Somehow a weird story: back in Vanilla, I played a Night Elf. I crossed the Elwynn Forest very late. I initially associated this song with another idyllic zone: Hillsbrad Foothills. /salute :)
90% of the tracks composed by Jason Hayes for WoW (and Warcraft 3) are just iconic. It's crazy how much of my childhood's nostalgia I owe to a single guy. For me, the best soundtrack in gaming alongside Shiny's Sacrifice OST by Kevin Manthei (go check "Persephone's Realm" if you don't know it, though it's hard to judge without the game's unique atmosphere as a background). The latter WoW expansions relied mostly on other composers and uncoincidentally only have a handful of tracks I care about (The Dark Portal, Times Change and a couple others. Yes, WotlK main theme is awesome but what made it memorable had also been composed by Hayes already for Wc3:TFT's ending cinematic).
@@higochumbo8932 Yes, I also prefer soundtracks that are generally produced by one person. Music has more of a singular voice if there's one composer on a soundtrack that's easier to connect to.
Seeing this actually inspired me to construct music together. It's now something that helps me in every way. Wow music and skyrim music are the most beautiful sounds I'll ever hear. I simply love it
My favorite song from the amazing classic WoW soundtrack. This song is one of the reasons why I keep coming back to WoW. It's insane how one music track can do that. But it really just is iconic to me and fills me with warm and cozy feelings. Also, you did an amazing job re-creating the song. I sure learned a lot from this.
Awesome! Thank-you Anton for watching. It is so interesting to me that music like this can be an "iconic" moment in a person's life. This was a pleasure to re-create.
Amazing! Elwynn Forest is my second-favorite theme, the first being Barrens. I love how subtle, unintrusive, yet powerful and memorable the whole OST is. Truly an inspiration, thank your for the analysis!
Thank you for sharing this supremely tasteful recreation of such a memorable chunk of my childhood as I was adventuring through the forests around Stormwind. It takes a good ear and attention to detail to deconstruct something like this so well. Also, if memory serves, back when WoW was still deep in development this was the very first outdoor zone theme that Jason Hayes composed. It's pretty remarkable when considering how primitive computers and sample libraries were back then. I think most composers were using GigaStudio on slave PCs at the time. Kontakt had not yet gained a foothold.
even tho i can notice the mistakes or lets call them differences towards the original due to my exxessive playing the game this is propably one of if not the best recreation ive ever seen someone did on that piece. very well done something to be prowd of and you must have balls like rambo to even atempt picking such a masterpiece .... respect and well done .. and everyone who took the time to even read my long comment concider subscribing to this guy he deserves all the help dont you agree ? .. ... again nice work there
Awesome job and analysis. I originally thought this was the actual song ripped from the game and looking at Blizzard's file data. Really great work recreating it. Elwynn forest was my first, and has always remained one of my favorite zones, in WoW in no small part due to the music.
Love it. Came here hoping to mind more about percussions, can't find a good library yet. Trying to write a Doom track in the style of Doom Eternal music. Percussons for a chill part.
Stuff like this make me wish the original multitracks for the various epic soundtracks in gaming would leak one day. Noticed a comment earlier asking the same question but not sure if it's still something you happen to be open to nowadays so i shall ask: would you be open to music recreation suggestions for future vids? Love Mass Effect 1's From the Wreckage, Vigil, Noveria and 2's Collector Ship ambience music, WoW's Graveyard, Borean Tundra, Duskwood, Scholomance, Invincible and Arthas My Son. Tall order but just some of my faves one can pick out or leave out entirely, just expressing love for the channel and your hard work!
Very well done! I love this song and the rest of the WoW soundtracks! WoW is what inspired me to get into VGM and I'll always be thankful for its soundtracks for being such a constant source of inspiration in my life!
@@MusicDesign I always liked how the Dun Morogh/snow areas music felt "cold" but as a non music person could never explain why it felt that way to me. STV, Duskwood, Tanaris, and the plaguelands also come to mind as standout soundtracks that really give a strong mood and vibe.
@@MusicDesign Yes! Soundtrack wise my favorites are probably Wrath of the Lich King and Warlords of Draenor, there's so much great stuff going on in both of them!
@@araknidlich There are a number of musical techniques that make Dun Morogh feel cold. Reverb plays a huge part; which makes every instrument sound distant. The solo sections of the piece emphasize the loneliness, especially when it's just harp, oboe, and pizzicato strings. Dun Morogh is also an excellent piece. I'll add that to my list of next Music Design videos.
ty so much for this! I really hope your youtube channel grows! Would you mind doing a Video on the Ashenvale music? or any other WoW vanilla music would be amazing too
I don't understand how you don't have more followers. This is exactly what I was looking for to learn the instrumental layout of RPG tracks. Are you open to remake suggestions?
@@MusicDesign as far as WoW music goes, my favourites are Eversong Woods OST, Elysian Hold OST, Suramar City OST and Highmountain OST, however out of those, I'm only having trouble identifying separate specific sounds in the Eversong Woods OST, not whole chunks. Therefore, what I would genuinely be interested in seeing dissected and re-put together would be Timeless Isle OST (August Celestials OST -> /watch?v=i1HLBPvIjUA), mainly because of the Chinese instrumental layout as well as eastern harmonies and scales being utterly foreign to me.
Thank you so much, Pulse! Here you go: Strings - Metropolis Arks 1 and 2 and Session Strings Harp - Celtic Era Oboe, Flute, Bassoon, Clarinet - Master Solo Woodwinds Horns, Tuba, Trumpet - Metropolis Arks 1 and 2 Percussion/Deep Hits - Kontakt Ethnic libraries and Metropolis Ark 2
@@MusicDesign Thank You! I appreciate it!:):) & Again, you did wonderful on this! I keep watching this because it's so helpful. Thank you for making this video! You're awesome!
@@MusicDesign Ark 2 is such a lovely library, especially for softer and more mellow compositions. Do you have a preferred reverb for these kinds of projects or do you just use the stock ones in FL Studio?
@@MusicDesign Such a great plugin and seems to be Valhalla's most lexicon-like verb. That's the PCM Medium Hall preset right? I think it's supposed to emulate the PCM90.
It's WoW! and your video is also a Woooow! Amazing WoW brings me into music world. Elwynn Forest make me feel calm sweet.. stay too long in Orgrimmar maybe (Lol Thank you, your music reminds me to think of the old day
Really appreciate this breakdown! My favorite part of WoW is the sound design. Can you do a breakdown of somewhere like Sithilus? I’m fascinated to know how they captured that sparse desert feeling
I have a super soft spot for Elwynn forest that is somewhat odd. as I played a Human warrior in late classic (made it to level 40 or a bit above on the hellfire normal server). and right before the launch of Burning crusade I got the recommendation from player on the hellfire server to jump over to the new RP server that would open up whit Burning crusade (the shatar) as they said I would have better luck whit RP over there then on a normal server. so I did and created a Dranei hunter that I ran whit until I quit in cata. and Elwynn forest was my character resting point from time to time (I think it was because Hellfire peninsula was really thought to get through, energy wise) also my mom also played and when she hit max level at one point she would at time spend evening in wow doing litarly nothing but drink wine in real life and chat in Guild chat while sitting in Elwynn forest (maybe also do some fishing) how she made it to max level I still have no ide as she had problem whit getting to that quest giver in the Night elf starting zone tree in classic, you know the one where you need to run up a "spiral" ramp up a full tree and then at the end stop and turn 90 degree to enter a small house.... there was a pile of corpses under that tree from player that died of fall damage.
Thank you for the great video. Elwyn Forest was always one of my favourite themes and your incredible version brings back a lot of great memories. For someone starting to write some smaller scores (also in FL Studio, coincidentally), do you have recommendations for instruments / VSTs for a rich orchestral sound? I'm really struggling to create anything nice with the stock instruments (even when just writing from already existing sheet music). I hope I'm not just overlooking an already existing video or reply on your channel on that topic (in that case: sorry^^).
I highly recommend Metropolis Arks 1 and 2. Ark 1 focuses on epic orchestral, while Ark 2 focuses on softer music. I think during Black Friday, I got them both together as a deal. I'd also recommend many instruments from Embertone. I particularly use a lot the Shire Whistle, Recorders, Joshua Bell Violin, Leonid Bass, and the Herring Clarinet.
@@MusicDesign Thank you for this video, I just used 5 hours today trying to use it as a basis for composing a similar track. I got to around a minute, heh, I am really slow. If you have knowledge of assessing the tricks in harmonics/changes of keys etc., would be also really interesting to see those aspects taken into consideration as well, as I struggle with "what is inside" the composition from the notes perspective as well. 😊 Resources on that notation/harmonic/key perspective would also be really welcome, if you know of books/videos etc. on that subject, heh. Anyways, I'll stop my rambling and continue the composing tomorrow. I am so grateful for videos like this, they help me learn so much. Thank you. ^^
@@ImaplanetJupiteeeerr Thank you, Jupiter. When I'm composing music, I base my creative decisions on these priorities: 1. Does the instrument sound good on its own? 2. Does the instrument sound good with the other instruments? 3. What notes and chords work with the other instruments? 4. What music theory I know can help in this situation? Establish the right sound first, then composition/arrangement will fall quickly afterwards.
@@MusicDesign Thanks for this, I'll write it down for future reference! For me, the biggest thing I am trying to figure out is the music theory when it comes to composing interesting and varying melodies/harmonies into a piece. That is what I am struggling with the most, and unfortunately I haven't really found too good resources to help and learn about those topics. :)
@@ImaplanetJupiteeeerr Best practice in my opinion is to re-create your favorite video-game tunes like I've been doing. It's been extremely helpful for me.
Cool video, there's something i always strugle when i try to transcribe music without percussion or without a strong melody/harmony to guide me to know the tempo or time signature How did you do it with this?
Hi Diegus! I find a section in the music that has a discernible rhythm in the notes (such as 11:53 in this song) and use a Tempo Tapper in my DAW to set the tempo. For time signature, it takes practice doing this with multiple songs, of course. I count up until I feel the phrase of the song repeats. Usually it's 4/4.
I uploaded this for you. This contains the audio files and the MIDI notes of Elwynn Forest: mega.nz/file/mLpFSAZS#LraACf5WbzkWUOI4lHmuAWFOmYfptlgKdanXrxM1K4k
Yes. Some techniques I use is matching the original tune exactly with the tempo in my DAW. From there, I can slow-down the song as much as I want to. This allows me to comprehend each section little-by-little. Thank-you, Dennis!
@@MusicDesign thank you for your fast reply. I appreciated that. I wanna try to do the same with the Stormwind City's song. I love all WoW's soundtracks. I use FL Studio as well. Congratulations for your channel, man!
What are your thoughts on Elwynn Forest? Does this song impact you?
Somehow a weird story: back in Vanilla, I played a Night Elf. I crossed the Elwynn Forest very late. I initially associated this song with another idyllic zone: Hillsbrad Foothills.
/salute
:)
Reminds me of simpler times. Sometimes makes me happy, but sometimes makes me feel a bit of weight on my chest. It’s definitely an amazing song.
90% of the tracks composed by Jason Hayes for WoW (and Warcraft 3) are just iconic. It's crazy how much of my childhood's nostalgia I owe to a single guy. For me, the best soundtrack in gaming alongside Shiny's Sacrifice OST by Kevin Manthei (go check "Persephone's Realm" if you don't know it, though it's hard to judge without the game's unique atmosphere as a background).
The latter WoW expansions relied mostly on other composers and uncoincidentally only have a handful of tracks I care about (The Dark Portal, Times Change and a couple others. Yes, WotlK main theme is awesome but what made it memorable had also been composed by Hayes already for Wc3:TFT's ending cinematic).
@@higochumbo8932 Yes, I also prefer soundtracks that are generally produced by one person. Music has more of a singular voice if there's one composer on a soundtrack that's easier to connect to.
got chills in 0.1 secs. just hits the hippocampus with force man
Outstanding job
I wish you went deeper on the harmony, scale degrees and chords
Seeing this actually inspired me to construct music together. It's now something that helps me in every way. Wow music and skyrim music are the most beautiful sounds I'll ever hear. I simply love it
Music is powerful, Alex. Skyrim is also one of my favorite soundtracks (top 3 for me). Glad you enjoyed!
@@MusicDesign music is probably the closest thing we humans have to magic, honestly.
My favorite song from the amazing classic WoW soundtrack. This song is one of the reasons why I keep coming back to WoW. It's insane how one music track can do that. But it really just is iconic to me and fills me with warm and cozy feelings.
Also, you did an amazing job re-creating the song. I sure learned a lot from this.
Awesome! Thank-you Anton for watching.
It is so interesting to me that music like this can be an "iconic" moment in a person's life. This was a pleasure to re-create.
This is an absolutely astonishing analysis! Thank you so much.
Thank you so much!
Amazing! Elwynn Forest is my second-favorite theme, the first being Barrens. I love how subtle, unintrusive, yet powerful and memorable the whole OST is. Truly an inspiration, thank your for the analysis!
Thank-you for watching, T Soki! So much to uncover with the rest of the score. I'm excited to dive deeper.
Thank you for sharing this supremely tasteful recreation of such a memorable chunk of my childhood as I was adventuring through the forests around Stormwind. It takes a good ear and attention to detail to deconstruct something like this so well. Also, if memory serves, back when WoW was still deep in development this was the very first outdoor zone theme that Jason Hayes composed. It's pretty remarkable when considering how primitive computers and sample libraries were back then. I think most composers were using GigaStudio on slave PCs at the time. Kontakt had not yet gained a foothold.
Hi Songstriker! Thank for the extra info you provided.
I've been playing World of Warcraft since 2005 and I love the Elwynn Forest music. Incredible work.
Hey Mastertronic, this is one of my favorites as well. Thank you for the words!
incredible video man, been using FL / playing wow for many years, and this brought a whole new batch of inspiration. Fantastic job
Thank you, Vincent! Have fun on your journey.
even tho i can notice the mistakes or lets call them differences towards the original due to my exxessive playing the game this is propably one of if not the best recreation ive ever seen someone did on that piece. very well done something to be prowd of and you must have balls like rambo to even atempt picking such a masterpiece .... respect and well done .. and everyone who took the time to even read my long comment concider subscribing to this guy he deserves all the help dont you agree ? .. ... again nice work there
Hey Dayta, thank you for the comments! That means a lot to me.
Thanks for putting this together. This has always been my favorite track of all time, so it was really cool to see it broken down and explained.
Thank you, lifexlovexlivin! Your words mean a lot to me.
Awesome job and analysis. I originally thought this was the actual song ripped from the game and looking at Blizzard's file data. Really great work recreating it. Elwynn forest was my first, and has always remained one of my favorite zones, in WoW in no small part due to the music.
Love it.
Came here hoping to mind more about percussions, can't find a good library yet.
Trying to write a Doom track in the style of Doom Eternal music. Percussons for a chill part.
The barrens soundtrack would be really cool to see analyzed as well! :oo
beautiful music
My pleasure. Thank You Publish X!
Stuff like this make me wish the original multitracks for the various epic soundtracks in gaming would leak one day. Noticed a comment earlier asking the same question but not sure if it's still something you happen to be open to nowadays so i shall ask: would you be open to music recreation suggestions for future vids? Love Mass Effect 1's From the Wreckage, Vigil, Noveria and 2's Collector Ship ambience music, WoW's Graveyard, Borean Tundra, Duskwood, Scholomance, Invincible and Arthas My Son. Tall order but just some of my faves one can pick out or leave out entirely, just expressing love for the channel and your hard work!
This is an amazing video, thanks for putting this together!
Thank-you, enigma for watching. My pleasure.
Very well done! I love this song and the rest of the WoW soundtracks! WoW is what inspired me to get into VGM and I'll always be thankful for its soundtracks for being such a constant source of inspiration in my life!
Thank-you Tiggs! I'm actually excited to do more WoW analysis videos. Do you have any personal favorites?
@@MusicDesign I always liked how the Dun Morogh/snow areas music felt "cold" but as a non music person could never explain why it felt that way to me.
STV, Duskwood, Tanaris, and the plaguelands also come to mind as standout soundtracks that really give a strong mood and vibe.
@@MusicDesign Yes! Soundtrack wise my favorites are probably Wrath of the Lich King and Warlords of Draenor, there's so much great stuff going on in both of them!
@@Tiggsvoice Cool, I'll add those tunes to work on later for a possible future episode.
@@araknidlich There are a number of musical techniques that make Dun Morogh feel cold. Reverb plays a huge part; which makes every instrument sound distant. The solo sections of the piece emphasize the loneliness, especially when it's just harp, oboe, and pizzicato strings.
Dun Morogh is also an excellent piece. I'll add that to my list of next Music Design videos.
who will know that music will mark us for life?
ty so much for this! I really hope your youtube channel grows! Would you mind doing a Video on the Ashenvale music? or any other WoW vanilla music would be amazing too
Hi Lu Na! Thank-you so much! Ashenvale has been something I've been wanting to do. I might analyze it in the future.
I don't understand how you don't have more followers. This is exactly what I was looking for to learn the instrumental layout of RPG tracks. Are you open to remake suggestions?
Thank you! Sure, what are your favorite music tracks?
@@MusicDesign as far as WoW music goes, my favourites are Eversong Woods OST, Elysian Hold OST, Suramar City OST and Highmountain OST, however out of those, I'm only having trouble identifying separate specific sounds in the Eversong Woods OST, not whole chunks. Therefore, what I would genuinely be interested in seeing dissected and re-put together would be Timeless Isle OST (August Celestials OST -> /watch?v=i1HLBPvIjUA), mainly because of the Chinese instrumental layout as well as eastern harmonies and scales being utterly foreign to me.
Wow, this was amazing, thank you!
Thank you for your kind words!
This is absolutely beautiful! You did an outstanding job! :):) If you don't mind me asking, what libraries did you use?
Thank you so much, Pulse! Here you go:
Strings - Metropolis Arks 1 and 2 and Session Strings
Harp - Celtic Era
Oboe, Flute, Bassoon, Clarinet - Master Solo Woodwinds
Horns, Tuba, Trumpet - Metropolis Arks 1 and 2
Percussion/Deep Hits - Kontakt Ethnic libraries and Metropolis Ark 2
@@MusicDesign Thank You! I appreciate it!:):) & Again, you did wonderful on this! I keep watching this because it's so helpful. Thank you for making this video! You're awesome!
@@MusicDesign Ark 2 is such a lovely library, especially for softer and more mellow compositions. Do you have a preferred reverb for these kinds of projects or do you just use the stock ones in FL Studio?
@@tronam I use Valhalla Vintage Verb. Usually for orchestral pieces, I like the Medium Hall preset.
@@MusicDesign Such a great plugin and seems to be Valhalla's most lexicon-like verb. That's the PCM Medium Hall preset right? I think it's supposed to emulate the PCM90.
It's WoW! and your video is also a Woooow! Amazing
WoW brings me into music world.
Elwynn Forest make me feel calm sweet.. stay too long in Orgrimmar maybe (Lol
Thank you, your music reminds me to think of the old day
Thank-you so much for watching, Julie!
How Did I miss this channel ?
Really appreciate this breakdown! My favorite part of WoW is the sound design. Can you do a breakdown of somewhere like Sithilus? I’m fascinated to know how they captured that sparse desert feeling
Thank you Rogue Sample! I'll add Sithilus to the list!
I have a super soft spot for Elwynn forest that is somewhat odd.
as I played a Human warrior in late classic (made it to level 40 or a bit above on the hellfire normal server).
and right before the launch of Burning crusade I got the recommendation from player on the hellfire server to jump over to the new RP server that would open up whit Burning crusade (the shatar) as they said I would have better luck whit RP over there then on a normal server.
so I did and created a Dranei hunter that I ran whit until I quit in cata.
and Elwynn forest was my character resting point from time to time (I think it was because Hellfire peninsula was really thought to get through, energy wise)
also my mom also played and when she hit max level at one point she would at time spend evening in wow doing litarly nothing but drink wine in real life and chat in Guild chat while sitting in Elwynn forest (maybe also do some fishing)
how she made it to max level I still have no ide as she had problem whit getting to that quest giver in the Night elf starting zone tree in classic, you know the one where you need to run up a "spiral" ramp up a full tree and then at the end stop and turn 90 degree to enter a small house.... there was a pile of corpses under that tree from player that died of fall damage.
Great job!
Thank you, Mason, for the kind comment! Much appreciated!
This is great, you should do one for Teldrassil!
I second this
Thank you for the great video. Elwyn Forest was always one of my favourite themes and your incredible version brings back a lot of great memories.
For someone starting to write some smaller scores (also in FL Studio, coincidentally), do you have recommendations for instruments / VSTs for a rich orchestral sound? I'm really struggling to create anything nice with the stock instruments (even when just writing from already existing sheet music). I hope I'm not just overlooking an already existing video or reply on your channel on that topic (in that case: sorry^^).
I highly recommend Metropolis Arks 1 and 2. Ark 1 focuses on epic orchestral, while Ark 2 focuses on softer music.
I think during Black Friday, I got them both together as a deal.
I'd also recommend many instruments from Embertone. I particularly use a lot the Shire Whistle, Recorders, Joshua Bell Violin, Leonid Bass, and the Herring Clarinet.
Amazing video! I love this. You have a new sub, bell is on and huge thank you for this video! ❤️😊
Thank you, Jupiter, for your kind comments!
@@MusicDesign Thank you for this video, I just used 5 hours today trying to use it as a basis for composing a similar track. I got to around a minute, heh, I am really slow.
If you have knowledge of assessing the tricks in harmonics/changes of keys etc., would be also really interesting to see those aspects taken into consideration as well, as I struggle with "what is inside" the composition from the notes perspective as well. 😊
Resources on that notation/harmonic/key perspective would also be really welcome, if you know of books/videos etc. on that subject, heh.
Anyways, I'll stop my rambling and continue the composing tomorrow. I am so grateful for videos like this, they help me learn so much. Thank you. ^^
@@ImaplanetJupiteeeerr Thank you, Jupiter. When I'm composing music, I base my creative decisions on these priorities:
1. Does the instrument sound good on its own?
2. Does the instrument sound good with the other instruments?
3. What notes and chords work with the other instruments?
4. What music theory I know can help in this situation?
Establish the right sound first, then composition/arrangement will fall quickly afterwards.
@@MusicDesign Thanks for this, I'll write it down for future reference!
For me, the biggest thing I am trying to figure out is the music theory when it comes to composing interesting and varying melodies/harmonies into a piece. That is what I am struggling with the most, and unfortunately I haven't really found too good resources to help and learn about those topics. :)
@@ImaplanetJupiteeeerr Best practice in my opinion is to re-create your favorite video-game tunes like I've been doing. It's been extremely helpful for me.
Can you do the barrens ?
That sounds really good! Which harps did you used?
Hey xxardon! The best sounding harp I use comes from Celtic Era.
Thank you!@@MusicDesign
Cool video, there's something i always strugle when i try to transcribe music without percussion or without a strong melody/harmony to guide me to know the tempo or time signature
How did you do it with this?
Hi Diegus! I find a section in the music that has a discernible rhythm in the notes (such as 11:53 in this song) and use a Tempo Tapper in my DAW to set the tempo.
For time signature, it takes practice doing this with multiple songs, of course. I count up until I feel the phrase of the song repeats. Usually it's 4/4.
@@MusicDesign Thanks mate its always difficult to me when the music is only strings or winds with long phrases
Would love to get the flp for this and try out my own sound libraries
I uploaded this for you. This contains the audio files and the MIDI notes of Elwynn Forest: mega.nz/file/mLpFSAZS#LraACf5WbzkWUOI4lHmuAWFOmYfptlgKdanXrxM1K4k
@@MusicDesign Thank you so much!
Did you do this everything by ear?
Yes. Some techniques I use is matching the original tune exactly with the tempo in my DAW. From there, I can slow-down the song as much as I want to. This allows me to comprehend each section little-by-little.
Thank-you, Dennis!
@@MusicDesign thank you for your fast reply. I appreciated that. I wanna try to do the same with the Stormwind City's song. I love all WoW's soundtracks. I use FL Studio as well. Congratulations for your channel, man!
@@dennisro93 Thanks for your kind comments! Feel free to message or email me if you have any questions. Happy to help you out however I can.
is that frooty loops ?
Indeed, FL Studio 20.