A few weeks back, I was really interested and impressed by this blog post, in which the Two Lives Left guys showed in detail how they created a really cool ocean effect. It opened up a world to me that I’m still so new to, and it was a really cool behind-the-scenes look at a snippet of a game’s creation. I thought people might be interested in a similar type of post, only this time with music.

One of the parts of my Super Stick Golf Soundtrack that I’m the most proud of is the drum pattern in “Funkier Town.” Here’s a snippet of the song for those of you who are too lazy to go to www.StickGolfMusic.com:

Funkier Town Snippet



Before starting the tune, I knew I wanted a funky drum pattern. However, since I’m not a drummer, I often have a hard time creating a good pattern from scratch. To help me, I needed a reference to work from. Apple Loops are great for this purpose. I searched specifically for funk drums, and voila, up came “Vintage Funk Kit 1.” I really love the groove of this loop (I even used this in my Mario Montage of Funk). Here it is:

Vintage Funk Kit 1



There were two main challenges in turning this funky drum loop into a chiptune loop. First, I needed to break down the loop into individual drum parts and figure out the rhythm that each was playing. Second, I needed to somehow figure out how to make the limited chiptune noise generator sound like each of those parts.

Kick

When making a drum loop, I usually like to start with the kick drum, since it establishes the beat for the rest of the kit. I isolated the kick’s pattern in the Apple Loop and figured out the rhythm. Then, to make the chip-like noise sound like a kick, I threw a low-pass filter on there (cuts all the high frequencies) and boosted the lows in the EQ. This is what I got:

Kick



Snare

Next, I added in the snare. The problem is, there are three main types of snare sounds in the loop. First, there’s the basic hit on beat 2 of the measure. Then, on beat 4, there’s a louder, longer, and more abrasive snare hit. Finally, on some of the upbeats, there are some quieter ghosted snare hits. I started by focusing on the main hits on 2 and 4. I made the beat 2 hit short and mid-range, and the beat 4 hit a bit longer and louder. Here’s what it sounded like at this point:

Kick and Some Snare



The rhythm for the ghosted snare hits was a bit trickier, since they weren’t on major beats. Once I got it and added it into the mix, I had this:

Kick and All Snare



Hi Hat

The hi hat pattern was really simple. It was just a basic swing pattern on loop. To make the sound, I just needed to raise the pitch way up and make it extremely short. It was really coming together now:

Kick, Snare, and Hi Hat



Congas

The last thing I needed to add was something I almost missed altogether. I was so focused on the traditional drumset that I almost missed the conga pattern that was going on in the background. To turn this into chiptune-style, I couldn’t use the noise generator like I had been because the congas have actual pitch. I used a basic sine wave that also had some pitch dropoff on it, which gave it a bit more of a realistic conga-like sound. Once I added the congas in, I was done!

Full Drumset



Some exciting things

Super Stick Golf by Noodlecake Games (which features my full chiptune soundtrack) was released a few days ago, and it’s been doing extremely well. It’s been #1 in sports games for a long time now, and is still holding steady in the top 25 apps in the app store! It’s also been getting some great reviews. Just hoping for an Apple feature tomorrow.

Another game featuring my music was released yesterday: Red Nova by Celsius Game Studios. As opposed to Super Stick Golf, I only provided a tidbit of music to this game, but I’m really happy to be a part of it. It’s really fun, has already been getting a lot of great buzz, and Colin (who made it) is just an awesome guy. The only problem: I absolutely SUCK at the game. It’s alright though; it’s refreshing in the casual gaming world that is the app store. You can hear my musical addition to the game in this video (it’s the “Celsius Games Theme” at very beginning).

Oh and I can’t forget to thank Ty Bader of Noodlecake, who made me the sweeeeeeeet album cover for Super Stick Golf.