I’m going to start this off with a very simple tip that some people may not realize before getting started with the Rock Band Network. You will be doing yourself a huge favor to get all of the proper audio tracks. I’ll list them past the break so you can see what I’m talking about. If you’re trying to chart a song that has only one track that’s a mix of all the guitar parts or all the drums, you’ll not only have a hard time charting, you’ll also end up with a lame experience. Let me explain.

Forgive me if this seems elementary to you, but some people may not realize how Rock Band works. The typical audio track configuration for a Rock Band song involves three separate drum tracks: the kick, the snare, and then everything else lumped into one track. With this configuration, the game can mute the individual tracks as the player misses notes. So if the player misses a kick drum note, the kick drum can mute while the rest of the drums are still audible. If you program a song that only has one stereo track for all the drums, then when a player misses one beat, the entire drum kit will mute. That’ll be distracting to the player and it’ll make it harder for him or her to get back on the beat.

It’s a simple piece of advice, but it’s extremely important. If you or your buddies have songs that you want to chart but you don’t have the proper tracks, my advice to you is to skip them or try re-recording them so that you have what you need. Here’s the list that Harmonix recommends (I’ll get more in-depth in the eBook so make sure you download that too once it’s available!):

1. K – Kick Drum: Mono
2. SN – Snare Drum: Stereo
3. CYM – Kit Mix: Stereo (Usually Overhead Mics plus any direct Tom Mics)
4. BASS – Playable Bass Part: Mono (Stereo if using any Stereo Phase or Heavy Chorus effects)
5. GTR – Playable Guitar Part: Stereo
6. VOX – Playable Vocals Part: Stereo
7. TRKS – All Other Instruments and Backing Vocals: Stereo