03-12-2019, 10:43 AM
Not to derail completely but...
There isn't much music from the approximate era of M&B (~1200's, I think?), mostly church music, so instead I focused on music of 1500-1650, generally 'renaissance music'. This fit not too bad of a fit too, since I did it originally for the mod 'Nova Aetas' in addition to the base game, which is set mostly in the 1500's.
For battle music, I used mostly a type of period piece called Battaglias ('battalias'). They were basically program pieces which depicted real battles (think 'distant ancestors of the 1812 Overture')-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHxwPj2gVtY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=froeMPKV3uk
As program pieces, they begin with the rallying of the armies, the King riding forward, the trumpets sounding orders, etc. before the battle actually starts. Then typically a part of fast repeated notes (e.g. 1:45 in the first, 3:20 in the second) when the battle begins... which tends to be about when the forces collide in a typical M&B battle. 60 Swadian Knights charging at full tilt towards some Forest Bandits across the plains never felt so perfect until I stuck this piece in. XD
It's also important to note that composers in Susato's time did not score for specific instruments like we do today, and there is certainly no drum part written out from the time, so any guesses as to instrumentation and whether or not drums were used and to what extent are strictly the artistic license and preferences of the performing group. For example, this funny guy has a different take on that first one featuring a bunch of viols, crumhorns, and harpsichord... and a little next-gen AfterEffects work-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ts8vhusJOBo
I also used up-tempo dance pieces for the battles which fits quite nicely, e.g.-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7btI9dn4hI
In general, I elected to pick pieces from different areas or genres for different cultures. For example, Swadians got more late-Renaissance towards early Baroque French and English music with harpsichords and lutes, while the Rhodoks more Italian and Spanish, but similar period and 'sophistication' to the Swadians. Vaegirs got simpler sounding vocal and viol ensemble music, Nords got mostly percussion & woodwind pieces (and one or two bits of Celtic folk music where I ran dry on stuff). The truly hard part was Khergits as I don't have any Mongolian music lying around, so I sort of went towards Eastern European and Mediterranean. I tried in general to at least somewhat match the feel of the original music too so it wasn't too jarring if, for example, they use a piece out of context.
I also did a version of the Viking Conquests soundtrack where I replaced all of the music with pieces by Arnold Bax, a British composer from the early 1900's who wrote very 'filmish' sounding orchestral music drawing from British myth and landscape, which gives the DLC a more cinematic/mythic feel-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixF5f2cqIKo
I could probably do a way better job of it with a few more hours and some extra CD's to pilfer, but it's enough to get immersed and really changed the game for me. Not really better or worse, just super different feel!
Anyway, back to the track/template!
I think if you just put a really gentle highpass on the taiko or scooped the mid-lows (e.g. around 100-500 Hz) it would clear things up. You could also try highpassing the reverb slightly.
I'm not really much of a fan of the mono approach tbh. The stereo part of the recording isn't the instrument, it's the space that's stereo. When you squish the instrument to mono, you squeeze out that sense of space with it. There are plenty of cases for using mono audio, but I'm not entirely certain this is one of them... unless you just want to blend a mono close mic with the stereo main to give more of a sense of center. However, I'd say you definitely have the right idea about how to go about getting a proper mono result, so that's flawless and I guess it's just a matter of preference.
I'm pretty sure I've shared these clips before, but they show how hard it is to try to get mono samples with an existing sense of space to fit nicely with only reverb-
Original: https://instaud.io/1TPI
Summed to mono: https://instaud.io/1TPJ
Mono with reverb: https://instaud.io/1TPL
Original stereo w/ [similar] reverb: https://instaud.io/3pF9
It's not a perfect demo, as there is a lot of stereo panning/info going on aside from just basic 'space', but I think it works well enough.
I was for a long time also a fan of just using one mic position or another, but when I first got the close mics for EWQL SO back in the day, it massively improved things for me to be able to sneak those in and cut through the mud of the main mics.
Regarding the timpani, you might have luck using lower velocities perhaps, and maybe bringing in a little of the close mic(s).
There isn't much music from the approximate era of M&B (~1200's, I think?), mostly church music, so instead I focused on music of 1500-1650, generally 'renaissance music'. This fit not too bad of a fit too, since I did it originally for the mod 'Nova Aetas' in addition to the base game, which is set mostly in the 1500's.
For battle music, I used mostly a type of period piece called Battaglias ('battalias'). They were basically program pieces which depicted real battles (think 'distant ancestors of the 1812 Overture')-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHxwPj2gVtY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=froeMPKV3uk
As program pieces, they begin with the rallying of the armies, the King riding forward, the trumpets sounding orders, etc. before the battle actually starts. Then typically a part of fast repeated notes (e.g. 1:45 in the first, 3:20 in the second) when the battle begins... which tends to be about when the forces collide in a typical M&B battle. 60 Swadian Knights charging at full tilt towards some Forest Bandits across the plains never felt so perfect until I stuck this piece in. XD
It's also important to note that composers in Susato's time did not score for specific instruments like we do today, and there is certainly no drum part written out from the time, so any guesses as to instrumentation and whether or not drums were used and to what extent are strictly the artistic license and preferences of the performing group. For example, this funny guy has a different take on that first one featuring a bunch of viols, crumhorns, and harpsichord... and a little next-gen AfterEffects work-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ts8vhusJOBo
I also used up-tempo dance pieces for the battles which fits quite nicely, e.g.-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7btI9dn4hI
In general, I elected to pick pieces from different areas or genres for different cultures. For example, Swadians got more late-Renaissance towards early Baroque French and English music with harpsichords and lutes, while the Rhodoks more Italian and Spanish, but similar period and 'sophistication' to the Swadians. Vaegirs got simpler sounding vocal and viol ensemble music, Nords got mostly percussion & woodwind pieces (and one or two bits of Celtic folk music where I ran dry on stuff). The truly hard part was Khergits as I don't have any Mongolian music lying around, so I sort of went towards Eastern European and Mediterranean. I tried in general to at least somewhat match the feel of the original music too so it wasn't too jarring if, for example, they use a piece out of context.
I also did a version of the Viking Conquests soundtrack where I replaced all of the music with pieces by Arnold Bax, a British composer from the early 1900's who wrote very 'filmish' sounding orchestral music drawing from British myth and landscape, which gives the DLC a more cinematic/mythic feel-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixF5f2cqIKo
I could probably do a way better job of it with a few more hours and some extra CD's to pilfer, but it's enough to get immersed and really changed the game for me. Not really better or worse, just super different feel!
Anyway, back to the track/template!
I think if you just put a really gentle highpass on the taiko or scooped the mid-lows (e.g. around 100-500 Hz) it would clear things up. You could also try highpassing the reverb slightly.
I'm not really much of a fan of the mono approach tbh. The stereo part of the recording isn't the instrument, it's the space that's stereo. When you squish the instrument to mono, you squeeze out that sense of space with it. There are plenty of cases for using mono audio, but I'm not entirely certain this is one of them... unless you just want to blend a mono close mic with the stereo main to give more of a sense of center. However, I'd say you definitely have the right idea about how to go about getting a proper mono result, so that's flawless and I guess it's just a matter of preference.
I'm pretty sure I've shared these clips before, but they show how hard it is to try to get mono samples with an existing sense of space to fit nicely with only reverb-
Original: https://instaud.io/1TPI
Summed to mono: https://instaud.io/1TPJ
Mono with reverb: https://instaud.io/1TPL
Original stereo w/ [similar] reverb: https://instaud.io/3pF9
It's not a perfect demo, as there is a lot of stereo panning/info going on aside from just basic 'space', but I think it works well enough.
I was for a long time also a fan of just using one mic position or another, but when I first got the close mics for EWQL SO back in the day, it massively improved things for me to be able to sneak those in and cut through the mud of the main mics.
Regarding the timpani, you might have luck using lower velocities perhaps, and maybe bringing in a little of the close mic(s).
Sample library developer, composer, and amateur organologist at Versilian Studios.