How to avoid "does not meet the general commercial quality standard "

Envato Authors AudioJungle
1

I recently had a piece rejected by Audio Jungle because it “does not meet the general commercial quality standard”. I don’t want that to happen again and was hoping for some honest inputs on this piece suitable for a dramatic video / film that I am about to upload to see if you think it will see the same fate.

Thanks
David

1 Like
2

Hey David! Welcome to the forums!

Here’s some quick feedback:

  1. Really nice work composition-wise but AJ is DEFINITELY not a place for 5 minutes tracks in this specific genre so you might want to rethink the structure and length. Pick the most relevant sections and re-build the track into a 2 minutes or so piece, that’s my advice.
  2. Sorry about the following but your percussion sounds and overall approach are light years away from the current orchestral/cinematic trend. Browse a handful of tracks in these categories and you’ll narrow this down. I’d recommend you get yourself a new epic percussion library. :slight_smile:
  3. Download a really cool sounding preview from AJ (there are tons out there), throw it into your DAW project and mix and master using it as a reference. This should help you a lot in terms of loudness and spectral balance.

A final note, and this is just a personal opinion, keep in mind that you’re aiming at a super overcrowded category with some heavy weights composers there so even if approved you might have a hard time getting some visibility and sales.

Best of luck! :four_leaf_clover:

2 Likes
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Really appreciate that honest feedback … super helpful thanks

I guess I’m really old school - I personally only like real orchestral sounds and pitched Timpani … I’m much more of a John Williams fan than a Hans Zimmer fan. But I know if I’m aiming for sales I’ll have to forsake my personal tastes and shape this somewhat into the trend. I’ll definitely reshape into 2ish minutes and try the epic percussion library.

I listened to the best sellers in dramatic orchestral (https://audiojungle.net/search/dramatic%20orchestral?sort=sales#content) and found that most of the music had impressive instruments but was musically weak - no melodic development and monotonous 4 sequence chord structures like Fmin, Dbmaj, Ab maj, Eb maj in (https://audiojungle.net/item/cinema/20026704) - in this particular track even the melodic balance at 1:31 seemed terrible - hardly hear the horns. Lots of ear candy and nice production but not much substance. That’s actually what made me hopeful - I thought maybe there are users out there that actually want a stirring melody on some raspy horns and trumpets that they will remember - something like Raiders of the lost ark / Pirates of the Caribbean.

I was hoping if I did something different (beyond a repeated set of 4 chords with rising arpegios) it would rise above the tide and maybe get noticed :slight_smile:

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Just to clarify: by “overall approach” I meant only percussion-wise, both in terms of sound and arrangement, but then again it’s just my opinion of course. I fully agree with you regarding the cookie-cutter harmonic progression and simplistic melodic development, but as much as I do, I admit it is effective and versatile as hell. Also, I wouldn’t underestimate production and ear-candy when composing for stock libraries, specially in such a populated category. I hardly doubt Hisaishi would make it through the review process if he sent a drafty sounding masterpiece, ha! :slight_smile:

Best of luck!

1 Like
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Thanks for all the help

Loving Epic percussion and and this week Epic Percussion has a sale reducing their price from $99 to $19 https://www.splashsound.org/epicpercussion.html whoohoo!

Cheers
David

2 Likes
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So I used all your advice and this is the new version with Epic percussion. Would love to hear your opinion on this version. I’ll submit 3 variations … (1) without ending so it can loop after the sub hit (2) One without the hi stick percussion with (3) one without the counter voice on horns in the middle. Do you think it will be accepted?

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Hey @mozartatplay!

Well, I do believe it’s much closer to what’s expected around here but, to be completely honest, I’m not sure if it would make it through yet. Again, I’m always talking from a stock music standards perspective, the feedback below has nothing to do with your aesthetic approach or your composing skills, which you clearly have. Here are my 2 cents:

  • The drop at 1:00 is a bit long in my opinion; one bar of would be enough and then dive straight into the main section. Maybe the drop and a Taiko drums crescendo roll will do the trick.
  • Percussion wise, after the build up, I would definitely go for something much bolder, with more energy. Perhaps I’d try reinforcing the tambourine and orchestral timpani with taikos and lion drums. This one is free; of course, paid libraries sound WAY bigger.
  • About the length, I would try to condense the composition somewhere around 2 minutes and present that as the main version. You can include an extended version and I would strongly recommend creating 1 min, and 30 sec versions too.

All the above said, though I have a handful of orchestral tracks in my portfolio, it’s far from being my field, so perhaps more specialized authors could give you a more valuable feedback. You can check my stuff here if you want.

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Hi @WormwoodMusic.

Again thanks for your excellent feedback and help - I listening to your tracks - really great work … I especially liked “Epic Menu” and “The Medieval”. I’ll try and hit that 2 min and 1min 30 sec sweet spot and use some of those taikos and lion drums.

1 Like
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Ok did more layered big percussion as I build each section and used a short drop between main and 2nd variation but still like longer drop with the taiko drum build up after the 2nd variation

I will advertise this preview as follows
Main theme version (1:03) starts at 0:00
2nd variation (1:08) starts at 1:03
short version with ending (0:45) starts at 2:11

So you can use
The short version starting at 2:11 with an ending (0:45 long)
The Main theme 1:03 version (1:03 long) loop after the drop if needed
Add the end variation to the main theme to get a longer version (2:11 long) loop after drop if needed
Add them all together with ending and get a the full version (2:59 long)

Do you think I’m ready now :slight_smile:

Again really appreciate the coaching

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Final version with change to spitfire strings:

Included Variations:
The clouds are clearing – Full Track with ending (2:51) Starts at 0:00
The clouds are clearing – Medium length version (2:06) Starts at 2:54
The clouds are clearing – Short version (1:05) Starts at 5:03 in Preview

Do you think it will get accepted in this form?