I really want to start learning how to make customs for this website. However, they are some hurdles that I have to get over. Things that scare me the most are tempo mapping and making the animations for the rockers on stage (custom venues basically) and my lack of knowledge for guitar and bass charting (and almost everything else).

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I am only currently doing my 4th custom now, so I can’t really say I am an expert, but since I have been making my customs full-band all by myself, at least I can share what I’ve learned so far.

First of all relax, take it easy… get into the state of mind that charting customs is a hobby, and as such it is supposed to be enjoyable. It doesn’t mean it’s easy, in fact it is often challenging, but you need to learn to enjoy the challenge as something that rewards itself. Make sure you don’t develop any competitive feelings about charting, it is NOT a competition! (Hint: signs that it’s turning into a competition are for example wanting to rush towards releasing your custom as soon as possible, planning an impossibly ambitious list of songs to chart, or constantly starting to work on new customs without ever finishing the previous)

Take yourself an evening off or a weekend afternoon to do at least the following preliminary studies:

– read Farottone’s beginners’ tutorial: https://dl.c3universe.com/53cec8d2f2465

– watch pksage’s video tutorial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2rfk21tm1I

– install the tools you need (at least Reaper, Magma and C3 CON Tools): http://customscreators.com/index.php?/topic/8997-list-of-all-authoring-stuff-reaper-magma-tutorials-etc/

– bookmark RBN authoring instructions (but you can read these along while charting): http://docs.c3universe.com/rbndocs/index.php?title=Main_Page

When I started, I thought I was going to first only add missing instruments to existing customs, but I quickly jumped to full-charting instead. To make it easier, you can pick a song without any keyboard or harmonies (although I didn’t). Honestly, I don’t think it’s worth charting Pro Guitar/Bass at all because there are too few people playing those, or at least I would wait until later, you can always release your first custom without them and add them afterwards.

Some bits I’ve learned about charting specific instruments:

1) TEMPO MAP

– Always the first thing to do…

– Most pop/rock songs have fairly constant tempo, if they also have drums more or less from the beginning until the end, then tempo mapping is in fact quite easy.

– Trust the visual peaks in the audio file in Reaper more than your ears.

– If you see that tempo markers change the BPM by less than 1 (or 2 for faster songs) then you’re probably doing it well enough.

2) DRUMS

– This is the easiest to chart, so it’s good to start a custom from this instrument.

– It helps to focus on separate drums sounds at different times: for example, do a first chart of only kickdrum+snare; then go back and chart closed/open hihats and ride; then back again and add fills and crashes

– Watch videos of the original band playing the song, because often it’s difficult to hear if the drummer is for example playing 8ths on the hihat or playing 16ths but accenting the 8ths; similarly, in the video you can tell better what toms are being used, if hihat is played with alternating hands (in which case you should use disco-flips), what toms are used…

– Some drummers use a lot of ghost notes, in that case it’s your choice to chart them or not, just stick with your choice for the whole song.

5) VOCALS

– Mostly, you’ll have to learn to chart by ear. Be patient, everyone can do it.

– Use the midi FX in Reaper to hear beeps when clicking/adding notes, this is a huge help for nailing vocal notes.

– If you have access to music sheet books, they always have a note-by-note transcription of the main vocals. I’ve never understood why they do, as I always thought singers simply need to listen to the record and sing the same notes, but with such a book in hand, your job in charting vocals is 99% done: just copy those notes directly into the midi and adjust the start/end of each note if necessary.

– You will notice that many singers don’t sing exactly in time but slightly earlier or later than 8ths, 16ths or whatever. Ideally, you would like to chart the start/end of each note exactly as the singer does, but don’t get mad about it… if the difference is small, you can fit those notes to 8ths/16ths and it won’t hurt in most cases.

– If you make compromises, it’s better to have a vocal note too short than too long, i.e. start a bit later or end a bit sooner. This makes singing easier.

6) KEYS

– Charting by ear is very hard, but not as hard as most people think.

– By all means, if you can find a note-by-note piano/keyboard transcription, use it.

– Alternatively you can find many MIDI files for free on the web created for karaoke to help you charting, but be aware they most of them are very different from the original song (stuff is missing or heavily changed, sounds not existing in the original are added, and sometimes everything is in the wrong key). It might end up being harder than worth.

– If no transcription is available, remember the chords transcription you found for the guitar? The keyboard plays the same chords so use the same chord chart for keys. You might need a bit of music theory to know which notes are in each key, but we can help you with that too.

7) HARMONIES

– Also very hard to chart by ear, but there are shortcuts.

– When background singers harmonize i.e. sing at the same time as the main singer but different notes, most of the times they follow a pattern. They have of course to stay in the same key, but a frequent choice is to sing a 3rd above the main voice, meaning that the notes of the second singer are 3 or 4 “rows” (in Reaper) above. So which one, 3 or 4? That varies from one note to the other, but one will be in the same key while the other will sound out of key, so you should be able to tell by ear. Other times the background singer harmonizes a 3rd below (3 or 4 rows lower) or a 5th above (almost always 7 rows higher, except a special note which is 6 rows higher).