Telefunkin wrote: ↑Fri Apr 17, 2020 8:17 am
Hi Charlie,
I wanted to respond because there were no other replies for you. I was going to open by suggesting that posting comments about reviews in the 'Taxi Review Station' forum might have prompted more replies. You'll see many similar posts in there, and studying those can be enlightening. By the time I'd finished my response though, I'm glad to see that several others had turned up!
Please excuse me if any of the following comes across as patronising in any way. I don't intend it to. I simply offer these thoughts as a little perspective on forwards and returns.
We've all had returns and feedback we don't agree with, and even the most experienced composers still get them. Why? It's largely because the screeners are doing their job, using their knowledge and experience of industry standards, their familiarity with genre in question, and their understanding of the listing requirements. Sometimes even the best music just doesn't fit, and whether we like it or not, returns are usually for genuine reasons, as judged by folk who genuinely know more about it than we do.
If you think about it, the library who ran the listing is keen to find new music, but only want what they asked for. The screeners are keen to be successful in finding it, but wouldn't want to waste the library's time by sending anything off-target or sub-par. Some library owners even do the screening themselves, but in any case, why would they turn music down if they thought it was on-the-nail? Therefore, there's a high chance that when they return a track they do so with good reason.
Furthermore, getting past the screener is only the first step anyway, and the library wouldn't show any interest in anything off-target or sub-par. A whole lot of the forwarded tracks still don't get deals (at least a hundred of mine for example), so even if the screeners forwarded absolutely every submission, the end result would be the same (except that the library would never come back to Taxi).
Although the screeners are only the first filter, they're a good reflection of industry expectations. Our music has to compete with that from all the best composers with all the best kit, so 'good' is not necessarily 'good enough'. Consequently, rejection is something we all have to get used to, and have to get beyond. If we can't do that we might as well make music just to please ourselves. Be prepared for plenty more rejection beyond Taxi, where the best libraries are very selective and set a really high bar. There's also acceptance though, and when you get things right its all the more sweet having fought the battle.
I should also say that music from the 80's that you refer to (or from any other previous decade for that matter) doesn't necessarily work for TV sync now. There are listings for retro-influenced tracks, but most TV shows want music that reflects current trends, otherwise the show would sound dated even before release. Again, like it or not, that's the reality that we have to accept. One way around that is to make 'timeless' music that ages well without sounding dated. Pop music is extremely fashionable, and changes at a fast pace, so maybe that's not a genre to back unless you're a huge fan of current pop and emerging artist releases.
With all of that in mind, I listened to your tracks and although the screener's comments are quite brief and don't seem particularly helpful, I have to say that I agree with them on the mix, stiffness, and vocal emulation, but that's just my personal view (with no claim of expertise). If you're open to treating your returns as a learning experience and working out how to get closer to what what was wanted, then there's a lot of value there. I've not listened to the ref tracks, or the tracks that were actually forwarded, but you might find it very helpful to do both of those things. Consider what it is about those forwarded tracks that got them through. Try A-B-ing them against your tracks and focusing on where yours measure up, but more importantly, where they might not (with reference to the listing specification). That is often a good lesson, and is far healthier than 'fizzing' about it
. You might also visit the 'Forwards' forum and listen to the tracks that are getting through for other listings, and again, consider why those tracks made the cut. How do they compare with yours?
If you want to ask more specific questions about tickling up your tracks, then there are many here who are far more qualified than I am to help. Another suggestion would be to post your tracks in the 'Peer to Peer' forum before you submit them for future listings. That's a great way to learn what others hear in your music that you might never have considered, and you might also flush out any 'bogies' before you put your $5 bet on one.
I hope some of that helps in some small way Charlie, even if its not what you wanted to hear, but it is my 'real' person opinion.
Have fun and good luck with your music!
