Full Games List
Featured Games
New Games
Reviews
Media
Images
Blogs
Game Updates
Images Feedback Summary
Game Design Highlights
Tutorials
Articles
Scripts
Utilities / Plugins
Resources
Engines
Engine Bulletins
What is Makerscore?
Past Events
Achievements
Misaos
Forums
Post History
Chat
New to RMN?
Full Store List
RMN Music Pack (free)
ANY ADVICE FOR A BEGINNER OF MUSIC MAKING?
Posts
Pages:
1
ABGVwoo
0
ABGVwoo
View playlists
CloseHello,
To give a bit of background, I have attempted to make a game based on a concept I created roughly a year ago. I found that whilst I enjoyed conceptualising, sketching out ideas and making music, I found the resource making to eventually feel like a chore.
From this I acknowledged that it would probably be better if I pursued the enjoyable aspects more including music making.
However I'm at quite a low level in terms of ability at the moment, I don't have any grades and I can't read sheet music (although I plan to just make my own anyway which is what I have been doing up until this point). I was just wandering if anyone had any particular advice as to where to start as I would ultimately like to try making some music for a game at some point.
Thanks for reading
To give a bit of background, I have attempted to make a game based on a concept I created roughly a year ago. I found that whilst I enjoyed conceptualising, sketching out ideas and making music, I found the resource making to eventually feel like a chore.
From this I acknowledged that it would probably be better if I pursued the enjoyable aspects more including music making.
However I'm at quite a low level in terms of ability at the moment, I don't have any grades and I can't read sheet music (although I plan to just make my own anyway which is what I have been doing up until this point). I was just wandering if anyone had any particular advice as to where to start as I would ultimately like to try making some music for a game at some point.
Thanks for reading
EzekielRage
191
rehi
the ebst advice anyone can give you is to practice. you will need to learn a lot of new things, new ways to think and work eventually but all of that is not worth a dime without practice. so thats where you start, where you continue and where you will never end - at practice.
good luck to you :)
the ebst advice anyone can give you is to practice. you will need to learn a lot of new things, new ways to think and work eventually but all of that is not worth a dime without practice. so thats where you start, where you continue and where you will never end - at practice.
good luck to you :)
S32
100
One great practice method is to try to recreate existing music on your own as best you can. It sounds redundant, but it will get you used to things like pitch, harmony, and the denomination of notes.
Once you have a solid grasp on putting existing music together, you'll have no trouble composing your own stuff.
Once you have a solid grasp on putting existing music together, you'll have no trouble composing your own stuff.
I had no experience making music except for a stint as a drummer in high school. Learning key scales was what allowed me to elevate my music application. Here's a link to a page and image which really helped me: http://www.howmusicworks.org/208/The-Major-Scale/Major-Scales-in-All-Keys
(The Minor Scales are very similar, with the third note being part of the triple scale instead of the fourth note)
I saved that image to my hard drive and then looked at it whenever I needed to compose music. I was surprised at how often scales can change in songs.
I was able to experiment further using simple trackers, like Famitracker (http://famitracker.com/) and Little Sound DJ (http://www.littlesounddj.com/lsd/). Famitracker is free and is very good to start doing some basic composing.
As for reading music, remember the Sound of Music's "Do, a deer": Do, Re, Mi, Fa, So, La, Ti, Do(next octave).
Using all of these tools together provides a good base for the self-taught student.
(The Minor Scales are very similar, with the third note being part of the triple scale instead of the fourth note)
I saved that image to my hard drive and then looked at it whenever I needed to compose music. I was surprised at how often scales can change in songs.
I was able to experiment further using simple trackers, like Famitracker (http://famitracker.com/) and Little Sound DJ (http://www.littlesounddj.com/lsd/). Famitracker is free and is very good to start doing some basic composing.
As for reading music, remember the Sound of Music's "Do, a deer": Do, Re, Mi, Fa, So, La, Ti, Do(next octave).
Using all of these tools together provides a good base for the self-taught student.
ABGVwoo
0
Thank you all for reading and for getting back :D and apologies for taking a while to respond. Thank you also for those links Zachary (although a couple didn't work for me), I'll take a kook at the first one, it seems interesting. One quick question I had was about looping and how it is done and whether it needed any particular software or know how? Cheers :)
Hi ABGV,
Music that is done for video games is sequenced, which means that the song is composed of modular parts—called "Patterns"—that are arranged in a specific order called a "sequence". A sequence of Patterns. The composer can choose the size and the order of the Patterns in the sequence. Patterns exist because it makes composing long songs with similar-sounding parts easier. If a part of the song needs to be repeated, it doesn't have to be composed all over again—just place the Patterns you want to repeat into the next part of the sequence.
Looping is done by linking back to an earlier part of the sequence using a special instruction code. This code varies between trackers. However, aspiring compsers should note that RPGMaker engines are designed for MIDI—another format of sequenced music—and are best suited for composing in that format. RPGMaker has event commands that can control a MIDI song with precision. A song in the .mp3 or .wav format will not be able to be controlled using RPGMaker's native MIDI controls, and can only loop by playing through to the end. RPGMaker will automatically loop all songs by default.
Music that is done for video games is sequenced, which means that the song is composed of modular parts—called "Patterns"—that are arranged in a specific order called a "sequence". A sequence of Patterns. The composer can choose the size and the order of the Patterns in the sequence. Patterns exist because it makes composing long songs with similar-sounding parts easier. If a part of the song needs to be repeated, it doesn't have to be composed all over again—just place the Patterns you want to repeat into the next part of the sequence.
Looping is done by linking back to an earlier part of the sequence using a special instruction code. This code varies between trackers. However, aspiring compsers should note that RPGMaker engines are designed for MIDI—another format of sequenced music—and are best suited for composing in that format. RPGMaker has event commands that can control a MIDI song with precision. A song in the .mp3 or .wav format will not be able to be controlled using RPGMaker's native MIDI controls, and can only loop by playing through to the end. RPGMaker will automatically loop all songs by default.
phlim2
157
One of the many things I learned during my years at music college was to use "Complementary Notation". Basically meaning to use notes that work well with the chord currently playing. A lot of people have the mistake of not doing this, and sometimes the songs I find (or even make myself sometimes) make me cringe.
A good way to start with this is to use the notes the chord uses. For example; C-Major consists of C,E and G. If you use these notes while C-Major is playing, it feels comfortable. Transitioning to another chord which uses the previous chord's notes (let's use C-Major -> A-Minor as an example) is also good. (A-Minor uses A, C, and E. C and E are also in C-Major).
Hope that little snippet of information helps. :3
A good way to start with this is to use the notes the chord uses. For example; C-Major consists of C,E and G. If you use these notes while C-Major is playing, it feels comfortable. Transitioning to another chord which uses the previous chord's notes (let's use C-Major -> A-Minor as an example) is also good. (A-Minor uses A, C, and E. C and E are also in C-Major).
Hope that little snippet of information helps. :3
ABGVwoo
0
Thanks everyone for your advice and tips, it's very much appreciated :D, is there any software that can be used for sequencing? I've heard of audacity as being good audio software but I wasn't sure if it could be used for looping or sequencing. Also I was thinking of buying a MIDI plug at some point to use instead of the dictaphone I am currently using to record my music. Is there any MIDI software (preferably open source and relatively easy to use) that people recommend?
Thanks again :)
Thanks again :)
Try Anvil Studio at http://www.anvilstudio.com . This program boasts notation, which allows the user to compose songs as on paper.
You know, above, I touted that RPGMaker had features that allowed a game creator to control MIDI files "with precision." But looking through RPGMaker 2003 and RPGMaker XP again, I can't find those controls. I could've sworn that there were a control that counted the "ticks" of a MIDI file somewhere. Does anyone know where it is?
Additionally, does anyone know if RPGMaker can read MIDI instructions, such as, to be able to loop back to a specific point?
Additionally, does anyone know if RPGMaker can read MIDI instructions, such as, to be able to loop back to a specific point?
LockeZ
I'd really like to get rid of LockeZ. His play style is way too unpredictable. He's always like this too. If he ran a country, he'd just kill and imprison people at random until crime stopped.
5958
author=Zachary_BraunRPG Maker 2003 can store the current number of midi ticks into a variable. However, it can't actually resume playing a midi from that number of ticks. It can only start from the beginning, or possibly start from where it left off after a battle ends. The usefulness of this feature is therefore extremely questionable. There's probably some sort of patch to make it work the way you want, though. But since midi sounds pretty awful, sounds wildly different on one compter than another, and modern sound cards barely even support it any more, most people prefer MP3.
You know, above, I touted that RPGMaker had features that allowed a game creator to control MIDI files "with precision." But looking through RPGMaker 2003 and RPGMaker XP again, I can't find those controls. I could've sworn that there were a control that counted the "ticks" of a MIDI file somewhere. Does anyone know where it is?
Additionally, does anyone know if RPGMaker can read MIDI instructions, such as, to be able to loop back to a specific point?
All of the modern RPG Maker programs made after 2003 are capable of playing .ogg music, which can easily loop from any point in the song, not just the beginning. However, .ogg music loads much slower and will cause games to lag any time the music changes, since it loads the entire sound file at once when it starts playing, instead of loading it into memory progressively as it is playing like MP3 does. As a result, many people still prefer MP3.
My suggestion (speaking from the perspective of a game designer, not a composer) is to put the songs in MP3 format, make long enough that they rarely repeat, and make them repeat cleanly from the end of the song to the beginning whenever possible. That is what would would be most beneficial to someone like me and make me most likely to use your music. I know some game devs around here don't mind the lag from .ogg music, though, and think the custom looping is more important.
Pages:
1
