@ChocoMoco I also, for whatever it’s worth, wanted to put in my two cents
I, much like @orbiterred, put in a lot of time and effort (and money) into getting my mixing/mastering chops up. I’m a guitarist by trade and have been writing/composing/performing songs professionally since…ever. However, starting to produce music for AJ exclusively has been quite a learning process to say the least.
Three things helped me the most.
- Listening to the structure, quality, and tendencies of other notable AJ authors.
- Investing time into honing the craft of arranging, recording, and mixing.
- Finding someone to bounce my ideas/final mixes off BEFORE I upload to AJ.
Despite my recent success with approvals, I still do all of those three steps before every AJ upload. Because I’m still starting out I feel as though nothing is guaranteed. Just remember to keep with it because I think you’re on the right track. Just reaching out for help means that you genuinely care and are willing to make a positive change.
The last note I’ll make is that you need to understand the role of the reviewer. It’s not the job of the reviewer to give a detailed critique for every song they encounter - that would take way too long and it’s not part of their role. Secondly, they need to maintain a certain standard for the site, which comes from a great number of factors which are out of their hands. Check out this video to learn more: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQ0lWGe5cRU
I hope this helps. Best of luck!