TAXI.com

Thanks for everyone's comments they were most educational and, revealing of the writer.

I am very interested to speak to the few who actually listened to the music and shared thoughtful and constructive comments.
(If you were typing the whole time, imho you weren't really listening, you were thinking about what to say next. Do you remember the last time you played your music for someone and they talked the whole time? QED)

It is clear to me I need to use my better sound library always, period, that much was obvious, fair enough this summer was devoted to exploring the newly installed KS sound module in my MalletKat. Which I think is pretty good. I did little to no sound tweaking on the pieces below, inspiration and music was flowing too quickly to stop and go back.

Heartland was one of my songs you heard on the show. It got a 50/50 vote
http://www.defever.com/audio/Heartland.mp3

Mixed in in were several more, each of which were voted -1 by all but one or two listeners.

Now that in itself wasn't too troubling since none of these pieces were written FOR the listing anyway, I don't write music FOR listings. (That is a whole other topic) However, I did submit pieces I believed would be appropriate. Unfortunately, I wasn't offered to choose from my own submissions for the show, in hindsight there were better choices more suited to the listing than some selected, for example show played tracks Freedom Calls I and II, these were submitted to the listing on the chance the publisher was open to a step beyond in the electronic influence dept...no for the publisher and big no for Taxi TV listeners!

Here are the remaining tracks submitted for this listing. Yes I sent in 9!

What i am most interested in is your over feeling from these pieces, since the box they were listed for is way too small. Certainly something I learned today. Please step out of the box and give me some feedback, thanks!

http://www.defever.com/audio/Glide.mp3
http://www.defever.com/audio/Passing.mp3
http://www.defever.com/audio/CrystalPlains.mp3
http://www.defever.com/audio/InTheLight.mp3
http://www.defever.com/audio/Progressions.mp3
http://www.defever.com/audio/OnTheWind/AngelasSong.mp3

http://www.defever.com/audio/FreedomCalls.mp3
http://www.defever.com/audio/Standards.mp3 (Freedom Calls pt.2)

Please chime in.

Thanks,
Reid DeFever

Hi Reid

I just watched the show - I'm in the UK so watching it live is a bit anti-social at 2 in the morning ... which is a pity because when I have done so the live chat has been really good.

I had three forwarded for that listing and it was good to hear some of the 400 or so other submissions. Some of the full orchestral pieces were, quite simply, stunning in their realism. Not only the basic sounds but the dynamism and depth of the orchestrations. If that is where the bar is then getting up there myself is the challenge. And guess the same for you. I personally don't think listening to film music is enough, a real appreciation for all orchestral works is the only way to go with a weather eye on what is currently popular. The amount of work needed to make a single violin line sound convincing, let alone the whole orchestra, is incredibly time consuming - there is no quick fix for that. Templates and methods work to speed things up but in the end its you and the sample library and endless tweaking of parameters to catch that perfect performance.

I think you were very brave to go on there, respect due . I'm getting back to that tweaking and listening now - got a 12:30 deadline for the trailer listing - which is weird cos its 1:15 pm here .

Things become clearer ( NOT easier) when you hear the standard of some of the members - and only with time, practise and constant re-evaluation can we hope to get where we want to be.

Hey Reid-

That was literally the best taxi show ive seen and part of that is because you came on representing 'our' side of things- Ive also had some issues with the way things are sometimes- some my fault, some not;

Im listening to your heartland piece again- but I think same thing I said last night- Id take one idea and carry it through-
IMO- the melody should give cohesion- sometimes on here I dont hear that from people, they use other elements as the glue;
when you get busier and the celeste comes in Id play the melody there again- or use a similar shape if not an exact repetition, same when you break down to the smaller duo string part.

I also think post your songs one at a time- it tough (for me) to concentrate on too much at once.

Sometimes I have to remind myself that Im actually a good composer and that some of the issues Im having with missing on stuff are hopefully gonna smooth out.

GOOD LUCK,

Salty akd Msaltman

TechNoiz. I would love to here you forwards for this listing, links or names if they are on your profile.
Thanks!

Hi Reid,
Just wanted to say I thought your appearance with Michael yesterday was noteworthy, I think people will learn a lot from this.
Film score and orchestration is way out of my purview, but there are some real experts here on the forum, so I'm glad to see you here!
I'm kind of new to this whole thing, but I find people here to be a huge help to me, and I've learned a lot from following other folks music as well.
If you ask specific questions about specific tracks you will get answers!
Good luck, and keep on moving foward. -Rob

rdefever wrote:TechNoiz. I would love to here you forwards for this listing, links or names if they are on your profile.
Thanks!

One is here .. Red Dawn Rising ... http://soundcloud.com/hayward-peel. I will put the other two up as soon as .... I didn't take the offer as it was non-exclusive retitling and I was at the time negotiating with a UK library for an exclusive deal which suited me better.

Excellent! Red Dawn Rising, big and bold, want to hear where this goes, was it part of something more or a stand alone cue?
And what is your sound library of choice? I am running GigaStudio.

rdefever wrote:Excellent! Red Dawn Rising, big and bold, want to hear where this goes, was it part of something more or a stand alone cue?
And what is your sound library of choice? I am running GigaStudio.

Thank you

It is just a standalone cue although I tend to write in a more extended way on the piano and then edit ideas down as and when I want to write 2-3 minute cues. Too much development and/or deviation from the initial idea can I believe, as Michael alluded to in the show, leave a Music Supervisor with too much to do to get it to fit the visuals. It seems more sensible to me to write 2 shorter, more concentrated pieces which are easy to re-arrange and edit than a longer one with too many ideas - although it may be seen as more musically fulfilling.


EDIT added below

Actually, with regards to pieces with more sections I put up a second piece forwarded - DayFall. The track has no compression or overall EQ-ing. It has 3 sections - more melodic development with different moods within. This one was signed over to the UK library but I then produced 5 or 6 sub-mixes and re-edits of vary lengths to make it easy for Supervisors to find what they need if they like the track as a whole - piano figure, strings only, intro, central melody, outro.

I think this is where writing for TAXI listings really helps ... you get to try out a variety of formats for your ideas. There is nothing like a return to get you focussed onto what other ways there might be to present and develop your ideas.



I use the Vienna Symphonic Library. The percussion is Damage but I am currently looking for a replacement.

I think I will try cutting up some of these into cues for the sound bite world.
Thanks for the feedback.

Welcome to the forum Reid!
Enjoyed the show also. And kudos to you for putting yourself in "the hotseat" like that.
You'll find a great bunch of people here. Varying experience levels but all passionate about music, improving themselves, and helping others.
All the best to you