[Nazxul360]

Guys, I have a couple more questions (I would have posted in the other thread but I wasn’t sure you’d see it).

 

For the record, I’ve read all of Farottone’s PDF tutorial (awesome stuff, by the way), I watched pksage’s “Let’s Author” stream as well as Nyxyxylyth’s ‘Charting Vocals’ video. I’ve also read through the ‘Vocal Authoring’ page of the official Harmonix docs, but I haven’t come across answers to these questions yet.

 

 

Firstly, say I have a phrase like this:

 

“It’s time to jump in or simply get the hell out”

 

Where the first word; “It’s” is non-pitched but the rest of the phrase is pitched. I know I shouldn’t mix pitched and non-pitched closely together, especially with something as trivial as this, so should I just place a lyric text event for “It’s” in the appropriate spot with no accompanying note tube and then chart the rest of the phrase as normal?

 

 

Second, regarding when to start and end notes, I just want to make sure I’m going the right way about this before getting too far into my chart.

 

I’m working in 1/128, and basically I’m ALT-scrubbing through the vocal track, moving through the consonants and the instant I hear the slightest bit of vocal tone in a word, I go in a further 128th and start the note there. Same with ending the note – as soon as it sounds like the vocal tone is ending, I bring it back a 128th and end the note.

 

Is this okay? Or is this being too pedantic and should I be shrinking it down a bit more to be more lenient on the player?

 

 

Also while I’m posting; Charting non-pitched parts. How do? The Harmonix docs tell me how to tag a lyric as non-pitched (#), but not how to specify the length. I’m guessing I just create a tube of any pitch at the right length to go along with the ‘#’ tagged lyric. Correct?

 

 

I’ll probably be posting more questions about vocal charting in this thread from now on as I don’t want to clutter the board with a new post every time I have a question. So if you guys (Farottone and Nightmare Lyra mainly, as you guys have been helping me out so far) wouldn’t mind keeping an eye on this thread, I’d really appreciate it. ” src=”/wp-content/uploads/invision_emoticons/default_SA_smile.gif” />

[Farottone]

Where the first word; “It’s” is non-pitched but the rest of the phrase is pitched. I know I shouldn’t mix pitched and non-pitched closely together, especially with something as trivial as this, so should I just place a lyric text event for “It’s” in the appropriate spot with no accompanying note tube and then chart the rest of the phrase as normal?

 

No, non-pitched notes are still pitched (I always try to pitch my notes, unless it’s truly spoken) but the lyrics event has a # at the end of the syllable to make the game recognise it as non pitched (or ^ if you need the game engine to loosen up a bit). We have done, though rarely, even non-pitched syllables, so close words inside a phrase is perfectly fine (though always check in game).

 

I’ll leave the rest to Nyx since he’s the master of scrubbing. ” src=”/wp-content/uploads/invision_emoticons/default_SA_smile.gif”>

[Nyxyxylyth]

I’m working in 1/128, and basically I’m ALT-scrubbing through the vocal track, moving through the consonants and the instant I hear the slightest bit of vocal tone in a word, I go in a further 128th and start the note there. Same with ending the note – as soon as it sounds like the vocal tone is ending, I bring it back a 128th and end the note.

 

Is this okay? Or is this being too pedantic and should I be shrinking it down a bit more to be more lenient on the player?

You’re stressing out too much – work in 1/64, and don’t get too wrapped up in sub-grid details. Generally, I lean towards starting a syllable sooner, and ending a syllable sooner, but it’s not particularly hard or fast. Remember the guideline of 2/64 for a minimum syllable length.

 

If you had the actual vocal stems, your chart would likely be quite different in terms of where syllables begin and end, since you could hear the vocals alone. We have to settle for just doing the best we can.

[Nazxul360]

First off, for some reference, here is the song. Skip to about 2:00 to hear the part I’m talking about.

 

 

No, non-pitched notes are still pitched (I always try to pitch my notes, unless it’s truly spoken) but the lyrics event has a # at the end of the syllable to make the game recognise it as non pitched (or ^ if you need the game engine to loosen up a bit). We have done, though rarely, even non-pitched syllables, so close words inside a phrase is perfectly fine (though always check in game).

 

So to make sure I’ve got this right, you’re saying that if I do it like this,

…the “It’s” will show up in the game as pitched with a note tube and all, but the game actually regards it as non-pitched?

 

If you had the actual vocal stems, your chart would likely be quite different in terms of where syllables begin and end, since you could hear the vocals alone. We have to settle for just doing the best we can.

I actually am working with the vocal stem. ” src=”/wp-content/uploads/invision_emoticons/default_SA_smile.gif” /> It’s not dry, but it definitely helps. See my WIP thread (viewtopic.php?f=23&t=3003) and my last question post (viewtopic.php?f=12&t=3006).

 

You’re stressing out too much – work in 1/64, and don’t get too wrapped up in sub-grid details. Generally, I lean towards starting a syllable sooner, and ending a syllable sooner, but it’s not particularly hard or fast.

So when you say “starting a syllable sooner”, do you mean a bit sooner than it actually starts? And if so, by how much? Or do you start the note right when the syllable tone starts and then cut the end short a bit? Again, by how much?

 

Also,

Charting non-pitched parts. How do? The Harmonix docs tell me how to tag a lyric as non-pitched (#), but not how to specify the length. I’m guessing I just create a tube of any pitch at the right length to go along with the ‘#’ tagged lyric. Correct?

Still not quite sure about this. Say for example 0:36-0:40 in the video I linked above.

 

I know most of this stuff requires some discretion depending on the project, and a that a lot of it will come down to testing and tweaking, so I hope I’m not being a nuisance. But this being my first time and all, I’d just like to have all the basic ground rules established and get it as close to “right” as I can before the testing phase.

 

Thanks again, guys. ” src=”/wp-content/uploads/invision_emoticons/default_SA_smile.gif” />

[Farottone]

So to make sure I’ve got this right, you’re saying that if I do it like this,

…the “It’s” will show up in the game as pitched with a note tube and all, but the game actually regards it as non-pitched?

 

The game will show it unpitched, because you added the # symbol. What I meant with “it’s still pitched” is that the note is still an F, it’s just that the game will accept any pitch for the note. The reason why I tend to find the correct pitch anyway is that if you change your mind and you think the singer should sing the note, the pitch is already correct.

 

You are not being a nuisance, doing your homework is good, not bad. ” src=”/wp-content/uploads/invision_emoticons/default_SA_smile.gif”>

[Nyxyxylyth]

You’re stressing out too much – work in 1/64, and don’t get too wrapped up in sub-grid details. Generally, I lean towards starting a syllable sooner, and ending a syllable sooner, but it’s not particularly hard or fast.

So when you say “starting a syllable sooner”, do you mean a bit sooner than it actually starts? And if so, by how much? Or do you start the note right when the syllable tone starts and then cut the end short a bit? Again, by how much?

If you can just barely hear the consonant at the start of a 1/64 grid position, then err on the side of starting the tube a little sooner, rather than another 64th later. Likewise, it’s better to cut the ending off tubes off sooner rather than later, whether it’s due to the singer trailing off to an indistinct pitch, an ending consonant, etc. That gives a little more freedom to the player, rather than forcing them to sustain notes.

 

It’s nothing to lose sleep over – 1/64th is close enough.

[Nazxul360]

The game will show it unpitched, because you added the # symbol. What I meant with “it’s still pitched” is that the note is still an F, it’s just that the game will accept any pitch for the note. The reason why I tend to find the correct pitch anyway is that if you change your mind and you think the singer should sing the note, the pitch is already correct.

So does that answer my question about how to chart non-pitched lyrics? You just set a tube of any note but the ‘#’ makes it non-pitched? And it’ll show up in the game as non-pitched with the blue section to the length of the note tube? Is it not bad to have such a tiny thing non-pitched like that right before a full phrase of pitched vocals?

 

If you can just barely hear the consonant at the start of a 1/64 grid position, then err on the side of starting the tube a little sooner, rather than another 64th later.

Does that mean it’s okay to chart from the beginning of the consonant? The Harmonix docs said that’s a bad thing…

[Nyxyxylyth]

So does that answer my question about how to chart non-pitched lyrics? You just set a tube of any note but the ‘#’ makes it non-pitched? And it’ll show up in the game as non-pitched with the blue section to the length of the note tube? Is it not bad to have such a tiny thing non-pitched like that right before a full phrase of pitched vocals?

Correct. Not a bad thing. Happens all the time.

 

If you can just barely hear the consonant at the start of a 1/64 grid position, then err on the side of starting the tube a little sooner, rather than another 64th later.

Does that mean it’s okay to chart from the beginning of the consonant? The Harmonix docs said that’s a bad thing…

Consonants are usually longer than 1/64. If it’s a really fast song and it’s shorter than that, it doesn’t matter much.

[Farottone]

So does that answer my question about how to chart non-pitched lyrics? You just set a tube of any note but the ‘#’ makes it non-pitched? And it’ll show up in the game as non-pitched with the blue section to the length of the note tube? Is it not bad to have such a tiny thing non-pitched like that right before a full phrase of pitched vocals?

 

Yes, you set a tube of any note and add a # to your lyrics, as you did. And it’s not bad, if the note is spoken and not sung, hence its pitch is not defined, it’s ok. Also, I wouldn’t worry about a single 1/64th note: even if you completely fudge it, chances are that its impact on scoring will be minimal.

[Nazxul360]

You guys are the best. Thank you.

[Nazxul360]

Another question. This time about a laugh.

 

Skip to 2:55 for the part in question.

 

Each “ha” seems to be specifically timed, so should I adhere to that timing with a separate non-pitched lyric and note tube for each one? Or should I just have one note tube for the whole laugh with each “ha” lyric at the right timing to make things easier on the player?

[Colonel 32dll]

Another question. This time about a laugh.

 

Skip to 2:55 for the part in question.

 

Each “ha” seems to be specifically timed, so should I adhere to that timing with a separate non-pitched lyric and note tube for each one? Or should I just have one note tube for the whole laugh with each “ha” lyric at the right timing to make things easier on the player?

Yup. ” src=”/wp-content/uploads/invision_emoticons/default_SA_smile.gif” />

[Nazxul360]

Cheers mate.

[Author]

Posts