like you could have a Bob Dylan kinda thing going on if you stay in that range. NO REGRETS: “Someone you know just passed away, where they are now…” The note you are on with the “now” has a nice sound and “ya just can’t sa-ay” and again at “let it ri-de” has a cool sound too. When you go to “gotta keep believing” you are reaching for those notes and it takes away from the song. Maybe sing that an octave lower and with more emotion to exploit that area of your voice.

I hope this is of use cause to be blunt this is the longest I have spent responding to a post. – Gotta go cook dinner.

Hang in there, keep going and start putting songs in peer-to-peer. You will get great feedback and it’s free.

[Len911]

Thank you Thank you Thank you.
Len 911, thank you so much for taking the time to listen to some of my stuff. Thats what I need is an objective opinion. You are EXACTLY right, when I write a song, I first come up with the rhythm guitar beat, often its somewhat unique beat or rhythm (a drummer in a band I played in commented that my rhythms were unique (not neccessarily good or bad, just different, I guess), and he enjoyed the challenge of learning how to play them, he might have been completely blowing smoke, but it sounded good!), then I try to find an EZ Drummer beat that matches as close as possible (some songs close, some not so close). I am not up on the midi making of my own beats yet, perhaps I need to.

You've given me a TON of info to help me fine tune what I should focus on etc.

I am NOT a drummer, dont know beats that well, so sometimes I pick sucky beats, I can see it. Do you have a suggestion on how to get drum beats to match my songs? Thanks so much again. Appreciate you time and honest critiques.

Thanks for the comment on the busted speaker thing, I need the straight truth if something sucks I wanna know.
Thanks again.
Tim

Why not make a basic metronome style drum beat simultaneously with the rhythm guitar beat? By that I mean find a time signature, and tempo, place a kick drum on beat one, you could even add hihats for all the rest of the beats if desired. Start with 4/4 common time and change if it isn't working. The easiest imo is to establish at least a basic time signature and tempo. You can embellish and accent later.
If you don't lay down the "metronome" track or rhythm track first you will slightly drift on the tempo of each measure and your drum tracks will be out of sync later. If you make midi templates of the most common time signatures, with kick and hihat for the other notes,
you can audition quicker to find the best time signature that matches your guitar rhythm.
You also have the option of making an audio of your rhythm guitar beat, then you will have to go through measure by measure and place a marker at beat one, and adjust the tempo for each measure to line up with the guitar audio track. That will ensure that whatever ez drummer midi file you place will match every measure perfectly, or as near as possible. I think the previous is much easier, even if all you put in was a kick drum on beat one of each measure, however the second method would have more natural lilt or a human feel.
I hope that makes sense so far! Basically, you must establish the time signature and tempo in the form of a metronome track, either before or after you record your rhythm guitar part. If it's after the rhythm guitar track, you will have to adjust the tempo of each measure in order for the drum parts to sync correctly or be in time.
It very well may be you have unique rhythms, a measure of 4/4, then a measure of 6/8, followed by two measures of 12/8 all at various tempos,lol! That would definitely be easiest to establish first I would think, than after the guitar part!
Once you establish time signatures and each measure's tempo if different, you can import premade midi drum loops and tweak them for your song. Maybe some accents are in the wrong place or need to be moved (velocity, more or less), delete hihats, change toms...
Parts may clash with the lyrics.
Oh, and you're welcome, welcome, welcome!!
Good luck!
~Len

[TimWalter]

Hey Bluzz,

I am a “freshmen” going on “sophomore” here at Taxi. I have learned a lot in this first year and at least ½ or maybe even more has come from the forum feedback in peer-to-peer.
A few things:

Did you submit 33 different songs or the same song 33 times? There is a big difference there.
I find that talking about more than one song per post can get confusing fast, especially when there is only one link up.

I totally feel your frustration, just got a return myself today that was forwarded on a previous listing so I thought for sure it was a shoe in. And so it goes...

Every listing is different in what they want. I am guessing Taxi screeners don’t have the time to check how many returns/forwards are in your history cause they have hundreds of songs to listen to each day.

For this particular listing when you are talking about a THEME SONG and/or when there are several thousand dollars in the bounty you are talking a listing of the highest bar in terms of production. So, the track should sound like it cost several thousand dollars to produce even if you do it at home.
When I first heard the song I thought, this could work but when the blues riff came in I ruled it out as a “theme song”. The opening vocals of spoken word were difficult for me to understand, all in all I was hoping to hear more of a melodic vocal line. Although it started out good, for this specific listing for a theme for what sounds to be a national show, I am guessing they would want a tighter sound with a memorable “hook line”. To me this sounded kinda bluesy and somewhat sparse in terms of arrangement. (when we are talking national theme song)

I don’t think I have seen you in peer-to-peer yet or if you are there I didn’t see the posts. Because I know what it feels like to be where you are at I took some more time and listened to the 5 other songs you have on soundcloud. “No Regrets” is your best vocal out of this group. I like when you sing better than when you do the spoken word ‘vocal throws’. I also like the lower end of your vocal register. When you go up it gets kinda stretchy. It also to me, sounds like you are singing with a different style or genre then what the music under the vocal is doing. You should add more grit to the vocals in these kinds of arrangements.

I would suggest to write things for the lower register of your voice. You sound like you could have a Bob Dylan kinda thing going on if you stay in that range. NO REGRETS: “Someone you know just passed away, where they are now…” The note you are on with the “now” has a nice sound and “ya just can’t sa-ay” and again at “let it ri-de” has a cool sound too. When you go to “gotta keep believing” you are reaching for those notes and it takes away from the song. Maybe sing that an octave lower and with more emotion to exploit that area of your voice.

I hope this is of use cause to be blunt this is the longest I have spent responding to a post. – Gotta go cook dinner.

MikeyMike... thanks so much... I am so thankful for the time you took to listen to so many of my songs. Humbled at your generosity of your time. You have set a great example for me as a newbie on this board (and to answer one of your questions, this is basically my first post.) Another question: well they weren't 33 different songs, but at least 15 to 20 different songs, to all different kinds of listings. Guess I am throwing up a bunch of stuff against the wall to see where it sticks. Its obvious to me one takeaway is a more narrow focus (at least until I get some success, as in some Forwards to start!) before trying to go out into different strange areas. Thank you Thank you Thank you.

TIm

[mikeymike2000]

MikeyMike... thanks so much... I am so thankful for the time you took to listen to so many of my songs. Humbled at your generosity of your time. You have set a great example for me as a newbie on this board (and to answer one of your questions, this is basically my first post.) Another question: well they weren't 33 different songs, but at least 15 to 20 different songs, to all different kinds of listings. Guess I am throwing up a bunch of stuff against the wall to see where it sticks. Its obvious to me one takeaway is a more narrow focus (at least until I get some success, as in some Forwards to start!) before trying to go out into different strange areas. Thank you Thank you Thank you.

TIm

Hey Tim,

I can get all over the place too but one thing you want to try and do your best with is to pick one or maybe two genres and stick with them and really develop it/them. I would not go more than 2 for now and then after you get some forwards you know that genre is pretty well licked and you can add a new one if you wish. If you try to do everything it will add to your learning curve and may cause unnecessary frustration.

Keep in mind we all wear different hats: composer, arranger, recording, mixing and mastering are all different jobs so once you get one job done then it is on to the next job.

One of the most important things to do is to write in the style you like first and then figure out how to make that marketable today.

[popbaby]

Don't feel so bad, my song "southern road" didn't make the cut either. Keep your head up!

www.taxi.com/jarrettrandazzo