Help I'm Confused
Posted: Fri Jul 31, 2020 4:33 pm
I’m new to submitting music to music libraries and new to Taxi. I’m trying to find my way and figure out what is actually requested in the listing. There seems a discrepancy between the reference material and the body of the listing description as to what is required.
As an example I recently submitted to a country rock instrumental cues listing S200711CR. I can see the first mistake I made was thinking this was a cue or an instrumental, rather than just cues that are wholly instrumental. Cues are all new to me and I wrote my piece as an instrumental that could be broken into cues as TV editors wanted. I have no clue if this is what happens to the music once the editors get it, but I figured they must cut it down to slots of a few seconds and I wrote the piece in sections where it would be easy to do this.
The listing didn’t have instrumental references just vocal country (country rock) songs. This was hard to figure out as we are not comparing apples to apples. I guess just the sound and feel is what they are after. The gist of the listing was:
Construct your cues around a central melodic theme, adding and subtracting layers of instrumentations to create dynamics, interest, and sense of forward motion. 90 seconds to 2 minutes long in duration.
Okay. I get to work and think I’m doing what I’m supposed to. I have an intro, and central theme and I layer a few guitars in unison and harmony. I have a bridge and repeat. It’s 2 minutes 14 seconds long. To me it sounds like country rock. Power chord backing and country pentatonic riff guitar over the top. I left lots of bits where edits could take place and made the sections very different from each other.
My feedback was: Needs a stronger groove and a more country rock approach and I need to trim 15 or 30 seconds off of the piece. I need a more country pop / country rock vibe and a more modern approach.
Okay cool. It sounds like country rock to me but what do I know? It is too long, I guess they are not kidding when they give a time limit. A stronger groove. What does that actually mean? It seems as subjective as the definition of swing, but again what do I know? I’m not sure what is meant by a more modern approach? I’m new to recording and realize I have a lot to learn about that side of it and I’m thinking it must not sound modern. Okay back to the drawing board.
A few days later I listen to the cues that were forwarded to that listing.
They sound great. I close my eyes and can imagine them in Pawn Stars or similar TV programs being played as Chumlee drives across the desert in an offroader. The problem is, of the four I could listen to none of them had a central melody and very little or no layering. All of them sounded like a backing track with the melody (vocal) removed. Basically a chord progression. One sounded very similar to ZZ Top and one sounded very similar to U2 not county rock.
My questions is, what is required? Of the songs that were forwarded only two sounded kind of like the references but did not do what the listing asked, and two did not sound like the references or do what the listing asked. I’m confused. I think I have the ability to write what Taxi’s customers want, but I need a better understanding of how to interpret the listings. Apologies for the very long post.
As an example I recently submitted to a country rock instrumental cues listing S200711CR. I can see the first mistake I made was thinking this was a cue or an instrumental, rather than just cues that are wholly instrumental. Cues are all new to me and I wrote my piece as an instrumental that could be broken into cues as TV editors wanted. I have no clue if this is what happens to the music once the editors get it, but I figured they must cut it down to slots of a few seconds and I wrote the piece in sections where it would be easy to do this.
The listing didn’t have instrumental references just vocal country (country rock) songs. This was hard to figure out as we are not comparing apples to apples. I guess just the sound and feel is what they are after. The gist of the listing was:
Construct your cues around a central melodic theme, adding and subtracting layers of instrumentations to create dynamics, interest, and sense of forward motion. 90 seconds to 2 minutes long in duration.
Okay. I get to work and think I’m doing what I’m supposed to. I have an intro, and central theme and I layer a few guitars in unison and harmony. I have a bridge and repeat. It’s 2 minutes 14 seconds long. To me it sounds like country rock. Power chord backing and country pentatonic riff guitar over the top. I left lots of bits where edits could take place and made the sections very different from each other.
My feedback was: Needs a stronger groove and a more country rock approach and I need to trim 15 or 30 seconds off of the piece. I need a more country pop / country rock vibe and a more modern approach.
Okay cool. It sounds like country rock to me but what do I know? It is too long, I guess they are not kidding when they give a time limit. A stronger groove. What does that actually mean? It seems as subjective as the definition of swing, but again what do I know? I’m not sure what is meant by a more modern approach? I’m new to recording and realize I have a lot to learn about that side of it and I’m thinking it must not sound modern. Okay back to the drawing board.
A few days later I listen to the cues that were forwarded to that listing.
They sound great. I close my eyes and can imagine them in Pawn Stars or similar TV programs being played as Chumlee drives across the desert in an offroader. The problem is, of the four I could listen to none of them had a central melody and very little or no layering. All of them sounded like a backing track with the melody (vocal) removed. Basically a chord progression. One sounded very similar to ZZ Top and one sounded very similar to U2 not county rock.
My questions is, what is required? Of the songs that were forwarded only two sounded kind of like the references but did not do what the listing asked, and two did not sound like the references or do what the listing asked. I’m confused. I think I have the ability to write what Taxi’s customers want, but I need a better understanding of how to interpret the listings. Apologies for the very long post.