36 replies to this topic

[Atruejedi]

Links to thread entries:

 

1. Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds - Holy Mountain (1/20/18) [this post]
2. Soul Asylum - Runaway Train (2/3/18)
3. The Vaccines - Post Break-Up Sex (2/11/18)
4. The Fratellis - Imposters (Little by Little) (2/16/18)
5. Blitzen Trapper - Black River Killer (2/16/18)
6. Fitz and the Tantrums - MoneyGrabber (2/26/18)
7. Beastie Boys - 3-Minute Rule (3/12/18)
8. Band of Skulls - Black Magic (3/12/18)
9. The Roots - What They Do (3/19/18)
10. Hard-Fi - Cash Machine (3/19/18)
11. First Aid Kit - My Silver Lining (4/2/18)
12. The Presidents of the United States of America - So Lo So Hi (4/2/18)
13. Mother Mother - Back in School (4/2/18)

 

[original post follows below]

 

"No need to shout, what you bitchin' about?"

 

Greetings, C3 forumites.

 

I'm Atruejedi. I chart vocals. You may have enjoyed my contributions to customs published by some of the community's finest authors. Today, I humbly present to you my first custom:

 

Click here to go to the database entry.

Don't you dare download it without reading all the nonsense below.

 

This Rock Band 3 custom song, Holy Mountain by Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds, joins in the database two other songs by the Britpop icon, Lock All the Doors by Guido and In The Heat of the Moment by funkydunkleman (featuring some of my first vocals work!). Holy Mountain was created in partnership with all-'round-good-guy/resident-legend MrPrezident. Without his contributions and guidance, this project (yes, publishing your first custom is a project!) would not have been possible. If you'd have told me six months ago I'd be publishing a custom with (almost) all the bells and whistles, I'd have scoffed in disbelief... but here we are. I've traded time and effort for frustration, satisfaction, headaches, and joy, and I'd do it all again (in fact, I've already got another custom baking in the oven). I hope you enjoy playing this, especially with groups of friends (and copious amounts of booze). Feedback and constructive criticism are appreciated.

 

[insert various witticisms and obscenities]

 

Holy Mountain is from Noel Gallagher's third solo album Who Built the Moon?, released this past November. NME called the song "a jaunty and vibrant, horn-driven, arena-ready number-- with elements of the Vaccines latter day work to its sound" (coincidentally, at my request, Prez has given me a tempo map for a Vaccines song... ). You can call it jaunty and vibrant if you want, but I call it a stupidly fun pop rock masterpiece. It's completely unlike anything on Noel's previous two (excellent) albums, and that's fine with me. Sometimes you just need something that sounds pretty and can make your body move, no thinking required. This is that song. I realize Noel can be a pretty polarizing figure, but forget what a (loveable) prick he is for a moment and give it a listen:

 

[Gameplay video courtesy of MrPrezident; video not entirely reflective of custom venue work]

 

Features:

Fully custom venue from scratch (with keyboardist events)

Vocal chart from scratch

Dryvox lip sync for all three vocal parts

Vocal tonic note

Reductions for all instruments

Numeric ID for Wii leaderboards

 

Prez told me I didn't have to bother cataloguing all the details of what he and I contributed to this project, but it's only right that I do just that. You can skip the minutia if you so choose, but I think it's worth reading, especially if you're not an author; a lot of effort goes into getting these customs onto your Xbox (and my Wii!). But if a doofus like me can pull this off, you can, too. So, story time:

 

A few weeks ago I asked an author if he'd be interested in producing Holy Mountain as a song for his upcoming customs event. He declined. I cried. But I still thought it was a good idea. I approached Prez about it and he was receptive. He and I have been collaborating for a while now, and I'm a sucker for his good taste in music and have proudly provided him with an increasing number of vocal charts. I plowed through my queue of vocal commitments in the past two weeks and asked Prez if he had anything else I could work on. He did, and when he sent me [redacted] by [redacted], he told me he would tempo map a few songs for me if I was interested. I suspect he thought that with tempo maps to pet songs, maybe I'd branch out. And branch I did.

 

Knowing I would be getting tempo maps for songs I was responsible for producing motivated me to learn how to do things beyond just charting vocals. Once Prez sent over our collaborative Holy Mountain Reaper file, I did my usual thing of adding vocals and harmonies... then decided to cut my teeth in other areas. You may be surprised to learn this, but this is my first song with a vocal percussion part.    And I finally charted my first non-vocals parts: bass, keys, and pro keys. Each of these instrument charts went through three iterations: first, I'd slop something down, then Prez would revise it, then I would revise his revision.

 

I've played so many awesome Rock Band bass charts (like those tasty jams featured in AJFOne23's customs of early Chicago) that creating this one was rather easy... because Holy Mountain is not particularly complex, lucky for me! But I didn't have confidence in the consistency and professionalism of what I created. At my request, Prez looked over what I came up with, made some modifications, and sent it back to me, reiterating that this was my custom and that I, ultimately, had the final say in things. Then, once I messed with Reaper's equalizer settings and could easily discern the low frequency sounds, I gave the chart another revision, making it much more detailed and "accurate" (I confess, I treat bass charts like piano parts; blame Harmonix!). While the bass in Holy Mountain isn't particularly challenging, I find it really fun, and I hope you do, too!

 

I charted the very recognizable "whistling" of Holy Mountain to keys and pro keys, and then, once again, Prez gave it a pass, adding some horns to the chart and other fillers to keep the player engaged (smart!). In the next pass, I deleted a few portions and replaced them with additional piccolo (or whatever the hell makes that whistling noise). Just pretend you're playing a synthesizer (because you most likely are). If there were actually a complex piano part present in this song, I don't think I'd be able to handle charting it. So if keys and pro keys are one of your strengths, keep me in mind. I'm going to need your help to complete some of the plans I have...

 

I got my first experience with C3 Automation Tools (CAT) reductions by applying them to the bass and keys parts after I finalized them, and I manually reduced the pro keys (you're welcome... because I suck too!). I have to say, I was skeptical of the job CAT would do, but after seeing the results, I'm mighty impressed. I watched previews of easy and medium difficulty levels of the bass chart using the Rock Band Network visualizer plug-in and CAT virtually flawlessly reduced them in a logical fashion. On easy, one note is still a bit weird in a section that appears a few times, but that's just the nature of that part... something has to be charted there, so I can't fault CAT. My only "complaint" is I had to go through and fix the length of the sustains: they were all truncated into nothing. There's probably a CAT fix for that as well, but I was hesitant to experiment and accidentally destroy everything.

 

CAT did a similarly wonderful job reducing keys and guitar (although hard and expert guitar are exactly the same, but hey, it's not a complex guitar part at all). This is when I lost my virginity got my first Magma error, telling me pro keys only needed overdrive on the expert track. It was a night I'll never forget. I got a few more errors after that and was impressed with the specificity of Magma. It really makes hunting bugs much easier than I expected!

 

Prez provided the guitar and drums charts. Brain not drum good so any customs from me will always require donations from the community. I might tackle a simple guitar part someday, but chords, while easy to play in 5-button form, are still intimidating to chart.

 

I recorded dryvox (17 times) that were implemented by Prez, but I wasn't 100% satisfied with them, so I re-recorded myself again (again) and managed to implement them on my own without instigating a nuclear winter. Even something this basic would not have been possible had I not been able to learn from exploring the files MrPrezident organized into a project I could study. He even provided the album art!

 

I would like to thank Fat Ha1p3rt and DemonUnicorns for sharing their knowledge of custom venue creation with me. I asked them roughly 285 questions and they were both very willing to help. Fat Ha1p3rt was particularly gracious and patient with me, explaining (with screenshots, no less) how I could do something as simple as create a new MIDI track in a Reaper project... because believe it or not, even the basics are impossible when you have no experience.

 

 

I knew from the start that if I ever released my own custom, I would polish that turd 'til it shined bright like a diamond. I had no desire to release a custom using the auto-generated venues I've seen so many times without any remarkable variation... go big or go home! But after putting the final touches on my own custom venue, I understand why authors choose not to put in the extra effort. It is a daunting task, especially as a Wii user, because every test requires not only recompiling the project in Magma, but converting the CON with C3 Tools, converting the venue data with MiloMod, preparing and compiling the files into BINs, and transferring the now-prepared custom to the SD card and the Wii itself. All told, I tested this custom over fifty times to make it as perfect as my patience would allow. I don't think Prez expected me to take it this far when he offered me a lil' tempo map.

 

There is still room for improvement. Nothing is ever perfect or finished... I am George Lucas in that respect. If you'd like to contribute improvements or have suggestions for how I can do better, hit me up. Oh, and if anybody is interested in providing animations for this custom, contact me. That is something that does not interest me... playing with no actual musical talent (and drunk) means it all looks the same to me.

 

I have already made significant progress on my upcoming second release: vocals are done, venue work has begun, and I've started charting (very poorly and inefficiently) the bass part (want to help? It's funky fun!). The song is from Fitz and the Tantrums' 2010 debut record. You might recognize the band's name because they already have a horrible (and horribly catchy) pop song available as Rock Band 4 DLC, but in their early years they were an awesome neo soul group. I adore their first album and might chart a few other songs from it as well, if there's a market for them. It's less fun making songs only me and my plastic band will enjoy... diminishing returns 'n' all that. So if you have an opinion, offer it up.

 

MrPrezident has gracious offered his services once again to provide guitar, keys, pro keys and drums for this tune... thank goodness his wife dug it! I'm unsure when it will all be wrapped up, but it will be my next release. As I said, I could use help with the bass part. And Prez can't do everything.

 

(or can he?)

 

If you wish you could make customs but are scared to try, don't be! Yes, it's a very intimidating process and a bajillion things can go wrong, but there are many helpful community members here who will selflessly offer their knowledge and assistance... because they selfishly want you to release songs they can play as well! So don't be shy. Even if you're only good at one thing (like me!), you can still work with other authors that aren't good at what you do! If we all pitch in, we can make beautiful music.

 

(DO YOU GET IT? PITCH IN???)

 

Oh, hey. You made it this far. I hope this is the first of many songs I publish in the database, and I hope to finagle cajole convince inspire further collaboration with additional and varied authors to help me bring more full-band customs into our libraries. Thank you for reading!

 

Atruejedi

 

P.S. Fuck Liam.

Two high flying birds.

[zimbabwean]

Wow, thanks for sharing the path you took, very interesting read.

 

And probably why I haven't yet dabbled!

[DemonUnicorns]

Congrats on your first release!

Hope to see many more.

[mangolatango]

I don't know how people like you do it.

All I can bring myself to chart is the guitar, I can't even imagine the pain of doing venues, lipsync etc. So props to you, and all other charters of the proverbial bells-and-whistles!

[doa]

Congratulations on your first custom! 

[PopGoesRockBand]

Feel free to PM me about anything

[Atruejedi]

Wow, thanks for sharing the path you took, very interesting read.

 

And probably why I haven't yet dabbled!

 

Thank you! But don't delay. Start dabbling! Dabbling can lead to great things. Imagine a world where Edison didn't dabble... we might not be playing customs!

 

*can hear the Tesla crowd already*

 

Congrats on your first release!

Hope to see many more.

 

Me too! Release #2 is coming soon...

 

I don't know how people like you do it.

All I can bring myself to chart is the guitar, I can't even imagine the pain of doing venues, lipsync etc. So props to you, and all other charters of the proverbial bells-and-whistles!

 

What a coincidence... I am awful at charting guitar! Check out my WIP thread. You might come in handy.

 

Congratulations on your first custom! 

 

Thank you!

 

Feel free to PM me about anything

 

Appreciated!

[Dangus]

Congratulations on your first release !!!

[Atruejedi]

"Like a madman laughin' at the rain"

 

Lightning strikes twice! Today sees the release of a song I believe is one of the finest ever written. I proudly present to you my second custom:

 

Click here to go to the database entry.

 

This Rock Band 3 custom song, Runaway Train by Soul Asylum, joins in the database one other song by the band, Black Gold by Nunchuck and Sygenysis. I've been trying to orchestrate a full-band release of this song for what feels like an eternity and, finally, we've pulled into the station. While I have (a bit) less to say about my second release than my first, I'd still like to keep track of everything I've learned for posterity. I know I went a bit off the rails last time, so for this go I'll try to conduct myself more succinctly.

 

(oh my god the puns)

 

The '90s were awesome.

 

The Grammy Award-winning Runaway Train was written by lead singer Dave Pirner (above, center right) and is among his finest works in a catalogue bursting with countless examples of his prowess as a lyricist (including those works from his fantastic solo album). It features some of my favorite lyrics... well, ever. I'm still shocked this song hasn't been released by Harmonix and suspect it's on their to-do list, so grab this custom while you can. I, as a Wii user, will never be able to download any version they release for Rock Band 4, so I will not be bitter when that day inevitably arrives. Here's what you're in for:

 

[Gameplay video courtesy of MrPrezident]

 

Features:

Fully custom venue from scratch

Vocal chart from scratch

Dryvox lip sync for all three vocal parts

Vocal tonic note

Reductions for all instruments

Numeric ID for Wii leaderboards

Keys and Pro Keys are missing

 

If you're willing and able to contribute keys and pro keys to this custom, I'll gladly update it! And I'm very interested in bringing more Soul Asylum to Rock Band. Check out my suggestions thread if you're interested in collaborating on the songs featured in this post. Now let me regale you with the tale of how this custom came to be!

 

In March of '16, long before I joined the forums, beard216 uploaded to the database a conversion of a guitar-only chart for Runaway Train by some dude named Kassu. I found it in the database in June of '17 and contacted beard about adding vocals to it a month later. He tracked down the MIDI and sent it to me... and I had no idea what to do with it. Kindly, he input the MIDI into a Reaper file for me and re-sent it so I could dabble. At this stage in my vocals-charting career, I was a scrub who barely knew how to scrub (haw). I'd only ever re-pitched vocal tubes from other authors... I'd never placed them on my own! But, partially motivated by wanting to make this song full-band, within a month I learned how to go it alone with vocals and by August everything vocals-related was finished. Now only bass and drums (and maybe even keys as a bonus!) were needed, but I still didn't have the power or connections to make that happen. That's why it's been six months. But now, I haaave the powerrrr. And I am using that power for good!

 

After publishing my first custom, I added Runaway Train to my WIP thread and asked for volunteers to contribute to the full-band experience. AJFOne23, with whom I've worked many times, immediately volunteered to chart the drums. The tables had finally turned in our collaboration relationship collaborelationship (it'll catch on). But his offer came with a caveat: work wouldn't begin until March... a month from now. Another delay? Ugh... but since beggars can't be choosers, and since I will never chart drums (trust me), I gladly accepted his offer.

 

Until I didn't.

 

I managed to connive-- vince, convince RyanHYK to provide drums on a faster time table than AJ could. I didn't realize that time table was the next day and was very surprised (pleasantly!) to have his drum chart MIDI in my inbox so soon! My other announced customs are still awaiting volunteers for certain instruments, and the only stumbling block preventing me from getting Runaway Train out there was the lack of a drum chart. Well, problem solved; moving on! I could handle the bass myself, right? Right! So I cracked that out as best I could, but I wasn't sure it was any good...

 

Spindoctor was kind enough to lend me a bass chart MIDI, and while I used it, I didn't use it. The bass chart in this custom is my own, but I compared it to what Spindoctor provided to see if I was anywhere near to what I should be doing. It was a big confidence builder, and I thank him for his resources! His chart is strikingly similar to what I charted, with minor differences in some parts. If there are big problems, I can address them in an update later.

 

There is one part of the bass chart that is... unique. I waffled back and forth on what to do with a certain section of the bass line that occurs three times throughout the song and finally decided today not to wrap it but instead have it represented as a green-red chord. Why? Well, three reasons:

 

1. A green-red chord is initially how I flagged it for myself so I would know that part of the chart needed attention.

2. These two colors are what the part naturally descends into and ascends from.

3. Some dude made this into a Rock Smith custom and represented it with an open note.

 

I realize it isn't entirely accurate, but it feels good when you play it. I hope you agree, and I hope it doesn't take you out of the experience. Don't think too hard... just enjoy it! And enjoy the stay-on-your-toes guitar part as well. I left it entirely intact as what Kassu originally charted, and I debated on rating its difficulty as three or four but ultimately went with four because it definitely can be unpredictable. If it's over-tiered, it ain't by much.

 

MrPrezident did not hold my hand through this one (though I'm sure he would have if I'd asked!). Without him, I...

 

...redid the tempo map.

...realigned the music to properly fit with the beat map.

...redid the count-in to take into account the song actually includes a partial count-in.

...regenerated the backing track.

...placed instrument overdrive, unison overdrive, and drum fills (with some tips from forum-goers!).

 

But I still wanted him to make sure I didn't fudge anything up. I didn't want to impulsively release this sucker before it was done cookin'. And since I'm a Wii user, I wanted an Xboxer to test it out and make sure nothing was broken. I asked, and he agreed. The only feedback he gave me was about vocal tubes that lost their anchored lyrics and to add more drum fills next time. I'll take that as a stamp of approval.

 

DAD, ARE YOU PROUD OF ME YET?

 

...ahem. What I meant to say is: thank you!

 

If you'd like to contribute improvements or animations or if you have suggestions for how I can do better, please contact me. Thanks for reading, and enjoy!

 

Atruejedi

[AJFOne23]

Sorry I wasn't quick enough on the draw but I'm glad you got er done

[DenVaktare]

I can't tell if I'm more impressed with the custom, or with the blurb... Fantastic job on both fronts, and thank you for this song! 

[Housequake]

What a great song for your 2nd release!

Thank you very much!!

[Sideshow]

Great job tackling this staple hit of the 90's.

[Atruejedi]

"When you love somebody but you find someone..."

 

Valentine's Day approaches. Today I bring to you a mellow tune about going through a break-up and coping through copulation:

 

Click here to go to the database entry.

 

This Rock Band 3 custom song, Post Break-Up Sex by The Vaccines, is my third custom and the first song by the British band to hit the database, but hopefully not the last. If you've visited my suggestions thread before, you'll notice this song wasn't a part of it. So why did I select it as the debut custom for the band? Two simple reasons: intrigue and accessibility.

 

Technically, better than the Cure.

 

If you've never heard of the Vaccines, you might not be inclined to click on a song posted to the database called If You Wanna or All in White. And even if you clicked on Minimal Affection or Bad Mood, those songs just sound weird and you might not give them much of a chance. I thought a song called Post Break-Up Sex would grab your attention and please your ears. I wager I was right. After all, you're here, aren't you? Indulge your desires and give it a listen:

 

[Gameplay video courtesy of MrPrezident; video not entirely reflective of custom venue work

Also, it doesn't display the hammer-ons for the rhythm guitar chart on the far left]

 

Features:

Fully custom venue from scratch

Vocal chart from scratch

Dryvox lip sync for the only vocal part

Vocal tonic note

Reductions for all instruments

Numeric ID for Wii leaderboards

Rhythm guitar charted to keys

 

So let's talk instruments. This song is in no way difficult on any of them, but as a full-band experience it should be enjoyable. Vocals are probably the most "challenging" because of the subtle slides, but the range of notes is limited to a single octave, so nobody will be straining their voice.

 

And speaking of strain, man, I had a hell of a time getting dryvox to work properly for the longest note in the song. For whatever reason, none of my recordings for that section worked how I wanted; the vocalist kept shutting his mouth early! Eventually he wouldn't open his mouth at all! Even Nyxyxylyth tried to help me out by sending me a recording of him singing the section in question. Even though it didn't completely solve my problem, I kept it in the song as a tribute. Thank you, Nyx!

 

Big shout-out to Whizzer for donating his time and talents to give me a drum chart for this song (and many others coming down the pipe!). Since I know nothin' 'bout drummin', I asked him what he thought the chart difficulty should be rated. He said to mark it zero, but I can't believe that. I guess I'm an even worse drummer than I thought. I gave it a one-star rating, and if that's over-tiered, blame me, dude.

 

The bass chart is nothing special and charting it was a cinch. Nothin' else to say about it. The guitar charts have a bit more of a story to them.

 

"Charts?"

 

Charts.

 

Like the vast majority of rock 'n' roll songs, this song has a lead and rhythm guitar part. Typically, songs in Rock Band 3 feature a single guitar chart consisting of portions of both lead and rhythm guitars. But once I charted the beginning guitar part, before the lead guitar breaks off on its own, I realized that I already had what I needed to make a complete rhythm guitar chart for the remainder of the song. So why not? With a little time and effort I added a full rhythm guitar chart on keys. It's somewhat repetitive and arguably more difficult than the lead guitar part, but now you have options. And it makes up for an upcoming release that completely lacks a guitar part...

 

TomGuy and I discussed the lead guitar part in detail. Both of our guts told us that the guitarist was strumming at a moderate (at least) pace, but upon watching videos and listening with headphones, I learned that the strumming pace was actually pretty relaxed and almost (but not quite!) boring. For the sake of accuracy, I charted this conservatively. I didn't want to put in many (if any) ghost notes that you play but don't actually hear. This might make for less fun and interesting gameplay, but there are still a few notes that might break your combo if you get too comfortable. And look at it this way: it'll make voxtaring easier! ...even if, technically, you should be voxtaring while playing the rhythm part, which is actually more difficult than lead... whatever!

 

These are the first guitar charts I've created, and I was (and still am) very insecure about them. I pestered TomGuy to look over them for me, then I made some revisions and further pestered him to check them out again. I think they're decent. I do welcome constructive criticism on both the lead and rhythm guitar charts. Guitar charting is definitely not a strength of mine. But hey, at least I got to make a cute lil' solo. I'm a man now!

 

If you'd like to contribute improvements or animations or if you have suggestions for how I can do better, please contact me. Thanks for reading. Now, go forth and !@#$ each other!

 

Atruejedi

[Funk Meister Freud]

 

Thank you for your outstanding contributions, Bubba! Well done and keep up the good work!  

[Atruejedi]

Thank you to all for the kind words. I hope your ears find something new they enjoy! My (ultimate, far off) goal is to get at least one song into the database from the many artists in my suggestions thread.

 

Speaking of... two very different releases are coming up in a few hours, and one is from an artist making their debut in the database...

[Atruejedi]

"We can go sink when the rest all swim..."

 

It's no longer Valentine's Day, but I've still got a sweet treat for your eardrums, babydoll:

 

Click here to go to the database entry.

 

Full disclosure: I think Jon Fratelli is an absolute genius of a songwriter, so this post has many links to his works with the band scattered throughout. I hope you enjoy them!

 

This Rock Band 3 custom song, Imposters (Little by Little) by The Fratellis, is my fourth custom and joins a recently increasing number of songs by these Scotsman in the database. In fact, there's even more to come, but that's a bit further down the road (and back... again...).

 

Cover my eyes, this is gettin' surreal.

 

Harmonix gave us three great songs by the Fratellis from their debut album but somehow neglected to release the ubiquitious Chelsea Dagger. Luckily and duh, C3 picked up the slack. But those four songs are all from 2006. Now it's 2018 and the Fratellis fifth album arrives next month. There are many blanks to fill in, and I'm here to tow the line and save some souls with the right medicine.

 

[Gameplay video courtesy of Fat Ha1p3rt; video not entirely reflective of custom venue work]

 

Features:

Fully custom venue from scratch

Vocal chart from scratch

Dryvox lip sync for all three vocal parts

Vocal tonic note

Reductions for all instruments

Numeric ID for Wii leaderboards

 

This custom was a straight-up collaboration with DenVaktare. We really hit it off after he posted My Friend John, also by the Fratellis, in the database. Another fan!? We short-listed songs by the band we wanted to work on together, and even though Imposters wasn't on his list, he offered to help me complete the full-band experience I demand for my releases... but only after releasing Thief the next day, after hearing it for the first time only hours before. Damn, dude.

 

After I finished up the vocals for Imposters, he added guitar, drums, and bass... but I trashed the bass part and redid it using the ReaEQ plugin and some headphones (sorry, Den!). Then I decided to go above and beyond and add pro keys and keys because I'm an obsessive idiot and I knew I'd actually be able to complete these additions on my own. Icing!

 

As I had alluded to above, I had hoped to get this tune out by/for Valentine's Day, but getting the pro keys done correctly slowed me down significantly. I'm 95% sure the chart is accurate, but if anybody wants to improve it, hit me up. Nonetheless, enjoy the manual reductions and conversion to normal keys. I tried my best to logically adapt the pro keys chart to five buttons and I think it turned out pretty well, but, again, if you've got suggestions, don't remain silent. I'm always looking to improve.

 

Working on the venue also delayed this release. As I've said before, testing on the Wii is a really tedious process... almost a Halloween nightmare. But I'm compelled to complete well-done venues and test them 823 times to make sure they're as good as they can be. Hopefully the effort is worth your download and enjoyment.

 

If you'd like to contribute improvements or animations or if you have suggestions for how I can do better, please contact me. I dropped so many links in this post I could form a chain. I guess my point is, the Fratellis are awesome and you should check them out. Thanks for reading, cuntry boys and city girls.

 

Atruejedi

[Atruejedi]

"The devil works quick, you know it don't take long..."

 

Blitzen Trapper is one of the best bands you've never given a shot. Today I strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger a haunting murder ballad to showcase one of their various styles:

 

Click here to go to the database entry.

 

This Rock Band 3 custom song, Black River Killer by Blitzen Trapper, is my fifth custom and the first song by these Oregon boys to land in the database, but it certainly won't be the last. I'll have you know I already have another tune of a different genre planned for a future release. You may recall that this band was one of the original artists featured in my suggestions thread before it spiraled out of control. One of those two Runners-Up will be released in the near future, so place your bets. But until then...

 

Strangers in a strange land.

 

I could gush about how much I love Blitzen Trapper and how badly you've been missing out by not listening to them, but they have so many great songs that are so different, so it's hard to suggest just one for you to check out. I'm going to let this song speak for itself, and if it isn't your thing, well, maybe the next custom of the band will be.

 

[Gameplay video courtesy of Fat Ha1p3rt; video does not show the keys part because it's so minor and I wanted to show off the venue]

 

Features:

Fully custom venue from scratch

Vocal chart from scratch

Dryvox lip sync for all three vocal parts

Vocal tonic note

Reductions for all instruments

Numeric ID for Wii leaderboards

 

This custom was an absolute team effort. The tempo map was provided by MrPrezident as a part of his ongoing welfare program supporting my efforts. Drums were donated by Whizzer (again!) and I might have over-tiered them (again!). But you know what's not over-tiered? The guitar chart donated by DenVaktare, which is hammer-on hell. Without these three members of the community, this custom wouldn't exist. So, please, extend to them your thanks! Thank you, gents. Much obliged.

 

The bass part and vocals are, as usual, by me. Bass is relaxing, making voxbassing (it's a thing) a real pleasure. The harmonies only add to that experience. And there isn't a single talkie in this song, so enjoy emulating Eric Earley (pictured above, far right).

 

I'm especially proud of the venue work. It's somewhat simplistic, but artistic. I barely used any lighting effects because I didn't think this song should be flashy; I've seen it performed live, so I took that experience to heart. Instead, I just tried to set the mood with animation events, camera cuts, and post-processing effects. Y'know, sometimes I impress even myself...

 

I've learned a lot in the past month about the finer details of customs creation. With this custom, for example, I prevented the crowd from clapping, because it's a song about murdering people. I also remembered to paste the pro keys part into the animations section, so now you can watch that red-headed monster pictured above tap-tap-tap out the synthesizer part (also by me!). And the ending? I used Audacity to apply a reverse fade using this tutorial, then added a surprise, which I refuse to spoil here. Go play and find out!

 

If you'd like to contribute improvements or animations or if you have suggestions for how I can do better, please contact me. Thanks for reading, killer.

 

Atruejedi

[Atruejedi]

"I don't pay twice for the price of a cheap dime whore!"

 

Valentine's Day is over, and so is the relationship featured in this release. And what was the reason for the split between these two lovers? Money, of course... the root of all evil.

 

Click here to go to the database entry.

 

This Rock Band 3 custom song, MoneyGrabber by Fitz and the Tantrums, is my sixth custom and the second song now available from these indie darlings. It's from an era before they achieved stardom, when their music was much more soulful and genuine, and somewhat less radio friendly and not explicitly designed for mass consumption. But I digress...

 

We come from the future. But our best music is from the past.

 

Let me say that HandClap is an infectious tune. I understand why Harmonix released it as official DLC. Let me also say that infectious does not equal good. Sure, I like it, but it depresses me greatly when I compare what the band has become to what the band was. MoneyGrabber is from their debut album, which I adore, and it has a soul so different from the ubiquitous radio hits you know and love... only because you're unfamiliar with their older material. This song has something to it, and that makes it all the more enjoyable.

 

[Gameplay video courtesy of MrPrezident]

 

Features:

Fully custom venue from scratch

Vocal chart from scratch

Dryvox lip sync for all three vocal parts

Vocal tonic note

Reductions for all instruments

Numeric ID for Wii leaderboards

 

To be honest, I'm just glad to get this emmereffer out the door. It's been rough goin'. Here's the story:

 

Initially, my plan was to whip up an impressive (and convoluted) venue inspired by the music video. I wanted Michael to play the bass guitar but also sing the male main vocal part. I wanted Noelle to sing the female backup vocals as the main vocalist holding the microphone. I figured it was possible to do something like this, but I didn't know how to go about pulling it off. I solicited advice in this thread, but no matter what I did, I had problems. The lip sync wouldn't work for HARM2, then it wouldn't work for HARM3, then it wouldn't work for either of them... it was a constant headache. I wanted to release this weeks ago.

 

It was especially frustrating because every other component required to release the song was complete. Vocals were the first thing finished, and I wrapped up the bass part shortly after. Whizzer contributed an intense drum chart and MrPrezident went above and beyond with the keys charts, even providing two-handed animations, which I have tried my best to showcase with the venue work! Big thanks to both of these fellas for their hard work.

 

Eventually (this weekend), I said screw it and abandoned my plans to rig up an atypical lip sync situation. It was proving to be much more work than I thought the end product would be worth, especially because having the bassist do the majority of the singing really limits what animations you see from the bassist. Once I went back to a vanilla lip sync setup, I, of course, encountered problems involving that aspect of venue creation that has plagued me the most: post-processing effects.

 

As I said above, I really wanted my custom venue for this song to pay tribute to the official music video. Therefore, I wanted lots of reds and blues. This isn't something I could achieve simply using the lighting options, so I opted to use [film_contrast_blue.pp] and [film_contrast_red.pp]. Only one problem... [film_contrast_red.pp] is broke as hell on the Wii.

 

Of course, figuring that out took hours to realize because of how cumbersome it is to test customs on the Wii. And my frustration was exacerbated by the fact that, if I used [film_contrast_red.pp] as a transition, it did work, but only until it hit about 90% of its "pure" state. Then it would simply... break, and turn into a non-effect. So, as my initial plan was to have quick cuts from blue to red to blue to red, it instead showed as blue to nothing to blue to nothing. !@#$ me.

 

It's a shame, too, because [film_contrast_blue.pp] looks really great and was exactly what I wanted. So, just as I had to settle for less with the lip sync, I settled for a constant transition from blue to red to blue to red, because that way the effect wouldn't be broken the entire time... only part of the time. And it probably works perfectly in either configuration on non-Wii platforms... so !@#$ you, too.

 

*deep breath*

 

Okay, that's better. As I was saying, it isn't exactly what my imagination dreamed up, but at least it's finally released, and it's really, really fun. I can't speak for the drums (because I'm awful), but the pro keys part is dazzling, so the non-pro keys part can't be far off. And while I'm always proud of the care I give to the vocals, I'm especially proud of the bass part this time. My design philosophy was to go for maximum fluidity, so your fingers will be all over the place. It isn't difficult, per se, but it is funky and unpredictable. You'll be groovin'.

 

If you'd like to contribute improvements or animations or if you have suggestions for how I can do better, please contact me. Thanks for reading. Now go grab this custom.

 

Atruejedi

[mangolatango]

AHHHH! Writing these essays would take me as long as the chart itself. You show some serious dedication my friend.