Behind the Scenes of BitMusical (Part 2) (Patreon)

So after I get all my ideas for a song fleshed out--which you can see in detail in Part 1 here--it's time to start getting the final version ready. More often than not, the music will be done (or mostly done) first:

I use the Apple program Logic Pro for all of the BitM songs. What I like about this program compared to past ones I've used for music is that I can get every (instrumental) note in MIDI and then manipulate it easily. And with a little bit of a front-loaded investment I have ample sound samples that I'm happy with.

In this screen grab, I've put up the piano track for Kaclang! Each of those little bars represents one of the notes I've played on my office keyboard. After doing a live run-through of the song, I go in and quantize the notes to account for human error, and then I've got a good idea of where each part of the song starts and stops, how long the song is, etc.

Next, I'll go in and start incorporating other instruments, usually beginning with bass and percussion. The original piano track is often used in the final version, but not always. After most of the instruments are put in their place, it's time to start singing! The blue rectangles in this screenshot are audio files that I (and others) have recorded directly into the microphone, with the main singer in the top one and the backup fellows at the bottom.

Most BitM songs end up looking something like this in Logic since they have a fair number of instruments and parts.

Once I'm happy with the results, I clean it all up, mess with the left/right sounds and do some other studio magic, then squeeze the whole thing down into a single audio file which will be the MP3 I provide on Patreon. The whole process usually takes about a week to ten days. But there's still the video component...

I draw all the art in Clip Studio which provides the flexibility and affordability that I love to see in art programs.

This is an example of what one of the song art files looks with several of the layers on. These will always end up with dozens of drawings spanning hundreds of layers, and as such, this is by far the most time-consuming part of the process and can take up to a month on the art alone. Once I'm happy with the way things look, I fire all the images off to my editor who animates them and squishes them around in a fancy-type fashion.

Almost there! In the last major step, I'll take the near-final video back from my editor and insert it into the very simple iMovie program. This lets me put in the final touches at the end of the video (credits, fade-outs, etc) as well as any sound effects that are separate from the vid itself. In fact, you can see a few of them in the green boxes/lines above. With sounds, I try not to overdo it too much to distract from the energy of the song, but there are certain moments that just don't feel right without that impact, so it's an important final step.

And once that's done, that's it! The song has grown from a crazy idea in my brain matter to dancing across your screen and entering your eyeballs. Now if you'll excuse me, it's time to get moving on my next song, starting from the very first steps again...

-Matthew