Halo Theme (Medieval Folk Style)

[LjB0]

EDIT 2: Third round of edits done, happy enough with it now for my YouTube channel (as linked below) but keen to improve it to the point it can be submitted for OCRemix; would love feedback to get it there! Thanks everyone. You can hear the (small!) steps of progress between versions by comparing with the two older ones on my Soundcloud page - if you're interested!

It's one of the classic themes, with such a strong celtic flavour. I originally planned on writing a three part arrangement for fingerpicked nylon guitars, but it kept turning into medieval folk in my head, with a warbling tinny flute et al!

I tracked down a few playable ranges for lute, celtic harp & tin flute and wrote with all of that in mind, but haven't gone for laser-precision (e.g. just made sure I could play the various lute sections on my guitar in drop D), and I've used two notes on a logic drumkit to more or less represent hitting the centre and sides of a classic old-skool drum.

I'd really appreciate your thoughts. It's only just over 2 mins and I don't know if it's working/finished yet; feels a little like further sections could seem like padding - I'm probably wrong about that though.

Not sure how much this qualifies as an OCRemix track given its style, I'd love to know what can be improved.

Here's the demo version (no proper humanisation or detailed mixing applied yet, just some basics):

 

And here's the original theme, in case it's not jumping out at you:

Thanks a bunch!

Edited August 29, 2017 by LjB0
Updated demo again

[Rozovian]

I like it. I'm on laptop speakers so I can't give any useful feedback, but I wanted to tell you that nothing about the style precludes it from becoming an OCReMix track.

[CoolBeets]

Very nice, sounds like a real medieval song.

[verafx81]

This is really good. I wish you do more of this.

[Lostinthamusic]

Sounds really nice, what VSTs are you using?

[LjB0]

Thanks! No VSTs, just the built-in library in Logic Pro X - 'Celtic Tin Whistle', 'Celtic Harp' & 'Medieval Lute'. I've done a bit of EQ work to balance the tones & made use of different articulation IDs with the flute, slapped on some reverb & used the Spread tool to space frequencies out a bit etc; also switched on Mono mode for a couple of phrases in the Lute to imply hammering on/off etc. Also tried to avoid compressors where possible to preserve dynamics, which generally helps the software instruments sound more realistic.

Logic's library has some quirks but you can get a huge range of sounds out of it with a bit of messing around - though if I had a Lute, I'd much rather have played the part myself!

[Mordi]

Have you considered adding a tambourine? Also, here's a nice free orchestral library which has some alright percussion in it: http://virtualplaying.com/virtual-playing-orchestra/

This is a pretty cool idea, and it sounds pretty nice. Should be a great addition to the site once you've polished it.

[Earth Kid]

I like this a lot! This is one of my favorite styles of music, so I always want to hear more of this on OCR. I feel like the original has some Celtic elements already in its composition, so it translates to the medieval folk/Celtic style really well, and I really like the way you did it. I bet some recorders underneath the whistle/flute would sound great. I agree about the tambourine, that would be nice too. I would love to hear more! 

P.S. I play Celtic harp, so if you ever have want or need of that sound, I'm willing to help out.

[Geoffrey Taucer]

Medieval folk style.... fuck yes! Conceptually, I love what you have going here!

Instruments sound a bit mechanical! This sounds like it could be a track from a PS-era game with Mitsuda writing the soundtrack. Compositionally, I love it, but as far as production.... iunno, the guitar/whatever sort of plucked string that is sounds a bit mechanical.

Also, the low percussive hit (not quite sure what it is) could use a bit more dynamic variation. The higher hits aren't too bad, the but the bass hit sounds too mechanical.

As far as arrangement goes, I love it! Really cool and creative direction to take this track!

[Light_of_Aether]

Your medieval-style arrangement of the Halo theme sounds great! This style is definitely worthy of being an OCReMix track. I've been listening to OCReMix for about seven years now and I've heard many other styles more "out there" than medieval. As far as length goes, anything between 2 and 7 minutes is good (from the submission page: http://ocremix.org/info/Submission_Standards_and_Instructions). I don't think you need any padding, but if you want to make it longer, go for it! More medieval-style Halo music can only be a good thing.

[Glejs]

.. and it became a Xenogears track in an instant.  Great work!

[GSO]

4 hours ago, Glejs said:

.. and it became a Xenogears track in an instant

yup.

[LjB0]

Just wanted to thank everyone for the great comments & suggestions on this! Sorry, I've been away so haven't been able to respond yet or make any changes. Tambourine would be great; I was trying to keep the number of imaginary musicians low (picturing a roving band plying the trade in some royal court somewhere, 4 people seemed about right) - but they are imaginary, so I'm sure adding another to the mix won't hurt! I'll play with that for the next version.

Geoffery Taucer - I agree, the 'Medieval Lute' (as Logic calls it) in the left channel does ring of synthesised sound a little too much; I was going to add more humanisation to it to lessen the driving rhythmic sound, but in the end I realised all the humanisation in the world wouldn't change the sound of the actual instrument! What I'd really like to do is record that track live - sadly I do not own a 'Medieval Lute' so a steel-string guitar might have to do. I'll see if I can get that recorded too... And yes, I know what you mean on the low drum hit! The velocity range on the track fir that goes all the way from 1-127, but still sounds way too present; I think Logic just doesn't have proper sample dynamics in play. I'll see what I can wrangle by playing with track expression. Want to avoid a mechanical sound if at all possible.

Earth Kid - If you play the harp, I would absolutely love to feature your playing rather than Logic's best imitation! If you're up for having a go at playing that part of the track, that would be amazing? Let me know & I can send an isolated version to you!

I'll get to work on changes asap, hopefully will have a much more 'alive' version to present soon. Thanks again!

[Geoffrey Taucer]

Any chance I could talk you into sending me the lute part isolated? I recently acquired a bouzouki, and if I can find the time I'd love to play around with that lute part and see what if I can make it sound good on bouzouki, and if so (and if you don't mind waiting an indeterminate amount of time but probably at least a month or two) I might be down to take a crack at recording the part.

[Daix]

This is great! I love folk music, and I love how this sounds. I've only played a few of the games, but anyone can recognize the main theme! I can't wait to hear the final product.