Tim,
Welcome to the forum.
You might want to post your songs to the "Bash This Recording" forum. They will get more attention when placed in the correct forum.
Hello from South Dakota
Hello, I'm Tim from rural South Dakota. Been doing home recording for about 1.5 years, I think I'm improving step by step. I recently purchased Brandon's Killer Home Recording, and have been spending all my spare time over the past 2 weeks trying to read and digest it. I am thru Setting up, Audio Engineering, and Killer Mixing. Changed a lot of my viewpoints, and I am excited about continuing to improve and learn more.
I am amazed a resource like this board exists and am encouraged that there are people willing to spend their personal time to help others. That's kind of rare in a competitive environment like music, I think.
Anyway, I am involved with a few projects (one is Prodigal Road, a Christian rock band, Home Page). Another is Stolen Goods Blues Band, and then there is the stuff I write that doesn't fit in either of those categories. I joined Taxi and have submitted some stuff, they haven't forwarded any of my songs yet, but the critiques were very helpful and encouraging. I need to have broadcast ready recordings to be picked for any of their placements, which means my recording chops have to be on. According to their newsletters, there are folks making tons of money doing placements. One guy from Australia has almost 300 placements this year so far, his goal is 500. Most placements have to be worth at least 4 figures, if this is not a lie this guy is making a killing. He says he can complete up to 12 songs in a day (that's recording, mixing, mastering). I don't think I'll ever be that fast.
My latest mix I completed yesterday is here.http://soundcloud.com/bluzmannn/overcome-1. I'm concerned about guitars being too loud, I'll probably remix and pull down the guitar faders, esp for solo.
Sorry for the long rambling. I look forward to interacting with the group going forward.
Tim
Re: Hello from South Dakota
Tim,
Welcome to the forum.
You might want to post your songs to the "Bash This Recording" forum. They will get more attention when placed in the correct forum.
Re: Hello from South Dakota
Hmm thought I replied to your post but I dont see. it. Thanks Jaygee. I wanted to post on Bash This Recording, but I dont have permission until I make 15 posts. As soon as I have permission I will willing submit my mix(es) for Bashing. Thanks.
Re: Hello from South Dakota
I was unaware that there was any other kind.rural South Dakota.
Yeah, things get easier and better once you realize music isn't competitive but rather collaborative. IMHO. YMMV. WWJD. Etc.competitive environment like music
"Well, if music's gonna move me, it's gotta be action packed!" - Johnny Dollar
Bradner Street Recording
Re: Hello from South Dakota
I'm a jerk for not reading your OP completely. Hey, this is serious. TAXI is a scam, flat out. Don't waste any time or money or emotional energy on this thing. No forwards? As with all sales business, don't anyone tell you "no" that can't tell you "yes". Their main motivation is to keep you in the casino, pulling the lever. I like their rap about the five bucks "not being a profit center". Do a little math and you'll see that it's likely to be about a third of their revenue. Are non-famous people or non-established music (.5M+ youtube views) really getting songs placed? I haven't heard one in years.I joined Taxi and have submitted some stuff, they haven't forwarded any of my songs yet, but the critiques were very helpful and encouraging. I need to have broadcast ready recordings to be picked for any of their placements, which means my recording chops have to be on. According to their newsletters, there are folks making tons of money doing placements.
I'm interested to see one of their "helpful" critiques. As someone who does a lot of critiques and, by-and-large, kicks ass on most of them, I can safely say you aren't getting your money's worth on that front, either. As for "broadcast quality", this is a TAXI-created meme. There's actually no such thing. It's good or it's not. It's either right or not. Nobody using your material is going to mind re-EQing it to suit their purposes.
Really, call them up and get the rest of your money back. Kick and scream, jump up and down and pound your fist on the table. You'll get it back. I did. If you've got a couple of hours to kill, read this: http://forum.recordingreview.com/f16...47/index6.html
Last edited by garageband; 06-26-2012 at 10:08 AM.
"Well, if music's gonna move me, it's gotta be action packed!" - Johnny Dollar
Bradner Street Recording
Re: Hello from South Dakota
I can think of one that you left out one unless you were limiting yourself to a random listing of 4 letter acronyms.
I agree music should be collaborative and not competitive.. However, I have observed some awfully competitive actions by musicians and other participators in the music industry.
Will agree that the population density of South Dakota is sparse. However, I don't many people would consider Sioux Falls "rural". If you did, you'd have to consider all the cities of Indiana rural except for Indianapolis and Ft Wayne. That would mean that Evansville, South Bend, Hammond, Bloomington, Gary, Carmel, Fishers and Muncie are not cities but rural areas, as all of them have populations less than Sioux Falls.
Re: Hello from South Dakota
"Well, if music's gonna move me, it's gotta be action packed!" - Johnny Dollar
Bradner Street Recording
Re: Hello from South Dakota
Garageband... thanks for your reply..hmmm.. you've given me a lot to think about...... I went to the thread you attached, it sure is interesting... I'm going do a lot of thinking on this one... you expanded my mind on that.. I truly thank you..
Re: Hello from South Dakota
Enjoy your stay here. I hope you get a lot out of it.
"Well, if music's gonna move me, it's gotta be action packed!" - Johnny Dollar
Bradner Street Recording
Re: Hello from South Dakota
Hi there Tim, Welcome to the Forum!
The 15 posts thing before you bash is relatively new. It's just kinda nice to get to know someone a little before they dive in and post their work... and see, you're already about half-way there
How are you getting on digesting the Killer Home Recording? There's a ton of reading there, even though I've had it for a while now, I still keep referring to stuff. I like the way Brandon writes about the more complicated technical bits, somehow I seem to absorb it more easily than from textbooks.
Re: Hello from South Dakota
Hi Emma
Emma, thanks for the welcome.
I have no problem with the 15 post requirements, it makes sense. Yes, I am pretty much thru the first 3 volumes of KHR, learned a lot, changed my thinking alot. I am sure I will be referring back a lot. Brandon's writing is engaging, humorous, down to earth and understandable (on top of very educational). I think I even get some of his real out there examples and references to pop culture (although I think it was Marty McFly and not George who played the tapping EVH thing on the bandstand in Back to the Future... lol...I didnt look it up, I thought Geo was the dad and Marty was the Michael J Fox character... ) but I digress...
Anyway, learning a lot, excited about getting involved with this community on-line. Happy to be here.
Re: Hello from South Dakota
Maybe I'm a sucker AND a fool (I wouldn't rule either one out..lol). BUT I have decided to continue to work with Taxi and see what happens. i have googled "is taxi a scam" and found a lot of similar articles/posts to the thread listed above. I also found positive comments. I went to the Taxi website and found a list of all the screeners. its a long list. TAXI's A&R Team: music industry pros reviewing your material, screeners. Some names I recognized (Matt Malley, bass player for Counting Crowes). Many nominated/awarded folks listed (Grammy etc). Are they really part of Taxi? I guess its possible that they really arent working with taxi, but if I was Matt Malley and someone told me my name was being listed as being associated with Taxi and it wasn't true, I'd have my lawyer send them a cease and desist letter. Does that mean that he works more than 1 day a year with them, I cant say. But all those actual, "googleable" names do add to their legitimacy.
TAXI.com - How Long it Takes Before a Deal -- Tell Your Stories Here! : TAXI Success Stories
Went to this forum, and a bunch of apparently normal folks posting about how long it took them to get their first placement. Some took 3 years, but when it hit it was a flood. Some got a placement within days. This is a normal bulletin board with live links to (apparently) real people's websites. If its all scam, its a pretty elaborate and time consuming one.
The story of Danny Danzi? He submitted his songs to Taxi with no response, and then with the same songs got 4 (or 5?) record companies in Europe competing for his services... Does that mean Taxi is a scam? maybe, maybe not. There is a story about Guess Who/BTO guitarist Randy Bachman who was submitting the same country song to the same guy 4 times, rejected each time, and then finally the recording artist said "Wow that's a great song, where have you been hiding that!!!". Maybe something similar happened to Danny Danzi... I dont know.....
Am I 100% sure I am not being taken? No, maybe I am. but the cost to continue for the rest of the year that I paid for (and the perceived benefits from doing the exercises of writing the songs and responding to the criticisms with changes in my songs, etc) will make it worth it even if I dont get one forward out of the whole year. I'm all in until my membership expires. My goal is to submit at least 50 more submissions (an investment of $250 more). I have paid more for a guitar I bought on ebay that I never play and it gathers dust. Again, I could be the biggest sucker ever in North America. Still, that's my story and I'm sticking to it for the duration. Peace out.
Re: Hello from South Dakota
Do what you want. Hey, how about reprinting a couple of their critiques? You don't even have to put up the song associated with them. Two or three would be really interesting to us.
"Well, if music's gonna move me, it's gotta be action packed!" - Johnny Dollar
Bradner Street Recording
Re: Hello from South Dakota
ok, I'll see about scanning and putting a critique or two.
Re: Hello from South Dakota
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Here's a recent critique on a song a wrote "That Dog Don't Hunt". Its a country song (what else could it be with a title like that!) I would all the comments resonate and seem right on. This is something I had recorded in Garageband a while back, it wasn't the best, and through a break in theft, I lost a bunch of data including the raw files, so I am left with the stereo mp3 of this song, and it definitely is on the lower hi-fi side, so I agree with the engineering comments.. I've been wanting to rerecord this song, havent gotten around to it. So, the critique is pretty accurate, I would have to say. I was happy to hear his positive comments on the chorus, as this is usually out of my comfort zone (I am NOT a country artist) and I wasnt too sure on how good this might be. Also, as a guitarist first, like many fellow musicians, I am less than fully confident with my voice, so the positive comments on my voice give me comments (regardless if he's playing me or not, I am going to believe it and as a result I will have more confidence and in fact sing better. its just how it works, iMHO.) Hope the attachment comes thru.
Re: Hello from South Dakota
this one also some sort of typo, he started to say something about the conversational quality and it was cut off somehow. The other critiques didn't have the typo, so that seems to be an abberation.
