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I think you're in the ballpark, sounds a lot like Dave. When you mix, make the drums hit me in the face. This just occured to me: How about writing the next Dave Matthews hit, singing a kick ass vocal and then sending them the instrumental mix? It might be a stronger backing track since it's responding to the vocal. Besides, you'd get a new song out of it. Just an idea.I know time is short on the Dispatch thing. good luck!!!Mazz

Quote:How about writing the next Dave Matthews hit, singing a kick ass vocal and then sending them the instrumental mix? It might be a stronger backing track since it's responding to the vocal. Besides, you'd get a new song out of it. time is short good luck!!!Mazz Now this... is what I would recommend as well. steve

man this insomnia sucks! Sorry.It's pretty much mandatory these days to have an instrumental version of every song. In case it gets used on TV they may want to cut to an instrumental section at some point. Gotta have it. If you want to do a lead instrument version (replacing the vocal) make that a seperate mix as well.Mazz (gotta try to sleep now!)

Quote:man this insomnia sucks! Sorry.It's pretty much mandatory these days to have an instrumental version of every song. In case it gets used on TV they may want to cut to an instrumental section at some point. Gotta have it. If you want to do a lead instrument version (replacing the vocal) make that a seperate mix as well.Mazz (gotta try to sleep now!)Great advice! Libraries really like it when you have the mixes with and without vocals for the reason you mentioned. If you use a pro-demo service, make sure you get the no-vocal mix as part of your deal. Also, I have a number of placements for just the backing tracks to my songs. Sometimes (not always) the backing track itself works well in film/TV. Casey

When I submitted final tracks recently to a TV gig, some of the pieces I sent had 8 different versions. The submittal instructions even said words to the effect of: "The more versions you send, the better your chances to get played". Of course, most sample libraries specify that you can't use their samples in isolation so don't use your drum track of unaltered Stylus loops as one of the versions (not that anyone would do that!).I bet your songs have some nice backing tracks that would work just fine with vocals muted. There's gold in them thar' back catalogs!Mazz

Quote:Thanks again for your advice. I have also been trying to work on theme-based instrumentals rather than try to target a specific sound. I had fun working on space-themed ambient music for a children's production: space samples. It's a nice challenge to try and fit music to specific themes and scenes. I like your choices for the ambient music. Seems to be childlike without talking down which is what the listing called for. Good luck.I went a completely different direction with my take on the listing and submitted a montage of existing pieces: http://www.johnmazzei.com/song/0 these are mostly much heavier in texture than yours.