1
1. Beginners
Help! I don't know where to start!
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Being at the beginner stage is possibly the most difficult part of
tracking, and it's where most people give up. The key is perseverance and
practice. Listen to what others have to say about your initial attempts, but
only listen if you know you'll get an honest opinion from them. Take on
board any criticism, and use it to your advantage. Practice makes perfect,
the more modules you compose, and sampling you do, the better you'll get,
simple...
Erm, just what is a tracker?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A tracker is a piece of software that allows music to be made using only a
computer and some sound samples. These sound samples are then played back at
varying pitches and with various effects so as to produce music. The musical
data used to describe how to play each note is arranged in a list like form,
as shown below.
Note Instrument Volume Effect command Effect parameters
C#5 1 40 1 01
C#5 1 40 101 F-6 2 38 330 G-3 3 20 F05 --- -- 000
--- -- 102 --- -- 300 D-2 3 24 A0F C-4 4 -- 472
C#5 5 -- E93 --- -- 300 --- 3 P0 A0F --- -- 400
This data scrolls up the screen, and when it passes the cursor it gets
processed and played. Not all trackers have this same layout; I've used FT2
above.
Trackers produce files called modules, which is usually abbreviated to
MOD. The term MOD originally meant a SoundTracker module, but over the years
it has become a generic term for any type of module. MODs are a sort of
hybrid MIDI/sample file. They contain sequencing information as well as the
instruments (samples) that are used for playback.
It's actually quite hard to give trackers and MODs a 'definition' that can
be understood by everyone. If you have Internet access then do a search for
'MOD Trackers' and quite a number of definitions should pop up.
Choosing a tracker
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
May as well start at the beginning I suppose...
Choosing a tracker to begin with is probably the most important choice you
can make as you start out, some trackers have extremely difficult interfaces
to learn. Which, if you are only just starting out and have never used a
tracker before, pose an extra challenge that will need to be undertaken.
There are six systems with trackers that I know of, classified as -
- Amiga
- DOS
- Windows 3.1/9x/NT
- Mac
- Unix/Linux/Sun/NeXT
- Atari
Obviously the system you own dictates what you can use, but the Amiga,
Atari, and Mac based trackers are split up into a few different areas,
depending on your hardware.
Whatever tracker you decide on using, before you even start tracking with
it, be sure to read the manual. Load a few already made modules in so you
can play around with the various features and find out how they work. Spend
a day figuring out every feature of the tracker.
The only way to find out what tracker is best for you is to try out a few
and then decide. I would recommend that you choose a tracker that produces a
standard module format for the platform you are producing on e.g. if you own
an Amiga a MOD based tracker would be a good choice, on a PC an IT or XM
tracker would be a good choice etc.
Don't use a tracker just because someone else does, or because it offers
more features. Choose a tracker for its interface every time. There's no
point having something hugely powerful but not being able to use it.
Choosing Hardware
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The basic hardware requirements to track are: -
A computer - You probably already have one of these. If you don't, then
how on earth are you reading this! Your computer MUST have some sort of
digital audio capabilities. If you have an Amiga, Atari, or Mac then you
should be okay for now. If you have a PC (and by that I don't necessarily
mean an IBM compatible) without a digital sound card of some description,
then you're finished before you've even started. Go out and get one now!
Monitoring Equipment – All that’s needed is a pair of speakers and/or a
pair of headphones. Since we're talking about basic requirements here,
practically anything will do to get you started.
Getting Started
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ok, so you've got hold of a tracker that you like the look and feel of,
the next thing to do is to get hold of some samples and/or modules. These
should preferably be in a style that you like and be of a reasonable quality.
Just go to the Internet resources section for a list of places to look. If
you don't have Internet access, then any local shareware libraries or BBS
system should be able to sort you out with some. Samples are preferable to
modules, but it's easy enough to rip the samples out of modules.
Alternatively, you could sample your own sounds, but this can be quite
difficult to do if you don't know what you generally use or need. As you
don't yet know how to track properly yet, I would recommend you choose which
to learn first, tracking or sampling. This will ease the learning curve. If
you want to learn the key points to good sampling, skip to the sampling
section. When you've finished that, come back here.
Ordering your resources
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
First of all you'll need to set up a few directories in which to store
your music stuff. There are many different ways to do this, but I'll
describe mine for you to have a base to build on. Obviously you don't have
to follow this. It's just to give you an idea of a structure.
I use a separate partition or CD-ROM for my music stuff. This brings
benefits such as easy organisation and security from corruption on other
disks/partitions.
The structure of this is as follows: -
E:\FT2 - Fasttracker II and its utilities
\HANDBOOK - The Tracker’s Handbook
\INSTR - Instruments
\IT - Impulse Tracker and its utilities
\MODULES - Other trackers modules
\MYMODS - My modules
\8-BIT - 8-Bit versions of my modules
\PATTERNS - Saved Pattern data
\RESOURCS - Holds tracking guides etc.
\SAMPLES - Hmm, I wonder...
\309 - Quasimidi Rave-O-Lution 309
\BASS
\BRASS - Brass Instruments
\BREAKBTS - Breakbeats
\DRUMKIT
\BASSDRUM
\CLAP
\CLOSEHH
\CRASH
\MISC - Shakers, tambourines
\OPENHH
\RIMSHOT
\SNARE
\TOM
\TR-606 - Roland TR-606
\TR-808 - Roland TR-808
\TR-909 - Roland TR-909
\DSS-1 - Korg DSS-1
\FX - Sound Effects
\GUITAR
\JP8000 - Roland JP8000
\JUNO60 - Roland Juno 60
\MC-202 - Roland MC-202
\PADS - Looped synth and string sounds
\PIANO
\SH-101 - Roland SH-101
\SYNTH - Synth stabs and hits
\VOCALS
\WIND - Wind Instruments
\TRACKS - Saved Track data
\UNFINISH - Unfinished Modules
This allows me quick access to the samples I want (I can remember what
most of them are called and sound like, damned good memory!). I also
regularly clean out my sample collection by getting rid of any that are bad
quality - clipped, noisy etc. Any that I'm unlikely to ever use, or I have
already used and don't want to use again are also got rid of.
In every directory there is a text file called DETAILS.TXT. This lists
each file contained in the directory, along with where I got it from. When
you have thousands of samples, and you're trying to credit the authors, it
saves a lot of time and much hair pulling to have the information in one
place.
I would recommend you start off by creating some sort of structure, it'll
stop your disk getting cluttered and enable you to work more efficiently. If
you're running off floppies then use separate disks for different types of
samples, and regularly defragment and check for errors (this also applies for
hard disk owners).
Let's go
~~~~~~~~~~
By now you should have a tracker you're happy with, some samples, and/or
some modules. You're ready to begin being a tracker.
I'm going to teach you how to produce a simple tune, and this should
hopefully guide you as to what you should be doing.
This can be done in two ways, either in step-time or in real-time. The
majority of modules are produced in step-time, maybe with a small amount of
real-time just to see roughly where the notes need to be placed. If you have
a MIDI keyboard connected to your sound card, then you could use that to
input the notes. Generally though, due to the harsh amount of quantisization
that occurs with a tracker you are better off doing it in step-time.
I would recommend that you try producing a few 4 channel modules first,
use one channel for drums, one for bass, one for lead, and one for chords.
This should help as you'll always be able to see what's going on, on the
screen. If you find you do want to use more channels to begin with, then by
all means go ahead, but bear in mind that most of the great tracker musicians
today started on 4 channel modules...
The best way to learn how to do something is to watch someone else do it.
This applies to tracking as well. You can learn a lot just from listening to
the great ones in the scene. If you come up with a tune idea and you know
what you want it to sound like, it helps a lot to look for a tune from one of
the masters that sounds similar to what you want to write, and listen to
their tune over and over again. Look for the things they do with their tune
that sets that tracker apart from the others in the scene, and if you can
adapt their techniques into your song in an original way, do it.
Start by writing music that you really like listening to - don't try and
write an orchestral piece if you don't listen to it - it'll show.
If you want to make a tune realistic, try to imagine how the instrument
would be played. Pretend you are a musician when you write a part. Also, if
you use an instrument such as a piano, try to use more than a single piano
note - a real piano will have more than one note playing at a time - use some
chords etc.
Originally, people used to sample whole chords to save sample space. Now
we've got these wonderful trackers with gazillions of channels. Constructing
chords from notes because you have the space to do so gives a better and more
a professional sound. However, be very careful! If you decide to construct
a chord rather than use a single sample, some musicianship is required.
Simple major chords are easy, but inversions really add to a piece. If you
are able to do it this way, you'll get a professional, crafted sound. But it
does take a long time before you'll get a smooth flowing part.
For a nice fill to the sound, try to balance the usage of low and high
frequencies, tunes with too much bass and too little treble sound rough,
tunes with too much treble and too little bass sound insubstantial.
The Effects Commands
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
By now you should be wanting to experiment with some effects, to make your
music more interesting and more professional. Before we start, lets just get
something straight. Effects should only be used when they are needed. Using
effects just because you can doesn't automatically improve the quality of
your music.
This section will only cover effects with letters/numbers that can be used
in ProTracker MODs. Practically all trackers support these basic effects.
However many trackers use different letters/numbers to represent the same
effect, so check before trying anything. If you try an effect listed here
and it produces a result completely different to how it is described here,
then consult your trackers manual.
Effects are typed into the rightmost column of each channel in every
tracker. They consist of an effect command and a value. Different trackers
have different letters and numbers for the same effect command. But pretty
much all of them can work with hexadecimal for the value. If you don't know
what Hex is, then the following extract, taken from the Impulse Tracker
manual, should help.
"Instead of using a decimal system (i.e. base 10), it is more natural for
the computer to work with hexadecimal (often abbreviated to simply 'Hex') -
numbers which operate in base 16. The first 9 numbers in Hex are denoted by
'1' to '9' and the next 6 are denoted by 'A' to 'F'. So if you count in Hex,
it will be as follows: (0), 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, A, B, C, D, E, F, 10,
11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 1A, 1B, 1C, 1D, 1E, 1F, 20, 21, 22, 23,
24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 2A etc.
To convert a Hex number to decimal, multiply the 'tens' column by 16 and
add the value of the second column i.e. 32 Hex = 3*16+2 = 50 decimal. 2A Hex
= 2*16+10 = 42 (because A = 10). The maximum number that you can represent
with two Hex digits is FF = 255 decimal."
Let's start with the most basic effect, the Set Volume command: C. Input a
note, then move the cursor to the effects command column and type a C. Play
the pattern, and you shouldn't be able to hear the note you placed the C by.
This is because the effect parameters are 00. Change the two zeros to a
40(Hex)/64(Dec), depending on what your tracker uses. Play back the pattern
again, and the note should come in at full volume.
The Position Jump command next. This is just a B followed by the position
in the playing list that you want to jump to. One thing to remember is that
the playing list always starts at 0, not 1. This command is usually in Hex.
Onto the volume slide command: A. This is slightly more complex (much more
if you're using a newer tracker, if you want to achieve the results here,
then set slides to Amiga, not linear), due to the fact it depends on the
secondary tempo. For now set a secondary tempo of 06 (you can play around
later), load a long or looped sample and input a note or two. A few rows
after a note type in the effect command A. For the parameters use 0F. Play
back the pattern, and you should notice that when the effect kicks in, the
sample drops to a very low volume very quickly. Change the effect parameters
to F0, and use a low volume command on the note. Play back the pattern, and
when the slide kicks in the volume of the note should increase very quickly.
This because each part of the effect parameters for command A does a
different thing. The first number slides the volume up, and the second
slides it down. It's not recommended that you use both a volume up and
volume down at the same time, due to the fact the tracker only looks for the
first number that isn't set to 0. If you specify parameters of 8F, the
tracker will see the 8, ignore the F, and slide the volume up. Using a slide
up and down at same time just makes you look stupid. Don't do it...
The Set Tempo command: F, is pretty easy to understand. You simply
specify the BPM (in Hex) that you want to change to. One important thing to
note is that values of lower than 20 (Hex) sets the secondary tempo rather
than the primary.
Another useful command is the Pattern Break: D. This will stop the playing
of the current pattern and skip to the next one in the playing list. By
using parameters of more than 00 you can also specify which line to begin
playing from.
Command 3 is Portamento to Note. This slides the currently playing note
to another note, at a specified speed. The slide then stops when it reaches
the desired note. The best way to describe this is to give an example.
C-2 1 000 - Starts the note playing
--- 000
C-3 330 - Starts the slide to C-3 at a speed of 30.
--- 300 - Continues the slide
--- 300 - Continues the slide
One thing you can note about this and many other commands are that they
have a memory. Once the parameters have been set, the command can be input
again without any parameters, and it'll still perform the same function
unless you change the parameters. This memory function allows certain
commands to function correctly, such as command 5, which is the Portamento to
Note and Volume Slide command. Once command 3 has been set up command 5 will
simply take the parameters from that and perform a Portamento to Note. Any
parameters set up for command 5 itself simply perform a Volume Slide
identical to command A at the same time as the Portamento to Note.
This memory function will only operate in the same channel where the
original parameters were set up.
There are various other commands which perform two functions at once.
They will be described as we come across them.
The next command we'll look at is the Portamento up/down: 1 and 2.
Command 1 slides the pitch up at a specified speed, and 2 slides it down.
This command works in a similar way to the volume slide, in that it is
dependent on the secondary tempo. Both these commands have a memory
dependent on each other, if you set the slide to a speed of 3 with the 1
command, a 2 command with no parameters will use the speed of 3 from the 1
command, and vice versa.
Command 4 is Vibrato. Vibrato is basically rapid changes in pitch, just
try it, and you'll see what I mean. Parameters are in the format of xy,
where x is the speed of the slide, and y is the depth of the slide. One
important point to remember is to keep your vibratos subtle and natural so a
depth of 3 or less and a reasonably fast speed, around 8, is usually used.
Setting the depth too high can make the part sound out of tune from the rest.
Following on from command 4 is command 6. This is the Vibrato and Volume
Slide command, and it has a memory like command 5, which you already know how
to use.
Command 7 is Tremolo. This is similar to vibrato. Rather than changing
the pitch it slides the volume. The effect parameters are in exactly the
same format.
Command 9 is Sample Offset. This starts the playback of the sample from a
different place than the start. The effect parameters specify the sample
offset, but only very roughly. Say you have a sample which is 8765(Hex)
bytes long, and you wanted it to play from position 4321(Hex). The effect
parameter could only be as accurate as the 43 part, and it would ignore the
21.
Command B is the Playing List/Order Jump command. The parameters specify
the position in the Playing List/Order to jump to. When used in conjunction
with command D you can specify the position and the line to play from.
Command E is pretty complex, as it is used for a lot of different things,
depending on what the first parameter is. Let's take a trip through each
effect in order.
Command E0 controls the hardware filter on an Amiga, which, as a low pass
filter, cuts off the highest frequencies being played back. There are very
few players and trackers on other system that simulate this function, not
that you should need to use it. The second parameter, if set to 1, turns on
the filter. If set to 0, the filter gets turned off.
Commands E1/E2 are Fine Portamento Up/Down. Exactly the same functions as
commands 1/2, except that they only slide the pitch by a very small amount.
These commands have a memory the same as 1/2 as well.
Command E3 sets the Glissando control. If parameters are set to 1 then
when using command 3, any sliding will only use the notes in between the
original note and the note being slid to. This produces a somewhat jumpier
slide than usual. The best way to understand is to try it out for yourself.
Produce a slow slide with command 3, listen to it, and then try using E31.
Command E4 is the Set Vibrato Waveform control. This command controls how
the vibrato command slides the pitch. Parameters are 0 - Sine, 1 - Ramp Down
(Saw), 2 - Square. By adding 4 to the parameters, the waveform will not be
restarted when a new note is played e.g. 5 - Sine without restart.
Command E5 sets the Fine Tune of the instrument being played, but only for
the particular note being played. It will override the default Fine Tune for
the instrument. The parameters range from 0 to F, with 0 being -8 and F
being +8 Fine Tune. A parameter of 8 gives no Fine Tune. If you're using a
newer tracker that supports more than -8 to +8 e.g. -128 to +128, these
parameters will give a rough Fine Tune, accurate to the nearest 16.
Command E6 is the Jump Loop command. You mark the beginning of the part
of a pattern that you want to loop with E60, and then specify with E6x the
end of the loop, where x is the number of times you want it to loop.
Command E7 is the Set Tremolo Waveform control. This has exactly the same
parameters as command E4, except that it works for Tremolo rather than
Vibrato.
Command E9 is for Retriggering the note quickly. The parameter specifies
the interval between the retrigs. Use a value of less than the current
secondary tempo, or else the note will not get retrigged.
Command EA/B are for Fine Volume Slide Up/Down. Much the same as the
normal Volume Slides, except that these are easier to control since they
don't depend on the secondary tempo. The parameters specify the amount to
slide by e.g. if you have a sample playing at a volume of 08 (Hex) then the
effect EA1 will slide this volume to 09 (Hex). A subsequent effect of EB4
would slide this volume down to 05 (Hex).
Command EC is the Note Cut. This sets the volume of the currently playing
note to 0 at a specified tick. The parameters should be lower than the
secondary tempo or else the effect won't work.
Command ED is the Note Delay. This should be used at the same time as a
note is to be played, and the parameters will specify the number of ticks to
delay playing the note. Again, keep the parameters lower than the secondary
tempo, or the note won't get played!
Command EE is the Pattern Delay. This delays the pattern for the amount
of time it would take to play a certain number of rows. The parameters
specify how many rows to delay for.
Command EF is the Funk Repeat command (Huge thanks to T-Jay for this
info!). The command needs a short loop to work. It moves the loop through
the whole length of the sample, e.g.:
You have a sample that is 10000 (decimal) bytes long. You have set the
sample loop to 0-1000. When EFx is used, the loop will be moved to 1000-
2000, then to 2000-3000 etc. After 9000-10000 the loop is set back to 0-
1000. The speed of the loop "movement" is defined by x. I don't know
exactly how the speed is specified, but E is two times as slow as F, D is
three times as slow as F etc. EF0 will turn the Funk Repeat off and reset
the loop (to 0-1000).
Some information can be slightly wrong, e.g. the loop MAY be moved from 0-
1000 to 1002-2002, but it isn't important. Very few trackers actually
support it.
Sampling
~~~~~~~~~~
Theory
~~~~~~~~
Let's talk about all the business that goes on before a sound ever gets to
your computer's memory. Sound in the air is continuously changing, and when
it gets converted to an electrical signal the changes are still continuous.
Your computer, however, can only store numbers using a limited number of
digits or precision. Continuously varying sound is called an analogue
signal. Once the computer grabs the sound, it doesn't have enough precision
to store all the information about the sound in order to perfectly reproduce
it. What the computer has stored is called a digital signal representation.
Your sound card captures information about an analogue sound signal by
measuring its intensity at a given instant. This corresponds to one single
point on the waveforms we've been looking at. In order to capture an entire
waveform, the measurement process must be repeated at a high rate, usually
thousands of times a second. Since the hardware has limited speed and memory
capacity, there are only so many points it can capture. Any information
between those points is lost forever. This process of capturing the sound in
small intervals is called sampling.
To play back a sound, we just reverse the process and convert the digital
samples back to an analogue signal. Of course, the new signal will probably
retain some of the staircase effect, so the reproduction won't be perfect.
There are four main things to consider when sampling. The sample
resolution and frequency, amplitude, and copyright (very important).
The sample resolution is another term for the number of bits a sound is
sampled at. All trackers can handle 8-Bit samples, and most modern ones are
able to use 16-Bit samples as well. Sampling in 16-Bit will render the
better quality sound all the time. 8-Bit samples can be difficult to
distinguish from 16-Bit samples, if they are recorded with good hardware.
But most people would advise 16-Bit samples all the time.
The main problem with a lower resolution is that you are likely to get some
or a lot of noise, depending on the quality of your source. The only trouble
with 16-Bit samples is that they are twice as large as 8-Bit ones. A good
trick to use is to sample in 16-Bit, do all of your editing in 16-Bit,
compose with 16-Bit samples, then for the release convert the all the samples
to 8-Bit. You'll find you can halve the size of your MOD this way (But make
sure you keep a copy of the 16-Bit version). The listener may lose a small
amount of quality, but this is usually masked by the mixing routine of the
player. This may also deter some rippers from using your samples.
More important than the resolution of the sample when determining quality
is the sample frequency. The sample frequency refers to the number of
"snapshots" of the incoming sound taken per second. The higher the sampling
frequency, the better the reproduction of the sound is.
So just how many snapshots do we need? If you look at audio specs much,
you've seen CD sampling rates of 44.1kHz, or 44,100 samples per second.
That's a lot of snapshots! A well-known signal processing theorem (Nyquist
Theorem) says that to accurately reproduce a signal, you have to sample at a
rate at least twice the highest frequency component in the signal. So the CD
sampling rate of 44.1kHz will capture frequencies up to 22.05kHz.
You might be wondering what happens if you don't sample at a high enough
frequency. Well, what you get is something called aliasing. This sinister
sounding term just means that since the sample points aren't close enough
together, it looks as though you sampled a lower frequency that really wasn't
part of the original signal. Alias frequencies are like ghosts -
poltergeists really - you can't see them but they make a lot of noise. So by
sampling at too low a rate, not only do you miss some of the high
frequencies; some of them get thrown back into the mix as unwanted guests at
lower frequencies. They are audible as background noise and distortion.
Monitoring the volume of the incoming sound is vital to produce a good
quality sample. If your sampler uses oscilloscopes to "view" the sound then
make sure the waveform gets as close to the top and bottom of the window,
without flattening out (clipping). If your sampler uses volume meters
instead you want to get the sample as near to 0 dB as possible, without going
above.
Practical
~~~~~~~~~~~
Okay, you're probably fed up of reading about sampling and actually want
to do some for yourself. First of all you need some sampling hardware; on a
PC virtually every sound card in existence can do some sort of sampling. On
an Amiga or Atari you're going to need some extra hardware on top of the
built in chips.
Sample editing isn't really that hard, it's mainly lot of trial and error,
searching for the precise point where a sound begins and ends. It takes a
long time before you'll be able to read a waveform like a book.
This is where tracking scores 100% over MIDI. MIDI samplers will rarely
have an accurate, easy to see waveform display, and they don't have mice
either. One of the few reasons I use Windows 9x is for its sample editors
and a nice high resolution screen.
Start by centralising, and then normalising the sample. Then, starting at
the end of the sample zoom in and look for a point on the centre where you
think your sample ends. Always work from the end first, as any computer will
find it easier to fill an area of memory with 0s than shifting a large chunk
of memory around. If you’re using virtual memory this can speed up editing
by a huge amount. Zoom back out to the whole view, does it look like you've
marked the right place, if it does then mark from that part to the end of the
sample and delete it. Play back the sample. If it gets cut off too soon,
then either paste the cut part back in, or use the undo function built into
many sample editors.
Centralise, and normalise again. This is because the part you chopped off
may have been off centre and/or louder than the part you want. Zoom in, and
look for where your sample begins. Cut off anything before that. Play the
sample to check you cut off the right part, not too much and not too little.
If you cut off too much, then simply paste the data back in.
Keep on cutting bits off, and playing the sample back, until it sounds how
you want it to sound. Do a final centralise and normalise, and save the
sound to disk. Give it a meaningful name. If the sample was from a
synthesiser preset or a Sample CD then the name from there would be a good
choice. If you use a DETAILS.TXT or similar then update it to include this
new sample.
Take the time to tune all your samples as accurately as possible. To do
this, play a long, clear, looped sample, then move to another channel and
tune ALL your other samples to this one sample (so they all have the same
reference). Many potentially excellent modules have been spoilt because they
were poorly tuned. Of course, this doesn't count the cases where samples are
intentionally slightly sharp or flat for effect (which should be a rarity
instead of a rule).
Overusing Voice Samples
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
An extremely common mistake made by even some experienced trackers is
finding a voice clip that they think sounds absolutely great or hilarious,
and sticking it into their latest song approximately 87 times. People often
do this with dance tracks. This very frequently kills what would otherwise
be some truly great songs. No matter how funny or cool something sounds the
first time you hear it, there are only so many times you can hear and still
enjoy it. Also, music is about hearing a melody or grooving to a cool beat,
not hearing somebody say the same thing over and over again, so your song
shouldn't rely on voice clips to sound good. If you delete the voice clips
from one of your songs and find that it sounds terrible without them, that
means that you relied too much on the voice clip and don't have enough music.
Using a truly funny or interesting voice clip once or twice can make a good
song great, but it can't make a bad song good.
Ripping
~~~~~~~~~
There are a number of very important points that should be kept in mind
when ripping samples. Look for samples that sound clear and don't have any
clicking sounds at the point where it loops. If you're looking for a sample
of a real instrument, make sure it really sounds like the instrument or else
it will sound stupid. Also, the newer the sample, the better. And finally,
if you rip samples, it helps a lot if you e-mail the person who made them to
get permission to use them, but if you don't get permission, at least thank
the person in the Sample Text. That's just basic politeness.
Copyrights
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Following on from ripping comes copyrights. If you're not planning to
ever release a tune commercially then use samples from wherever you like.
It's extremely unlikely anybody will bother chasing you when they know you
won't be making any money from it.
If however, you eventually want to be able to release your music, then pay
close attention. If you sample individual sounds, such as a single bass
note, you should be able to get away with it (especially if you hear the
sound in a few commercial tunes). When you sample large and/or easily
recognisable parts of any tune, get the samples checked out before you even
think about releasing yours. After all, I don't expect you fancy paying out
large sums of money just because of one simple little sample.
Releasing
~~~~~~~~~~~
Once you've produced a tune you like, you'll probably want other people to
listen to it, give you feedback etc. The most important thing to remember at
the moment is NEVER to publicly release your first couple of tunes. There
are very few people who are gifted enough to really make a quality tune the
first time - it's all practice and experience! Once you have finished a
tune, listen to it a couple of days after... see whether you can view it from
another point of view. Get a couple of friends to listen to it and ask for
some constructive criticism. You know, what's good as well as what's bad
about the tune.
When you feel ready to release a tune, probably the best way of doing so
is via the Internet. There are a number of good FTP sites which will allow
you to upload to them. Unfortunately most of them are incredibly busy, making
them very slow. If you don't have to worry about the telephone bill, then by
all means use them. If your phone bill plays a part, then probably the best
way of releasing is to post your tune to alt.binaries.sounds.mods. You could
also set up your own web site if you have some web space. This could be
either on your own ISP, or on a free site provider like
http://www.geocities.com, http://www.fortunecity.com, and
http://www.crosswinds.net.
Techniques
~~~~~~~~~~~~