ChipMusic.org - How Do You Record and Produce Chipmusic With Good Sound Quality?

Re: How Do You Record and Produce Chipmusic With Good Sound Quality?

2011-12-24T01:14:56Z

So I've been focusing more on the arrangement of the instruments in LSDJ than with post-production. I found that setting up Left and Right stereo pans of the bass, percussion, and other non-lead/Kick instruments gives it a fuller sound. I use an automated table Like This to pan Center-Left-Center-Right and use the Envelope command to increase the volume to make up for the decrease in volume when panning left or right. Automated panning tables and being more mindful of the volume of instruments has made a huge difference. I'm still experimenting so I'll share when I discover something new.

Re: How Do You Record and Produce Chipmusic With Good Sound Quality?

2011-12-24T00:35:05Z

an0va wrote:

ant1 wrote:
if it sounds fine when he is listening to it but mushy when he is recording i really doubt it is a problem with his arrangement
cool way to plug your album though
hey thanks for helping!

Moriokun: What Danimal's saying is that you can get awesome sounds without adding a post production EQ/compressors/etc. In fact, some of my personal favorite chip productions are just straight DMG (Ralp comes to mind). That being said, let's try some trouble shooting. Try going straight into the line-in on your mac, keep the levels in the green, and record the track. It will naturally sound softer than most other tracks you hear because it hasn't been normalized or anything, but that's okay for now. Plug in the same exact headphones you used to listen to it before into the computer and listen to it at the same level you listened to it on the gameboy. Does it sound really different here?

Do this. This is good troubleshooting advice.

Re: How Do You Record and Produce Chipmusic With Good Sound Quality?

2011-12-24T00:34:00Z

pixls wrote:

eme7h wrote:
Limit, compress and reverb the shit out of it.
careful about that, reverbing the shit out of things can make it just sound muddy.

Agreed. If I add any reverb to a game boy track, I turn the 'verb mix down till it's practically un-noticeable. Just enough to suggest a broader stereo field or something (which usually isn't necessary if you arrange carefully).

Too much reverb on a Game Boy track usually sounds like ass to me. Unless you're doing drone/shoegaze type stuff.

I'd like to second Danimal's initial point--you really can get rich, huge sounds out of a Game Boy. All I usually do is add a bit of EQ, really (Light boosts to treble and bass.)

Re: How Do You Record and Produce Chipmusic With Good Sound Quality?

2011-12-23T11:37:58Z

I never equalized any recording I did with my gameboy.
On the other hand, Pulselooper did some minor mastering on some releases I did with LGPT, nothing that changed significantly the sound, just putting the bass and the treble where they need to be.

Re: How Do You Record and Produce Chipmusic With Good Sound Quality?

2011-12-23T01:19:21Z

ant1 wrote:

if it sounds fine when he is listening to it but mushy when he is recording i really doubt it is a problem with his arrangement
cool way to plug your album though

hey thanks for helping!

Moriokun: What Danimal's saying is that you can get awesome sounds without adding a post production EQ/compressors/etc. In fact, some of my personal favorite chip productions are just straight DMG (Ralp comes to mind). That being said, let's try some trouble shooting. Try going straight into the line-in on your mac, keep the levels in the green, and record the track. It will naturally sound softer than most other tracks you hear because it hasn't been normalized or anything, but that's okay for now. Plug in the same exact headphones you used to listen to it before into the computer and listen to it at the same level you listened to it on the gameboy. Does it sound really different here?

Re: How Do You Record and Produce Chipmusic With Good Sound Quality?

2011-12-22T23:52:15Z

eme7h wrote:

Limit, compress and reverb the shit out of it.

careful about that, reverbing the shit out of things can make it just sound muddy.

Re: How Do You Record and Produce Chipmusic With Good Sound Quality?

2011-12-22T14:15:27Z

Limit, compress and reverb the shit out of it.

Re: How Do You Record and Produce Chipmusic With Good Sound Quality?

2011-12-11T18:05:26Z

Alright. So the main lead, I really would advise against doing any panning with that. The background part at 0:19 you can definitely get away with the panning you use there.

Watch this, it helped me so much.
http://vimeo.com/13240905

Re: How Do You Record and Produce Chipmusic With Good Sound Quality?

2011-12-11T16:40:01Z

Okay, so I took everyone's advice, made myself a rum and coke, and threw together a little song. SovietBoy - Work In Progress

This is raw recording that was just a pro-sound gameboy I ran through the hardware mixer and into my mac to record. I used minimal EQ on the mixer. No post-production editing.

Re: How Do You Record and Produce Chipmusic With Good Sound Quality?

2011-12-11T15:59:47Z

if it sounds fine when he is listening to it but mushy when he is recording i really doubt it is a problem with his arrangement

cool way to plug your album though

Re: How Do You Record and Produce Chipmusic With Good Sound Quality?

2011-12-11T15:36:29Z

danimal cannon wrote:

You have to make it huge in your arrangement, not in post production magic.

ABSOLUTELY.

Re: How Do You Record and Produce Chipmusic With Good Sound Quality?

2011-12-10T23:48:29Z

danimal cannon wrote:

I keep my instrument volumes relatively low in order to make the kick and snare sound louder, and bigger. It impossible to make your kick louder, but it's easy to lower the volumes of everything else.
Next I play around with a stereo effects in order to achieve a WIDE sound. This can be tricky to do right, but adds a lot of depth to your arrangement.
The DMG is a surprisingly powerful instrument but it took me a while to be able to unlock it, keep at it and listen critically to what others are doing.

Listen to Danimal. Truer words have never been spoken.
post-production can help even out frequency ranges, giving each 'track' its own 'space', but to make it wide and thick *cough*, you must first invent it on your gameboy. Everyone should be referred to this comment when asking how they make their chipmusic sound better, haha.

Re: How Do You Record and Produce Chipmusic With Good Sound Quality?

2011-12-10T23:20:03Z

accidentally hit submit, ignore post. Will respond later.

Re: How Do You Record and Produce Chipmusic With Good Sound Quality?

2011-12-10T22:21:17Z

Listen to the danimal. Also be aware of the quality of the speakers and headphones you're listening to. There are probably things going on in your tracks you're not hearing that can have unpredictable effects on your inputs, outputs and listening environment.

Re: How Do You Record and Produce Chipmusic With Good Sound Quality?

2011-12-10T21:48:39Z

I make a big sounding kick drum, usually wave channel (it's loud and goes an octave lower than the PWchannels). Same thing with the snare using noise channel shaping.

Then I keep my instrument volumes relatively low in order to make the kick and snare sound louder, and bigger. It impossible to make your kick louder, but it's easy to lower the volumes of everything else.

Next I play around with a stereo effects in order to achieve a WIDE sound. This can be tricky to do right, but adds a lot of depth to your arrangement.

Check out some of the stuff on my record if you need examples. I learned everything I know from critical listening. If you purchase it, I also include the save files if you want to poke around and see what I did. Good luck!

Edit: these aren't THE ONLY answers, this is just what has worked for me. The DMG is a surprisingly powerful instrument but it took me a while to be able to unlock it, keep at it and listen critically to what others are doing.