TAXI.com

I know returns are part of the process. But the reason given was: "The style musically needs to be closer to the general style and vibe of the reference in the listing."

Can someone tell me how my submission is not in the general style and vibe of the reference? What am I missing here?

Here is the listing/reference:
ORIGINAL FUNK INSTRUMENTALS are needed for an (up to) $25,000, placement by a NON-Exclusive Publisher that’s feeding material to the Music Supervisor of a Hit TV Series. They’re looking for Mid­to­Up-Tempo Instrumentals (Modern/retro-sounding or Vintage Productions can both work) that have the general style and vibe of the following reference we got from them! “Scorpio” by Robbie Dennis Coffey: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KBn_oUH8Uo0 Please submit original, Funk Instrumentals that have infectious grooves, killer drums breaks, awesome rhythm guitar, and a super funky bass part. Please be sure your production sounds like real humans playing real instruments, even if you’re using Virtual Instruments. Anything that sounds synthetic, stiff, or obviously MIDI-driven won’t work well for this request. NOTE: Contemporary and Vintage recordings are both fair game for this request!

Here is my submission:
https://soundcloud.com/ah_music_detroit/all-the-feels

Does my submission not have infectious grooves, killer drum breaks, awesome rhythm guitar, and a super funky bass part?

I can take criticism with the best of them but come on! I nailed this one! Please tell me what I am missing?

If I were to hazard a guess - 2 things these Old-Guy ears hear on the Soundcloud track:
1) sounds 'drum-heavy' in the mix (Coffey's famous for his wah-wah work with The Funk Brothers' "Cloud 9");
and
2) the synths sounds seem to contradict this listing language:
Anything that sounds synthetic, stiff, or obviously MIDI-driven won’t work well for this request

Interested to read what other comments will be.
Not always easy to predict what the review/return reasons will be, though.

funsongs wrote:If I were to hazard a guess - 2 things these Old-Guy ears hear on the Soundcloud track:
1) sounds 'drum-heavy' in the mix (Coffey's famous for his wah-wah work with The Funk Brothers' "Cloud 9");
and
2) the synths sounds seem to contradict this listing language:
Anything that sounds synthetic, stiff, or obviously MIDI-driven won’t work well for this request

Interested to read what other comments will be.
Not always easy to predict what the review/return reasons will be, though.

Thanks for taking the time to give your input. I actually know Dennis Coffey. He lives near me. I'll never live this down! lol

I thought the synth patch was very 70's funk and fit perfectly. Shows you what I know.

Hi Chaz,

. Please be sure your production sounds like real humans playing real instruments

Your snare drum hits are all the same volume.
No ghost notes........ Funk is full of ghost notes on the snare and bass drum.

Also the entire drum track is too stiff....(quantized).

The horn stabs at :26 - :30 need cymbal crashes. Same with the stabs near the end.

So many times I have heard tracks not get forwarded because of not enough attention to the drums.
Funks gotta groove!

My 2 cents worth,
Tim

Hey Chaz, couple of things stuck out to me as I listened. First, the extreme panning was actually kind of unsettling to my ears. I'm all about wide mixes, but this one seems so spread out with hard-panning that it just doesn't hit my ears right.

Second, those horns are a dead-giveaway as MIDI instruments. No matter how hard you finesse virtual horns, you'll never get them sounding like the real thing. You can get away with it sometimes if the horns are background / textural instruments, but not if they are the focal point. And in funk, they're gonna be in the spotlight. So, unfortunately, they gotta be real or they'll never pass the ear-test of a real brass player (like myself).

I'll also agree with Tully above, that the drums didn't have those cool funky ghost snare notes (or ghost kicks). I'll expand on that further and say that the drums were pretty basic overall, and real funk is full of tasty drum beats, cool fills, ghost notes, and fun shuffle type kick work.

I really did like the bass line though, and the clavinet was a great addition (both parts were well-played and tasteful for funk).

Don't get discouraged. You did some good things here, but were limited by your reliance on MIDI instruments rather than shelling out some money for real players. Don't feel bad about that! It's hard to pony up cash for a cue... I totally get it. But unfortunately, that MIDI stuff for this type of music will probably always be a death-sentence.

Keep after it, my man!!

~~Matt

ttully wrote:Hi Chaz,

. Please be sure your production sounds like real humans playing real instruments

Your snare drum hits are all the same volume.
No ghost notes........ Funk is full of ghost notes on the snare and bass drum.

Also the entire drum track is too stiff....(quantized).

The horn stabs at :26 - :30 need cymbal crashes. Same with the stabs near the end.

So many times I have heard tracks not get forwarded because of not enough attention to the drums.
Funks gotta groove!

My 2 cents worth,
Tim

Excellent and useful input. Thank you!

VanderBoegh wrote:Hey Chaz, couple of things stuck out to me as I listened. First, the extreme panning was actually kind of unsettling to my ears. I'm all about wide mixes, but this one seems so spread out with hard-panning that it just doesn't hit my ears right.

Second, those horns are a dead-giveaway as MIDI instruments. No matter how hard you finesse virtual horns, you'll never get them sounding like the real thing. You can get away with it sometimes if the horns are background / textural instruments, but not if they are the focal point. And in funk, they're gonna be in the spotlight. So, unfortunately, they gotta be real or they'll never pass the ear-test of a real brass player (like myself).

I'll also agree with Tully above, that the drums didn't have those cool funky ghost snare notes (or ghost kicks). I'll expand on that further and say that the drums were pretty basic overall, and real funk is full of tasty drum beats, cool fills, ghost notes, and fun shuffle type kick work.

I really did like the bass line though, and the clavinet was a great addition (both parts were well-played and tasteful for funk).

Don't get discouraged. You did some good things here, but were limited by your reliance on MIDI instruments rather than shelling out some money for real players. Don't feel bad about that! It's hard to pony up cash for a cue... I totally get it. But unfortunately, that MIDI stuff for this type of music will probably always be a death-sentence.

Keep after it, my man!!

~~Matt

Matt thanks so much for taking the time to give me such detailed and useful input and thanks for the encouragement!

Every no is a step closer to yes, right?

I am glad everyone at least seems to like my musicianship! That is a great foundation to build on!

Thanks again!