IGN Day 2: Rock Band Song Selection Interview

[ThePaska]

http://ps3.ign.com/articles/827/827847p1.html

We find out what goes into picking the tracks for the game and why your favorite song may not be in there.
To find out what went (and still goes) into the process of licensing songs for Rock Band, we fired off some questions to Eric Brosius, the audio lead on the game at Harmonix.

Not the worst update ever, but it certainly isn't something we haven't heard before, its basically the same old song selection interviews that have happened in the past. I do like to hear that they got the majority of the songs from the dreamlist they had created. I wonder which ones did not make it in.

I also like to hear that they are constantly looking for songs for DLC, which just solidifies the claim of hundreds of DLC that should be coming out. I was hoping to get some DLC announcement out of this, but no such luck.

I had a feeling this wouldn't be worth the wait or the hype. I guess its something though (beggars can't be choosers)

[foolosophy]

Lamest update evar.

Maybe there's more? Nah, just wishful thinking.

[masterx1918]

what a pathetic update. "things will get better as the week goes on!" ..........yeah right

[MeleeMan]

THAT'S bigger and better than a new song? Oh my God... Why IGN...

[Ghandi]

So how is this better than A new song and gameplay footage?

[dethklok]

IGN... you are killing me.

[Xzyliac]

October 16, 2007 - When it comes to music games, after you've got the gameplay nailed down you've got to make sure you have a killer tracklist of songs to play. While this is already a tricky prospect when you're talking about one instrument, picking songs for a game like Rock Band is far more difficult as the parts need to work well for each of the four band members.

To find out what went (and still goes) into the process of licensing songs for Rock Band, we fired off some questions to Eric Brosius, the audio lead on the game at Harmonix. Here's what he had to say:

IGN: Firstly, what can you tell us about your day-to-day work on the game?

Eric Brosius: I'm the audio lead for RockBand and my team's (the audio dept) jobs include: song selection, managing the song licensing process, coordinating with the record labels & studios to get the actual audio tracks, prepping the audio tracks for the game (some editing, mixing & mastering), authoring the songs (which includes transcribing the parts and turning them into the notes you see in game, adding animation, camera & lighting cues, etc.), difficulty tuning and other audio-related stuff like sound fx, etc.

IGN: What's the process for signing a band? Once you've decided on a song, what steps are involved in getting it licensed and into the game?

Brosius: Once we decide on a list of artists/songs we want, we reach out to publishers and the record labels to secure the needed clearances. Sometimes the clearances come quickly, sometimes not. We haven't really had very many problems convincing the band or the bands' managers and lawyers that Rock Band is cool and that it will treat the artists' music with the respect it deserves. MTV has helped a great deal by fostering partnerships with the record labels and artists getting them excited about the game.

IGN: How does the selection process work? We can only imagine every person in the office dropping by your desk and saying, "You know who would be awesome for the game..."

Brosius: First we put together a giant list by taking song suggestions from within Harmonix. Of course, everyone at Harmonix is passionate and very, very opinionated about music! We also look at scoring forums, newgroups & websites for suggestions. Then, we painfully pared down the list to a more manageable size during grueling meetings with the Rock Band team and sent it off to our licensing department.

We've had such a great response from artists and bands that once we received a list of clearances we still had to hold more meetings where we narrowed down exactly what songs we were going to put on the Rock Band disc. Our decision was based on balancing the songs, genre-wise, new vs classics, etc.

Music selection was more complicated for this game than for past games that we've worked on because we're also going after artists and songs that will be available for download after Rock Band ships.

The music list is never done. It's a living, breathing thing because we're constantly making adjustments, swapping this song for that, taking new suggestions, adding more for download, etc.

IGN: What percentage of the original wishlist made it into the game? How big was said wishlist?

Brosius: We did pretty well this time, largely because artists were familiar with our previous games and once we let them participate in Rock Band demos they 'got it' right away.

For fun I just looked at my original "dream list" which was exactly 40 songs. There were 25 artists and 12 songs that ended up making it onto the final disc off that list. The percentage of clearances vs. what we went after was actually much higher than this, probably around 80% or more.

IGN: We can only assume that bands (or at least their managers) have come forward and offered their tracks for the game. How often does this happen, and do you always take the band up on it?

Brosius: Yes, several bands, large and small, have contacted us wanting to be a part of the game. And we absolutely love it when the bands themselves are into it because it really is all about the bands' music. A few of these bands who contacted us directly made it onto the final disc and even more of them are slated to have content available for download. We can't promise to accommodate absolutely every band of course, but when bands are enthusiastic we try hard to get them in.

IGN: How do you go about choosing which songs make it in? We know that the goal is for all four parts to be fun throughout the song, but there are ultimately going to be some sections where this isn't true (like the keyboard section in The Who's track).

Brosius: We pick different songs for different reasons, but in general we try to pick songs/artists that we like. We select some songs because they have four interesting or intricate parts (guitar, bass, drums, vox), or because some of the parts are super challenging, or maybe play off each other in a cool way. We pick other songs because they're huge hits that everyone loves, or they're songs that make you want to jump up and down or bang your head. Some lesser-known songs/artists are picked because we think they're ultra cool and deserve attention.

Mainly, we look for songs that have good band moments. Good band moments can be parts where the whole band hits a huge riff together or when there's lots of trading off or back and forth between the instruments. Moments like these really make you feel like you're playing together and that feeling is really what we're trying to capture in Rock Band.

In the Who example you mentioned we chose not to edit out the keyboard-only parts of "Won't Get Fooled Again" because these are classic parts of the song, but more importantly, these parts provide a great band moment. After an intense part of the song, the second keyboard part is a nice rest where the whole band can talk to each other, look at the venue and lights, etc. Then there's a fantastic drum solo build up to when everyone kicks back in. The big "YEEEAAAAAHHHHH!!!!" One of my favorite moments.

IGN: How often do you work with bands versus working with the labels?

Brosius: Most work with the bands is done through the bands' managers, labels or studio engineers. There are times when Harmonix and MTV people visit bands directly to give a live demo of the game, but I don't really get to have Pete Townshend visit me in my office (drat!)

IGN: Do bands ever come in and offer their expertise on how a song should be translated into the game, perhaps showing the note guys how to play it?

Brosius: This hasn't happened yet, except with pesky Harmonix bands, but I'd be very happy to get interested artists involved with the process.

IGN: Will your job ever end, what with all of the downloadable content promised for the future?

Brosius: No. It's pretty much full-throttle from now on because we really want to develop a huge library of downloadable content for the player.

IGN: How much licensing have you already done for the downloadable content?

Brosius: We have a fair amount of licensing done already and are constantly going after more stuff.

IGN: Thanks for your time.

Brosius: Thank you.

A heeping bowl of lamesauce. Interesting but overhyped as always with IGN.

[MeleeMan]

You see? IGN has even angered Ghandi!

[sushi111]

Oh well

What did you guys expect?

[jq71586]

In the Who example you mentioned we chose not to edit out the keyboard-only parts of "Won't Get Fooled Again" because these are classic parts of the song, but more importantly, these parts provide a great band moment. After an intense part of the song, the second keyboard part is a nice rest where the whole band can talk to each other, look at the venue and lights, etc. Then there's a fantastic drum solo build up to when everyone kicks back in. The big "YEEEAAAAAHHHHH!!!!" One of my favorite moments.


This was the only thing that mattered to me, and I think this is something that some people wondered but most assumed they were going to keep some of the songs this way.

[MeleeMan]

Oh well

What did you guys expect?

Something good?

[foolosophy]

Yeah usually things getting better involve... things getting better.

[bmore007]

They waited all day for this terrible update? omg they could have put this out at 6 am so we could look forward to tomorrow's already

[Zammel]

Pretty interesting interview, but I would be lying if I said I wasn't expecting more. I was at least hoping for a new song announcement, some more videos, or something.

[KingofQUEEN48]

we waited all day for this! i like already knew how that stuff worked

[foolosophy]

Honestly after yesterday I didn't expect any more song announcements but at least something like an in-depth look at creating your rocker or maybe a venues preview different than what we've seen. I would've even settled for a list of guitars, bass and drums that will be unlockable in the game.

Not even new screens, not one, they just recycled the October 12th screens. Not even an interview video >_<. I would've even settled for a pure vocalist video, yes I'm serious. At least it would be something new to watch.

[GrenadeJumper]

Grrr. Well i guess that one part of the interview where he talks about the whole "band" experience with all the riffs and such coming together explains the sycronization (i forget the actual words used) thing that was saw in all the videos.. unless that was already figured out but I still had no clue what that was.

[peachpunker63]

they say something about pete townshend in that article. i dont know who he is but he may be in the game.

[masterx1918]

it's pretty much common sense. Hey look i'm gonna conduct a very informative and informational interview with harmonix also! Be sure to read this because it's MUCH better than new songs or even an article on something you don't know yet.

MasterX: So, how do you decide what you guys at Harmonix are going to have for breakfast?
HMX: Well, we pretty much all get together all think about what we are really craving. Then we all decide on two or three things we all want and we go and get it.

MasterX: Can you tell me the process of eating?
HMX: Well you see we usually use forks to eat most of our breakfast, but we sometimes use spoons if we get cereal.....

[Xzyliac]

I actually found the tidbit about more bands who came forward being downloadable versus on disc a small morsel to chew on until tommorow.

MasterX I ROFL'd quite a bit.

[ThePaska]

it's pretty much common sense. Hey look i'm gonna conduct a very informative and informational interview with harmonix also?

MasterX: So, how do you decide what you guys at Harmonix are going to have for breakfast?

HMX: Well, we pretty much all get together all think about what we are really craving. Then we all decide on two or three things we all want and we go and get it.

MasterX: Can you tell me the process of eating?
HMX: Well you see we usually use forks to eat most of our breakfast, but we sometimes use spoons if we get cereal.....

That is so true, its really common sense, I could have taken this interview. How do you select songs, well we get songs that are good that we and other people really want.

[GrenadeJumper]

it's pretty much common sense. Hey look i'm gonna conduct a very informative and informational interview with harmonix also?

MasterX: So, how do you decide what you guys at Harmonix are going to have for breakfast?

HMX: Well, we pretty much all get together all think about what we are really craving. Then we all decide on two or three things we all want and we go and get it.

MasterX: Can you tell me the process of eating?
HMX: Well you see we usually use forks to eat most of our breakfast, but we sometimes use spoons if we get cereal.....

(laugh out loud):D

[AdamBomb629]

By the end of the week, they are building to the big reveal that there is a game called "ROCK BAND"... WOWOWOWOWOW!

[toefer]

So wait, does this basically rule out that they use a Ouija board for song selection? I KNEW my friend was lying.

As for that whole "band experience" thing with all parts coming together, that's even more reason to add Under Pressure. If you have it, give it a listen, and when it gets to around 2:33, give or take a second (depending on your file), that's almost as good as it gets for bands coming together.

Edit: Here's what I was talking about:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7kde0OKMBA

It happens between 2:37 and 2:38, and you can start it around 2:20 to get more of the full effect.

I hope it makes it into the game, but if not, at least as DLC. I'd pay $10 for it.

[travmeatwad]

they say something about pete townshend in that article. i dont know who he is but he may be in the game.

I hope you're kidding..

You don't know who Pete Townshend is?

[HPLabonte]

if they didnt keep the keyboard part in Won't Get Fooled Again and the "Yeeeeahh" I would have a nice, expensive frisbee, junk heap in the shape of guitar, drums and microphone. I was not worried, because it would be a completely dumb-as-f*ck move.

[IErrantVentureI]

No one noticed the picture of hmxsean?!

http://ps3media.ign.com/ps3/image/article/827/827847/rock-band-20071016064038126-000.jpg

[HPLabonte]

they say something about pete townshend in that article. i dont know who he is but he may be in the game.

He's the one on the right. Please leave the board.

<object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/hKUBTX9kKEo"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/hKUBTX9kKEo" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"></embed></object>

[Xzyliac]

I hope you're kidding..

You don't know who Pete Townshend is?

I believe that was sarcasm.

[peachpunker63]

I believe that was sarcasm.


haha yepp. I just wanted to be like everyone else and use sarcasm against IGN since they like suck now at giving updates.

[HPLabonte]

alright well, still watch my video, it's one of my favorites.

Townshend is a god.

[Xzyliac]

No one noticed the picture of hmxsean?!

http://ps3media.ign.com/ps3/image/article/827/827847/rock-band-20071016064038126-000.jpg

OMFG! Unlockable facial hair!

Wait no tat? HAX!

[bounchfx]

No one noticed the picture of hmxsean?!

http://ps3media.ign.com/ps3/image/article/827/827847/rock-band-20071016064038126-000.jpg

thats awesome.

and yes, we've known that there would be facial hair, ROCK!


As for the rest of this week.. I REALLY hope we get to see the rest of the main tracklist simply because I'm a hell of a lot more interested in seeing what the bonus tracks are. (which will probably be a lot more challenging and fun to play, as well as more songs I like)

[Electric_Zen]

No one noticed the picture of hmxsean?!

http://ps3media.ign.com/ps3/image/article/827/827847/rock-band-20071016064038126-000.jpg

Oh, I thought it was Zangief.

[Jimmik]

MasterX: So, how do you decide what you guys at Harmonix are going to have for breakfast?
HMX: Well, we pretty much all get together all think about what we are really craving. Then we all decide on two or three things we all want and we go and get it.

MasterX: Can you tell me the process of eating?
HMX: Well you see we usually use forks to eat most of our breakfast, but we sometimes use spoons if we get cereal.....

haha, I laughed for a solid 20 seconds after reading that

Yea. That was BS, if IGN wants to release an interview like that, dont build us up for it like that. I enjoyed it, it was a good read, but I waited around all day for that. Cmon...

[Xzyliac]

thats awesome.

and yes, we've known that there would be facial hair, ROCK!


As for the rest of this week.. I REALLY hope we get to see the rest of the main tracklist simply because I'm a hell of a lot more interested in seeing what the bonus tracks are. (which will probably be a lot more challenging and fun to play, as well as more songs I like)

Yeah we've gotten to the point where I'll take a main track but I'm itching for bonus tracks.

Especially Vagiant or Count Zero.

[sa_nick]

Man I'm glad I didnt stay up past 4am for this update... kinda lame.

Hopefully tomorrows update will prove much better.

[TheRocker]

I was hoping for some new gameplay footage
but no... damn you IGN

[Magnet]

I guess some good news is that Day 3's article is potentially only 12 or so hours away.

[tf5_bassist]

MasterX's HMX interview and the HMXSean/Zangief comment=a sh!t-ton more entertaining than today's update.

Although I've always enjoyed interviews eith Eric.

[Yordakin]

Agreed, Lamesauce update by IGN.

[Obnysalt]

I'll go call the whaambulance.

http://www.users.on.net/~ntilley/1733-whaambulance.jpg

[RkBndDrmr]

First off, this thread was WAY more entertaining then the update. WTG guys!!:D

I guess one thing I got out of that was there will be no chopping of the songs. WGFA will remain intact and can expect others will too (Foreplay anyone).

[Terranova]

First off, this thread was WAY more entertaining then the update. WTG guys!!:D

I guess one thing I got out of that was there will be no chopping of the songs. WGFA will remain intact and can expect others will too (Foreplay anyone).

not to sure about foreplay.. WGFA starts off with Kick ass rocking then it goes with the keyboards back up again to kick ass rocking, where as with Foreplay the start of it is keyboards for 2mins before the full band rocking starts, some HMX included may see that as to long of a time to wait for the band to start rocking out, they may cut the intro down a bit, i dunno we wont know until someone plays it.

[TheTogfather]

Yes, IGN and I disagree on what is considered 'bigger and better'. Still though, decent interview...always good to hear from Eric. I knew about WGFA not being edited at all, but it's still good to hear 'officially'.

Anway, at least I learned not to spend all day refreshing IGN. Maybe I'll be productive this week after all!

/f5 ign.com

[tbradshaw]

not to sure about foreplay.. WGFA starts off with Kick ass rocking then it goes with the keyboards back up again to kick ass rocking, where as with Foreplay the start of it is keyboards for 2mins before the full band rocking starts, some HMX included may see that as to long of a time to wait for the band to start rocking out, they may cut the intro down a bit, i dunno we wont know until someone plays it.

Two minutes? Perhaps you should give it another listen. Keyboards at 0:00, guitar at 0:11, drums at 0:16, bass at 0:24. You know where he was talking about these awesome "band moments" where everything builds together and the parts play off of each other? Foreplay is exactly what he's talking about. :)

[HPLabonte]

Two minutes? Perhaps you should give it another listen. Keyboards at 0:00, guitar at 0:11, drums at 0:16, bass at 0:24. You know where he was talking about these awesome "band moments" where everything builds together and the parts play off of each other? Foreplay is exactly what he's talking about. :)

Agreed, I hope Foreplay is intact, too.