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## Cover Methods

Post your cover music here and receive feedback.
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This area is dedicated to covers of existing songs. When posting a song, please include information about the original song.
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epic1sound
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### Cover Methods

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Post by epic1sound » Thu May 26, 2016 3:13 am

Thought it might be cool to hear from the field on how everyone goes about making their covers of songs.
Now, I know that song length, sound chip, compositional complexity, etc. all come into play here but if you had to average all that out:
1. How long does it typically take you to finish a cover from start to end?
2. What methods do you use? e.g. by ear, section by section, slowing the song down, separating channels, etc.
3. How do you figure out what instruments to use? Do you just know it by ear when you hear it or do you use go to instruments and then tweak?
For me it's...
1. A few days, but that's really because I have a small window to work on music with a newborn, 2 boys and a full time job. Most nights I'll spend a few hours working on it.
2. Since I use a Mac, I use Logic X and and listen to the song section by section. Sometimes if the bass is really complex I'll filter out the highs to just hear those frequencies. Also, if it's dire and I can't get it, I slow it down with Flex Time; this works only at a tempo that's about 1/3 to 1/2 speed of the original song, otherwise it's just too jumbled up to tell... I also listen to the song on repeat throughout the day to get familiar with it so I know it well enough without having to listen.
3. I've been working with the SFR set from Threxx and Deathro which has helped me a lot. Since I'm covering Kevvviiinnn songs right now I've been working with some instruments from other FT members covers (Warheart in particular) and I've been doing some tweaking and creating new instruments based off those existing ones or others that I've heard that do the sam type of things i.e. Pulsate, Retriever etc.
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w7n
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### Re: Cover Methods

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Post by w7n » Thu May 26, 2016 3:35 am

This topic should be moved to General Talk.
1. It depends. Fastest - 2 hours (though with more edits later. Excluding cheap stuff like troll works or 'stereotypical 8-bit' works); Longest - 2 months (typically Famicaloid stuff)
2. I listen by ear. Sometimes I would need Dolby Advanced Audio to figure out the bass notes.
3. Mostly experience. For N163, I often use Zamuel's patches.
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epic1sound
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### Re: Cover Methods

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Post by epic1sound » Thu May 26, 2016 2:26 pm

*moved to General Talk forum
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LowBatteryRemote
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### Re: Cover Methods

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Post by LowBatteryRemote » Thu May 26, 2016 3:52 pm

1. Hmm.. It changes sometimes but usually covers take a few days. The shortest for me has been about... 2-3 hours, and with a VRC6 too!
2. Until 1-2 years ago I used sheet music because I don't have so much time in my hands.. But I decided to be patient and go by ear (although if there's something I can't understand I check a MIDI file or sheet music hehe...)
3. Uh.. I try to immitate the instruments, but some are same in every song I cover (usually piano and bass), while others change every time (like trumpet, strings etc). There are times where I study NSF files from existing games so I can apply some techniques though!
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ZeroJanitor
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### Re: Cover Methods

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Post by ZeroJanitor » Thu May 26, 2016 4:51 pm

1. Depends on the cover but on average I say between 2-6 hours.
2. I'll confess: my ear for music is garbage. It's a little better than it used to be but I'm very VERY bad at identifying notes by listening to them. I often use NSF import, MIDI conversion programs, or separate the channels and use Audacity to identify notes (assuming the original song is in a sequenced format that I can do that with).
3. I usually just make an instrument I think will work. If it doesn't sound right when I'm playing the song back, I'll make adjustments.
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Bramble
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### Re: Cover Methods

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Post by Bramble » Thu May 26, 2016 6:19 pm

1. Depends on the song, but lately I've been hitting around 4-6 hours for a VRC6 cover, and maybe 2 for a 2A03.
2. I do almost all my covering by ear, but I do often slow down songs in audacity if something is particularly fast or quiet. On a rare occasion I'll check a midi against the notes I've laid as a double check.
I think forcing myself to not use midis has helped a lot, since I remember when I was just messing with Famitracker and not taking it seriously I often struggled to find the correct notes. After only six months or so of working really hard on Famitracker I've found that my ability to hear notes has gotten better and aided the overall covering process.
3. I make all my instruments over again when I start a new cover. I have a tendency to make certain instruments similar cover to cover but they are always done by hand again (with the exception of a cymbal from my Ruined Street cover I continually resuse for no reason!) For DPCM stuff I use a lot of the same snares and kicks over and over again just cause I like em
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epic1sound
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### Re: Cover Methods

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Post by epic1sound » Sat May 28, 2016 4:15 am

Great responses! Glad to know I'm not alone in slowing down and using MIDI
...anyone else care to share?
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danooct1
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### Re: Cover Methods

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Post by danooct1 » Sat May 28, 2016 5:23 am

1. it really depends on the cover and the complexity of the source material. snes or genesis stuff, or really anything that can be easily split into multiple channels is usually much faster to cover than something that I have to do by ear. but then on top of that it all comes down to motivation, which comes and goes. i'll often take about 4-6 hours on a cover over a period of several days/weeks
2. i use all of those methods, usually if i'm doing a 2a03 cover or something like that where i need to lose channels from the original then i'll do it by ear so i can hear what's the most important/ear catching part to keep in the cover. i've never used a midi though.
3.i make new instruments on every cover and just try to match what i'm hearing. i reuse dpcm samples and stuff like that quite a bit.
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epic1sound
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### Re: Cover Methods

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Post by epic1sound » Sat May 28, 2016 4:51 pm

> danooct1 wrote:2. i use all of those methods, usually if i'm doing a 2a03 cover or something like that where i need to lose channels from the original then i'll do it by ear so i can hear what's the most important/ear catching part to keep in the cover.

Yeah, I actually watched your Famitracker Lessons a few years ago when I was first getting started. That really helped me a lot, thanks for putting that out there.
Famitracker on a Mac... It's possible because I do it.
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Ares64
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### Re: Cover Methods

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Post by Ares64 » Wed Jun 01, 2016 10:55 pm

1. depends on the song, but i will endeavour to finish the entire song in one sitting. i once spend 10+ hours straight doing a cover of plok's house
2. i used to do it by separating channels because i was horrible at identifying chords and the like. whenever i feel like doing a song that's not already a chiptune nowadays i'll do it by ear.
3. i just try to make it not sound like shit really. i do my best to imitate the instrument it's supposed to be but often don't really succeed
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