Hard-Rejected: Where Did I Go Wrong? Please Help Me :)

Hey everyone,

I’m looking for some feedback and advice for this piece. The rejection email said that it doesn’t meet the commercial production or composition/arrangement standard, but how exactly does it not?

Before creating the piece, I listened to tracks already on AJ and tried to follow their example (except for the delayed electric guitar and ukulele, lol), I even did the reverse cymbal/piano chord thing at the start. I used a simple chord progression and tried to do something unique with the instrumentation. I think the main motif is quite catchy.

But I went wrong somewhere, and I’m not sure where. The peak RMS level is -10.7. Should I have used electric guitars instead of acoustic? I didn’t use stock sounds for the drums.

Any feedback that you could give would be greatly appreciated. I want to learn more and be successful. Thank you for your time :smiley:

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Inspiring Corporate

Sorry about that. I really like it. The arpeggio is a bit risky though. You may eq the kick to be even more cozy. But the most of all it lack of a good fundament bass. Perfect in hz.Check this out for bass reference:

Thanks so much for responding, I was worried that I wasn’t gonna get any! lol :smiley:

Good point, maybe the bass is too experimental. It’s a synth bass in 5th’s, maybe they didn’t like that. My main instrument is bass, so I’m definitely going to record real bass for it today, make it more ‘human’.

I could bring the arp down and emphasise other parts instead? I really like how the kick sounds, but I’ll give it another look. I think I’ll record electric guitar parts instead of the acoustic parts.

What do you think of the structure of the piece?

:smiley:

I tried recording electric guitars for it, but I didn’t like how they sounded with the track, so I’ve stuck to the acoustic and have beefed it up a bit. I’ve also recorded real bass to replace to the synth bass. I’m gonna pull all the faders down to start a new mix, I’ll share it here when I’ve finished it :smiley:

I also just purchased Hollywood Strings Gold on sale, do you think they’d be a good addition to the piece?