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Okay, so before my guitar broke, I worked on my Rondo in A for Guitar. After all the great advice on setting up microphones, etc., and chopping together all the best parts, here's the result. I will be repairing the guitar, hopefully in time to do more recording before the deadline on the 24th, so let me know if you think I should rerecord this or if I'm good to go for the listing. Thanks!

Rondo in A for Guitar by Laird

Merry

ORIGINAL CLASSICAL GUITAR INSTRUMENTALS are needed by a very successful Music Library with a tremendously long list of killer placements for TAXI members in Hit TV Shows!
This Library is on the hunt for a bunch of Instrumentals that are in the general stylistic ballpark of these references:
"Gran Vals" by Mats Bergström
"Ojos Brujos" by Manuel Barrueco
"Cavatina" by Craig Ogden

Quoting the Library: "Some additional Classical instrumentation in the pieces is okay, but guitar must be the focal point."

Please send well-composed, ORIGINAL, Classical Guitar Instrumentals with captivating melodies, great arrangements, and excellent musicianship. Authenticity is key for this pitch, so we don't recommend using any virtual instruments for this request unless they are indistinguishable from the real thing. Please be sure that your production is high-quality and polished, as well.

All submissions should be between 90 seconds and 4 minutes long, give or take. Non-faded, buttoned endings are recommended. Do NOT copy the referenced tracks in any way, shape, or form. Use them only as a general guide for tempo, tone, and overall vibe. Broadcast Quality is needed.

IMPORTANT: Your Submissions can NOT be commercially released on Spotify, Apple Music, etc. OR be encumbered by ANY other publishing, licensing, administration, and/or exploitation deals (whether non-exclusive or exclusive) including publishing/licensing agreements with CD Baby, TuneCore, etc.

This company offers an EXCLUSIVE deal. You’ll split all upfront sync fees 50/50. You’ll keep 100% of the Writer’s share and the Publisher will get 100% of the Publisher’s share. You must own or control your Master and Copyright. Since this is an EXCLUSIVE deal, please be sure the material you submit for this pitch is not already signed with other Libraries or Catalogs. Please submit as many Instrumentals as you’d like, online or per CD. All submissions will be screened and critiqued by TAXI. Submissions must be received no later than 11:59 PM (PDT) on Sunday, October 24th, 2021. TAXI # S211024GT

TAXI # S211024GT

I like it. The recording sounds clean good job.

The only thing that gives me pause is the tone. A little twangy doesn't have that soft nylon string feel of "Ojos Brujios" .

Good luck with the guitar repair and the sub.

Geo

Wonderful playing Merry!

Thanks, Geo & Cass!

I did my best with the tone, but I can only accomplish so much! It's definitely nylon strings on a classical guitar, so I'm not sure how I could make it less twangy. Especially since the headstock is cracked and needs for me to repair it. (I contacted a local repair shop and they wanted $200-300 to do the repair, which admittedly will look better than my handiwork, but it isn't in the budget right now!) The +/- $5 bottle of Titebond III & package of small dowels IS in the budget.

I just hit the submit button on that and another original called Reflections. I have a third one, Vals Elegante, that I'm still trying to get mixed before the deadline, but we have storms moving in and we're under a tornado watch, so I thought I'd better submit the two that I already had rather than miss the deadline.

Hoping for the best! I appreciate your input!

Merry

Really nice playing. Anything I say here is relative to this listing. I don't think your submission is close enough to the references in sound and composition. And although, you are playing a nylon string classical guitar, as someone else said, the tone is a bit off. Is that hollow room sound or do you have a lot of reverb on it?

I hope I'm wrong, that would be great. And regardless, nothing is a waste. Your hard work here will result in something.

Best,
Casey

Hi Merry,

Nice piece! Not easy to play. I think it sounds pretty good and capture the sound of a certain era. A lot of guitar tracks(nylon) are so heavily compressed that it looses it's authentic sound.

In regards to repair I wouldn't do it unless you are emotionally attacheched to it or it is wor 4 times the repair job.

Same thing happened to my music partner and she got it repaired for $100.00 Can so I don't know what to say about the $300.00 repair job.

Good luck,


Andre

Excellent. My fav was from 1:30 on out. the most fluid...congrats

Thanks, Casey, Andre, and Freaker!

I play a lot of 1800s guitar music (Tárrega, Haydn, Albéniz, Aguado, Sor, etc.) and I wasn't trying to write something that imitated the listing references, Casey, but just the time period. Rondo was a popular form in the Classical Period, not only for guitar but for other solo instruments and string orchestras, if I'm not mistaken. I actually wrote this a couple of years back during a February Album Writing Month (FAWM), in my notation program, and didn't learn to play it until after the listing came up! Anyway, that's yet another reason it doesn't sound a lot like the listing refs.

You're right that it wasn't easy to play, Andre, but it's a teensy bit easier than the waltz I wrote. I couldn't get that one finished before the deadline, but I'm still working on it! Freaker, I think I'd relaxed a little by the time I got to 1':30".

The room isn't that hollow, but per the listing, I added about 5% "wet" to the track. (Hall 95.0/5.0 is my go-to reverb setting in ACID PRO.) I didn't want it to sound dull and dead, which it did before the reverb, as well as muffled. I don't believe in compressing classical guitars. I'm hoping I can get the tone to acceptable levels because I still want to submit to the Public Domain Classical Guitar listing. I already had "Lagrima" up on my TAXI hosting page from a couple of years ago, so I'd love it if you guys would give it a listen and tell me what you think! "Lagrima" by Francisco Tárrega Thanks!

Oh, and as for being emotionally attached to my classical guitar, I really am. This was my replacement guitar for the one I accidentally ruined by not using a capo but tuning it up to G from E. Poor baby. (And yes, I mean the guitar.) I was young and ignorant, but it really taught me better. (I still have the first guitar, and if I can figure out how to take off the belly, I want to steam it back into shape and reattach it.) I agree, I thought even $200 sounded high, let alone $300. I don't think my favorite San Diego County guitar repair shop would have charged that much money! I did mend it before, but not with good enough glue. This time, I had recommendations to use Titebond III and possibly even insert some dowels, so I bought some 1/8" diameter dowels. I don't know if I'll risk drilling into the headstock, but the damage doesn't look serious enough to require it. It isn't as though it's hanging by a few splinters. I do have other guitars, mostly acoustics, but not nylon strung, and none with the lifelong attachment I have to this one.

So, anyway, thank you for all the kind and instructive words! I really should write more classical guitar music, since it's a part of my heart, whether or not it fills a library's request sheet. I'm thinking of maybe writing a book with some of my short études for guitar and sending it to Mel Bay or another publisher of sheet music. If this Rondo doesn't get picked up, it could be part of the book, along with the Neo-Renaissance music that I started writing when I was a kid.

Cheers,
Merry