It may not be a matter of "old school". It may be more a matter
of "how" and or "how well" it's done. Using comparisons in
time, gender. genre, style, and so many other descriptive
words can sometimes lead to nowhere when "looking at self"
I can relate to how you feel about your own stuff. I went
and listened to parts of a couple of your songs. Comparing
you to other songs forum tunes you have a much more
"you" style. It's one that isn't like so many others.
The sounds I heard were a bit thin and low quality in tone.
That in itself can "date" a song. granted I only listened to
a small amount of your stuff but it was like seeing how a
sound bite hit me.
Thick, lush sounds seem to most often get more attention
and better appeal to a listener. That can be very hard to do
and may be why on average the songs forum has fewer
of these type sounds on songs.
This is not to be mistaken for smooth warm sounds.
A mix can sound smooth and warm and yet lack "sparkle".
Oh course a great song is a great song but so is a
performance/mix/production.
If the recording and or playback doesn't capture or
demonstrate the full potential in quality then a song
may be called dated because of "tone". I've wrote
maybe over 300 songs in my time. I can look at
them now and say that they were not very good.
Some were very good but most were real bad.
I could call that dated but I wonder is it just
not well written stuff in the first place? Lyrics
play a large roll too I guess. Then there are
songs that are surely dated but It may be
the original that is dated. What if tayler swift
did the beatles "blackbird?"
Years ago a country artist had a hit on an old
janis joplin song. So the word dated can be
extremely vague or even non usable as a term
sometimes. Some of Bonnie raitts songs could
be played today and easily sound up with the
times as well as other artist.
Yet at the same time many of todays tunes
that are hits could easily be dated songs
because it's the same old stuff. There are
good and bad songs today but mostly
the recordings are all good quality in
pop and country.
The fact that the Op wants a more modern
sound than he is getting may hold the key to
getting there because desire comes first.
It may be hard and difficult to do so but with
enough passion some good things may happen.
Dated may be a term used when someone
completes a tune and does nothing more to it.
If it (then or now) sounds dated to the writer
it may be a question of leave it or do something.
A total new remix can sometimes do wonders.
If a great new remix done in a pro manner
does not greatly affect the songs persona
then maybe the song is weak but giving up
before knowing if a new mix or production etc
is done will leave one never knowing.
Some people in the songs forum do a tune
and say it's done. Some do some tweaking.
It's up to the writer to decide if it's good
enough. Sometimes it may be a waste to
go further. Sometimes one may quit
tweaking. or re recording, or remixing
before the songs reaches it's best outcome.
By coincidence I woke up this morning thinking
of this very subject. I'm re doing a lot of stuff
written and recorded years ago and when
those are completed I hope that I can do
some new stuff that could fit the modern
concept. Or to put it in another way in a
different style.