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Genre review challenge
A checklist and scoring pass to confirm your genre vocabulary actually holds up in a written prompt.
Before you generate
- Exactly one base genre is named, and it is specific enough to imply a tempo range.
- Any second genre is clearly a layer, with the element it contributes named.
- At least two instruments are named explicitly rather than left to the label's defaults.
- There is a tempo cue, or the genre carries an unambiguous one.
- The vocal slot is filled, or the prompt says
instrumental. - No superlatives, no audience words, no wish words.
- No two phrases contradict each other on density, era or energy.
- The whole prompt fits in roughly 20–60 words.
Score the draft
| Symptom in the output | Most likely cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Genre drifts between runs | label too broad | swap for a narrower sub-genre |
| Wrong decade | no era cue | add a decade word |
| Muddy, undecided feel | two competing bases | demote one to a layer |
| Right style, wrong energy | no energy phrase | add restrained / driving / explosive |
| Unexpected instruments | palette left to defaults | name two or three instruments |
| Vocals when you wanted none | empty vocal slot | write instrumental |
Self-test
- Name six genres and give each a four-word sonic anchor from memory.
- Take a broad label and narrow it three times: electronic → house → deep house → dub-infused deep house.
- Write a base-plus-layer blend and say in one sentence what the base owns.
- Take a bad prompt and remove every word that describes ambition rather than audio.
- Rewrite one prompt to hit the eight pillars in under 50 words.
If you can do all five without looking anything up, the genre unit has done its job. Move on to vocals.
Example
checklist pass:
base -> deep house [ok]
layer -> dub delay on the vocal only [ok]
instr -> sub bass, Rhodes stabs, shaker [ok]
tempo -> 122 BPM [ok]
vocal -> soft androgynous, half-sung [ok]
banned -> none found [ok]
conflicts -> none found [ok]
Practice
Take the three best prompts you have written so far and run the eight-point checklist over each one without generating anything. Record the failures. Most writers find the same one or two boxes failing every time — that repeated failure is your personal blind spot, and fixing it once in your template is worth more than fixing it three times by hand.
genrereviewchecklist
FAQ
How many runs should I do before judging a prompt?
At least two or three. A single generation can be an outlier, and you will misattribute the variance to your wording.
What if the checklist passes but the song is still wrong?
The problem is likely outside genre — vocals, arrangement or production. Those are the next three units.