Posts Tagged ‘RBN’

When the Rock Band Network was originally announced, it was lauded for its ability to put the tools to Rock Band song creation and distribution into the hands of anyone, be it a seasoned music veteran or someone that is just starting out. Artists on the RBN range from musicians who performed at the original Woodstock right next to those who have only written a handful of songs. RBN artist A Talking Fish falls more into the second group, but is just as enthusiastic about their art as anyone.

Having just released their debut track Cheesy Pop Song on the Rock Band Network last week, we recently had a chance to ask Roger from A Talking Fish some questions about his band, himself, and his connection with the Rock Band community. Check out his responses below!

RockBandAide: For those in the Rock Band community not familiar with you, please tell us a little bit about the yourself.

A Talking Fish: My name is Roger Pollard. Jade Richman and I (along with a few other people here and there) are the main line-up for A Talking Fish.

We’ve been uploading videos to YouTube since 2007. We’ve actually uploaded about 100* videos total. Guess how many subscribers we have? Like… 200. Two. Hundred. That’s nothing. For being up there for four and a half years, it’s quite shameful to know that our videos are that bad. I’ve seen people with much worse videos get thousands of subscribers through the shameful tactic of spamming channel after channel until I can’t bear to see their name anymore without an immense feeling of hatred manifesting itself within my soul… and then they stop! They just stop… making… videos. After less than a year. They get a couple thousand subscribers, release 5 videos, and go “well, that was fun”. I mean come on! We may suck, but at least we are persistent! We are failing, but we’re failing in a dignified manner! We can hold our heads up high and say “we know we suck, won’t you join us?”. The truth of the matter is that aside from this interview, which I’m sure will be full of it, we take a strong stance against shameless self-promotion. In the world of YouTube, apparently, that’s a very bad tactic.

Anyways, that asterisk after the “100″ is because we’ve removed several videos over the last few years for various reasons. We have about 70 that exist on our channel, and about half of those are still public. If you want to check out our youtube channel, go to youtube.com/atalkingfish.

RBA: How would you describe your music to people who have never heard it?

ATF: Awesome. It fills the soul with delight, and we rarely make grammatical errors.

RBA: Who were your early musical influences? What album(s) do you remember listening to growing up that had the biggest impact on you?

ATF: When I was a kid, I listened to Scott Joplin. He’s a Ragtime composer from the early 1900s. After that, I started listening to Monty Python’s music (yes, they had music), then Weird Al, then the pop songs Weird Al parodied, then the iTunes recommendations based on the pop songs Weird Al parodied that I liked, then the iTunes recommendations for the songs iTunes recommended based on the pop songs Weird Al parodied that I liked. Before too long, I somehow ended up in 80s and 90s alternative, which led to Weezer, and then somehow I managed to get into Dream Theater. I still expand my musical tastes when I can. My most prominent musical influences are Dream Theater, MIKA, and a grand schmumble of all the interesting chord-progression-based bands I’ve heard over the years.

Some of my childhood influences were Old & in the Way (bluegrass supergroup), Mannheim Steamroller’s Christmas music (in fact, I’m listening to some now), and the theme song for the Red Green show. I’d be a fool to say these songs don’t have an effect on my current songwriting.

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Many of you remember early this year when @SebastianSB reached out to a number of people throughout the Rock Band community and prepared a Best of RBN 1.0 list. Not only was this a salute to the closing of the first version of the Rock Band Network, but also helped highlight a number of tracks that several people thought deserved special recognition for their musical quality.

Well, @SebastianSB reached out to me again about highlighting some of the choicer cuts in the RBN, so we decided to make an attempt at doing something very similar, except this time we would allow everyone to provide their input on what tracks deserved to be recognized. And this time, it will be a recurring feature each month here on the site!

Starting with July, we will list out all the Rock Band Network tracks that were released for the Xbox 360 for a particular month. It is YOUR job to go through these potentially massive lists and select the THREE tracks that you thought were the best. If you don’t remember each song, I’ve taken the liberty of linking to the original posts so you can go back and listen to a sample or to head over to RockBand.com.

• Xbox 360 RBN DLC for 7/7
• Xbox 360 RBN DLC for 7/14
• Xbox 360 RBN DLC for 7/21
• Xbox 360 RBN DLC for 7/28

Our goal is to have voting open for three-ish (business) days, so you have until Tuesday night to provide your input. After that, we’ll tally the results, and list the top 10 songs as selected by the community in a separate post next week.

Happy voting!

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You guys remember Graveyard BBQ, don’t ya? They were featured way back on the original Guitar Hero, and now have several tracks in the Rock Band Network. I just received a quick message from the boys in the band (via @RG_Studios), and here is the latest RBN contest for everyone to check out!

Are you the rippinest, shreddinest member of the BBQ Nation? Want to win tons of cool GRAVEYARD BBQ swag (signed CD, shirt, BBQ apron), 1600 MS Points, AND a personal Skype guitar lesson with the King of Sling himself, BROWNBAG JOHNSON?

All this can be yours if you score the #1 spot on the guitar leaderboard for the GRILL ‘EM ALL Battle.

ALL HAIL THE NATION! “IF YOU AIN’T WITH US, YER AGAINST US”

Battle Details:

To win, you must be ranked #1 at the end of the Xbox 360 guitar setlist battle at http://www.rockband.com/battles/grill-em-all-guitar-battle/view, which includes the following Graveyard BBQ tracks:

1. BBQ Nation
2. By the Grace of the Grill
3. Cheat on the Church
4. Creamskull Boogie
5. Ride the Stache
6. The Clothes that Makes the Man

The top ranked player at the end of the battle will receive:

• (1) Xbox Live code redeemable for 1,600 MSP
• (1) Signed copy each of Graveyard BBQ’s Greatest Hits Volume 1 & 2 CDs
• (1) Graveyard BBQ “Grill ‘Em All” BBQ apron
• (1) Personalized guitar lesson with Graveyard BBQ guitarist Brownbag Johnson, via online video chat (ie. Skype).
• (1) T-shirt of winner’s choice from Graveyard BBQ’s merch store (http://www.graveyardbbq.bigcartel.com/)

Good luck!

When the Rock Band Network was originally unveiled, it opened up an unlimited potential for anyone to put music in to the game. And while the RBN wasn’t the first tool available for adding music to a rhythm game (GHTunes debuted in Guitar Hero: World Tour), it was a total comprehensive approach to getting real songs into the game via tools that music makers already know and love. RBN was the perfect option for those looking for increased exposure for their music, but the amount of effort required to prepare a song for Rock Band is nothing short of intimidating.

The folks at Harmonix knew there was a barrier to entry for most people, so they created a repository of resources to help people get started. As Harmonix helped and trained the early adopters to become familiar with the process, the Creators community started to become much more self-sufficient. Ultimately, John (AKA DJGryph) from RockBandRelief decided to pull together a webseries for YouTube called “Finding the Rhythm,” where he virtually holds viewers hands through the process of creating and submitting a track into the Rock Band Network.

If you are an RBN author, an aspiring one, this series is a MUST watch. Even for those who have no intention of creating music for the RBN, this is an excellent video series, as it will give you a much deeper and intimate understanding of the effort it takes to create music playable in Rock Band. The video series is ongoing, updated as John adds more videos, so sure to subscribe to him so you don’t miss the latest episode.

The first episode is included below, and each currently available episode is linked below. Updates will be added to this page as more episodes are completed. I have also included a link to this page in the menu at the top of the site titled “Finding the Rhythm,” for easy reference for all current and future RBN authors.

Episode 1: RBN 2.0 Overview, Resources and Tool Requirements, Reaper Introduction

Episode 2: Reaper File Setup

• Part A
• Part B
• Part C
• Part D

Episode 3: Magma File Setup

• Part A
• Part B

Episode 4: Drum Charting

• Part A
• Part B

Episode 5: Drum Reduction

• Part A
• Part B
• Part C

Episode 6: Drum Animation

• Part A
• Part B

Episode 7: Bass Charting

Episode 8: Bass Reduction

Episode 9: Bass Animation

Episode 10: Guitar Charting

Episode 11: Guitar Reduction

Episode 12: Guitar Animation

Episode 13: Keys Charting

Episode 14: Keys Reduction

Episode 15: Keys Animation

Episode 16: Pro Keys Charting

Episode 17: Pro Keys Reduction

Episode 18: Pro Keys Animation

Episode 19: Vocal Charting

Episode 20: Harmony Charting

Episode 21: Vocal Animation

Episode 22: Venue: Camera

Episode 23: Venue: Lighting & Filters

Episode 24: RBN Submission

Going on now until July 14th, you have a chance to win one of FOUR 1600 MSP prizes through the Rock Band Network and DLCQuickplay.

Arriving last week on the RBN was the song Foundation, from new RBN artist an Unkindness. If you pick up this modestly priced (80MSP) track, and upload a video response to the video below of yourself doing something cool while playing the track, you have a chance to win 1600 MSP! You have until July 14th, when Adam from an Unkindness will pick the four most interesting videos and award the points.

And if you like what you hear, this song and 3 others are available as a free download at http://anunkindness.com/

[More details]

I love seeing stuff like this. We’ve featured a number posts on the site in the past highlighting specific Rock Band Network songs whose authors donate sale proceeds to charity, and I never tire of seeing the Rock Band community help others.

Rock Band Network authors Fairwood Studios and Chart Toppers Authoring have both released songs by country music artist Kylie D. Hart. First was Firehouse Bar, followed by Leave Me Be. Now the two authors have teamed up and are sponsoring a contest called “The Good Hard Luck Contest” to help out the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.

If you purchase and play one (or both) of the songs, and send a screenshot of your results screen to @fairwoodstudios or @ChartToppers, you will be entered into a random drawing for several prizes, including lots of 800 Microsoft Points and Kylie D. Hart albums!

And if that’s too difficult, you can also enter by retweeting either Fairwood Studio’s or Chart Topper’s message regarding the contest.  Make sure to be following each of them on Twitter, as well.

Good luck! You have until May 31st to enter.

For more information, head over here for official contest rules.