The Wesnoth Minstrels

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Samonella
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The Wesnoth Minstrels

Post by Samonella »

As discussed in this topic, we're going to try recording a cover of wesnoth's Main Theme by Aleksi, stitched together from recordings of various instruments, played by wesnoth fans around the world! Teenage noob, veteran professional, or rusty has-been, if you sing or play an instrument we welcome and encourage you to participate!

Attached are a couple versions of sheet music for the song. First is a simple piano-ish score that is as close a representation to the original song we could come up with (suggestions/improvements welcome, of course). Second is a arrangement of the song in three parts, proposed by Inky. Everything is still a work in progress, and it's never too late to get in on our awesome group. 8)

EDIT: Fixed suggestion made by skeptical_troll, and fixed typo in violin measure 3
Attachments
Main_Theme-parts-inky.pdf
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xmls.zip
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Main_Theme-accurate.pdf
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Last edited by Samonella on March 2nd, 2017, 1:29 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Inky
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Re: The Wesnoth Minstrels

Post by Inky »

Yeah!! This is going to be so awesome! :D

As skeptical troll said this would be great with a percussionist!

Also I agree about everyone playing the first 3 notes so it's more epic!

So, how should we put this together? :hmm: Everyone records their part separately at half note=60 and then put it together later (may have intonation problems)? Or we have someone record their part first and other people add to it (may have timing problems without the percussion)?
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skeptical_troll
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Re: The Wesnoth Minstrels

Post by skeptical_troll »

I think one needs to play its part first and the others record along the track. So.. who wants to start? volunteers? :whistle: :whistle:
It would make more sense if the percussion or the low parts start first, IMHO.

Maybe we can do few trials via MP, to avoid public shaming, and once we have a track ready we can put it here so that other player may download it and play along it.
What do you think?
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Samonella
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Re: The Wesnoth Minstrels

Post by Samonella »

Okay i have a lot to say. First, some replies to stuff from the sheet music topic:
Inky wrote:I don't know the range of the ocarina- would it be able to play the middle line?
Yep, my best ocarina plays from below-treble-clef-staff A to top-of-staff F, though it doesn't sound as good at the edges of the range. I also have one that plays the same range 1 octave up.
skeptical_troll wrote:if Samonella can play the trumpet I'd say that suits better.
Who's to say I can't do both? Of course we'll need some brass for the beginning and end, but I think ocarina wouldn't be bad for the lower split on the 7-16 melody.
Inky wrote:(Oh, and Samonella: I LOVE how you added different instruments to the score!! The brass on the first 3 notes totally caught me by surprise!)
:shock: I didn't think it would save in the xml. lol i just wanted to hear it with a voice that could sustain more than a couple seconds. Are you using musescore?

NEXT: about recording details: I was planning to record while listening to my computer play the xml. That way I can tune to it and follow it's tempo. If we all did that, it couldn't wind up too bad, right?

Also, does anyone really want to be the one to stitch it together, control volume, etc? I could do it, but all I've got is audacity.

Another thought: if a percussionist doesn't show up, how would you feel about adding some digitally? I've played with a bit of garage band software (LMMS, less so Hydrogen) and could easily put together the snare/bass drum parts. I also think I hear a little bit of timpani? That wouldn't be a problem either.

FINALLY: Here is my proposition for parts split, giving the ocarina and trumpet separate parts. Other than that, it's more or less the same as Inky's one. Idk anything about violin range, though, I just assumed it's all ok. As for the trumpet part, I can't play the top split of the ending... ( :oops: my friends would make fun of me for this) It's been long enough that there's no way I can play some of the higher notes with a good sound. But I think it will sound weird to have one brass instrument in the middle of the chords. What do you guys think?

Oh, also: my "accurate" version of the song is preserved in the top lines for reference, but almost all of it is in one of the other lines. And Inky, is that low B on the second to last note too low? :( That's probably my favorite note of the whole song. RIP

EDIT: Fixed measure 3-4 according to skeptical_troll's suggestion
Attachments
xmls.zip
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Main_Theme-parts.pdf
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Last edited by Samonella on March 2nd, 2017, 1:31 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Inky
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Re: The Wesnoth Minstrels

Post by Inky »

Samonella wrote:Are you using musescore?
Yeah, musescore 2.
Samonella wrote:I could do it, but all I've got is audacity.
Same here, I only have audacity.
Samonella wrote: Another thought: if a percussionist doesn't show up, how would you feel about adding some digitally?
Sounds good!
Samonella wrote:And Inky, is that low B on the second to last note too low?
Yes it is, sadly.
--

Here's my first attempt at the cello part from Samonella's score above (mp3). I'm just going to post it here because trying to use PM with multiple people seems confusing, but I understand if others want to use PM instead.

I just played with a metronome at half=60, hope it's okay. It's no problem to record another take so any suggestions/critique is welcome, I'd be happy to make any changes.

EDIT: scroll down for a better version
Last edited by Inky on March 2nd, 2017, 5:11 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Samonella
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Re: The Wesnoth Minstrels

Post by Samonella »

Inky wrote:Here's my first attempt at the cello part from Samonella's score above (mp3).
:augh: :D 8)
Wow, that sounds great! My only critique is to hold the last note for the full measure, other than that it's awesome!

I'll do mine when I can, but unfortunately that might be a little while. Those pesky distractions from my life of wesnoth are starting to catch up to me.
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Re: The Wesnoth Minstrels

Post by pyndragon »

I have some amateur-grade recording equipment I could use to run a tenor-range vocal line or two if desired. I could also record a piano, but I've not done more than fiddle around with an instrument for many years.
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Re: The Wesnoth Minstrels

Post by Inky »

Samonella wrote:My only critique is to hold the last note for the full measure, other than that it's awesome!
Thanks! Oops, I'll make another one later that fixes that (I also messed up the F# at the end)
I'll do mine when I can, but unfortunately that might be a little while. Those pesky distractions from my life of wesnoth are starting to catch up to me.
Yeah, take your time! :)

Measure 3: As skeptical troll mentioned the second chord has a B not a C#. Also for the bottom line of measure 3 I mainly hear E B (exactly like the beginning) so it might sound better if I played that? (I think there is also G F# there, as you wrote)

---
pyndragon: Cool! Maybe you could double some of the inner melodies (such as the trumpet part at the end)? :hmm:
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Re: The Wesnoth Minstrels

Post by Samonella »

Inky wrote:Measure 3: As skeptical troll mentioned the second chord has a B not a C#. Also for the bottom line of measure 3 I mainly hear E B (exactly like the beginning) so it might sound better if I played that? (I think there is also G F# there, as you wrote)
:oops: Oh, my mistake, i thought that comment was about Traveling Minstrels so I hadn't looked at it closely yet. If you two agree then I'm sure you're right.

EDIT: Just listened to it again; you're right, there is a strong E B, since removing the BC# in the trumpet line (i don't think B belonged in the first chord either), I put trumpet on the EB, so probably best to leave the cello where it is?
pyndragon wrote:I have some amateur-grade recording equipment I could use to run a tenor-range vocal line or two if desired. I could also record a piano, but I've not done more than fiddle around with an instrument for many years.
Awesome! Yeah, whatever part you can do. In fact, in my opinion, as long as we stick to the chord scheme I have no issue with adding extra harmonies. I sing bass, btw, though I've never had formal training.
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Re: The Wesnoth Minstrels

Post by skeptical_troll »

Alright, here's my preliminary contribution. I played both the upper part and something in the middle to fill in, then we can decide what to keep. Also, I tried to roughly synchronize the tracks together with audacity, so we have a first string trio version of the main theme :D It's far from perfect, and recording volume was definitely too high at times, but I think we still have many things to fix/decide.

I look forward to have the wind section in!

Inky are you playing f#-f#-d# at bars 4-5? It sounds a bit weird with the rest of the harmony to me. Other than that, it's great.

I found it quite hard to play along with a virtual track, some percussion would really be helpful. If you can put in some digitally that would be awesome!
Samonella wrote:Idk anything about violin range, though, I just assumed it's all ok
anything above G3 is fine, so no problem.
Last edited by skeptical_troll on March 4th, 2017, 12:52 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: The Wesnoth Minstrels

Post by Inky »

skeptical_troll wrote:Alright, here's my preliminary contribution.
Wow wow wow wow!!! :shock: It sounds amazing! Your tone is beautiful!! :D :)
skeptical_troll wrote:Inky are you playing f#-f#-d# at bars 4-5?
It was attempting to be (bars 3-6) G F# | F# E | E G | D# as written but I think I really messed up the intonation there! :doh: I think (?) the bottom notes in measures 3-4 should be E B B anyway so I'll try that?

EDIT: oh wait, just saw Samonella's edit above. I'll just play G F# then, hopefully correctly this time...

I'll try to post a hopefully better recording soon :)
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Re: The Wesnoth Minstrels

Post by Inky »

Okay I tried to fix the abomination in measure 4, sorry for any ear damage I caused :D

It still clashes a bit when I put the recordings together though - it could definitely be my fault again but I believe skeptical troll's second chord of Measure 4 (in the violin 2 part) is also a little off?

Any critique is still welcome!

EDIT: moved it a few posts down.
Last edited by Inky on March 2nd, 2017, 5:11 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: The Wesnoth Minstrels

Post by skeptical_troll »

This sounds great! Will update my part in a few days probably.
Inky wrote:I believe skeptical troll's second chord of Measure 4 (in the violin 2 part) is also a little off?
:whistle: :oops: indeed, I am definitely too low there (I think I'm generally a bit lower than you, I might need to tune up a bit).
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Re: The Wesnoth Minstrels

Post by Samonella »

skeptical_troll wrote:Alright, here's my preliminary contribution.
Sounds good, sounds good!
Inky wrote:Okay I tried to fix the abomination in measure 4, sorry for any ear damage I caused :D
Sounds good too, including the last note. I haven't tried putting it together with skeptical_troll's though.
skeptical_troll wrote:I found it quite hard to play along with a virtual track, some percussion would really be helpful. If you can put in some digitally that would be awesome!
Here is what I have for that so far. It doesn't exactly follow the snare through the whole song (in fact, in mine the snare just loops the first four measures) but it's actually not too far off. It's machine-precise to the point of being annoying to listen to, but that's not so easy to fix. At any rate, it should be enough to help tie everything together rhythmically, and that's the important thing for now. It has four clicks before the start of the song.
main-drums-wip.zip
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EDIT: Also, I finally got up-to-date versions of the sheet-music files put in the right places. There was a little while i had my suggestion labeled as Inky's, and had some weird typos in the sheet-music, but i think it's all correct now.
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Re: The Wesnoth Minstrels

Post by Inky »

Just for fun I made a recording of the inner part too! Maybe it will save skeptical troll some trouble (though I'm not as good of a player as skeptical troll)
It's reasonably in tune with the other part at least.

EDIT: The drums sound really cool!! Nice work! 8)

EDIT: removed these, better version later
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