There are many ways to create a piece of music. There are even more ways to keep memories of a piece of music.
There is the beauty of sound, there is the beauty of human voice, there is beauty in improvisation.

But there is only one thing that should come out when you begin to compose a music dedicated for your visual novel.

Emotion.

Before I begin my tutorial session, you might want to download some software (for windows, sorry) that will surely come in handy.
If you’ve already set up your software, please feel free to skip these.

MIDI editors: Cherry(JP), Anvil studio(EN)
Linux MultiMedia Studio (don’t be fooled by the name, it’s a cross-platform program)
MIDI to WAV converter/player: TiMidity++, Synthfont
Audio editor: Audacity

Tools of the trade

Before even trying to compose music using your good ol’ computer, there are many things to consider.
First of all, there is no real need to invest lots of money into any hardware device if you don’t know how to begin with.
Sure, the sight of layered keyboards, studio amps, cozy microphones (with your own customized microphone) is something that softens the heart of the regular music lover, but for a total newbie, it’s just a jungle of artificial electronic lifeforms.

To restrict the list for simplicity sake, there are two ways of composing music.

Using real instruments

I know it’s quite controversial, but you might want to compose only by using your instrument, without even writing the notes. Actually, most pro musicians do it this way, with an acoustic guitar or a simple piano keyboard. That means you know at least a little about solfege.

You might want to invest into recording hardware, with a really good mic, like the ones you use in TV, with the classical mic-preamp-mixer combo. Then you play your instrument in an isolated room, where you won’t hear any other parasite noise. Or you could record your performance in a live studio, but since we are pretty savvy, let’s try to find solutions that won’t cost you a kidney for an hour worth.
The best I’d recommend when you record your performance is to simply play your instrument at 3:00AM. That is to say that you live in an area where playing at such an hour is okay.

Why? Because at this time, most people sleep, there is nearly no traffic, no birds singing (usually), so no neighbour cutting grass, no folk talking outside, in short, no parasite noise. Ah, but sometimes you have airships. Drats.
Try to listen outside at 3:00AM and at a different time of the day. You’ll notice that there’s a real difference in decibels.

Then you can play your tune at your heart’s content, without being disturbed by anything other than your own performance. And if the audio sucks, then it’s only your fault.

Using artificial instruments

There’s also a way to create music, even if you’re not really familiar with playing instruments. To be honest, that’s my case. I can hardly play the piano or the guitar, and it’s hard for me to “visualize” how the chords I put actually sound.
That does not mean I’m not that unfamiliar with the things you learn with academical music. To compose music, you might not need to learn solfege, but if you want to perform advanced stuff, you will eventually need to learn it.

There are lots of music editors out there now, using a common “language” known as MIDI. Then you have virtual instruments that read the MIDI settings, play what is written while using an instrument patch to deliver the requested sounds.

I’d say that you should test lots of software to find the one that suits you the most. There’s no ultimate software composer, because even with free ones you can produce a chef d’oeuvre.

I went first into Cubase, then used lots of freeware, then finally purchased Reason, which is equipped with quite a fine composer.
You might want to fully read the documentation about it because it’s what you might want to call an “industrial factory”. There are so much features, effect devices, patches, that you won’t know how to sort it out before spending a good year on it.

Anyway, since I’m using this kind of software, I’ll try to provide informations about how to compose using that kind of editor.
It pretty much covers most freeware since it’s close to using classic MIDI editors.

Alright, now you’ve fired up your favorite editor, lost yourself into trying to figure out what an instrument patch is, what the difference with a virtual instrument is… Now don’t worry.
Let’s try this metaphor: your virtual instrument is just like a basket that you fill with liquid called instrument patch. Then you pierce holes into your basket to let the contents out, in the way you want it to get out. You can pierce holes, close them, modulate, set timers… This is a new universe made of holes.

On a more serious note: simply use freeware if you want to test things firsthand, then invest into an editor with high quality instrument patches. Your compositions will get an incredible level up.

Figure of styles

First thing first! The tempo you will be using. Tempo determines your notes duration, and most of all, dynamics. Usually, you will hear people talking about metronomes, that set clics at set times.
So what’s it like? It uses numbers from 1 to infinite (though I’d like to listen to at least one tune with a tempo lower than 30 or higher than 400) that are called beat per second. But for simplicity sake again, let’s label these tempo according to contemporary music styles.

80-120 bps is used in most styles: 80 for ballads, 90 to 100 for R&B, 120 for dance music…
120-160 bps is mostly used in piece of music that require fast notes, like in samba, techno, and even sometimes in classical music.
If you still feel lost, then simply set your tempo to 120. It’s the most neutral, fit for all styles. Ah, you might want to know that the actual regular note duration is quantized to 96. It means that 96 is the usual note duration, modified by the tempo settings.

There’s also the case of notation. You have to stick to your measures. They determine what your basic note will be. The usual measure notation is 4/4, which means the basic note is a black note. The 3/4 means the basic note is a dotted black. 2/4 is a quarter, 1/4 is a semi-quarter. It’s important, according to the music style you’ll be using. There are also other measure notations, but let’s simply begin with a standard 4/4.

Alright, you’ve succeeded in setting your tempo and how you notate your notes, now it’s time to express your inspiration!

The first thing you will want to care about is the atmosphere you want to create.
It’s no use to compose if you can’t predict at least a little where you’re going. It’s like making a trip to nowhere, which might be fun but life draining because you didn’t make preparations.
But wait, there’s still more… You have to find the instruments you will use in your song. These depend on the atmosphere you are about to create.

How to make simple ballads

I recommend beginning with ballads because they are slow, constructed using common patterns, easy to transform and quite expressive.
Let’s say, you want something intimate. It’s time to choose your instruments:
you will want to use a piano or an acoustic guitar, because their sound is sharp, have a good range, and you might even add vocals next to them. You will need to determinate a master instrument, the one that will play the main theme.
A ballad can be constructed like a poem, with an introduction, a verse, a chorus, another verse, a solo, a final verse and an ending.

Now, you have your blueprint plotted, it’s time to be creative. There, I can’t really help you because the way one begins to compose is quite different depending on the composer.
There are things you might want to know though: don’t introduce all your instruments at the same time. It’s best to introduce them one by one, adding them so that they become complementary. You will need to make them communicate, like parts covered by one instrument, responding to another part played by another instrument.

You don’t know how to make your instruments communicate? It’s quite simple though: it can be a canon (a repetition of the same notes, played just after with a little time shift), a continuation, a chord complementarity…

I know it’s quite repetitive, putting the same notes on one verse and then the other one… You don’t really have to care about all the stuff like expression, pitch bend, etc. These are controllers that you will need only if you first master your software, then succeed in creating a full melody.

The chords problematic

Okay, you created a little melody, and now you want to make it compatible with the other instruments, because you realize they sound weird altogether.
The human ear is made so that two notes that are too close to one another is unpleasant to hear. That’s because our hearing sense is mathematical.
To summerize, if you want to create a sound that isn’t unpleasant to hear, you’ll want to create something depending on the occidental diatonic scale, which can be viewed like a cycle…
Okay it might be complex, let’s try this magic trick: you can put your principal note then simply add “one note and a half” lower, plus “two note” on top of the main like in the image I provide (don’t you worry about the interface since it depends on your editor).

To simplify, the main note is the one at the bottom.

This way, you get a perfect major chord, with good harmonics. A2+C1+E1. You can change octaves, alternate them, create arpeggio… It’s really quite simple (by the way this chord is called A2).
With this simple chord, you can pretty much make anything that is compatible with this chord. You might want to try and put layers of notes to test.

There’s also the progression of chords. You might want to try this one: A2, G2, F2, A2.
Here’s an image to help you out.

And there you are! Now you can put notes, arpeggio to suit your tastes.

How to add more color to your songs

There are many ways to create more variety and more warmth to your song. You can add strings and bass for example.
Strings range from counterbass to violins, with different note ranges and different modes of execution: marcato, pizzicato…
Bass are either acoustic or electric. Bass is really important: without them you feel like there’s something amiss.

Strings pretty much follow the same rules of composing as other instruments: you can use chords and use arpeggio. What’s interesting is that they tend to introduce various theatrical emotions, like grandeur, passion, heroism… That’s some great range of emotion panel there.
Bass provide dynamics, emphasing and the more important function, warmth. If it’s used on its own, it gets jazzy, or can be fit for anguishing moments (remember the shark theme?).

The important thing to remember is that for contemporary music, bass and percussions are linked closely to the overall sound quality. The better your percussion and bass patch, the better your song will sound.
There’s also this rule to respect: the bass and the percussions must absolutely be on the same volume.

To use the bass efficiently, you simply use the same note as the chord you’re using.
Let’s say, you put a A2 chord, then simply put a A2 single note on your bass. Magic isn’t it? Oh wait, you might want to add more dynamics. Then you might want to play along the chromatic scale of the chords that your song contain.
What does this mean? For example, you’ve got this A2 chord. On a guitar, you’d have this progression: A1, E2, A2, C3, E3.

This can make another version of this chord and can be played as an arpeggio, but it’s much more interesting to put it into a bass riff.
You can then introduce variations and change of pitch. Bass (guitar or strings) is pretty wild because you play it like you’d play a traditional chord but at the same time you include dynamics. It’s very important not to be out of a chord at a precise time because it sounds terrible when you miss.

On a special note, piano has a wide range and can replace the bass sometimes. Electric and acoustic guitars are more limited since they can’t be that low pitched.

Looping music

Creating looping music is a little more complex, but it depends on how much of a challenge you would like to put up with. If you’re trying to create a hella piece of piano, then you’ll avoid creating things like an apex, a theme that includes an emotional surge at only one time, because this kind of music pretty much wears off the audience patience when the atmosphere goes up and down.

The key to complete a song that will be a good loop is to create several units of measures.
For example, let’s create four units. First part is the introduction, it must reflect the original atmosphere: calm, energetic or frightening… Take your pick.
Second part is a transition to a more elaborate melody. Third part is the “best part”, that imply more instrument dialogue.
And finally, last part is the phase where the melody becomes a little less elaborate. It’s the more tricky part: you musn’t make it something great and you musn’t make it an excuse for the loop. It must be something that comes naturally.

That means you pretty much use the same construction over and over, using little variations.

To better illustrate this, please watch this video that will relax your brain and provide good examples.

A last word:
If you are to create a theme, please don’t think it has to be created in just one day. Creating a piece of music can be simple, but sometimes it needs to be worked, reworked and reworked again. This is because one can’t always handle in just a moment what a theme lacks, what is its forte, its dynamics, albeit the direction the theme is going to.
Creating a theme needs devotion, a love to improve, to convey more feelings.
This goes beyond just repeating or placing two or three chords. It is a universe, a dimension, a moment. It is a fleeting instant, a way to convey things, something that encompasses several layers of one’s personality.
So please don’t hesitate to model your themes, to take them out one day, to modify them deeply, to resample, to reconstruct…

To feel the joy of creation.