The End of Days wouldn’t be a proper send-off to C3’s weekly releases without some wistful blog posts, right? Over the next few days, leading up to our final release, we’ll be posting some stuff about some things. If you’re not a terrible person with no soul, you should read them! We’re only judging you a little.

I’ve said it many times before, but C3 wouldn’t exist without our amazing community of authors. These ladies and gentlemen worked insanely hard, some of them almost every week, to author customs that met our standards, like including all instruments (including vocals and Pro Keys, often a pain to author) and difficulties. Anyone on the internet can author a custom song — we strongly encourage it, in fact! — but these people did it over and over, with all of those charts for every songs, and often having to incorporate feedback, which is a…rocky process, sometimes. And, best of all, they put up with us and each other long enough to make this amazing project happen.

Today the spotlight is on our most prolific authors, the names that appear most often in our 1500+ song database. We asked each of them about their favorite songs and if they wanted to say anything to you guys, the playerbase, and their answers are below. If you see any of these fine folk on our forums, remember to give them a shoutout and thank them for their hard work!

Tune in tomorrow for some boring awesome C3 statistics!

Author responses are presented alphabetically. Arcanon, BearzUnlimited, Nyxyxylyth, Ollie, and RyanHYK were contacted for this blog post, but we didn’t hear back. When some of them inevitably see this message, get embarrassed, and submit their answers late, I’ll add them in!

AddyMilldike

Which single custom you authored are you most proud of? Why?

Genesis – The Battle of Epping Forest. I consider this my magnum opus for the simple fact that it was my hardest song to author. It was over 11 minutes long and I had no more than a week to do it in. Even though I did author it really fast, I still put as much love and detail into it as I would any other custom that I usually take 2-3 weeks to make. Not including that one, which of your own customs do you play the most?

X Japan – Jade, if only for the fact that I spent so much time on this one, even going as far as including pro guitar, which was not easy to do. Plus it’s a great song on all instruments. It feels good to ham it up once in a while on the mic. Which other C3 author do you admire the most?

Farottone. While everyone here was great, I consider him the best. Always willing to help out, both with customs and non-customs related stuff. A great moderator and one of C3’s strongest assets in my opinion. Any parting words for the C3 playerbase?

Parting words… I was never really good with good byes. I’ve been a part of C3 for 2 years being both a producer and a consumer. I’ve had the pleasure of enjoying customs and seeing people enjoy my customs. While it does tug my heartstrings a little that C3 will no longer release songs, I am also overjoyed that I was able to make other people happy with the work I put in. I totally did not expect the positive responses to many of my songs. My final parting words would have to be that while there will be no more new customs, we should enjoy the ones we have. We had a great run! Also to go out and play Rock Band 4, because that game is looking suh-weeeet!

DeathThreatUK

Which single custom you authored are you most proud of? Why?

Tough one, but i’ll go with Ministry’s Watch Yourself. Getting to work with the multitrack of a great song from my favourite band was so much fun. Not including that one, which of your own customs do you play the most?

Ministry’s N.W.O., The Cure’s Hanging Gardens, and Racer X’s Y.R.O. (hey, two initialised names!) The first two are due to my love for each group, and Y.R.O. for the insane guitar workout. I use Poison Is The Cure to warmup for this Which other C3 author do you admire the most?

Farottone. 500+ songs is no small feat for anyone, especially with all the albums he took part in making. Any parting words for the C3 playerbase?

Keep on rocking, be good to each other, and hail Sithis! Also, i’m not done yet… …at least, i don’t THINK i’m done yet…

DoNotPassGo

Which single custom you authored are you most proud of? Why?

Journey – Feeling That Way / Anytime Biggest reason… that Pro Key chart *shudders*. The midi for Feeling That Way was, at best, good to use for the base chords and that was it. Anytime did not have any useful midi’s for it, and that key chart was done 100% from scratch. The time put into this was much longer than I had thought, and the final Sanity Check pass felt a huge wave of accomplishment flow through me. Not including that one, which of your own customs do you play the most?

Rush – Clockwork Angels This song is actually the main reason that I am a C3 author now. Wanting to chart this on drums for myself led me here, and now coming around full circle, I got to release it through C3 as a tribute towards the end. It’s likely one of my top 3 favorite drum charts, and is something I almost always play in my setlist when I hook my Ion’s up.

Which other C3 author do you admire the most?

Farottone, by far (pun intended). When my 17 song rush pack was in the works, he offered up to help Sanity Check 4 every weekend… along with helping to SC songs that were being release that current week….. along again with everything he, himself was working on. Man is a beast, and without him, that massive pack would never have been finished. He’s been nothing but helpful with messaging back and forth when I needed specific help…

Any parting words for the C3 playerbase?

Keep C3 alive. C3 level releases may be done for now, but that shouldn’t stop people from creating and releasing their own. I know I still have a good number of projects I want to get out, and you should be on the lookout for them in the Other Customs down the road.

drummerockband

Which single custom you authored are you most proud of? Why?

I am most proud of authoring “That Thing You Do!” by The Wonders. Not only do I love to play the song, I love the song and movie in general. When I heard about the idea for the At the Movies pack, this was a shoo-in. Had so much fun authoring this while singing along the entire time. Not including that one, which of your own customs do you play the most?

Well I guess you could say “we” play the most. I don’t usually play it by myself but whenever I have family or friends over who want to play Rock Band, there’s always someone who HAS to play “Hips Don’t Lie”. As you can probably guess, hilarity ensues when the party gets a little rowdy and the singer goes into full Shakira mode :P. Which other C3 author do you admire the most?

Ah come on! You guys are really making me pick?! I think every C3 author I’ve had the privilege to work with and gotten to know over these 2 years have been absolutely amazing. If I had to call out authors though, I’d have to thank Farottone for putting up with all my bullshit and for giving me tips whenever I needed them. I’d also have to give a big thank you to Nyx for being always up for helping me with the Christmas weeks. I wouldn’t have released “Wonderful Christimastime” or “Christmas Wrapping” without him. Any parting words for the C3 playerbase?

I just want to thank everybody who played my customs and enjoyed them. That really means a lot to me that people downloaded, played and enjoyed my customs, as well as shared my taste of music. I will say right now to my fellow Tegan and Sara fans, I’m sorry I didn’t get time to release more songs by them, but I hope you liked the ones I picked to release! Hopefully Harmonix is nice to us Also, even though I haven’t officially released customs lately, I don’t see myself actually officially stopping. For example, I’ve got one (or a few :P) song in the works right now that could hit the “Other Customs” forums fairly soon. #bearstack. 😉

DVDSmith

Which single custom you authored are you most proud of? Why?

“Let Me Entertain You” by Robbie Williams. My first work with full multitracks, and it’s such an iconic UK song that I spent days and days making sure everything from the charts to the mix to the venue was absolutely perfect. A total blast on all instruments, and a HUGE song at my local RB parties. (A close second was “Dry County” by Bon Jovi, the ten-minute epic with multiple epic guitar solos and a surprisingly brutal piano chart.) Not including that one, which of your own customs do you play the most?

Probably “School of Rock”. A song that’s great fun on all instruments and brilliant fun to sing along to. Plus it’s from one of my favourite films! (Close second is “Don’t You Forget About Me” by Simple Minds – for exactly the same reasons.) Which other C3 author do you admire the most?

Farottone. Because he is a customs god. Somehow manages to put out dozens of customs, do loads of sanity checks AND still watch over the forums and help to govern C3. I swear the man does not sleep. Any parting words for the C3 playerbase?

Simply thank you, to everyone. To Harmonix for making Rock Band 3, and supporting it for as long as they did.

To the C3 core staff for continuing Harmonix’s legacy, and who saw my first Sonic custom and decided to let me join as an official author.

To Nemo and Farottone for their incredible software tools to make charting those customs much more enjoyable.

To PKSage for hosting everything and giving us a place of work.

To Nemo and Espher for the RB Beatles and Harmonies projects respectively.

And to C3 for respecting Harmonix and RB4, even if it means stopping the very thing they love doing.

farottone

Which single custom you authored are you most proud of? Why?

I don’t think any single song is something I can make myself be proud of. Other authors put more time than me in polishing, creating venues, etc. so it would just be presumptuous of me to be proud. However, I am extremely happy that I could both put together the amazing team with which we did the Genesis Chronicles project and release that masterpiece that is Dream Theater’s Images & Words with multitracks. Not including that one, which of your own customs do you play the most?

Poison’s 3-pack and anything Mr. Big and GnR: they were just made for Rock Band, at least for me. 🙂 Which other C3 author do you admire the most?

I have always been and always will be about the group, but I will tell you WHY I admire this team. I admire my admin mates because I know how much work it takes to do this; I admire the former RBN authors we brought in because they are the ones who did the real thing and I admire that a lot; finally I admire all the other authors who like me had to learn by themselves and found strength to dedicate 20 hours on 4 minutes of music in the passion of those who came before them because I know how much time and effort this takes. Any parting words for the C3 playerbase?

I will pen something for the players in Thursday’s blog post, but for now, thank you for giving us so much energy and encouragement, you made all the time I spent on this really worth it.

Gigakoops

Which single custom you authored are you most proud of? Why?

I would have to say “Mothership” by Enter Shikari. Everything here seems just perfect to me. Every instrument is fun without going into true frustration territory, and the overall presentation just seems perfect (I am especially fond of the venue direction here). If you’re into electronic-tinged metalcore I highly recommend picking this one up. Not including that one, which of your own customs do you play the most?

I’m also really proud of my iwrestledabearonce customs, as those were a real pain in the butt to author, but so worth it. There’s also “Lifestalker” by Cattle Decapitation, which I’d consider just short of my magnum opus work. I’m also proud of the work I put into the poppier songs I’ve authored as well, such as “Sucks to be You” by Prozzäk (highly recommended for singers and guitarists), and “Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites” by Skrillex (probably the most fun bass chart I’ve ever made). Which other C3 author do you admire the most?

Nightmare Lyra gets my shout-out. They’ve put so much work into their customs, and has a great variety of both well-recognized pop songs and challenging metal stuff that at least I personally enjoy playing a lot. There’s so much care put into every detail, including the note charts, the venue direction, and even small things like lip-sync and metadata. Any parting words for the C3 playerbase?

I’d just like to say thank you all for giving me the chance to author some great tunes and make people happy. It’s always great whenever I see someone get excited over some obscure, niche song I never thought would get any downloads, because I know I’ve made that person’s day. It’s been great doing customs that others probably wouldn’t have thought to do, and to see people either discover new favorites or get excited for songs they never thought would see a release, as a custom or otherwise. Love you all, and see y’all on the flipside.

Lowlander

Which single custom you authored are you most proud of? Why?

Pink Floyd’s Wish You Were Here, easily. I knew for that year’s Twelve Days that if I wanted to release something, it would have to be one of the biggest, most explosive, most requested songs I could think of, and at the end of it, it would still have to be something I’d want to play a lot, so I went straight for the throat in terms of song choice. Actually charting it wasn’t too bad, even including the melismatic vocals, but bass was actually annoying. It’s the only song where I had to turn to tabs to try and figure it out. That was also at the point where I really got familiar with venues and left-hand animations, so I really tried to make it look like something special. I was very particular about the after-effects in the intro especially, and while there are a few of my earlier customs that show some limitations with the engine, that one, to me, still looks spectacular. On top of that, though my personal taste will always dictate what I put out above any other factor, it did make me very happy to see the reactions when it was announced during Twelve Days. That was some jubilant stuff, definitely the biggest pop I’ve received for a song choice. Not including that one, which of your own customs do you play the most?

Judith, A Perfect Circle. Because it’s the hardest. I’m simple like that. Which other C3 author do you admire the most?

Ooh, toughie. Farottone has consistently shown the most dedication to the concept, Ollie and DVDSmith have managed to put out some killer songs that I still play, and I definitely want to shout out Sageamagoo and Mazegeek for charting and testing Pro Keys so well. That instrument never quite got the love it deserved. But in terms of impressiveness, it’d probably have to be Bearzunlimited. I remember when he first did his convert of 21st Century Schizoid Man and he didn’t include Pro Keys, because he was rightfully afraid to do so, and he’s admitted that both Pro Keys and vocals completely eluded him at the start. But he worked up the courage and gall over time, consistently improved his charting, and before we knew it, he was charting some of the longest and most complex songs of the entire RB library, official and RBN included. Fun fact: my circle of close friends has naturally had a few customs requests of their own, and I do regret that I never really gave them the attention I said I would, but one I consistently received was…wait for it…Cassandra Gemini. And I’m pretty sure that this was a semi-joke, because who would want to put themselves through the hassle of charting a 30 minute Mars Volta song? But lo and behold. We were all amazed that was picked, myself included, and yes, it is one of the best customs I have ever played. Who knows? Maybe I’ll have that bass FC by the time this goes up! And then you can actually go for that sightread vocals FC, Tyler. But I digress. Really, I do think each and every person who had a hand in C3’s releases at some point deserves some credit. No matter how big or small their contributions may have been, C3 would be just that bit lesser if they weren’t involved. And I truly mean that. Any parting words for the C3 playerbase?

I know I haven’t put out a chart in a while. The videos did not factor into that as much as you might guess, but I will make my break official when I put RB4 through its paces for two weeks or so (and maybe GHL for one. I’d be a liar if I sat here claiming I’d exit that game in a minute, but I can’t say I wouldn’t. I have my limits.) But I have too many ideas, too much disgruntlement with HMX’ song choices and too much time to quit customs, and I have a veritable backlog of both requests and incomplete charts to get through. This is some of the most fun I’ve had playing Rock Band, and that’s saying a lot, so I’m definitely on board for more custom content in the coming months.

Nightmare Lyra

Which single custom you authored are you most proud of? Why?

Ijime, Dame, Zettai by Babymetal. Took me countless hours to do, digging through the frequencies to make sure to get a accurate Bass and Keys chart despite it being buried deep in the mix, making a intricate venue to capture the epic feel of the song and fine tuning everything as best as I could. Not including that one, which of your own customs do you play the most?

Harder Better Faster Stronger by Daft Punk. Daft Punk is one of my favorite bands, and HBFS is a lot of fun on everything Which other C3 author do you admire the most?

Gigakoops due to the consistent charting quality, the great obscure song picks that had me discover new great bands left and right, creative and beautiful venues that perfectly encapsulate the emotion of the songs and just being one of the nicest people around Any parting words for the C3 playerbase?

Be nice to each other, drop out of school, destroy your masters, hail Satan

pksage

Which single custom you authored are you most proud of? Why?

This one is really tough! I think I have to go with “September”, even though it’s now being released as official RB4 DLC. Working with stems again was wonderful, all of the charts turned out pretty great, and it’s a perfect fit for Rock Band. Runners-up include the Weird Al polka medley (because of the keys, oh my god), “Flagpole Sitta” (because it’s “Flagpole Sitta”), and “Kiss” (because it was, and is, C3’s only Prince custom). Not including that one, which of your own customs do you play the most?

It’s new, but “Those Who Fight Further” is great on everything, especially guitar. “Dashboard” gets played almost every session, because I am nuts for that song and the guitar chart OWNS BONES. “Opera Singer” is my go-to Cake pick, though our other Cake songs are great too, and “Kickapoo” is another new one I don’t think I’ll put down anytime soon. Which other C3 author do you admire the most?

I know I’m cheating on a question I wrote, here, but I have two, for different reasons. farottone, as almost everyone else has said, singlehandedly kept C3 alive with his songs. His hundreds and hundreds of tracks, authored and released at an insane pace, kept a lot of releases afloat and inspired everyone to chip in. He’s always positive, he’s done so much non-authoring work for C3…he simply poured his entire life into this project over the last two years. From a strictly authoring perspective, however, I have to name BearzUnlimited. Bearz’s charts are incredibly on-point, he does fancy custom venues, and he simply gets the authoring process on every instrument like few people do. This is all without mentioning his 20+ minute prog epics. Any parting words for the C3 playerbase?

Get off my lawn, I’m sick of typing things for you every week! (Just kidding! Though I did almost author Cake’s “Sick of You” as a joke for End of Days.) It’s been a tiring two and a half years, but your downloads and positive feedback have been incredibly rewarding. Thank you so much for sticking with us, and look for a bigger wall of text from me on Thursday.

RyanHYK

Which single custom you authored are you most proud of? Why?

If I have to pick a singular song, it would be “Wynona’s Big Brown Beaver” by Primus. Looking back, I see a few mistakes, but I think this song’s my best because it has great parts for every instrument. Though I think my greatest accomplishment is finishing off Blink-182’s Take Off Your Pants and Jacket. I just really loved the album and to make customs for the ten remaining tracks was great, if not exhausting. It just feels like my Everest. Not including that one, which of your own customs do you play the most?

Probably “Hip to Be Square” by Huey Lewis and the News all around. If I’m just singing, probably “Boyfriend” by Justin Bieber. …Shut up! Which other C3 author do you admire the most?

Probably Bearzunlimited. He’s a spot on author for one, but I’m always a sucker for a good venue work, since it’s where I got my start on the Rock Band Network. For that reason, I also dig Nightmare Lyra, DeathThreatUK, DVDSmith, AddyMildike, and Orange Harrison. Any parting words for the C3 playerbase?

Thanks for playing my work. I hope you enjoyed it. I hope you continue to rock and support fellow custom authors. And I know I’m gonna be a hard ass if I ever see your customs. I’m kind of the asshole of the group. Until we meet again!

TrojanNemo

Which single custom you authored are you most proud of? Why?

I think my greatest custom is DragonForce’s Fury of the Storm. Not only is it one of the longest songs I’ve ever worked on, but it’s arguably the most complex and most challenging to translate from GH to RB format. It was also a fun one to work on because of the custom practice session names that made it into the final release. And as we all know, it’s a blast to play! Not including that one, which of your own customs do you play the most?

Of all my customs, those that are released through C3 and those that are only available in the Other Customs forums, my most played song has to be Keane’s Somewhere Only We Know. It, along with Keane’s Everybody’s Changing and Jet’s Look What You’ve Done, were songs I charted for and dedicated to my wife. Ever since they were released I play them for her at least once a month at the local pub event we go to, and I love playing them on keys while singing. You should try them – they’re a lot of fun. Which other C3 author do you admire the most?

Hands down, undoubtedly, farottone. We’ve been internet friends since 2012 or so, and since then he’s been extremely encouraging and helpful. When I first started out, I was converting GH songs. It was farottone who encouraged me to start doing customs from scratch, and each custom I ever released was looked over by farottone at least once. This same willingness to help me I’ve seen from him time and again directed at other authors. He’s always encouraging others to try and helping those that need help, all while continuing to push out such great quality content. Any parting words for the C3 playerbase?

Even though I stopped authoring a while back, I’ve stuck around creating new tools and perfecting the existing tools as my contribution to this great community. Even though C3 as an entity will no longer release songs, the forums will still be there, the songs will continue to be there on the server, and the tools I’ve created or helped create will continue to be available to you. Make use of these tools (and feel free to make better ones!) and exhaust the tutorials and videos we’ve provided for you. Even when C3 is no longer around, you can continue to carry the torch and keep the Rock Band customs community alive.

ws54

Which single custom you authored are you most proud of? Why?

Judas Priest – Victim of Changes. Although this was just released, I have been wanting to make this song since I started making customs 2-3 years ago. I think the song benefits from waiting until my charting skills matured. The song is long and moves through several varied parts that are each fun in themselves. It is now cliche to say this but it plays great on all instruments. This wasn’t asked, but the pack of songs I am most proud of is the 8-pack of oldies: Hollies, Troggs, Badfinger, Herman’s Hermits, Beau Brummels, Donovan, Tommy James, Paul Revere. Plus 3 more from others that added to the pack. Not including that one, which of your own customs do you play the most?

Black Sabbath – Sabbath Bloody Sabbath

Aerosmith – Seasons of Wither

Aerosmith – Woman of the World

Shinedown – Amaryllis

April Wine – Sign of the Gypsy Queen

Donovan – Hurdy Gurdy Man

Big Star – O My Soul Which other C3 author do you admire the most?

I have to go with the ones that release stuff most like what I release. So I have to name a few: Farottone (I consider him to be the Euro version of myself as musical tastes go.) BearzUnlimited and DoNotPassGo for all of their Rush work and more. Nyxyxylyth for his eclectic mix of releases, and others. Any parting words for the C3 playerbase?

It has been my pleasure to bring songs to Rock Band that I doubt would have ever made it otherwise. There are still so many songs I’d like to do. The era from the 60s and 70s needs much more done from it. Although I plan on taking a break, I still have about 20 half finished customs that I’ll eventually release to the community, so stick around! I’m sure others will be doing the same.