Yay me!

[ncc1701]

Just got my first forward! Thanks everyone who offered comments on the piece when I asked for opinions."Urgency"http://www.taximusic.com/hosting/home.p ... 785Overall comments from the critique:urgent care.. chase.. ?the tension, tempo, arrangement are expressivefrom bar # 1..Sequenced bass. driving drum work ison target for this kind of cue.. good job, we'll forward

[crs7string]

Congratulations!!I listened to the track and can easily see why you were forwarded. Was this for the medical/science listing?Chuck

[mazz]

YAY! Good work. Was this for the medical/science listing?

[davewalton]

Quote:Just got my first forward! Thanks everyone who offered comments on the piece when I asked for opinions."Urgency"http://www.taximusic.com/hosting/home.p ... 785Overall comments from the critique:urgent care.. chase.. ?the tension, tempo, arrangement are expressivefrom bar # 1..Sequenced bass. driving drum work ison target for this kind of cue.. good job, we'll forward Congratulations! I remember this track from a previous listen... Quote:I LOVE the Fender Fretless sound in and of itself. Unfortunately for the rest of us, that genius/maniac Jaco Pastorius turned that into such a signature sound for him that really, no one can hardly use that sound without dating their song as a "late 70's" style. So... I'd replace the fretless with almost anything else, spread the right speaker instruments out, and use a warmer, thicker, synth sound for the right speaker instrument. Blend that with the others as well.Man... sales of the "Listen To Dave Walton" t-shirts are going to take a serious hit over this. I'd like to announce an alternate line of t-shirts that say "So What Does Dave Walton Know???". Sales here should more than make up for losses in the other line. Dave

[ncc1701]

Quote:East Coast Production Music Library/Publisher is looking for SCIENTIFIC/MEDICAL INSTRUMENTALS for use in TV, film, radio, corporate videos, commercials, etc. Pretty open musically, but think of tracks that convey quiet intensity (operating room scenes) to urgency (ambulance/emergency room) to positivity (research/laboratory scenes). Please submit one to three pieces online or per CD; 60 seconds to 3 minutes is the recommended length for this pitch. They offer an exclusive deal with a 5-year reversion clause. Broadcast quality needed [great sounding home recordings are OK]. All submissions will be screened and critiqued by TAXI and must be received no later than May 8, 2007. TAXI # S070508SMYes, scientific/medical.Quote:Man... sales of the "Listen To Dave Walton" t-shirts are going to take a serious hit over this. In my original post, I was going to make some comment about how critiques were so subjective and this just proved you shouldn't rely 100 percent on any single listener's opinion ... but then I realized that would be "diss"-ing on everyone's good buddy Dave. I haven't made too many posts, but I've been hanging out on the boards for a couple of months now and the education I've gotten just from reading Dave's posts and those from other "regulars" (too many to name; I'm sure I'd miss a few) has been totally worth the price of joining TAXI.Now I realize I'm still a complete newcomer to this business, and I'm just barely starting to learn what it's all about, and I've definitely got a loooooong way to go regarding production. BUT ... ... here's where I call upon the wisdom of Dave, et al.I've been mulling over the idea of quitting my day job so I can spend more time working on the music thing. Right now, I can only devote a couple of late late night hours every other day or so, and I feel like I'm not able to experiment or explore, and my submissions often aren't what I'd like them to be (though I submit anyway for the critiques).I work as the editor of our local newspaper's arts & entertainment magazine (www.coastweekend.com). I love the job, mostly because the hours are flexible enough to let me be a full-time mom besides, and it's fun; but the pay is pitiful. My husband is a paramedic who brings home three times as much as I do.So we've been talking about how our household finances would have to change if we lost my full-time income. I could probably make up about half of it by writing freelance for the paper and tuning pianos; we'd have to majorly scale back our family budget to compensate for the rest. (Just so you get the picture, we own our house and have two kids, 16 and 9.)In a perfect world, I'd be in heaven if I could stay home every day, do an hour of housework (our place would stay sooo much cleaner) and work on music for the next 5 hours the kids were in school. (This was originally the hubby's idea, by the way.)So ... what I'm NOT looking for is affirmation of whether I can succeed based on the songs posted on my TAXI site. What I'd like to hear about from you guys is whether or not you've ever had to make that decision, pros and cons, are there considerations I might not have thought about, etc.As always, thanks for the input.

[hummingbird]

Quote:Just got my first forward! Thanks everyone who offered comments on the piece when I asked for opinions."Urgency"http://www.taximusic.com/hosting/home.p ... 785Overall comments from the critique:urgent care.. chase.. ?the tension, tempo, arrangement are expressivefrom bar # 1..Sequenced bass. driving drum work ison target for this kind of cue.. good job, we'll forward Congrats!!! Good for you!

[oneeyewillie]

Grand!Congrats!!

[Casey H]

Congrats! The "Dave Walton T-Shirt" burning will be at 2:00 EST... Everyone bring your shirts and some matches... Casey

[mazz]

I think your goal is a worthy one and one I share with you.At some point you'll have to jump in to music full time in order to service all of the clients you have collected via TAXI and other sources and to administer your large catalog and keep track of royalty statements, accounting, etc. It could take years to generate that kind of business, just ask Matto, Andre, etc.Only you know when the right time is and how much risk you and your family can tolerate while you get your business going. It's a tough call.I think a local market is not as necessary as it once was due to the internet but you are relatively close to Portland and that may be a viable market for you to explore. Once you've made some connections, you can do things via telecommuting.I can't afford to quit my day gig but just recently my shift schedule changed to 3 days a week (long days!) which leaves 4 days to focus on music business. I don't have kids and I don't know how you do it but all of those extra-musical activites won't go away, they may change but they won't go away.I'm a big book reader/learner and one I'm on right now is Succeeding in Music which helps establish a business plan, set goals, etc. I recommend studying up as much as possible on what you are getting in to.http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/087930 ... 524608Good luck on your decision. It's great you have a supportive partner!Congrats again on the forward!Mazz

[davewalton]

Quote:I've been mulling over the idea of quitting my day job so I can spend more time working on the music thing. Right now, I can only devote a couple of late late night hours every other day or so, and I feel like I'm not able to experiment or explore, and my submissions often aren't what I'd like them to be (though I submit anyway for the critiques).So ... what I'm NOT looking for is affirmation of whether I can succeed based on the songs posted on my TAXI site. What I'd like to hear about from you guys is whether or not you've ever had to make that decision, pros and cons, are there considerations I might not have thought about, etc.Those "Listen To Dave Walton" t-shirts may be back on the shelves soon. Don't start that bonfire yet Casey! In January of 2004 I did exactly what you're contemplating and for all the reasons you mentioned including a host of reasons that you didn't mention. In one sense it was a crazy thing to do. It's probably the least predictable occupation as far as reliably predicting a successful outcome as compared to any occupation that I can think of (other than maybe being a professional rodeo clown in Afghanistan). Fortunately at that time I was naive and didn't really realize that. Ignoring or being oblivious to reality sometimes has its advantages. So here's the "easy button" version of my experience that covers two main things. It gave me the time I needed to develop my music so that it started to become useful to the point of actually being used. It gave me the time I needed to endlessly hunt down quantities of opportunities outside of Taxi in addition to writing music for the Taxi listings. I've found that I have to submit to a LOT of opportunities, inside and outside of Taxi in order to even get a few placements. I originally misjudged the time it MIGHT take for all this to happen. Early on I figured that things would start coming together after eight months or so. I eventually changed that to a five year plan based on some posts by Matto. That sounds like a long time but I think it's realistic to say that "quitting" before five years of really trying might be shortchanging yourself. This is a business where everything takes a long time. My first deal came one year after the forward for that listing. My first placement into television from that deal didn't happen for another seven months. Because of some snafus, I'm still waiting for the first royalty check from that placement which was around this time last year. That's covered around two years and seven months just for that, so you can see where an overall five year plan (or longer) isn't outside of reality.Based on the listing for the forward you got, I'll assume that you're targeting film/tv placements. Unless you get the equivalent of one placement for something like the theme song to Cops or Friends, this is a business about quantity and consistancy. To get the quantity and consistancy of film/tv placements to earn a living (not change your lifestyle), it really takes a personal music catalog of at least several hundred songs in music libraries that are active in making film/tv placements.Matto is the guy to speak specifically about the music library scene in terms of making a living. As far as my experience, I've been able to land quite a few film scoring deals for low budget films and I've had some good Taxi deals, one being a good source for the quantity and consistancy of placements that I mentioned. Still, it's not going to change my lifestyle, no beach mansion in Malibu. But I'll be well on my way to actually making a living by time the end of the five year point arrives.Bottom line... everything takes a long time to develop. Focus on doing the leg work each day and try not to think about results or if you do, just get used to the idea that results generally come in terms of years, not months, weeks, or days. Hope that helps (my t-shirt sales) Dave