TAXI.com

The Listing:Quote:ROCK SONGS in the range of Foo Fighters, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Audioslave, etc., are sought after by a well-known and widely used Film and TV Music Supervisor to add to his catalog for project considerations. He wants to hear, in his words, "rawk" songs and is not interested in hearing any type of "shoegazer, emo, garage or corporate-esque styles" of rock music. This Supervisor has an outstanding track record, so he is very picky about what he will use. He wants to hear original songs with resonating vocals, memorable storylines and of course, catchy hooks. Instrumentation and vocal performances must be top-notch! Broadcast quality is required (great sounding home recordings are fine). Please submit one to three songs online or per CD, include lyrics. All submissions will be screened and critiqued by TAXI and must be received no later than Wednesday, July 8, 2009. TAXI #S090708RKMy Submission:http://www.taxi.com/kevinlint (song: Always been right there)The Critique: AttachedMy FeedbackArt is subjective as is many of the categorical ratings used in Taxi's critiques. However I think Production, Engineering and Musicianship are much less subjective. I'm confused by my critique. The style of my song is marked "On Target" but below it's reason for not being submitted reads "See style". So I reread the style and it says - read below. I give up on trying to understand what's going there. Therefore I begin to review the ratings and there is a 6 beside production and engineering. Although I disagree with a number of other ratings, it is subjective...but not the production in engineering. I'm pretty sure the production and engineering of my song is close to as good as it gets. How do I know? Because my Producer (who's recording leann rimes right) did a great job at his studio (which as recorded greats such as Willie Nelson and the ventures..on and on) and then sent the tracks to my mixing/mastering engineer who put his all into it and is by the way trusted enough to be the mastering engineer for entire festivals for Snoop, Warren G, The Dogg Pound,..too many more to list. The album itself was peer reviewed by my mentor who holds a grammy and current billboards top 10 and worked on projects from M.I.A to Missy Elliot to Queensryche, etc.. as well as peer reviewed by my producer's close friend who has clientel I could continue to name drop. Let's talk musicianship...a 7? Wow...pretty insulting to those studio musicians who have and continue to play on successful projects. I could have told the drummer he didn't have to fly in for the project to keep his $900/day fee and opted to play the drums myself.Can anybody here with as much experience as those I've listed above say with confidence that the production, engineering & musicianship are sub 8!? If so, I want my 20k dollars back and I want REAL examples of why you would hold such an opinion.

Hey Kevin, My last submission was rejected and "On target" as well. It happens..... I'd try not to get too bent over it. The reality is once the screener decides the songs not right for the listing - they try to make a few helpful quick comments and move on to the next, at least in my opinion... If they like the song everything else falls into place. I dont understand the production ratings myself .... I ALWAYS get rated right about where you did, every time (which only strengthens your case) My production & equipment has improved vastly over the past year but I still get the same ratings. Ha! Your case is a bit odd though.... again you know its better than that - just chaulk it up and move on. Far as the songs concerned - I thought the chorus had some feel of the bands referenced - but the verses didnt share the same spirit, some droning vocal melodies and some other areas I thought made it lose momentum. The pre chorus's were excellent. Thats just my quick 2 cents. Hope i helped in some way.Chris

I think you should give Taxi a call. Not much you can do about screener's opinion (and low scores etc.) but in one part of your review it's stated that the song was on target for the listing but is then returned because it's not on target . . .(?) . . . maybe a mistake was made when the screener checked the "on target for this listing" box. BTW for what it's worth I think the production & performance on this is really good, but $900 for a drummer? Man, i'm playing the wrong instruments.

Yammer107thanks for the pep talk and advice on the song, I agree with you. I think you nailed it...the screener just didn't think the song fit. At any rate I'd prefer the response "I didn't think it fit", however, it was selected as "on target"???. When I get a response that is weird like this it makes me feel like I'm not getting my money's worth, like some hack job is on the other side slamming through songs....Billg, yes, my drummer charges $900/day!...but to be honest he didn't charge me that much because I recorded my album on his home turf (or maybe he just told me that's his usual charge to make me feel like I was getting a screaming deal)...

... These arguments / threads come up alot Kevin. I honestly just think Taxi screens thousands of songs a month and the screeners do the best they can to plow through it all while trying to make constructive reviews /comments. I get tired listening/evaluating my own tracks let alone dozens of others. Bills point is valid as well - There have been documented occasions on this forum where a simple error was made . testament to my comments above. Chris