TAXI.com

Listing # S221123ER closed a short time ago, as at the time of writing this post.

I did not submit to it because Taxi's client in this instance was looking for singer songwriter artists to promote themselves via this listing, and I am not a performing vocalist/artist.

Rather, I used the listing as an exercise to see if I could master some of what is required when attempting to write in the general musical style of one of the references.

I tried to adapt and vary a previous song of mine in an attempt to fit in as best as I could with the general style of the first reference in the below listing. To do this, I had to make many changes and I engaged a vocalist to sing the demo.

To help me improve my learning, I would be grateful to receive feedback on my track:

https://www.taxi.com/members/nwRU7pygQr ... -way-ahead

EMOTIONALLY UPLIFTING, ELECTRO-ORGANIC SINGER/SONGWRITER SONGS with Male or Female Vocals are needed by a really cool Music Licensing Company that has tons of credits in Feature Films, TV Shows, and Commercials!
They are searching for quite a few Mid-to-Up Tempo Songs that could be found on a playlist with the following examples:
"Light Year" Adam Melchor feat. Lennon Stella
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SUURj6dsxzM
"Don't Fade" by Vance Joy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YxfPfr3aZqU
"Count On Me" by Joy Oladokun
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jdm49hbWdA8
"Afterglow" by Ed Sheeran
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_xG9CviE5Fs
Send them modern Singer/Songwriter Songs that seamlessly combine acoustic instrumentation and electronic elements to create an overall positive, emotionally uplifting sound and vibe. Your submissions should have memorable melodies, catchy choruses, solid arrangements in the ballpark of the references, and compelling, well-crafted lyrics. Captivating, well-performed vocals that could transfix listeners are also needed. Please be sure your production and any virtual instruments or samples you use are high-quality and not dated-sounding.
NOTE: This Company is looking for authentic artists that they can pitch to sync opportunities, and they’re going to want to know more about you in the form of a bio. In your bio, please include any touring, fan base, sales, streaming, and social media figures you may have. If you’re an authentic Artist that’s just starting out and you don’t have much of a story or track record, but you DO have an amazing sound and some killer Songs to back it up, they still want to hear you!
Lyrics should avoid references to specific names, dates, times, brands, and profanity. Do NOT copy the referenced examples in any way, shape, or form. Use them only as a general guide for tempo, tone, and overall vibe. Do NOT submit any material with unauthorized samples of any other artists’ music, sounds, or any other form of media. Broadcast Quality is needed.
This Company offers both EXCLUSIVE and NON-EXCLUSIVE deals. The specific deal points will be handled on a case-by-case basis. If you’re inclined to sign an Exclusive deal, please don’t submit material you've already signed with other libraries or publishers. You must own or control your Master and Composition to submit to this opportunity. Please submit as many Songs as you’d like, online or per CD. Please include a photo and a bio. All submissions will be screened and critiqued by TAXI. Submissions must be received no later than 11:59 PM (PST) on Wednesday, November 23rd, 2022. TAXI # S221123ER

Michael

Hi Michael. I'm no expert in this genre whatsoever, but have a few thoughts. I like the vocalist and the song is recorded and mixed pretty nicely. First thing I noticed was that the acoustic guitar sounds like a nylon string guitar rather than a steel string like references I listened to, and sounds like a virtual instrument at times (?). Also, the timing of the drums sound a little off and they aren't very modern sounding or exciting so, for me they didn't help the song. So, I'd suggest re-doing the acoustic guitar and updating the drums. Hope that helps a bit, and well done trying to learn a new genre. Good luck! Doug

DouglasKnight wrote: ↑

Fri Nov 25, 2022 12:02 pm

Hi Michael. I'm no expert in this genre whatsoever, but have a few thoughts. I like the vocalist and the song is recorded and mixed pretty nicely. First thing I noticed was that the acoustic guitar sounds like a nylon string guitar rather than a steel string like references I listened to, and sounds like a virtual instrument at times (?). Also, the timing of the drums sound a little off and they aren't very modern sounding or exciting so, for me they didn't help the song. So, I'd suggest re-doing the acoustic guitar and updating the drums. Hope that helps a bit, and well done trying to learn a new genre. Good luck! Doug

Thank you, Doug, for taking the time to listen and for your observations and encouragement, which is appreciated. And I agree with your above points.

The acoustic guitar at the start is a virtual nylon string guitar, as you noted. In fact, the arrangement currently is completely midi based and consists entirely of sounds from sample libraries. Ideally for me, everything in the backing to this song would be recorded organically on real instruments, and my aim is to at least do this with all the guitar tracks. This would include layering real nylon and steel string guitars at the start (then maybe ditching the nylon string layer), plus including a Telecaster through a Vox amp for the electric guitar parts. Re the drum part, I used a combination of a Spike Stent and Joe Chicarelli patches, which I got from East West Opus. I actually deliberately looked to have some subtle timing mistakes in the midi drum parts, though I accept that I may have over "humanised" the timing and velocities, which possibly explains your comment about the timing of the drums being a bit off. So possibly some fine tuning may be all that is needed here.

Regarding your comment about the need to update the drum sounds, I assume you are referring to the kick and snare, so I will initially look on Splice or maybe some other sources to see if I can find a solution. Also, I might see if the current drums can be improved further at the mixing level.

Cheers
Michael

I have reworked some tracks/instruments and following on from Dougalas' comment, I tried to include a more steel string guitar sound, especially in the first part of the song.

So here's an update:
https://www.taxi.com/members/nwRU7pygQr ... remastered

Also, I have remastered the song, though everything is still midi.

Re mastering, I have used the Waves Abbey Road TG mastering plugin then layered/combined this treatment with Izotope Ozone 9.

The waves Abbey Road plugin seems to work fine. However, the Ozone plugin has some sort of a width analyser, the upshot of which is that a wide stereo sound (for me at least) sounds ideal, but this conflicts with the visual Ozone phasing analyser, so that visually the plugin is telling me that there are phasing problems, thus failing the visual analyser test. But my ears like the wide sound, and maybe even the wider the better. My instinct suggests to go with the ears and risk the occasional -ve phasing value.

To anyone who might have knowledge of these issues, I would ask - any suggestions? Not sure if I am overthinking this?

Cheers
Michael