[Blake]

What’s the best part about Rock Band? For me, it was all the new songs that I had never heard before I played and the way that I was able to be introduced to them. Guitar Hero, Rock Band, and Rocksmith have guided my music tastes down the path to where they are now. Anyway, the point is that in order to introduce people to new songs through custom content in this game, all worry needs to be eliminated. If someone’s going to take the time to download a song they’ve never heard before, they need to know that they’ll enjoy it once they turn on the game. There’s definitely something to be said about the massive amount of custom songs available here. Although, there is a quality problem. I’m not bashing anyone, when I first started doing this I made my fair share of terrible charts. I know I have charts in this very database that I’m not proud of that I need to fix or remove completely. Which brings up… The Review Board. Back from the dead. Roll your eyes, it’s fine.

The Review Board had some big problems. The number one problems is that it was not fun. Reviewing songs takes time and there was no personal incentive to being a part of it. I thought (and still think) it would have been extremely beneficial to the community had it worked out. So I am reincarnating it as something completely different, and hopefully it works out this time.

One of the other big problems with the review board was that all the members were treated as if they had no authoring flaws, which could’ve quite possibly been true for the other 4 members, but it definitely was not for me. I’m not great at authoring drums, or harmonies, or keys. I know my weaknesses and my strengths and I assume the rest of you do as well. So, with that said the way membership works is going to be different this time and hopefully I can get some volunteers.

Each member will have specialties. They might have one specialty, they might have more than one specialty. They might have all the specialties. So it will look something like this:

Guitar Reviewers:
RealCheese

Bass Reviewers:
RealCheese

Vocals Reviewers:
RealCheese

Drum Reviewers:
NOT RealCheese

Harmonies Reviewers:
NOT RealCheese

And so on… So each song submitted to the “Board” would need two passing votes per instrument/part. And this is where a nice addition comes in. If a song just barely missed the mark (one or two non-passing instruments for example) it will be posted in the thread as a song that needs a little help (with the original authors permission). In which case, one of the fine authors in this community can grab the files, fix the part, and it will make the cut.

As far as board members go: there are no deadlines, there is no certain amount of work you HAVE to do. You can be a board member and not review every song that gets submitted. I am going to do as much work as possible on this so that everyone else has to do less. As long as your willing to help out some, you can be on the board if you want to be. I don’t want anyone to feel like this is going to take up a ton of their time. Songs will be submitted and they will be approved (or not) whenever they get approved (or not). The submitters need to understand that we are all just regular people who only have a certain amount of free time per day, just like anyone else.

So to start this big project (and to give me some time to gauge community interest and hopefully gain some board members) I am announcing a big collaboration pack with only three guidelines:

1. The song must be family-friendly (no explicit language, no reference to drugs, no reference to sex or big booty bitches)
2. The song must be from an artist that has not already been approved to be in the pack
3. All songs will be reviewed and approved as per the methods stated above

If I don’t get any interested board members, this will fail. Which is fine. I’m just giving this one more good try. (we will still release whatever songs have been authored in a big pack regardless) If you want to be included in the pack, post the songs you’re interested in submitting in this thread and I’ll add them to the OP. Don’t overload the thread with a bunch of songs unless you’ve made some progress on them ” src=”/wp-content/uploads/invision_emoticons/default_SA_smile.gif” />
All songs must have manual reductions, harmonies, overdrive, song sections, the works. I can probably help out with overdrive and song sections if that’s not something you typically do.

RealCheese

1. Bart Crow Band – Wear My Ring [Country]
2. Black Sabbath – God Is Dead? [Metal]
3. Chris Stapleton – Parachute [Country]
4. Niall Horan – Slow Hands [Pop]
5. Of Mice & Men – Pain [Metal]
6. Red Hot Chili Peppers – Hump de Bump [Alternative]

[imported_doa]

I’ll be keeping an eye on this to see where it goes, and may submit something for review?

 

I’m unlikely to ever author harmonies though – I don’t have the ear for that (or the desire to do more than one vocal track).

 

Having said that it would be nice to occasionally get some outside feedback on charts.

 

I wish you luck, because feedback on charts would be very helpful I think.

[Blake]

I’ll be keeping an eye on this to see where it goes, and may submit something for review?

 

I’m unlikely to ever author harmonies though – I don’t have the ear for that (or the desire to do more than one vocal track).

 

Having said that it would be nice to occasionally get some outside feedback on charts.

 

I wish you luck, because feedback on charts would be very helpful I think.

Awesome, thanks!

[TomGuy]

I think this is a great idea! I am always asking for others to look over my charts because I tend to miss something. I also have no problem with reviewing others’ charts as well. If you want me to be a part of the collective, I’m in! I’m generally good with reviewing guitar, bass, and drums.

[MrPrezident]

RealCheese you are a fine community member and author, I commend you for taking this on again. Good luck!!

Keeping the content Canadian since 2017!

SomeOldGuys: https://db.c3universe.com/songs/all/__user/someoldguys
MrPrezident: https://db.c3universe.com/songs/all/__user/MrPrezident

[Dandysqueak]

This is actually something I’ve wanted to do for a long while. I’m a perfectionist when it comes to charting, but there have been times where I wasn’t quite sure if something on my own charts was even correct (damn you, bass!), so being able to receive feedback on what to change/add while simultaneously giving that same feedback to others is absolutely vital. Despite being a relatively young author (in terms of age and released custom count), I’ve tinkered with nearly a couple hundred customs behind the scenes over the past few years or so, and with every custom I’ve learned new things that better my craft, so it’s PROBABLY safe to assume I know what I’m doing.

 

Unfortunately, due to circumstances beyond my control, I can’t join just yet, but do put my name down as very, VERY interested. As far as strengths go, I’m very comfortable with authoring drums, while vocals/harmonies and keys are my auxiliary and tertiary strengths, respectively. The one instrument you probably shouldn’t have me review is bass, because if it isn’t clear in the mix, even with plugins like the center canceller and ReaEQ, it’ll be a nightmare for me to figure out.

 

As for songs to add to the pack, I have some ideas, but I need more time not only to think, but also for my circumstances to clear up; not sure when, but I’ll let you know.

 

I do have one question: Will there be people to review/add venues? I do know that this is a review board and not necessarily an authoring group, but (and I’m not trying to trash anybody) there have been some pretty lackluster venues I’ve seen; some use autogen, or frankly, some don’t even count as a venue, just a still camera shot of the band awkwardly standing around. I really enjoy making venues, and the effort in making them great makes the custom that much more special, in my opinion, so having a dedicated venue reviewer could be a great way to see what others think of your creative vision (if any). I should probably ask the same for reductions/overdrive.

 

Anyway, I’m VERY excited to see where this goes, I wish you the best of luck, Cheese.

[Blake]

I think this is a great idea! I am always asking for others to look over my charts because I tend to miss something. I also have no problem with reviewing others’ charts as well. If you want me to be a part of the collective, I’m in! I’m generally good with reviewing guitar, bass, and drums.

I messaged you

 

 

RealCheese you are a fine community member and author, I commend you for taking this on again. Good luck!!

 

Thank you, we’ll see what happens

 

 

As for songs to add to the pack, I have some ideas, but I need more time not only to think, but also for my circumstances to clear up; not sure when, but I’ll let you know.

Sounds good. Just let me know.

 

 

I do have one question: Will there be people to review/add venues? I do know that this is a review board and not necessarily an authoring group, but (and I’m not trying to trash anybody) there have been some pretty lackluster venues I’ve seen; some use autogen, or frankly, some don’t even count as a venue, just a still camera shot of the band awkwardly standing around. I really enjoy making venues, and the effort in making them great makes the custom that much more special, in my opinion, so having a dedicated venue reviewer could be a great way to see what others think of your creative vision (if any). I should probably ask the same for reductions/overdrive.

Okay, so the thing with Venues and lighting is that it doesn’t affect the actual playing of the song itself. And a lot of people just autogenerate them, so REQUIRING custom venues/lighting would bring the actual value (and total amount of songs) for this type of thing down significantly. The point is to have a long list of songs with unquestionable note authoring and reductions. Anything outside of that is fantastic, and there will be different tier levels to accomodate the extra work. Ideally, we would have some people on board to add custom venues to other author’s great note authoring. But that is asking A LOT.

 

Another thing with customs venues, is that it’s super subjective. There’s nothing within the song itself telling you what to do. Like authoring drums or guitar for example. So reviewing something like that in a fair manner seems impossible to me.

 

So reviewing venues will not be a part of this. Although, all songs will have a list of what’s done and what’s not done so anyone can add to it as they and the original author see fit.

[Shroud]

Having reviews of any sorts would be useful, but what would really help discovering new songs is having video previews. If there was a team who took care of making video previews for existing customs, it would be great. Combined with a database filter option to see only customs with a preview, and people could browse easily songs and figure out which have potential.

 

Having reviews would be useful more as a negative filter: there’s a song you know and want to play, but the chart is poorly made… normally you find out when trying in game, but a negative review can spare you from the disappointment.

 

Couple more things I don’t understand…

 

Is this supposed to work so that NEW customs are submitted for review before adding to the database? Or can we also request you to review existing/old customs?

 

Will you review only in xbox? An extra benefits would be if reviewers also check the custom in PS3/Wii so that we know in advance which songs have issues that do not affect xbox users.

 

Then, is the review output in the form of an official “approval” from the review team, or is there going to be ratings, and would they be separate by instrument?

 

Finally, the approval/rating is it going to be only about correctness/completeness of each part? Is it going to account for how fun is an instrument to play?

[AJFOne23]

I would gladly welcome anyone willing to do reductions for any of my songs past and future

[Blake]

Is this supposed to work so that NEW customs are submitted for review before adding to the database? Or can we also request you to review existing/old customs?

So for this pack that’s going to kick things off, all songs need to be new (unreleased), family-friendly, with manual reductions and all legacy instruments

In the future, once the review board is up and going, any song from the past can be submitted for review. And there will be no family-friendly guidelines or manual reductions necessary. Although all legacy instruments will still be needed

 

 

Will you review only in xbox? An extra benefits would be if reviewers also check the custom in PS3/Wii so that we know in advance which songs have issues that do not affect xbox users.

The majority of the review work will take place checking the actual chart itself. Slowing the songs down and making sure the notes are placed appropriately. Any play-testing that I, myself, do will be on XBOX. Although if any Wii or PS3 users join the board then they can test the songs there as well

 

 

Then, is the review output in the form of an official “approval” from the review team, or is there going to be ratings, and would they be separate by instrument?

A song either gets approved as a whole or it does not get approved at all. There won’t be a song that only gets the guitar part approved, for example. With that being said, any song that had one or two instruments that just barely missed the mark will be posted to the OP (with the original authors permission) for improvements, where anyone can take the song, fix what’s wrong, and it will be re-reviewed.

 

Finally, the approval/rating is it going to be only about correctness/completeness of each part? Is it going to account for how fun is an instrument to play?

It will only be about correctness/completeness. Fun doesn’t matter as long as it’s accurate. It isn’t fun to play inaccurate songs.

[SanicStudios]

I’d be 100% willing to join in this. I feel I’ve spent enough time on the site and authoring that my customs are at a decent level. I have a keen ear for noticing inconsistencies across all instruments (I can normally tell a chart is wrong just by looking at it for the first time)

 

Would love to be a part of this somehow!

[Author]

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