TAXI.com

I submitted this song to the following listing:NEW LISTING - ALT ROCK/INDIE POP SONGS WITH VOCALS (male or female) arewanted by a Leading Game Developer, for Video Game placements. They'll belooking for songs that sound radio-ready, are recorded at BroadcastQuality and have an exciting and infectious energy. Lyrically, therearen't restrictions but be sure there is no profanity or unclearedsamples! You might think along the lines of Vampire Weekend, Black Kids,MGMT, etc. or Modest Mouse, The Shins, Neutral Milk Hotel, etc. - therange is fairly wide here in terms of style but they'll be looking forhip/current/youthful sounds that fit right in the pocket of today'sIndie/Alternative music. Performances must be excellent and soundradio-ready. Recordings need to be Broadcast Quality, though great homerecordings should be fine. Please submit one to three songs online or perCD. All submissions will be screened on a YES/NO BASIS - NO CRITIQUES FROMTAXI - and must be received by January 20, 2009.TAXI # Y090120ARAnyone wish to add their comments on whether it's a good fit or what they think of the song in general?Thankshttp://www.taximusic.com/song.php?song_id=192823&stream=true

I think your song is fine and the performances are solid, (I really like the vocals!)Since that wouldn't be very helpful to you, me just saying "its good", I did a little research on the style. I went to listen to some of the a la bands before commenting. I listened to MGMT (pretend, kids) Shins (caring is creepy, new slang, phantom limb)NMH (don't know the names of the 2 songs)The only comments are on the a las - all of the songs I heard use some keyboards on themall of the songs I heard (except "pretend" by mgmt) have a lot of quiet / loud / quiet / loud in the guitar playing. You have some of this on the guitar when you go into the verses already, but stay in a definite "rock" feel with the guitar being upfront. I may be totally off, but since I'm not incredibly versed at this style and just going off of a comparison to the a la's I am just looking at obvious differences.Maybe, just maybe and only if you think its worth it, there is a way to use some keys in there to compliment the guitar, and allow the guitar to come down a bit in how aggressively its played now and then (i.e. give it a little breathing room) to make it fit right in the pocket with the examples. Of course, the listing examples and the "fairly wide range" wouldn't necessitate this. If it were my song and it were fixed as recorded, I would definitely submit to this, but if I had time and ability to make a second cut with some of the obvious traits of the a las, I'd also submit that. Great job on the music - very listenable and enjoyable as well!HTH

Thanks for taking the time to listen Anne.What you say about the idea of adding keys was something I considered myself, but decided not to. I might go back to this and add something else, but if I do I feel I will most likely have to change the guitar arrangement, so the song doesn't sound too crowded.Much appreciated feedback!

Only one comment . . . where's the bass guitar???? I like the song, (not sure about the ala fit) but crank some bass!

Well the bass is there. Does it really sound absent from the mix? Thanks for the feedback. I'll look into it again, but I thought it was ok.;I'm interested to know what kind of speakers you are listening through. Maybe I'll have to test out my mixes on more setups if it is a problem.

Dec 16, 2008, 1:55am, boyatheart wrote:Well the bass is there. Does it really sound absent from the mix? Thanks for the feedback. I'll look into it again, but I thought it was ok.;I'm interested to know what kind of speakers you are listening through. Maybe I'll have to test out my mixes on more setups if it is a problem.Bass was very low on my computer speakers. Kick stood out.Then I tried on my studio Tapco's and the bass was fine! Sounds good!Dave.

I listemed back to it on a budget home system, which comprises a DVD player/amp/radio with two small satellite speakers and a subwoofer built into the actual unit.Indeed the bass guitar was almost not there, but plenty of kick. However I know this particular system is woefully sub-par, but then again it should sound "complete" on all syatems. I mix on Genelecs, so maybe they are just too good!Thanks for the replies.

I agree with the previous poster about the need for a part or two of quiet interludes (either as instr. or w/vocals)....the pace moves, but seems to just go on and on and a break here or there would really accent the song nicely and keep it a bit more interesting. I mean you could get away without the interludes if the song was 2 to 2 and half minutes, but at 4 minutes, I think some interludes are needed...and you probably might just want to keep the current song length by 'dropping' some instruments out and keep original lyrics, as going too far above 4 minutes might be just too much IMHO.Also, to get the most out of the reviews offered, it is strongly suggested that you post the lyrics with the song...otherwise you are really only getting half the review. Performances and vocals are all quite good, nice job!Just my 2 cents.

Performances and song is solid. I would agree that you could probably use a bass boost on the mix -- even a couple of dBs could help.I'm not sure if it really fits the a la's, though it sounds like it could work within the genre(I've heard these bands, but don't KNOW them). But I think the more important thing is to look at the use for the song. which is for video games. Now, to me, that says IN YOUR FACE. You wanna come out with a super hooky kick to the head... and this is more of a mellower version. Don't get me wrong here, because I do like it. I would say this song should be ONE that you send... but I would pick others that are in this same style that are above 130bpm... I think an energetic rocker could get a deal on this.Good luck with the submission!

Thanks again for the feedback folks. I will look into adding another dimension with another instrument. I agree that it shouldn't be any longer than it already is.Trouble is that I have such a backlog of songs that I want to record properly, it's currently going at around one per week. I need to prioritize and fit changes into the work schedule.I've got another 60 or 70 waiting for production! Yikes!Maybe I've mis-judged the fit with the genre here, but tht's cool. The feedback here has been valuable.