cosmicdolphin wrote: ↑Wed Apr 30, 2025 7:25 am
RealPickle wrote: ↑Wed Apr 30, 2025 5:51 am
The listing was for "high energy" EDM in any genre. The references were widely disparate (there were 4). So the specifics of the listing don't matter in this case, especially if the track sounds like 30 year old stock plugins. I'll write Native Instruments and let them know.
I don't think it's fair blame Native Instruments here. It's not the tools, just how you use them.
For some reason I can't access your Screener feedback but this track seems to veer more into electronic tension than HI NRG EDM to me which is normally meant to be uplifting and something you'd want to dance to in a club and adds energy to a scene.
Maybe one of the ref tracks was an outlier and you went more in that direction, hard to say as I've not heard them. I can share this link with you which is my best earning EDM track ( well into 4 figures now ) that I wrote 5yrs ago for a Taxi library. I don't recall what the ref tracks were now..likely one of the big EDM/DJ types was my main inspiration.
https://soundcloud.com/user-45178330/re ... eard-on-tv
I do remember doing lots of reverse engineering for the first few years to understand what was going on in different styles. I also found some good YouTube tutorial channels for different styles..for Pop/EDM stuff I can reccommend watching some of Alex Rome's videos. Although I grew up listening to EDM they still helped me quite a bit.
Mark
This was the feedback. Nothing about style:
What I like most about this song
This track has an energetic vibe! Solid edit points, too.
I think you could improve this song by
The sound selections in this track need revisiting/revamping; some of the synths sound dated and lack the modern sounds of the references. This prevents the track from sounding like it will fit in contemporary productions and playlists alongside other EDM tracks.
This was the listing. Like I said, the request and references were quite varied:
Lots of HIGH-ENERGY EDM INSTRUMENTALS (in a wide range of styles) are needed by a standout Music Licensing Company that's nailed down tons of placements in Film, Advertising, and hit Television shows. They have a decades-long history of landing great placements for TAXI members they met by running searches just like this one!
This Company is on the hunt for a wide range of Instrumentals in the general wheelhouse of the references below:
"MUCUS" by Lizdek
"Golden" by UTAH
"Devices" by Tycho
"DABADABADABADABA" by Excision & Dion Timmer
Although some of the references have vocals, please submit Instrumentals only for this request.
Please submit a wide range of EDM Instrumentals with loads of energy and a sound that could work for a variety of sync opportunities! Lots of approaches and subgenres could potentially work here such as Future Bass, Tropical House, Progressive House, Melodic Dubstep, Tech House, Bass House, Future Funk, Drum and Bass, Synthwave... just to name a few. Your submissions should have unforgettable motifs, infectious melodies, exciting drops, excellent productions, and dynamic arrangements with lots of forward motion and development. Since this listing is open to a wide range of EDM Instrumentals, your instrumentation may vary depending on which direction you choose to go, as long as your piece is competitive with other Instrumentals in your chosen style or sub-genre. Please make sure that any virtual instruments or samples you use are high-quality and not dated-sounding.
I've signed a number of EDM tracks over the last year, and I actually had a track forwarded for this exact listing to this exact library back in January, but it was more tropical house and I wanted to try something different. I found these tempo-synced synths in MASSIVE and figured they'd sound good out of the box, but I guess I got out over my skis a bit on it.
Anyway, my original post was asking which synths specifically sounded dated. But I think I've sussed that part out on my own. Also I'll stick to the EDM sub-genres I know best.
