Get a behind-the-scenes look at Rock Band Network authoring companies in our RBN Profiles series. This week, we introduce you to Fairwood Studios and Rhythm Authors.
The company: Fairwood Studios
Their website: http://www.fairwoodstudios.com
Examples of their work: “Bang” by Rockapella; “Janie” by The Raspberry Ants; “Magician” by Lightwires
Speaking for Fairwood Studios: Rob Witko
How did you get into RBN authoring?
I got into it on the assumption that the bands I wanted in the game were not the bands everyone else wanted in the game. I was also starting my own band around the same time (Rabbits on the Run), and was hoping to get in the game without any middleman. And the whole notion of a technical process, with defined rules that still offer wiggle room, with the end result of making something musical and entertaining is just really appealing to my personality.
Who are the people on your team, and what are their roles?
The only full-time crew member is myself, Rob Witko. I do all the authoring I can, and work as the public face of the team. However, I do get plenty of testing and non-authoring help from personal friends/roommates/bandmates, and several RBN community faces (Markleford Friedman, Neal "Coach Z" Manson, and David "davyinatoga" Winn Jr.) pop in and out to author as they please. Sort of how Guided By Voices is always Robert Pollard, but the rest of the group cycles around.
Do you have an authoring specialty or specific kinds of artists that you hope to attract?
I hate routines. So the mission with Fairwood is not to do the same thing twice in a row. Sometimes this means just hopping from pop to metal to rock, sometimes it means throwing down experimental robotic no-wave. I like the latter, since it keeps things from being predictable and draws plenty of attention. I do enjoy working in the indie scene, but I still hope and plan on recruiting more notable artists, especially ones that don't immediately come to mind.
What's your favorite part of authoring?
Two favorite parts - one, seeing music dissected. I was the kid with the clear Game Boy, because I love seeing the inner workings of things, and getting the stems for a song is the musical equivalent of that. The other is when a project is finally done and we're booting it up in-game to test for the first time. That sense of accomplishment never gets old.
What's the most challenging part of authoring?
Again, two things (I just can't stick to one, can I?). One is vocals authoring, that's easily the most tedious part and the hardest to get exactly right. The other is legal and logistics, we've lost so many bands to that stage that it's really a shame. Sometimes it's out of anyone's control, sometimes it's the label's doing, but no matter the cause it can be really frustrating.
Do you have a cool or funny story to share with the community?
Here's the story of VVVVVV and Super Meat Boy. I decided to contact Magnus (VVVVVV composer) to talk him into doing RBN. He was on board, but he needed to talk to Terry (VVVVVV creator) about some legal details. They talk, Terry's on board. Terry winds up talking to Edmund (SMB creator) about RBN. Now Edmund's on board. So Edmund contacts me to talk me into doing the Super Meat Boy tracks. I'm obviously on board, so I contact Danny (SMB composer) to get him on board. But Edmund already got Danny on board, so I didn't even need to get him on board. So Danny's on board, because Edmund's on board, because Terry's on board, because Magnus' on board. I just think the whole roundabout cause-and-effect is brilliant.
Any last words you'd like to share with our audience?
There was a time you didn't know your favorite band. Keep hunting down new music. Even if it's been around, if it's new to you it's worth exploring. And there's plenty of legal free music out there, so you don't even have to take risks to do it. (I've actually got four days' worth- as in, 96 hours- of free and legal music that I still have to listen through. Some might even come to RBN, who knows.)
The company: Rhythm Authors
Their website: http://www.rhythmauthors.com
Examples of their work: The B.O.L.T., Asking Alexandria, and “Africa” by Quartered
Speaking for Rhythm Authors: Joseph Cirri
How did you get into RBN authoring?
We were involved with RBN developments in early 2009 before its public announcement. As a talented group of dedicated fans from ScoreHero.com...we were called in for private discussions with Harmonix to help plan for a successful launch. Several months later we established Rhythm Authors LLC to kick-start the authoring community and have since attended multiple Harmonix-instituted training sessions.
With original members that include the founder of the successful rhythm gaming community known as ScoreHero, Guinness World Record holder for multiple Rock Band achievements, and professional audio programmer from the Frostbite Engine team at Digital Illusions CE (DICE), amidst an educated team of accomplished musicians and passionate fans of the Harmonix brand, it was only natural to for us to lead the way as the first established authoring company in May 2009.
Who are the people on your team, and what are their roles?
Everyone from our team helps out in a variety of ways including community playtesting, and there's simply too much to provide a complete list. But here's a list of our currently active members and their primary roles.
Joseph Cirri, Founder and President - Oversees operation, manages strategic development, web hosting, database and production server; coordinates accounting obligations and assists with important communications and critical tasks.
Greg Litvin, Senior Project Manager - Responsible for hiring new talent, assigning tasks, overseeing projects from start to finish, upholding deadlines, tying up loose ends and managing song uploads to the Rock Band Creators site.
Brian Westbrook, Account Director - Reviews new song submissions, handles contract preparations and client communications. With an extensive background in audio production, Brian speaks the right language and can assist with audio mixing tasks.
Dedicated Authoring/QA Team:
Chris Johnson - Audio Engineer
Donn Pelayo - Guitar/Bass, Keys and Drums
Jan Brunner - Guitar/Bass, Keys, Drums, Vocals and Venue
Leonard Madarang - Guitar/Bass, Keys, Vocals and Venue
Brady Peterson - Guitar/Bass
Matt Furbush - Guitar/Bass
Erich Sherman - Keys and Drums, Podcast host
Jake Stevenson - Drums Author
Calin Scoggins - Drums QA
Jim Avery - Vocals and Pro Keys, Podcast co-host
Daniel Gouker - Vocals
Do you have an authoring specialty or specific kinds of artists that you hope to attract?
Our specialty is delivering gameplay experiences that are truly entertaining, and we hope to attract all types of music and artists that tend toward that category. Whether it's a song's familiarity, diversity, composition, or challenge, we understand and seek elements that contribute to a fun Rock Band experience and make it happen.
Over the past year we've established hundreds of relationships with indie artists to established labels from 10 countries around the world spanning musical genres from country to death metal. We introduced Rock Band's first hip hop song (“Top Back” by Alias Unknown) on day 1 of RBN's launch, and are not afraid to explore creative ideas such as taking on a song commemorating the 2010 World Cup with playable vuvuzela parts [on vocals] (“Vuvuzela Anthem” by Strayplay).
We try to stick with professional audio recordings to maintain a high standard for production quality, but from a creative standpoint the sky is the limit. It ultimately comes down to the gameplay experience that a song can create.
What's your favorite part of authoring?
We enjoy taking on challenges and overcoming them. Whether it's a punishing drum fill, a fuzzy batch of lyrics, or simply a unique bass line requiring some interesting wrapping, deciphering a particularly puzzling section of a song into a functional, enjoyable, non-rule breaking chart is definitely a reward in its own right.
A nice bonus is seeing the feedback, praise and criticism for any of our songs amongst the Rock Band community. We always appreciate when our hard work is noticed and continue to shape our decisions based on public response.
What's the most challenging part of authoring?
Reducing an Expert chart to fit Hard, Medium, and Easy difficulty guidelines while maintaining the feel of the song is one of the most challenging and important aspects of authoring. Only a minority of Rock Band players prefer Expert, so it's crucial that the experience of a song is preserved for everyone.
For the most part the Expert difficulty represents a literal transcription, at least rhythmically, of the actual parts being performed. But often times subtle nuances that can't be heard in the song's full mix feel disconnected to play. Deciding which nuances to author and which to leave out is always a tough balance. Toeing that line of playability vs. accuracy relies heavily on opinion and subjectivity, which typically leads to a lot of internal discussion throughout the authoring and QA process.
Do you have a cool or funny story to share with the community?
One "fun" challenge is authoring vocals with no reference lyrics available. Usually we'll get them from the band or locate an online reference, but other times we're left with nothing but our ears and the audio.
Sometimes when it's impossible to figure out from the audio, we'll put placeholder lyrics in the song until we find another source for information. We did this in "Death Quota for Purification" by authoring "ree," "ugh," "grr," "buh" for different growls by the death metal group, The Myriad Burial. As it turned out, the band didn't recall their own lyrics and gave approval to keep our placeholder lyrics, which are now present in the published song.
We also like to author animals – this is an actual screencap from our latest keys transcription, we're not kidding:
(Deer, camel, giraffe? Girameldeer?)
Any last words you'd like to share with our audience?
Keep on rocking! We plan to continue expanding Rock Band's song library with great music and fun charts for everyone. Stay tuned to our website for video previews and real-time updates on what's coming through the pipeline next, and be sure to follow us on Facebook and Twitter.
Two weeks from now, we'll be back with profiles of Ozone Entertainment (who brought you the very first RBN 2.0 song, "Blue (Da Ba Dee)") and Offbeat Entertainment (responsible for bringing songs from Evanescence, the Shins, and Dimmu Borgir to the RBN). Stay tuned!
Very nice to see these RBN author interviews.