TAXI.com

Hi, I have never been the engineer guy - until now. I would always go to the studio with songs and play and produce. Like most musicians today, I am now doing EVERYTHING myself. I have submitted a few songs to Taxi and have been rejected every time. That's OK because I usually knew why they would be rejected when I sent them in. I think this means that I am getting better as the engineer..?? My question now is - I am using Logic Pro ONLY, and pretty much all of the responses have said that the instruments sound dated. Are Logic instruments good enough? I'm not a computer guy at all. What can I do about this? Do I/Should I invest in much better plugins? I'm not the richest man... Thanks

keithbeck wrote: ↑

Sat Aug 27, 2022 8:00 am

Hi, I have never been the engineer guy - until now. I would always go to the studio with songs and play and produce. Like most musicians today, I am now doing EVERYTHING myself. I have submitted a few songs to Taxi and have been rejected every time. That's OK because I usually knew why they would be rejected when I sent them in. I think this means that I am getting better as the engineer..?? My question now is - I am using Logic Pro ONLY, and pretty much all of the responses have said that the instruments sound dated. Are Logic instruments good enough? I'm not a computer guy at all. What can I do about this? Do I/Should I invest in much better plugins? I'm not the richest man... Thanks

Not a Mac guy but I watch enough Sync Youtube channels that say you can create licenasable music purely using the included instruments. I've used Alchemy when it was still a PC product which had a bunch of good sounds even back then.

Part of it is genre dependent but you can make instruments sound dated just by the way you use them, so it's a playing / production skill as much as anything. However there are 3rd party plugins and libraries that can sound great right out of the box and make your tracks sound better more quickly and easily if you know how to make best use of them.

Maybe post up a track where you've had the dated feedback and see if can pinpoint it more.

Mark

Hi, IMO it’s 80% in HOW you use them. Common mistakes are: 1.no use of parameters that alter the sound while you play it, especially with long notes. Logics Alchemy has this pads on the bottom where you can morph the sound. Use it! 2. playin in the wrong octave. 3. not stacking sounds, sometimes a rather cheap sounding lead sound comes to life when you stack it with another sound. This counts for pad sound as well. 4. Sorry, this one is the trickiest! A cheesy melody makes the best synth patch sound cheap and dated. I mostly spend more time in finding the right melody and chord inversion & chord rhythm than in changing the sound for the hundredth time!
BUT: investing in other software synths is not wasted money!!! There are insanely good synths out there which form a perfect team together with the already good stock plugs from Logic!

Thanks everyone this is great info!!

It's not the gear, it's the ear. Feel free to post a link to some of your music that was called "dated", I'm sure you can get some good feedback here.

I made the mistake myself of thinking the instruments sound date or low quality meant I needed to buy expensive plugins. Then realized I was still getting the same comments with paid plug-ins and sounds. Then I started taking more time manipulating my sounds and plugins and I'm starting see my forwards increase.