[TheSwngKng]

[edited 04.06.14]

Hello everyone – In this thread I will post my current playable WIP efforts to chart full band customs. I hope to improve my skills over time working on different songs and also by receiving any feedback or assistance from this great community should anyone like to contribute.

 

Some comments, in no particular order:

• Any author is free to use any part of my songs to complete their own version, should they find anything useful. It’s all for the greater good.
• Constructive feedback, like ws54’s really awesome advice and charting examples on Devil In Disguise below, is always very welcome
• If anyone would be interested in collaborating by re-charting an instrument, that’s great. I have a particularly difficult time with drums it seems.
• Unless I am told by a moderator, I do not plan on adding these songs to the database as I consider them WIP and not good enough.
• I am only sporadically authoring and available on the C3 forum as my schedule allows, so my apologies in advance.
• I have practically no background in any of the requisite skillsets one should have for making customs songs, including time spent playing RB3 so my apologies in advance should I fail to understand something rudimentary.

 

My very first project is “Devil In Disguise” by Elvis Presley. I have spent many, many months just getting to this point but the song is playable (to my knowledge) in the game on Expert only (I know, sad, since this is a short/easy song). Some quick comments:

• Expert midi tracks are just copied over into H/M/E. I just started looking into CAT more today, but I plan on just reducing them manually. I kind of wanted to wait on that until this community told me if the Expert midi was OK or just complete garbage.
• I did this by ear for the most part as I had a lot of difficulty copying anything from the midis I found to my project tab once opened within REAPER. I struggled the most with drums, which should be easy for an author but I just can’t hear it that well.
• My sincere apologies to anyone who has been working on this song. I intentionally wanted to work by myself on a simple, fun song from beginning to end, so I didn’t look to collaborate.

Anyways thanks to you all for not only your help on this small project but for all of the unbelievable work you authors and programmers have done over the years.

 

http://www.mediafire.com/file/yyl23mkbcj2mfac/DevilInDisguise2.3_rb3con

 

Please let me know if the link or file do not work. I look forward to your feedback!

 

– TheSwngKng

[ws54]

If you want help, post more than just the con file. Also include the RPP and mp3 you are using. I’d like to look at this since I was hoping to do this song at some point.

[wingsoveramerica]

Great to see a author starting. Love that profile pic. And the Beach Boys reference in your location.

[TheSwngKng]

If you want help, post more than just the con file. Also include the RPP and mp3 you are using. I’d like to look at this since I was hoping to do this song at some point.

 

No problem.

http://www.mediafire.com/file/7aqsban7cg1ayax/Devil_In_Disguise_2.3.rpp

http://www.mediafire.com/file/wfn46ehct8b2n66/Elvis_Presley_-_%28You%27re_the%29_Devil_In_Disguise_-_24.mp3

 

Great to see a author starting. Love that profile pic. And the Beach Boys reference in your location.

 

Thanks Wings! Someday perhaps we can finish off “Lahaina Aloha”.

[ws54]

Hi. I took a look at your project. Frankly, if this wasn’t a song I was planning to do someday I probably wouldn’t have done this review.

 

First, I’ll just say that it takes a lot of guts to ask for critiquing on your first project. The part where you said that you don’t have much background in even playing Rockband had me a little worried, but I’ve seen much worse first charts, and this is where everyone starts.

 

The good news is that you did a good job on the tempo map. You kept the same BPM in the fast part of the song. Maybe it should have been sped up? I’m not sure if it matters. But without a solid tempo map, nothing else works well. But I noticed that most of your charts have almost all notes placed 1/16th too soon. I am not sure if that is an unintentional mistake or if you meant it that way. If you meant it that way then you will need to read more and gain more experience before going much further since it is unplayable that way.

 

GUITAR:

I looked closest at guitar since that is what I play when I play Rock Band. I took the liberty of recharting some of the song (placing my chart on HARD) to demonstrate how I would chart it. I spent time on the entire first verse and chorus, and also the solo (your solo was a surprisingly a good start.) The rest of the song will be variations of what I charted. I’m not saying my chart is perfect, but I’d recommend that you compare my chart with yours and understand why I did certain things the way I did. If you want, I’d be happy to finish the guitar part for you (expert only.)

 

VOCALS:

I’m assuming that vocals aren’t yet refined and directly came from a midi. Midis are never good enough and must always be refined and checked for pitch, start, end, and slides.

For a few phrases in the song I copied what you have down 1 octave and muted your notes. Then I adjusted the copied notes. As you can see it is quite different than your notes.

I’d split up most of those phrases into two. For example, “You look like an angel” can be phrase 1 and “Walk like an angel” as phrase 2, etc. Same with the choruses and post choruses. Don’t forget the humming parts.

DRUMS and BASS:

I didn’t look close but what I saw needed work. It may be the off by 1/16th problem I mentioned earlier. For example, there is a kick at the start of most measures but your kicks are 1/16th too soon. I’m no drummer, but I am reasonably sure that most measures from M5-M11 should only have two snare notes each. You have many. I adjusted M5-M11 expert to chart it the way I am hearing it. You may want to get an expert drummer’s opinion on that.

EVENTS:

music_start and music_end events mark where an audience would naturally start clapping in the song.. So placing it at 3.1.0 would be unlikely. I’d place music_start at 3.4 and music_end at 73.1.0

place [prc_intro] at 3.1.0

[prc_verse_1a] at 4.4.50

[prc_verse_2a] is not a verse. More like a post_chorus verse 2 starts where you have [prc_verse_2b]

[prc_quiet_part] is really just [prc_verse_3]

I’d put a [prc_outro] at 68.3

Here’s my RPP file: http://www.mediafire.com/file/3aa5gzi9ma90cmw/Devil_In_Disguise_2.3_WS54.rpp

I can tell that you have the makings of a good customs author. Just need practice and guidance. Play more Rockband. Keep reading the docs. Honestly, Devil in Disguise is not a simple song to start with. I hope this was helpful.

[TheSwngKng]

ws54 – Thanks so much for the analysis, the comments and the work you did. I’ll be taking a good look at it and – like you said – continuing to practice, play and read the docs. Much appreciated!

[TheSwngKng]

Hello again everyone, I’m back with an updated version of Devil In Disguise plus Don’t Be Cruel as well.

 

Just to restate, I’m doing these songs to try to improve over time and collaborate with this great community.

* Any author is free to use any part of my songs to complete their own version, should they find anything useful. It’s all for the greater good.

* Constructive feedback, like ws54’s really awesome advice and charting examples on Devil In Disguise, is always very welcome

* If anyone would be interested in collaborating by recharting an instrument, that’s great. I have a particularly difficult time with drums it seems.

* Unless I am told by a moderator, I do not plan on adding these songs to the database as I consider them WIP.

* I am only sporadically authoring and on the C3 forum as my schedule allows, so my apologies in advance.

 

Thanks! – TheSwngKng

 

Devil In Disguise – Elvis Presley

Con: http://www.mediafire.com/file/8yl5v5gusig248o/Elvis-DevilInDisguise

mp3: http://www.mediafire.com/file/kyepbjlpqd4hpc5/Elvis_Presley_-_%28You%27re_The%29_Devil_In_Disguise_-_24.mp3

rpp: http://www.mediafire.com/file/up07mhn2ue8f5a3/Devil_In_Disguise_2.4.rpp

*Definitely not perfect but a much better version of my first effort following ws54’s advice.

 

Don’t Be Cruel – Elvis Presley

CON: http://www.mediafire.com/file/ztanx02mxuiznrt/Elvis-DontBeCruelv2C_rb3con

mp3: http://www.mediafire.com/file/w7bbx7tsfng7f86/Elvis_Presley_-_Don%27t_Be_Cruel.mp3

rpp: http://www.mediafire.com/file/1c3hriktv6dcerm/DontBeCruelv2C.rpp

*The guitar part is primarily the vocal harmony, at the request of my bandmates. Sorry!

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