Where do you get your VG sheet music?

[Nohbody]

I know you remixers start out with sheet music of some sort. Nobody can listen to a track and know exactly what notes it contains. Actually I dont know, can you?

Well I "remix" my music with finale notepad, because I am a broke ass n00b, and thusly I have a serious buttload of remixed MIDIs that sound like they came out of an ass. Also none of these MIDIs have drum tracks because trying to write drums in finale is like trying to manipulate a calculator by throwing your own feces at it.

Enough of the poop references. I and I amstrictly limited to whatever songs I can

[Nekofrog]

I listen, I play.

[Sengin]

I go to vgmusic and listen to the midis that sound accurate. Then import them into Finale. Remove the drum track and any "echo" tracks. Then I replicate it as much as possible for piano (left hand and right hand - it helps that I can play piano and know what's possible to play). I use that as my base to start remixing. Save as a midi when finished with the main remixing/notation. Import into Reason and move stuff around, add instruments, add background sounds/pads, drums, etc...

[Moseph]

Nobody can listen to a track and know exactly what notes it contains. Actually I dont know, can you?

You can, but it takes practice.

For those who can't (or don't want to bother), it's most common to just import a MIDI file into whatever sequencer they use and work from there rather than referencing actual sheet music. (vgmusic.com is a good resource for MIDIs.)

[zircon]

I don't use sheet music for my remixes. Once in a great while I use a MIDI but generally I just do it by ear.

[blue.nocturne]

When remixing, the most you really need is melody, bass, and harmony of the original in my opinion. Even then, you can go with just the melody and bass and change the chords to your liking. I find that opening a midi makes it harder to be creative, so I suggest using your ears.

Nobody can listen to a track and know exactly what notes it contains.

Someone has to listen to the original to make the midi in the first place. Most midis on VGMusic aren't rips, they're done by ear, so they can often be inaccurate, but accurate enough to seem like the original.

[analoq]

The good news is, as a remixer, you don't have to figure out every note; you just need to figure out whatever parts you need to make your remix. I generally only pick out the distinctive bits from the melody and run with that. I don't recall ever needing a MIDI for a remix, but that's probably a good place for you to start.

cheers.

[Lunahorum]

I know you remixers start out with sheet music of some sort. Nobody can listen to a track and know exactly what notes it contains. Actually I dont know, can you?

Everyone who does music can do this

Or maybe I should say everyone who has been doing music for a while.

[Zephyr]

If you're looking for decent game sheet music I can definitley recommend:

http://ninsheetmusic.net/ (mostly nintendo stuff, but some other stuff aswell)

http://gamemusicthemes.com/

try those out for sheet music

[Yoozer]

I know you remixers start out with sheet music of some sort. Nobody can listen to a track and know exactly what notes it contains. Actually I dont know, can you?

Yes, actually, I can. Sometimes it takes more than one time, and when things get really complex I either have to slow it down in pitch or just stop bothering, but yes, I can.

You can train yourself with this, but it helps if you've got some talent. In my case, I abused this talent to avoid reading notes, which I sort of regret now .

[Lunahorum]

anyone can learn it. No talent necessary.

[Fishy]

People can have natural perfect pitch without being musicians in any way. Likewise, perfect relative pitch can be natural or trained.

A good ear is a good ear.

[Legion303]

Nobody can listen to a track and know exactly what notes it contains.

This is a troll, right?

-steve

[Tensei]

" I can't recognize notes by ear, that means no-one else can possibly do it"

[Lunahorum]

I think it stems from the misconception of people thinking there are things that can't be learned. If someone else can do it, it can obviously be learned. Now of course there are many things that truly can't be learned, but in general, if someone else has done it, it can be learned.

One that comes up a lot is "I wish I was born with a good ear". How ridiculous is that?!?

[Tensei]

One that comes up a lot is "I wish I was born with a good ear". How ridiculous is that?!?

Because there's a distinct amount of people who are either completely tone-deaf or have perfect pitch, both of which are traits you get at birth. In fact, the only way to acquire true perfect pitch (I.E. being able to tell that your refrigerator hums in B but is slightly flat without any other reference) is to be genetically predisposed to it AND having developed the skill early on in your life.

[Wiesty]

Midis and sheet music are good for reference if your looking at being dead on to the original. Other than that, since its a remix, its good to leave it open as to how your ear interprets it, unless its dead off.

[Lunahorum]

Because there's a distinct amount of people who are either completely tone-deaf or have perfect pitch, both of which are traits you get at birth. In fact, the only way to acquire true perfect pitch (I.E. being able to tell that your refrigerator hums in B but is slightly flat without any other reference) is to be genetically predisposed to it AND having developed the skill early on in your life.

satch learned it in his teens and vai can do it a little bit. Also my band teacher could do it a little bit. There are probably lots of other case examples out there.

[analoq]

^^^ that's not perfect (absolute) pitch. You can't do it a 'little bit' and you can't learn it in your teens-- either you've got it or you don't.

This is an aimless discussion anyway, the OP's question (naive as it was) has already been answered.

[Tensei]

satch learned it in his teens and vai can do it a little bit. Also my band teacher could do it a little bit. There are probably lots of other case examples out there.

For the sake of derailing the thread, I'd like to elaborate (since I think this topic is really quite interesting and I'd love to hear some other thoughts on it).

What you're referring to as 'being able to do it a little bit' is known as relative pitch, i.e. those people you're talking about have the ability to compare notes they hear to notes they know really well (for example guitarists generally know the approximate pitch their strings should be tuned to and can relate notes they hear to it.)

Absolute hearing is absolute. There's no grey area, there's no comparing of different pitches, they hear a note, and BAM, they know the name and whether it's sharp or flat. This is an ability that, if you don't have it by now, you can't learn, even if you might've been capable of learning it as a young child.

In fact, absolute hearing goes as far that if you're used to hearing a piece in a certain key (let's say you know the studio-version of Metallica's Master of Puppets really well, which is in standard guitar tuning, compared to a newer live rendition of it, which is probably in Eb tuning), the piece will sound 'wrong' if it's in a different key, something most people probably wouldn't even notice.

[DDRKirby(ISQ)]

-____-;

sorry, gotta jump in here.

I have what I personally refer to as "some degree of absolute pitch". I can NOT do the whole "omg it's A=438 Hz not 440 Hz it hurts my ears!". What I CAN do is identify a note played on the piano (or other instrument, but usually piano or flute works best since I'm most familiar with the harmonics), with -no reference pitch-.

I think some people do this by memorizing a "base" pitch--like, they'll train themselves to always know where middle C is, then they essentially have a reference pitch without actually being given one.

I don't think I do it that way. I just hear the note and just know what it is. Theoretically, I suppose maybe I've memorized what every note sounds like, and then go from there. But again, if it's a few cents sharp or flat, i wouldn't be able to tell. (of course, my relative pitch is fine, so I can compare two sounds and tell which one is higher) However I can also tell if there's something funny going on, like if you tuned all of the notes a quarter-step down It'd sound weird. I've listened to a harpsichord tuned for baroque style tuning (forgive me if I got the term wrong, I'm not a harpsichord player) and it definitely sounded odd, although not really BAD.

I wasn't born with this ability, I picked it up after a long time of just listening to music and working with the piano, etc. When I try to describe it to others, I say that the different notes have different "colors" of sound when I hear them (note that this isn't the same as a -key signature- sounding a certain way).

Another interesting tidbit, the piano I have at home--the one I grew up with and have heard a lot--is an upright that's horrendously out of tune. I mean it's actually pretty well in tune with itself, but compared to standard tuning it's way off (i mean, not like a semitone off or anything, but it's bad).

=====

my question: what am I supposed to CALL this ability?

Reading Tensei-San's post it seems like he would say that I just have relative pitch. But when I think of just "relative pitch" I just think of being able to hear two notes and being able to recognize that they're a major 3rd apart or something. As opposed to hearing two notes and being able to tell that they're a G and a B.

So I can definitely do more than the average person. But I most certainly do NOT have that perfect perfect pitch that is a genetic trait.

is there no special label i can apply to myself to stroke my ego? xD

"Relative Pitch plus", perhaps~

[Tensei]

I've heard two different definitions for the word " Relative Pitch", one is the ability to recognize intervals by hearing them (i.e. a major third), the other definition is the one I use, where you recognize notes by relating them to notes you know really well, which I have myself to a certain degree (I can pretty much flawlessly copy melodies on my guitar upon hearing them. Fun thing is, I don't associate the notes I hear with their names but with the frets I'd play them on on my guitar, so if someone asks me to identify a note by hearing it I visualize the location of the note on my fretboard and from that I deduce the name of the note )

As Analoq pointed out, there is NO middle ground for absolute hearing/perfect pitch, either you have it or you don't, you can't have it to a certain degree.

[Nekofrog]

This is how it goes for me, and it pretty much only works for guitar. Since I've memorized the sound of every open string (eadgbe), I can hear each open string in my mind, at the correct pitch.

So whenever I hear someone playing guitar or I myself am playing it, I can tell instantly when it's not right -- the sound in my head will not match the sound I'm playing.

Of course, this doesn't go for the the tinest of tiny alterations, hence it's not PERFECT pitch.

[Lunahorum]

just because it's called "perfect" or "absolute" pitch doesn't make it so. It is very possible to have better perfect pitch than someone else. Most people with perfect pitch can do solo notes just as well as the next guy/gal with perfect pitch, but when chords are thrown in there, they can get confused and make mistakes whereas other people don't get confused by chords as much. So there definitely is a grey area.

[Tensei]

just because it's called "perfect" or "absolute" pitch doesn't make it so. It is very possible to have better perfect pitch than someone else. Most people with perfect pitch can do solo notes just as well as the next guy/gal with perfect pitch, but when chords are thrown in there, they can get confused and make mistakes whereas other people don't get confused by chords as much. So there definitely is a grey area.

Have I at ANY moment even ALLUDED to chords? Being able to recognize chords and intervals can be learned, afaik it has jack shit to do with perfect pitch, aside from the fact that people with absolute hearing will be able to exactly name the root note.

Saying some people have 'better perfect pitch' because they happen to be better at recognizing chords than others is like saying that some homosexuals are more gay than others because they're better at dancing. Your comparison is flawed, and please stop quoting wikipedia.