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How can I get started remixing game music?


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I really want to do classic remix albums but I don't know where to start! I haven't forgotten my Nintendo remix album but how should I proceed with this? What programs or equipment do I need & do I need sheet music? Since this is OCR I thought I would ask here because I'm new to this! also I want to do more then just Nintendo (I'm thinking Sega, Capcom, Hudson soft, Konami, basically any classic game developer) If I want to release the album on CD do I need a record label? Should I also get permission from the developers? I really need help so can some experienced remixer please help me out? Thanks in advance!

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You need a DAW to make the music in. There's more that are not listed in that link, (I use Mixcraft 7) the cheapest ones that I've seen go for around $60.

 

Unless you're going to record yourself playing an instrument, you'll need a synthesizer or sample library for your palette of sounds. (For example, I use EWQLSO Gold for my orchestra sounds.) There are a few free synthesizers, but most of this stuff tends to be expensive.

 

Here's some free stuff.

 

9 Chip-Tune Plug-ins. If you're new to making music, I'd recommend playing with chip-sounds to get a hang of sequencing with simple sounds.

http://www.musicradar.com/news/tech/9-of-the-best-chiptune-vst-plug-ins-554428

TAL Noisemaker:

http://tal-software.com/products/tal-noisemaker

Variety of Sound Plugins:

https://varietyofsound.wordpress.com/

Blue Cat Audio Freeware Plugins:

http://www.bluecataudio.com/Products/Category_0_Freeware/

Sonatina Symphonic Orchestra - Good for practicing orchestra, but won't sound anywhere near as good as a sample library you have to pay for.

http://sso.mattiaswestlund.net/

Arachno SoundFont:

http://www.arachnosoft.com/main/soundfont.php

If your DAW has a sampler, you could probably use some of these percussion sounds.

http://www.philharmonia.co.uk/explore/make_music

 

The Sound Iron "Iron Packs" are very cheap and contain a decent amount of sounds in each one, but they are limited in their usefulness.

http://soundiron.com/collections/iron-packs

 

Once you have sounds, you can load it in your DAW of choice, and start working on the song. You don't need anything else.

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You need a DAW to make the music in. There's more that are not listed in that link, (I use Mixcraft 7) the cheapest ones that I've seen go for around $60.

 

Unless you're going to record yourself playing an instrument, you'll need a synthesizer or sample library for your palette of sounds. (For example, I use EWQLSO Gold for my orchestra sounds.) There are a few free synthesizers, but most of this stuff tends to be expensive.

 

Here's some free stuff.

 

9 Chip-Tune Plug-ins. If you're new to making music, I'd recommend playing with chip-sounds to get a hang of sequencing with simple sounds.

http://www.musicradar.com/news/tech/9-of-the-best-chiptune-vst-plug-ins-554428

TAL Noisemaker:

http://tal-software.com/products/tal-noisemaker

Variety of Sound Plugins:

https://varietyofsound.wordpress.com/

Blue Cat Audio Freeware Plugins:

http://www.bluecataudio.com/Products/Category_0_Freeware/

Sonatina Symphonic Orchestra - Good for practicing orchestra, but won't sound anywhere near as good as a sample library you have to pay for.

http://sso.mattiaswestlund.net/

Arachno SoundFont:

http://www.arachnosoft.com/main/soundfont.php

If your DAW has a sampler, you could probably use some of these percussion sounds.

http://www.philharmonia.co.uk/explore/make_music

 

The Sound Iron "Iron Packs" are very cheap and contain a decent amount of sounds in each one, but they are limited in their usefulness.

http://soundiron.com/collections/iron-packs

 

Once you have sounds, you can load it in your DAW of choice, and start working on the song. You don't need anything else.

 

 

 

 

 

darn looks like ill have to wait because i can't afford a sound program right now! that sucks!

Edited by mikurotoro
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darn looks like ill have to wait because i can't afford a sound program right now! that sucks!

There are some free options out there. Reaper has an unlimited, uncrippled free trial. There's also Ardour, which is pretty new, and you'd have to compile it yourself to get it to run on Windows, but it's open source and completely free.
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Audacity isn't really a DAW; it's more like an audio editor for post-processing. In other words, it'd be nice as a supplementary software but isn't sufficient for complete music composition. I think you're better off trying out some of the suggestions above!

 

You might also find this a good read:

http://music.tutsplus.com/articles/what-is-the-best-daw-for-beginners--audio-11773

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Audacity isn't really a DAW; it's more like an audio editor for post-processing. In other words, it'd be nice as a supplementary software but isn't sufficient for complete music composition. I think you're better off trying out some of the suggestions above!

 

You might also find this a good read:

http://music.tutsplus.com/articles/what-is-the-best-daw-for-beginners--audio-11773

 

Ok thanks for the help! But after I get the DAW do I need sheet music for games I want to remix or is there a way to remix without needing sheet music? Wouldn't I need to know the structure of the song before I can remix it? Like I said I'm new to this!

 

BTW does DAW stand for digital audio workstation?

Edited by mikurotoro
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DAW means digital audio workstation, yes. There's lots of those. Some of them are hardware devices, but most are just software.

 

Sheet music? No. Not if you can just write or play the right notes. For some songs, that's easy. For others, it's really difficult.

 

You're new to this stuff, so you might feel like you don't know what you're doing. Just focus on small steps. Can you make sound come out of the DAW? Can you write notes? Can you change instruments? Can you have multiple instruments playing at the same time? Can you put an effect on a track? You should know that even people who have worked for decades with their music feel like newbs when they change to a different DAW.

 

I don't want to discourage you from asking questions, but a lot of these questions have been answered many times on the internet already, so it might be faster for you to google them. "how do I make music with reaper?", "how do I change instruments in ardour?", "studio one how do i import midi?", "what are chords?", "drums writing, basic tutorial". If you're a visual learned, you should probably have a look around YouTube, as there are tons of tutorials and guides there. 

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Ok thanks for the help! But after I get the DAW do I need sheet music for games I want to remix or is there a way to remix without needing sheet music? Wouldn't I need to know the structure of the song before I can remix it? Like I said I'm new to this!

 

BTW does DAW stand for digital audio workstation?

 

The website http://www.vgmusic.com/ contains midi versions of classic videogame music. You can easily load the midi files into your DAW, and use them to study the structure of the song. I'd highly recommend it.

 

 

Unfortunately I have to agree with some of the comments - the writer doesn't know as much about DAWs as he thinks he does, but I suppose it's a decent rundown for beginners.

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