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Composer Guide

Let's write a song together. Traditionally it has always been me, but I'm definitely not good at every genre. Also, music plugins are expensive as hell. I can't own everything. Depending on your skills, I could use your help.

Whether its your first time, or you're already with us, just refer to this link to remember our workflow and practice.

song → lyricist → storyboard → illustrator → video editor

Requirements​

Personal details​

  • Not necessary for your Name, Age, Gender, Race, Religion, Nationality. Personal life details are not required. We're focused on your pen.
  • Stagename, social handles
  • Language preferences (e.g., fluent in JP/CN/EN?)
  • Budget, ask price, and writing scope (e.g., instrumental only? vocal only? remix?)

Software​

  • Any DAW is fine. Preferably FL Studio so project files can be shared.
  • If scores are included, must be in MIDI format. EG: Musescore composer will add a layer of friction.
  • WAV exports will also work, but file-sharing will be very heavy and difficult.

Hardware Specifications (best experience)​

  • CPU: AMD Ryzen 5
  • RAM: 16GB DDR4
  • Storage: 1TB SSD (fast I/O for cache, previews, and renders)

Depending on the complexity of the project, certain project files cannot be opened directly if the RAM cost by plugins is high than the PC.

Respect IP and copyrights

We are artists working with trust, professionalism, and creative freedom. What we will be creating together is more than just our individual work. Here's the boring part, but you should still read it so we can get to the fun part.

As composers, you get exposed to the contents like pre-master, mix, project files, and MIDI. If we are working together, implicitly I already trust you and decide to not treat you like a competitor. That cannot be said the same for others I don't know.

  • Do not redistribute project materials (audio, art, drafts, exports) outside the team without permission.

  • Learn what is fair use.

  • Decide who owns the master. Usually the one who did the most work or finances the project owns the master. There is also an option to share the master. Then there needs to be an agreement to what each of us are allowed to do with our master.

Don't get caught cheating.

This is not a permission or signal from me that cheating is OK. I get that artists break rules all the time and who I am to stop anyone. I won't list examples so no one gets any ideas, but I am aware of some tricks. If you are unsure, ask first.

The important thing is now that you are not working alone, everyone will be accountable for each other's mistakes too so please be considerate.

Output Deliverables​

Track audio​

  • Length: Full song duration
  • Format: WAV, MP3
  • Minimum WAV bit-depth: 16bit, sample rate: 44.1kHz (CD quality)
  • Minimum MP3 bit-rate: 192kbps, sample rate: 44.1kHz (CD quality)
  • Applicable to:
    • Master
    • (Optional) Mix, pre-mix, stems, MIDI, project files (in order of sensitivity)
  • Stereo, with mixer effects.
    • master, mix
  • Mono only, no effects
    • stems (unless you are sure you want no processing done to the stems)

Vocals (Optional)​

  • Length: Full song duration
  • Format: SVP, WAV
  • Minimum WAV bit-depth: 16bit, sample rate: 44.1kHz (CD quality)
  • NO gain, pan, or effects.
  • MONO only. No stereo! (vocals will be inserted to the mix, so effects should be done there)

Workflow​

Pre-production​

  • Decide on the scope of the project (instrumental, vocal, remix, etc.)
  • Align on style references / genre (vocaloid, k-pop, rap, orchestra, dubstep)
  • Submit quote and payment terms
  • Agree on delivery deadline and revision rounds
  • Receive 50% deposit after confirmation of production

Production​

  • Setup the arrangement structure (intro, verse, chorus, bridge, etc.)
  • Decide on tempo, key, instruments (only relevant if either of us is missing a plugin)
  • (Optional) scout for wave samples
  • Revisions not required if project / midi is shared. We will just do it ourselves.
  • Exporting stems best practices (to avoid revisions):
    • At most -6 dB.
    • No pan. No mixer effects.
    • No automation effects.
    • If effects are added / automated, clearly label it. We will NOT apply any mixer effects to this stem at all except for volume and sidechain.

Post-production​

  • Submit mix and master as WAV and MP3 to GDrive.
  • Clearly label the basic metadata and version. EG: {BPM}-{SongTitle}-{KeySig}-{mix/master}-{version} 1
  • If vocals are synthesized, vocal melody MIDI (main, backup) and SVP are required. 2
  • Any used wave samples. 3
  • Project files and instrumental MIDI are optional unless revision calls for it.
  • Confirm artist credit details for MV rollout (YouTube name, IG handle, etc.)
Producer's message

I understand most of us rather be alone. We're here to learn from each other. If we stay respectful to our rights and vision, there is no need to become competitors.

There are no rules, but here's a good priority to decide how hard you want to work.

  1. Honor your artistic vision first
  2. Make sure you have enough time / money to finish the job
  3. Ask for tips and tricks. If I know about it, its likely I'll share it with you.

...

  1. Better be done than be perfect

Footnotes​

  1. This is very tricky, especially when your project has tempo changes, key modulation, and non 4/4 time signatures. Sharing the project files is the most straightforward way to avoid excessive metadata descriptions. Also, please don't name it like mix-master-v1-final-final-v2-really_final.wav (I know we all did at some point) ↩

  2. Just for convenience purposes. In my experience, lyrics, phonemes, timing, tuning, voicebank get revised all the time so there is a constant access and edit to the SVP. It is usually not threatening to the copyright as a solo file due to how chaotic it is. If you are really worried of people reproducing the tuned-voice, you can always copy the original and randomize automation effects. ↩

  3. I'm contemplating if it should be optional. It's annoying to keep around. Its more for convenience when we do actually need it. ↩