What is the process for transposing classic video games BGM?

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I REALLY want to get started on the "Nintendo Nostalgia" classic remix album but I don't know where to start with the transposing process!! !

How to figure out the structure of 8 & 16-bit game music?

PLEASE help!

Thanks in advance!!

I'm not sure what you want to do, but am curious. Can you explain a little more please?

Do you want to listen to the music and then play it on (for example) traditional instruments?

Or do you want to get inside the game data and extract the digital information in order to port it to another music system?
This is very technical, different games might have different copy protection systems - meaning their code/data is encrypted. Also, different games might use different audio/music systems and data formats for their music/sound.

Or do you want to just have a recording of the music to listen to? If you have a PC, you can run emulators, lots of the old systems have been emulated and the games can be downloaded. Run the game, record the music might work.

Fans may have already re-created it. If they were particularly interested in it, they may have published all sorts of information that might help with the above.

Do some searches, see what you can find out about the game you want the BGM, if other people have dug into it for similar reasons.

No what I want to do is kinda complicated and convoluted but basically I need to learn the structure of the BGM so I can easily remix it!! !

I need the "recipe"

In other words, I need sheet music created or generated which will enable me to remix the songs!

Does that make sense?

The problem is I don't know how to play-by-ear and I MUST have sheet music present in order to learn how to play a song

I took piano and music theory class in high school so I should know how to do all of this!

What I am actually asking is:

Are there any online sources to download free sheet music for classic video games?

If not, is there software I can use to automatically generate sheet music?

Try this

Video Game Sheet Music and MIDI Repository

Like the title says - it's sheet music and / or MIDI files that people have made. Lots of consoles, lots of games, lots of titles.

Hope it helps.

^yes that should help, thank you!! !

I am thinking I should start with game music that isn't overly-complicated such as the Underground Theme from the original Super Mario Bros.

I have been wanting to remix that for a LONG time and have heard some fun official arrangements of the BGM in various games like Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Super Mario Maker, recently in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door & many MANY other Mario games!! !

That's my starting point then!

Although it would be SO MUCH easier if I could just put import the sheet music into the DAW so I don't have to memorize anything!! !

I believe this is the answer!

That is exactly what MIDI files are for - and the music site I linked for you offers them. When you import a MIDI file into a DAW, it gives you the "sheet music" in digital format - which you can then edit - so long as the DAW has a proper MIDI editor.

Given your unfamiliarity with most of this process, I feel like this is going to be harder for you than you're anticipating.

Ohhh...NOW I understand the process!! !

Yes, the goal is to import sheet music (MIDI) into the DAW!

I was just not sure how to go about doing that...

Of that, I am abundantly aware - hence my comment.

I feel that your ambition exceeds your ability at this time, and you haven't quite realized that yet. You're already having a hard time with the "easy" stuff, and it doesn't get easier from here.

By all means, pursue your passion - but don't expect it to be "easy".

Oh are you saying I'm not quite at the proper level yet and I need to continue learning?

In a word, yes.

I've been watching your posts regarding this project for quite some time, both out of musician's curiosity, and as a retro-game fan. It's why I try to feed you bits of help when I can, such as the MIDI repository I sent you. From what I gather, you can read music, and are capable of playing an instrument from sheet music.

However, your project here demands much more than that. IIRC, while you do have some music experience, you do not have any experience with digital music production or editing, or working with a DAW. What MIDI files do, and are for, is a pretty basic piece of digital audio knowledge. It's been a digital standard since like, the early 1980s.

While I'm far from an expert of any sort, having worked with MIDI formats and digital music editing and composition, if you're going into this knowing nothing about digital media types, how DAWs work, how to use one, etc, just know that things are not going to get easier from here. Learning to use a DAW takes time and practice. It's not something you're gonna master in a couple of days by watching a few youtube vids.

I'm not saying this to discourage you, but to give you reasonable expectations for what comes next. If finding, downloading, and loading a MIDI file into a DAW, is beyond your technical ability at this time, then trying to actually operate a DAW is going to seem overwhelming.

Again, this is not to discourage you - moreso, if you're serious, there's some things you're possibly going to have to work on. I would highly suggest you get your hands on a computer, your mum's PC or otherwise, load a free DAW onto it, and see if you can even get that far. If you successfully install it, play around with it, and do watch some videos on it - but don't expect to master it overnight. It takes some practice.

I'd be happy to give you more advice along the way, but me suggesting to use multiple audio tracks rather than having everything on the same track, won't make much sense to you until you start messing with a DAW and learn and see what that even means and looks like.

The DAW that I use is called MixCraft, and there is a free version available. It's where I got started. The free version has plenty of features for what you're trying to do, and will give you a chance to visually see what goes into it. They have tons of videos on how to use their software in various ways. It comes with some free music compositions, so you can see how they're put together, visually.

If you do try MixCraft, I can try to give advice regarding it. I am not as familiar with DAWs such as Ableton Live - which you might want to try their free version, too - just know that I don't know it as well. There's many DAWs, try several if you want - most have free versions of some type. Those are the two I know by name - and they do have different workflows. See which one you like.

Once you get an idea of how things work, you can try to load one of those MIDI files, and try to play around with it.

Since you're doing remixes, you're probably going to have to decide whether you're going to use samples and loops, or live inputs - or a mix of both. If you're using samples and loops, now you've also got beat-matching to contend with. If using live inputs, you have to know what instruments you want, and you have to be able to play them your self. Live inputs can be actual instruments in your hands, recorded with a microphone - or they can be virtual instruments from the DAW itself

And if you have no idea what any of that means, you have more to learn.

Regardless, the best thing you can do right now is get a pc and play with a DAW, and learn how it all works. That will matter more than finding source files and sheet music and worrying about transposing. The more you learn about digital music and DAWs, the easier that other stuff gets.

That's the best advice I've got at this time.

Well, to help me get over my partner David's sudden loss I will be commencing the start of this project VERY soon...

Learn to recognize intervals and you'll be able to figure out how things are played.