Not gonna pretend that I know what I am doing, but there actually is quite a bit to it.

I think I actually would have better off not knowing anything because I have alot of bad habits from charting in the old days on GH2. Rock Band is much less forgiving than GH charting is. But once it all comes together, I can do a guitar chart/tempo map from scratch in about 3 hours usually. I don’t do drums or vocals so can’t speak for those.

I would say it takes me a good 25 hours on average to make a DLC-caliber custom (venue, lip sync, instrument detail), and that excludes the hours my collaborators put into them. If you just want to pump out bare-bones customs with semi-accurate charts, it’s still gonna take at least 4 hours. So yes, it’s an investment, but it’s also something you can take pride in.

If you’re just starting out, pick a hip-hop song with a steady BPM and no vocals to pitch. That would probably be the simplest way to learn the basics.

(1) Charting is very time-consuming. When I started, I could put out a complete chart in a day or two. I figured it would go faster after time passed, and I got better. Nope. Now, I want to get everything right, and the two-day chart takes over a week.

(2) Charting is not cheap. To get any good at all, you need good source material. So, pick out a song you really want, and buy a decent MIDI, or get some sheet music, or a high quality guitar tab, or invest in all three.

(3) Try to isolate each instrument in some way or another. I buy a lot of covers from Karaoke-version.com. The tracks purchased are covers of songs, but you download a separate track for each instrument, and for each singer. It is much easier to make a bass chart if you only have to listen to the bass player. Similarly, there are some sites that take an audio and make stems, so you can isolate the singer, or the bass player.

(4) Test your work. Get a friend to test your chart. Have someone here look over your chart. There will always be errors. Get help finding them.

Depending on the song and depending on your musical ear, you don’t have to invest in reference material. It won’t ever hurt to have it around, though.

For the people who know what they’re doing when it comes to making customs, how is it difficulty-wise? Does it take a long time to make customs? What does the process entail?

I hesitated before answering because I have only ever charted 1 custom and I am not yet sure I “know what I am doing” ” src=”/wp-content/uploads/invision_emoticons/default_SA_smile.gif” />

To chart my custom “Cosmic Girl” by Jamiroquai (full instrument chart, manual reductions, single audio track) took me 60 hours inclusive of learning everything from scratch. I think that song is not difficult to chart as it’s very regular: steady tempo, repetitive instruments, fairly short and no solos. However it does have keyboard and harmonies, and has multiple guitars and keys to pick, so it’s not at the bottom of charting difficulty.

Here’s the process I am following:

0) Before even starting, think carefully which song to pick. Narrow down your plan to 3-4 songs and listen to them carefully to anticipate how challenging the charting will be.

1) Rip their audio from CD, don’t use mp3. Use spleeter to generate partial multitracks (at least for listening purposes).

2) Scour the web for useful material, particularly VOCALS and PIANO/KEYS transcriptions. I am lucky to live in a country with excellent libraries where you can borrow sheet music. If you cannot find proper scores, look for Synthesia videos on YouTube for keyboard. Also search for midi files, but be aware that they can be more hassle than worth (they are often too complex to use directly, need a lot of merging and clean up, might require transposing the key, and often the instruments are plain wrong).

CHOOSE ONE SONG AT THIS STAGE, based on how comfortable you feel about charting with the material available. Stick to this song until completed, a half-done custom is the same as no custom ” src=”/wp-content/uploads/invision_emoticons/default_SA_smile.gif” />

3) Create a Reaper project with C3 template and spend enough time doing the tempo map until finalized. You don’t want to change it later as it might mess up other notes already charted. However, do not freak out, it’s not necessarily as difficult as it is often said, it depends on the song (if you are worried, avoid songs with an excessively loud mix, without drums, or with lots of tempo changes).

4) Chart EXPERT for the easiest instruments first: drums, bass and guitar. It feels good to quickly get to having half instruments done, even if the rest will take much longer. Complete each track before moving to the next, but don’t freak out perfecting the details yet.

5) Check YouTube videos of the original band to see how DRUMS are really played. Many customs have overcharted hihats or missing disco flips because authors didn’t check videos and relied only on their ears .

6) Charting vocals and keyboards require to turn midi notes playback on for reference. Without a music score it can be a real pain. Personally, I believe that if an author doesn’t feel like charting vocals/keys, they should chart another song rather than release an incomplete custom which might feel unprofessional (missing pro keys is appalling, unpitched audio is just plain hideous). Otherwise ask for someone on the forums to chart them for you!

7) Add lyrics, very straightforward.

Create the last obligatory tracks EVENT and BEAT according to the rules, also straightforward.

9) This is a good time to REVIEW all instruments charts by listening carefully over and over (with RB preview plugin open) in places where things are not obvious and make adjustments. You’ll go back to this point again a few times later on after testing.

10) “Compile” your first version by creating audio tracks (may require cut-pasting and mixing if you use multitracks, otherwise it’s trivial) and exporting midi from Reaper, then build in Magma.

11) TEST all instruments in the game. Don’t forget to test vocals solo AND harmonies separately as they use different charts. Test both basic and Pro instruments (if you have the latter, otherwise ask someone to test for you). Take notes of anything that needs fixing, then go back to 9) and adjust your charts, and if necessary also adjust audio in 10) by tinkering with the limiter and with multitracks relative audio if you need.

REPEAT 9)-10)-11) UNTIL ALL YOUR EXPERT CHARTS ARE GOOD.

12) Go back to Reaper and create reductions (I would always do them manually because it’s easy and gives best results) and animations. The latter can be more or less complex, include at least basic animations states for everyone, plus full drummer and keyboardist right-hand animations, and main singer’s dryvox. The rest can be considered icing on the cake. Manual VENUE track is also a bonus but not strictly necessary. It is important that all these are done after the EXPERT tracks are finalized otherwise you’ll have to do them all again from scratch (editing experts and then trying to edit reductions/animations accordingly is a recipe for errors).

13) TEST all instruments all difficulties, and evaluate your animations/venue, then repeat 12) if necessary.

Bottom line: do not be afraid to ask for assistance from the forums ” src=”/wp-content/uploads/invision_emoticons/default_SA_smile.gif” />