No More Excuses...Please Help A Wannabe Songwriter

[Aloysius]

You've had plenty of help. No More Excuses.

[wagtunes]

You've had plenty of help. No More Excuses.

You're a little late to the party. I'm closing up my pop/rock songwriting career and starting a new career making production music. I have a game plan and will execute it.

But thanks for the reminder.

[JorgV]

sounds good

somewhere under your save menu there should be the option to export midi file?
you should have an option for type 0 and type 1.
iirc for individual instruments its type 0?

Thanks Vurt. I'll go take a look.

Type 0 puts everything on one midi track, but each note with the correct midi channel so it will play back correctly. I guess most modern sequencers will pull this apart as seperate tracks (Cubase does) but better just use type 1 unless you have some ancient hardware device (or some other strange reason) that needs type 0 specifically.

Exporting midi works the same as audio: put locators where you want them, and use solo/mute to specify what you want to include.

[Etienne1973]

Do you offer your songs royalty free for this project? Any contract on the horizon?

If the distributor decides to release the album then I will receive publishing on it. Right now I have one song with them that an agreement was already reached on. The others are a "we'll see" kind of deal as far as any releases go.

Agreement? In form of a signed contract on paper? Perhaps it would be wise to have a lawyer with experience in protecting intellectual property.

All my songs are copyrighted. If anybody tries to steal anything, not that I'm worried, I'm protected.
Thank you for your concern. This is a non issue.

Sorry for being persistent. But copyright doesn't protect you if you offer your songs under license Royalty Free Music.

Okay, again, I am NOT offering these songs under license Royalty Free Music. I don't even know where you're getting that from.

From your website as we speak.

[wagtunes]

If the distributor decides to release the album then I will receive publishing on it. Right now I have one song with them that an agreement was already reached on. The others are a "we'll see" kind of deal as far as any releases go.

Agreement? In form of a signed contract on paper? Perhaps it would be wise to have a lawyer with experience in protecting intellectual property.

All my songs are copyrighted. If anybody tries to steal anything, not that I'm worried, I'm protected.
Thank you for your concern. This is a non issue.

Sorry for being persistent. But copyright doesn't protect you if you offer your songs under license Royalty Free Music.

Okay, again, I am NOT offering these songs under license Royalty Free Music. I don't even know where you're getting that from.

From your website as we speak.

It's an old business that doesn't even exist anymore. All the music from the site has been removed.

So please, just stop already.

[vurt]

sounds good

somewhere under your save menu there should be the option to export midi file?
you should have an option for type 0 and type 1.
iirc for individual instruments its type 0?

Thanks Vurt. I'll go take a look.

Type 0 puts everything on one midi track, but each note with the correct midi channel so it will play back correctly. I guess most modern sequencers will pull this apart as seperate tracks (Cubase does) but better just use type 1 unless you have some ancient hardware device (or some other strange reason) that needs type 0 specifically.

Exporting midi works the same as audio: put locators where you want them, and use solo/mute to specify what you want to include.

been a while since ive exported midi.
thanks for setting him straight

[Frantz]

Life is really strange.

Here's a copy of the email I just received. Names have been removed.

This is good news. There is a chance that they could record and release several of your songs. This is in addition to your new efforts writing library music. Things are looking up.

[wagtunes]

Life is really strange.

Here's a copy of the email I just received. Names have been removed.

This is good news. There is a chance that they could record and release several of your songs. This is in addition to your new efforts writing library music. Things are looking up.

Yes, they are. Maybe the last 42 years will finally start to pay off.

[wagtunes]

I have begun my library music journey today starting with checking out what the competition is offering and trying to get a handle on library requirements as far as quality of production. This is where I am running into some puzzling data.

For example. Starting with musicvine.com, their requirements are based on a point system. Six categories with a max of 10 points each or 60 total points for a track. Minimum 50 pts required to get accepted. I said, "okay, let's see what gets at least 50 points."

I started with the cinematic stuff because it's what I feel most comfortable with. The very first track was solo piano. The recording was low mid heavy. It sounds like no EQ was put to this piano at all. I was honestly shocked at how bad I thought it sounded.

So my question is this. Is library music, production wise, different from pop music where everything has to fit in the mix and thus be EQ'd to death?

Almost all the tracks are muddy like this. Not horribly muddy but definitely low mid heavy.

My instinct is that if I were to submit a track like this it would be rejected due to it being a "poor" recording. Again, we're only talking a solo piano here.

Of course it is very possible that he got zero points for production quality and 10 points each for all the other categories, thus giving him the 50 points needed.

Bottom line is this. I am listening to these tracks and, quite honestly, given how far I've come with my mixing skills, I don't get how they passed this sites "strict" submission requirements. I am honestly puzzled as to how to go about producing my tracks for this site. Musically, I have zero doubt that I can match the quality. But the production quality requirements have me stymied.

You're welcome to go to musicvine.com and listen to the first 4 or 5 cinematic tracks to hear what I'm hearing.

I honestly just don't know what to do.

[wagtunes]

I just applied to Music Vine and it's 12 weeks to find out if I'm approved or not.

Are all the sites like this? If so, that basically means I have to wait until 2020 to actually start submitting music.

Well, I'm a little frustrated out of the gate but I'm not going to let this get me down. However long it takes, that's how long it takes.

[codec_spurt]

I first heard Yes in 1972 and fell in love with them immediately. Their radical change in the 80s was when I stopped listening to them.

Sadly, I didn't listen to them until 78 or so, after all their best work was behind them. I was so excited when they re-formed and I bought that 9021000000000 album with alacrity.......sorry I can't recall the experience without being triggered.

Jon Anderson did a solo album with Vangelis that was really good. You might want to check it out.

"Eh!"

Did a dub version of this a while back. It got lost. Mixing desk. Digital delays.

"Eh".

Sounds like a signal...

Like Chrissie Hynde's version too:

Moodswings:

My grandmother had just died and I found out when I was on an acid trip. That was fun. These experiences forge us. Sometimes we don't choose them. This song is inextricably linked with that. Playing about with this masterpiece.

I did a great mix of this song. But it's lost now.

"Eh, Eh".

Music is the best.


"Touching my body and my soul..."

[Aloysius]

Spurter

[BertKoor]

Almost all the tracks are muddy like this. Not horribly muddy but definitely low mid heavy.

Could it be your monitoring?

If voices get put over it, you don't want to have the whole spectrum filled up already.

My instinct is that if I were to submit a track like this it would be rejected due to it being a "poor" recording. Again, we're only talking a solo piano here.

Your instinct is making excuses again, it made up possible reasons why you would fail before you even tried!!

Just try, have faith in all your capabilities.

[Mushy Mushy]

I just applied to Music Vine and it's 12 weeks to find out if I'm approved or not.

Are all the sites like this? If so, that basically means I have to wait until 2020 to actually start submitting music.

Well, I'm a little frustrated out of the gate but I'm not going to let this get me down. However long it takes, that's how long it takes.

You lost me. 12 weeks is November so you can start making tracks now and just submit them then. Still a few months but still 2019. Or did I miss something?

[BertKoor]

You're welcome to go to musicvine.com and listen to the first 4 or 5 cinematic tracks to hear what I'm hearing.

Did just that.... https://musicvine.com/browse/style/cinematic
No idea whether the order gets shuffled on revisits.

#1: Brothers - Clemens Ruh. Piano solo? Sounds more like harp with the pluck noises in the 10-14k region. Bit dark indeed, but suits the mood.
#2: Wild and Free - MonoBox. Acoustic guitar like it should sound. Well balanced, nothing wrong.
#3: Known - Sky Gienger. Bit dark mood, but lots of highs. Leaves enough room for a voice-over. Rather well-balanced I'd say.
#4: Firelight - Hemlock. Nothing wrong with that.
#5: Chiaroscuro - Simon Folwar. Also a bit dark (harp again) but enough compensation in the highs with violins and percussion (snare-like sound)

So my verdict is there's a tendency for somewhat dark moods, harp sounds have emphasys on the low-mids indeed, but production quality is rather good overall.

Can you give a specific example of a track which you think is not well-produced in your opinion?