dlogan: Listen to Distant Towers' CD (pick it up if you haven't already!). It sounds fresh and creative, but doesn't sound like they're trying to pretend they're in their 20s.

Will do :-)

I have been to the site and listened to one of the new songs! Sounds great, very well done.  The 'arrangements', along with the 'fusion' of various sounds with the bass, drums, guitars certainly gives it the edge.  Wish you guys great success :-)

Thanks again everybody :-)

I do listen to what's out there.  Will keep experimenting with the gear I already have and do what I enjoy, so I can feel it, be more expressive and thereby give it my very best.

I agree 'easier said then done',  other important areas I need to  consider more are the 'arrangements' which plays a vital role, having strong hooks are certainly important but impeded if the sounds, performances and arrangements suck. :-P

Isn't it funny, no matter how well you try to mix it when things are not right it's usually at the 'source' thereby the 'sound', the 'performance' and the 'technique', and the way that performance is done is important.

That makes perfectly good sense, and explains what it was you were talking about in the original post in a way that filters through the tangled web of gray (and getting grayer) matter that is perched between my hairy ears.

I don't think I could ever reach the goal you are seeking, though, since I can not force myself to get my head around the groove, hip-hop, beats driven format of the contemporary music scene. It appears I am truly too old, 'cause I just don't even want to try.

So, color me antique, yellowed and smoke stained, faded and cracked.

Later
Albert

What do you expect when you send your music in to be reviewed by a 25 year old kid trying to pay off a degree in music marketing?


Well... I have to say, I personally met, hung out with, had lunch with, and generally rubbed elbows at the bar with a number of the screeners for Taxi and a number of the record company execs and A&R people who listen to the song submissions..... the ones I met were as far as possible from this stereotype. Many were "veterans" of the recording business, and had worked with major artists and had many #1 hits with these artists. They have been there and many still are very involved in the day to day operations of their companies as presidents and such.... When someone like this give constructive critisism, and tells you a song is dated......it might well pay to at least consider that maybe, because of their track record, they do have a clue as to what they are doing when it comes to picking songs that have a chance of being recorded and making money.

This is just my POV and is not to be taken as anything other than that.

As Hesh said on the Sopranos:
A hit is a hit is a hit.
Nothing more complicated than that.
Good song wins out over style any day.

But since the guy said "old hat":
it is all in the energy of the performance (or in many cases today, the mix of the computer's performance!). The radio today has tons of tunes that are in your face mix-wise, but when THAT SONG comes on, you wait for the big moments in it.  The buildup to the hook is the new hat. But in the end, hooks are hooks.

On The Darkside - Eddie and the Cruisers - John Cafferty (And subsequently, the entire rest of the album)

That Thing You Do - The Wonders - Adam Schlesinger

Sure...both written for "period piece" films, but great DATED sounding songs that were really big radio hits....not because of the films, but because they were ultimately cool by their own merit.

SOME people call songs "dated" if they have a guitar solo.  "That's SO 80's."

Come to think of it....DYNAMICS are pretty "dated" too....an antiquated technique.

I don't listen to the Top 40 Charts often, but a few weeks ago I listened to what's there!  I noticed on the Australian charts a song (can't remember the title or name of artist)... done really well and when you break it down to just the piano it would be like something you would have heard 40 years ago.  But to be fair it is still a great song, what gave it the edge are the strong hooks, great performances, great sounds, superb arrangements with clever use of contemporary sounds weaving in/out including nice build-ups.  All superbly mixed and mastered.

dmbaer

bdickens


"No one ever erected a statue to a critic."

Not so:
 
http://www.pbase.com/steveyaphotos/image/87512476
 

Shaw is usually remembered as a playwright.

bdickens

dmbaer

bdickens


"No one ever erected a statue to a critic."

Not so:
 
http://www.pbase.com/steveyaphotos/image/87512476
 

Shaw is usually remembered as a playwright.

Well, of course he is.  But he was also an influential, widely read music critic.  Sorry, but I just couldn't resist.

Guitarhacker,

I am not trying to dismiss your efforts to work with Taxi... the next time you drink beer with those veterans you can commensurate with this sentiment:

"What do you expect when you send your music in to be reviewed by a 25 year old kid trying to pay off a degree in music marketing?"

I say this because I think you will find that your veteran contacts are working hard to pitch your tunes to the 25 year old I mentioned.

I think you/I/taxi are all in the same boat...  :-)

all the best,
mike