TAXI.com

Got a return this week of 3 songs, and the comment was that there was "background noise (Tape Hiss?)." Really?? You are joking, right? We haven't used tape since the 90's! Also the high end on these mixes was turned all the way down. These are really quiet meditation instrumentals that we mixed on audiophile headphones for extreme clarity. To the screener - (Blown Tweeter?)

(I usually don't mind returns...)

Hey Smash, returns never fun hey, especially when we feel they were strong

if something is clearly odd, like the screener says the drums were off, and the tune doesn't have any drums, then,
not ever heard of anything as odd happening, but if it did, we would need to get in touch with Taxi directly, they will help and more appreciate the direct contact if there is something out their side.

If you want us guys to see if we can hear the any hiss , post a link up, if we don't hear hiss we can go @occupy the Taxi office car park and demand our rights !

I uploaded a couple of the songs to my server, since I didn't make the TAXI tracks public. I listened to them at maximum volume on my Genelec monitors - no "tape" hiss. Maybe the screener was talking about the flute...breath noise? It's a real flute, not a sample!

Anyway, have a listen if you like at http://www.smasheasy.com/Midheaven_at_Midwinter.mp3
and http://www.smasheasy.com/Snow_on_Lilacs.mp3

I'd definitely send an email to Taxi and ask them if they'd give a listen. They're very good about this kind of thing, very accommodating in all cases but especially where there appears to be some kind of snafu somewhere along the line. I'm hearing a very clear (and very good) recording. Perhaps there was something in the digitizing process on the Taxi site itself. I've only had one problem that I can recall... a track that digitized with a lot of artifacts for whatever reason. Maybe this is one of those things.

Thanks, Dave & Sedge. I guess I will try contacting TAXI with the listing results and these links. I expect the songs are still too meditative for the listing, but the feedback was really off.

Hey, Dave, I actually lived in Missouri for quite awhile. Since you're in Cape Girardeau, did you ever know Steve Hardesty? He had a studio and plays live quite a bit.

smasheasy wrote:Hey, Dave, I actually lived in Missouri for quite awhile. Since you're in Cape Girardeau, did you ever know Steve Hardesty? He had a studio and plays live quite a bit.

The name isn't familiar but I'm more connected with you guys than I am around here

I listened to your submission and the quality is definitely there. The only thing I can think of is they misinterpreted the breath sounds of the flute as hiss.
Maybe less compression, high pass mic during recording or use a volume swell instead of a gate on the flute. I did notice the flute cut in and out abruptly at times. ( really nitpicking here )
Unless I was told to look for it I wouldn't have noticed anything wrong.
These screeners are tough !

Thanks, there's no gate on the flute, though.

smasheasy wrote:Thanks, there's no gate on the flute, though.

My bad.
Was the flute track cut or edited ?