Audio Production Software

[Syltti]

*I apologize if this is meant for another section. If so, please move it there. Thanks~*

So, witth MV coming, I'm planning to completely remake my game from scratch. With that, I also have to think about music being used, and I remember a problem I had before; A lot of the resources I used tended to have varying volumes, so I'd have to try and bump them up to match everything else being used. Sometimes the songs were too loud, sometimes too quiet, and tended to be a constant headache trying to fix them all. So my question is this; is there a particular audio production software that people use when making music for their games? I know of FL Studios, but I messed around with that years ago and have no idea if it's updated regularly (like Photoshop for example). I recently found one called BTV Solo on Youtube, but not sure if that's legit or not. Is there something that folks here use? One that might be beginner-friendly?

Thanks~

[Edit] Or, is there a program out there that can automatically adjust multiple songs to have the same volume? If that makes sense. xD

 

[Dirge]

*shrug* A lot of it is personal preference. I know a lot of people love FL Studio. I'm a Pro Tools man myself. Audacity is free. You can get a trial of Reaper for free that lasts for ages and has all the features, and it's a really solid DAW (digital audio workstation). 

 

[Shaz]

Moving to Program and Utility Discussion

 

[Jonnie91]

To be honest, with the fact you're just resizing volumes you'll probably be better off using something like Audacity, and it's normalize function. (although it's a little bit of a dirty way to do it) it's quick and simple. 

Getting a DAW simple for the point of changing the volumes of tracks so they all balance nicely, is a little overkill (at least in my opinion). 

With regards to FL Studio, it's just recently updated to 12, and if you own an older version then you can actually get a completely free upgrade to 12. 

But to be honest, if you're not really composing music, just trying to make them all similar volumes, then using Audacity and it's basic compressor or normalize functions would work perfectly fine for your purpose  

 

[Dirge]

Aye, what Jonnie said.

 

[Syltti]

Audacity is actually what I used before. The process was a bit tedious, though (hence my asking if there was a program that did the same for multiple tracks at one time). If it comes down to it, I'll probably just go that method again this time too. At some point, I'll probably want to try composing my own songs instead of relying solely on others' work. FL Studios 12 seems nice, but the plug-ins are hella expensive. Haven't really looked at Reaper yet, but I'd appreciate any personal reviews of both programs. I do appreciate the responses, though~

 

[Jonnie91]

Audacity is actually what I used before. The process was a bit tedious, though (hence my asking if there was a program that did the same for multiple tracks at one time). If it comes down to it, I'll probably just go that method again this time too. At some point, I'll probably want to try composing my own songs instead of relying solely on others' work. FL Studios 12 seems nice, but the plug-ins are hella expensive. Haven't really looked at Reaper yet, but I'd appreciate any personal reviews of both programs. I do appreciate the responses, though~

Actually instruments aren't always expensive. if you know where to look you can get some really nice sounds for free. here's a few little ones that I used to use when I started out: 

DSK Music (They have some really nice content for $15) 

Sonatina Symphonic Orchestra Basic however very useable with some tweaking

Tweakbench (Chiptune VST's)

This is just for those that aren't part of DAW software...

If you're wanting to spend money on software, and want an all in one product with Instruments all inclusive, then i'd suggest something like Studio One the Artist edition will do mostly everything for you, and it's very easy to you, as an example of the instrumental quality I used the professional version (which is a little more expensive) and used the included sounds to create this track the only sound that was an external library was the Solo Violin which WAS a lot more pricier. 

Also, it can't really get much less tedious, cause everything sounds slightly different, like each piece would still most probably need a different amount of compression, and editing to sound right, so although it might be slightly faster with a DAW, it'll still require you quite a bit of effort. 

Also, if you're happy to spend a little bit of money keep an eye on this site the deals you get with this can be ridiculously good

 

[Dirge]

I'd forgotten to mention Studio One, but yeah it comes with a bunch of great stuff.

If you want to go totally overboard with it, Native Instruments Komplete 10 Ultimate has basically everything you could possibly need ever, for a solid price tag of $999. It's what I use, and... really, there's pretty much nothing you can't do with that pack. That said, the price tag is pretty prohibitive to most people. It's WORTH IT though.

 

[Ms Littlefish]

Personally, I like Reaper a lot. And you get a 60 day trial. Ahem, that doesn't actually really expire after 60 days, good old WinRar approach! The licence is only $60 if you do end up liking it and it's been very worth it to me.

One thing that I really do like about Reaper is there is a pretty good sized community of people making free tools and plugins. At first I didn't like how CC controllers were used in Reaper, but bam, found a plug in that makes it much easier.

I agree with Jonnie's instrument recommendations. If you're just trying to get back into the swing of things, those are some really good suggestions. I also have a thread linked in my signature that has a master list of all my recommendations as well. Many of the ones Jonnie mentioned are also on mine, so that's a +2 on those mentions.

I do love my Native Instruments but the price tag is ultra frightening, which is why I think it's a great idea to just play around with free stuff until you can decide if this is something you are willing to spend big money on. And good things do come to those who wait because Native Instruments often has a winter sale or a summer sale that knocks that $999 price tag in half.

 

[Syltti]

I see. Really appreciate the info guys~ I'll be sure to look through everything and see what works best for me!

 

[jay_are]

If I say this once more, I'll have said it a million times:

Enterbrain should re-release Melody Raiser!

At least that's what it was called back in 2000... Don't know if the original Japanese version was called something else, or if it was really the same team that developed RPG Maker...

Basically, Melody Raiser can create music from templates, and it sounded really fun and had a lot of options, yet was easy to use.

It was MIDI, but a program like this made today able to produce high quality OGGs would be ideal