Fixing the Sheets: Formatting Edition

[Altissimo]

I talked this over a little with Latios212 the other night and he agreed with what I was trying to do, so I'm gonna make myself a topic for this.

Basically, I had this thought the other day. That thought was about the fact that we have a lot of replacing and fixing projects going on pretty much at all times here. But they seem to be pretty random, spurred on by the fact that one person is like, "let's go ahead and fix this game up" and that ends up being what happens. I was hoping to find a more systematic way to determine what needs replacing or fixing. I don't really care to listen to every track and compare it to the site's version of the music note-by-note to see what's wrong. On the other hand, I love making useless text documents and lists. So here's my thought: if we can determine which sheets on the site need formatting fixes, this may be a starting point to figure out which sheets need musical fixes.

Here's my reasoning: NSM did not always have the quality standards it has now. Half the sheets on the site are pieces of shit. We know this. Having downloaded several of these sheets for myself - and I mean several - I've also noticed that the ones that are less meticulously formatted also tend to be the ones with musical errors. For instance, I'm pretty sure - though I've never even listened to the soundtrack or played the game - that this arrangement of Glitter Gulch Mine from Banjo-Kazooie is definitely in a compound meter and not 4/4 time with a billion triplets. It also happens to have no measure numbers, copyright, subtitle, metronome marking, dynamics, and the wrong formatting for the composer/arranger names. Similarly, this arrangement of Sloprano/The Great Mighty Poo from Conker's Bad Fur Day is pretty clearly in A minor, and yet there's not a single G-sharp to be found anywhere - only A-flats and more A-flats. Then it changes key to... F minor? Don't you mean B-flat minor...? This one also has the wrong formatting for the composer/arranger names, title, and subtitle, and again lacks a copyright.

So I'm sensing a pattern here. Things with bad formatting also tend to be musically incorrect. It's only easy to spot if you either know the piece extremely well or know music theory extremely well (or both), which means looking for musically incorrect pieces by the actual musical content could take a while. But, bad formatting also implies lower quality standards on the musical nature of the piece, as far as I'm concerned. Which is why I've started doing what will be the essence of this project:

What I want to do is go through the entire website, all 2479 sheets, and make a list of the ones that are improperly formatted in some way.

I'm honestly fine with doing it by myself, since as I've said I love making lists. But really if I did it all myself I'd probably spend more time in what's left of my summer than I want. Plus, Latios212 already called the entire Pokémon section, so why don't I open the floor to anyone else here at NSM who is interested?

Here are the formatting errors/issues that I'm looking for. I don't feel like downloading every MUS on the site, so I'm just using the PDFs and therefore am not going to notice any issues that might be present with the MUS version - though if there's a problem with the PDF, there is likely a problem with the MUS as well. Though, I won't be able to notice from a glance if the text size of everything is correct. Only if everything else is.

1) Title - Should be bolded, in quotation marks, and be just the title (there's a few sheets in the Banjo-Tooie section that are labeled as "[Title] - BT" for instance which is incorrect), which in turn should line up with what the link to the PDF is called (unlike for instance this Pokémon sheet which is labeled "Surf" on its link and "Surfing" as its title). Should be present on all pages.
2) Subtitle - Should be the name of the game, italicized. Nothing more, nothing less, unlike the Sloprano/The Great Mighty Poo sheet linked above that has "Sloprano" as its title and "The Great Mighty Poo" as an italicized sub-title, with "Conker's Bad Fur Day" below that.
3) Composer name - "Composed by <x>, <y>, & <x>" or "Composition by <x>, <y>, & <z>". Bold-faced.
4) Arranger name - "Arranged by <x>" or "Arrangement by <x>". Italicized.
5) Metronome marking, with the BPM.
6) At least one dynamic marking at the beginning of the score.
7) Measure numbers at the beginning of each line.
8.) On the left, the first system is indented with "Piano" and each subsequent system is not indented and does not repeat the "Piano" marker. You may be surprised to hear I actually found a few sheets that kept the secondary "Pno." markings that Notepad automatically adds.
9) This may sound trivial, but make sure the music ends with either a double bar line or a repeat sign. I found one that didn't.
10) Copyright - [Publisher] © [Year Published]. I've seen a few "©Rare © 2000" type stuff here and there. Also, make sure the copyrights are consistent with other copyrights for the same game. In the Banjo-Kazooie section it was mostly "Nintendo/Rare, but I saw a few just "Nintendo" and a couple "Rareware" and "Nintendo, Rare". In Animal Crossing, most New Leaf sheets were © 2013, but a couple were © 2012. I don't know enough about the game to know which is correct, so I just went with which date was more prevalent as the "correct" date - 2013.
11) Site URL - More than anything else, this is what needs fixing. Half of Deku Trombonist's sheets in Animal Crossing and Banjo-Kazooie still have the defunct ninsheetm.us URL on them. Make sure to check every sheet for the URL, even if everything else on the sheet looks correct.

Now that that's all out of the way... I've already checked every sheet in the Animal Crossing and Banjo-Kazooie sections. Here are the sheets requiring fixing:

Animal Crossing

Animal Crossing:
K. K. Bossa - Missing a dynamic marking
K. K. Ragtime - Arranger and composer written as "Arranged By" and "Composed By"; copyright year given as 2002 instead of more popular 2001
Rainy Day - wrong site URL

City Folk:
Mr. Resetti's Theme - wrong site URL

New Leaf:
1:00 A.M. - wrong site URL
2:00 A.M. - missing metronome marking and dynamic marking; wrong site URL
8:00 P.M. - wrong site URL
K. K. Jongara (Aircheck) - site link says "K. K Jongara" vs. the sheet's "K. K. Jongara"; copyright year given as 2012 instead of more popular 2013
K. K. Moody - site link says "K. K. Moody" vs. the sheet's "K. K. Moody (Live)"; copyright year given as 2012

Wild World:
2:00 A.M. - no dynamic marking; wrong site URL
2:00 P.M. - wrong site URL
6:00 A.M. - no dynamic marking; wrong site URL
9:00 A.M. - wrong site URL
K. K. Metal - no dynamic marking; wrong site URL
Main Gate - wrong site URL
Museum: Observatory - site link says "Museum (Observatory) vs. the sheet's "Museum: Observatory"; wrong site URL
The Roost - wrong site URL
Town Hall (Day) - wrong site URL

[close]

Banjo-Kazooie

Banjo-Kazooie:
Bubblegloop Swamp - ends on a regular bar line instead of a double bar or repeat
Clanker's Cavern - copyright is "Nintendo © 1998" rather than the more popular "Nintendo/Rare © 1998"
Click Clock Wood (Autumn) - copyright is "Nintendo © 1998"
Click Clock Wood (Spring) - title overlaps music on pages after 1; no subtitle; composer line has "By"; arranger line is bold instead of italic and overlaps with music; no metronome marking; no dynamic marking; no measure numbers; no copyright or site URL
Click Clock Wood (Winter) - apparently composed by "Grank Kirkhope"
Gruntilda's Lair - missing "Piano" marking on the left
Gruntilda's Lair (Mad Monster Mansion) - site link says "(Mad Monster Mansion Lobby)" vs. the sheet's "(Mad Monster Mansion)"
King Sandybutt's Maze - subtitle seems too small; copyright is "Rare © 1998"; wrong site URL; metronome markings could possibly be improved; silent measure at end of piece
Mad Monster Mansion - subtitle reads "Banjo Kazooie"; no metronome marking; copyright is "Rare © 1998"; wrong site URL
Mumbo's Hut - no "Piano" marking on left
Opening - no "Piano" marking on left
Overture - site link says "Overture" vs. the sheet's "Banjo Overture"; copyright says "Nintendo © 1998"
Prickly Pear Island - no "Piano" marking on left; subtitle reads "Banjo-Kazooie/Dream"; copyright says "Nintendo, Rare 1998"; wrong site URL; site link adds "(BETA)" where the sheet lacks it
Rusty Bucket Bay - no "Piano" marking on left; wrong site URL
Rusty Bucket Bay: Warehouse - site link says "Rusty Bucket Bay (Warehouse)" vs. the sheet's "Rusty Bucket Bay: Warehouse"; no metronome marking or dynamics; missing measure numbers; copyright says "Rare © 1998"; wrong site URL (when the hell was this place a .net?!)
Spiral Mountain - title is missing quotes; subtitle is not italicized and written as "Banjo Kazooie"; arranger is bold and not italic; missing metronome marking, dynamics, and measure numbers; no copyright or site URL
Spiral Mountain (Duet) - no metronome marking; lines after the first read "Pno. 1" and "Pno. 2"; copyright says "Rare © 1998"; wrong site URL
Treasure Trove Cove - title is missing quotes; no subtitle; no "Composed/Composition by"; arranger is bold and not italic; no metronome or dynamic marking; no "Piano" at left; wrong type of bracket used; no copyright or site URL
Treasure Trove Cove (BETA) - wrong site URL
Treasure Trove Cove (Sand Castle - Aquatic) - wrong site URL
Treasure Trove Cove (The Salty Hippo) - wrong site URL
Wonderwing! - title is italicized; subtitle reads "Banjo-Kazooie/Tooie"; "Composed By" and "Arranged By"; no metronome or dynamic marking; no measure numbers; no copyright or site URL

Grunty's Revenge:
Spiller's Harbor - wrong site URL

Nuts & Bolts:
Banjoland (Challenge) - wrong site URL; copyright is "Rare © 2008"; wrong site URL
Logbox Lunacy - subtitle reads "Banjo Kazooie"; copyright is "Rareware © 2008"; wrong site URL
Showdown Town - space in "Banjo-Kazooie" in the subtitle; composer is "Composed by Robin Beanland/G. Kirkhope"; no metronome marking; copyright is "Rare © 2008/2009"; wrong site URL

Banjo-Tooie:
Banjo's House Blues - wrong site URL
Battle with HAG1 - "Piano 1" at left and subsequent "Pno. 1"; no metronome marking; copyright is "Rare © 2000"; wrong site URL; titles on pages 2+ are "Battle with Hag 1."
Bottles' House - wrong site URL
Cauldron Keep - wrong site URL
Chilly Willy/Chilli Billi Battle - wrong site URL
Cloud Cuckooland - site link is "Cloud Cuckooland (Two Pianos) vs. the sheet's "Cloud Cuckooland"; "Pno. 1/2" at left; coppyright says "Nintendo, Rare © 2000"; wrong site URL
Credits - site link is "Credits" vs. the sheet's "End Credits"; title is not in quotes; subtitle reads "Banjo Tooie" and is not italicized; arranger is bold, not italic and says "SamWaetford"; no metronome, dynamic marking, or measure numbers; no copyright or site URL
Fun and Games! - site link is "Fun and Games!" vs. the sheet's "Fun 'n' Games!"; wrong site URL
Glitter Gulch Mine - title is not in quotes and includes "BT"; no subtitle; arranger is bold and not italic; no metronome marking, dynamics, or measure numbers; no copyright or site URL
Grunty Industries (Basement) - copyright is "©Rare © 2000"; wrong site URL
Grunty Industries (Inside) - site link is "Grunty Industries (Inside) vs. the sheet's "Inside Grunty Industries"; title lacks quotes; no subtitle; composer just says "By Grant Kirkhope"; arranger says "Arr. by Commander6" and is bold and not italic; no metronome, dynamics or measure numbers; no copyright or site URL; pages after the first have [Title]
Grunty Industries (Outside) - subtitle is "Banjo Tooie"; wrong site URL
Hailfire Peaks (Fire Side) - subtitle is "Fire Side" rather than game title; title is not in quotes; composer just says "By Grant Kirkhope"; arranger says "Arr. by Commander6" and is bold and not italic; no metronome, dynamics, or measure numbers; no copyright or site URL; pages after the first have [Title]
Hailfire Peaks (Ice Side) - site link is "Hailfire Peaks (Ice Side) vs. the sheet's "HailfirePeaks (Icy Side); copyright is "Rareware © 2000"
Here Comes Trouble! - subtitle is "Banjo Tooie"; wrong site URL
In the Hall of the Zombie King - no dynamic markings; copyright is "Rare © 2000"; wrong site URL
Isle O' Hags - title is not in quotes; no subtitle; composer just says "By Grant Kirkhope"; arranger says "Arr. by Commaner6 [sic]";  no dynamic marking or measure numbers; no copyright or site URL; pages after the first have [Title]
Jiggywiggy's Temple - subtitle reads "Banjo Tooie"; wrong site URL
Jiggywiggy's Temple (Duet) - subtitle reads "Banjo Tooie"; wrong site URL
Jinjo Village - game title is part of composition title; title is not in quotes; no subtitle; arranger is bold and not italic; no metronome marking, dynamics, or measure numbers; title on pages 2+ is "Jinjo Village/BK2" and overlaps with music
Jolly Roger's Lagoon - copyright is "Rareware © 2000"
Jolly Roger's Lagoon - Atlantis - subtitle is "Banjo Tooie"; no "Piano" at left; copyright is "Nintendo, Rare @ 1998"; wrong site URL
Kickabout - copyright is "Rareware © 200 [sic]"; wrong site URL
Lord Woo Fak Fak - site link adds "Self-Important Anglerfish" while the sheet has that as the subtitle; title is not in quotes; subtitle does not contain game name; composer is just "By Grant Kirkhope"; arranger is "Arr. by Commander6" and is in bold and not italic; no metronome marking, dynamics or measure numbers; no copyright or site URL; pages after the first have "Lord Woo Fak-Fak" as the title
Mayahem Temple - subtitle says "Banjo Tooie"; wrong site URL
Mr. Patch - site link adds "Strange Wobbly Inflatable Thing" while sheet adds "Witchyworld Boss"; title is italicized; no metronome marking, dynamics or measure numbers; no copyright or site URL
Race with Mary - site link says "Race with Mary" vs. sheet's "Race with Mary - Gliter [sic] Glutch [sic] Mine"; title is not in quotes; subtitle has unnecessary spacing in game title; composer is just "By: Grant Kirkhope"; arranger is "Arr. by Commander6" and is bold and not italic; no metronome marking, dynamics, or measure numbers; no copyright or site URL; pages after the first have [Title]
Targitzan - site link adds "Despotic Dizzy Totem God" vs. sheet's just having "Targitzan"; title lacks quotes; no subtitle; composer says "By Grant Kirkhope"; arranger says "Arr. by Commander 6" and is in bold and not italic; no metronome marking, dynamics, or measure numbers; lacks copyright and site URL; pages after the first have [Title]
Targitzan - Despotic Dizzy Totem God (Duet) - copyright says "Nintendo, Rare © 2000"
Terrydactyland - sheet adds "BT" to the title; title is not in quotes; no subtitle; arranger is in bold and not italic; no metronome markings, dynamics, or measure numbers; no copyright or site URL
Weldar - site link adds "Visually Impaired Reading Torch" and sheet has that as a subtitle; the piece has been "Arragned"; no dynamic marking; copyright is "©Rare © 2000"; wrong site URL
Witches' Theme - subtitle seems too small; lacks metronome marking, dynamics, and measure numbers; copyright is "Rare © 2000"; wrong site URL
Witchyworld - wrong site URL

[close]

Feel free to post sheets with incorrect formatting as well as their issues and I'll update this first post with them. I'll also be working through the sheets myself over the next few days.

(Note to Latios212: The Pokémon sheets probably all have the wrong subtitle, if not because of game then because of "Pokemon" instead of "Pokémon". I feel like we should just ignore that for now and focus on the rest of the formatting issues lol)

[Tobbeh99]

Some thoughts I had:

first thought that came to mind is about the "Save Link from Extinction!" project. Where we basically fixed a lot of URL but when doing so also a lot of wrong composers, titles, formatting etc. However the project was put aside due to maybe other projects, submission, Deku leaving (he started the project). So maybe we could merge the 2 projects together? The only thing we didn't do in the project was edit anything musically, wrong accidentals, time signatures etc. That project was supposed to be a quick one, fix the URLs and done... but it was somewhat abandoned.

second thought: we could probably ignore the games being treated in official projects such as Banjo Kazooie, Pokémon Red/Blue/Yellow and Animal Crossing: New Leaf since those will be treated in those threads.


You can add these songs to the list:
Castlevania: all songs except: Heart of Fire, Vampire Killer, Bloody Tears, Lost Painting, The Tragic Prince, Game Over(Super Castlevania IV).
I could probably take a look at the Castlevania sheets if this becomes a thing, since I've fixed them to a certain point in the URL-fixing project.

I do like this idea however, we could have this as an ongoing topic where we could fix small things on sheets an have updaters approve them. Since the changes are so small it doesn't take a lot of time either. 

[Brawler4Ever]

Why not just do it alphabetically? We start with Animal Crossing and work our way down? Like Tobbeh said, we skip New Leaf and Banjo Kazooie, but we work our way down all the same.

[Sebastian]

Why not just do it alphabetically? We start with Animal Crossing and work our way down? Like Tobbeh said, we skip New Leaf and Banjo Kazooie, but we work our way down all the same.

I just want to say that the series Animal Crossing (other than the project) is musically perfect and is perfect with the formatting too. Deku fixed ALL the Animal Crossing a while back. Same goes for the series Banjo-Kazooie (when we our finished with the Banjo Replacement Project that is).
I recommend starting with Castlevania.

[Brawler4Ever]

I'm not familiar with Animal Crossing music, so I can't say how well of a job Deku did. My point, though is that this project will take months to complete. Pokemon R/B/Y just passed two years a month ago. It's almost finished, but not quite yet. If the scope of the project is the entire site, this won't be done anytime soon.

The plus side is that this project only works with formatting issues. The downside is that many arrangers only have Notepad and can't meet the submission requirements of NSM alone, myself included. Including the bpm means coverting to xml and back again, which means more often than not, there's going to be problems. Just a random example. Altissimo, do you have a higher version of Finale than Notepad? Having us all work through one conduit through which the necessary corrections can be made would be incredibly helpful.

[Altissimo]

I'm not familiar with Animal Crossing music, so I can't say how well of a job Deku did. My point, though is that this project will take months to complete. Pokemon R/B/Y just passed two years a month ago. It's almost finished, but not quite yet. If the scope of the project is the entire site, this won't be done anytime soon.

Yeah, I don't know much about the Animal Crossing/Banjo-Kazooie projects so I just wrote down the issues I saw anyway.

I know most sheets on the site have to go through the submission process to get on the site, replacement or original. This is why I was wondering if maybe we could have a bit an exception made for formatting issues. Like, an updater could just go in and edit the links on-site to link to altered versions of the MUS and PDF that have only the formatting fixed - to serve as a placeholder, at the very least, until they're musically checked over. I don't see much point in submitting a "replacement" of a sheet that literally only has the URL changed, for instance, but it makes sense in my mind for someone to only change the URL and an updater to just drop it on the site without checking it for anything else - at least until forum arrangers start to check it over musically. This might be a bit un-protocol, but hey, I'm all for little steps in the right direction while bigger steps like musical fixing, ones that actually need real time and effort, are put off to make sure they are absolutely perfect. I hope it makes sense.

The plus side is that this project only works with formatting issues. The downside is that many arrangers only have Notepad and can't meet the submission requirements of NSM alone, myself included. Including the bpm means converting to xml and back again, which means more often than not, there's going to be problems. Just a random example. Altissimo, do you have a higher version of Finale than Notepad? Having us all work through one conduit through which the necessary corrections can be made would be incredibly helpful.

I don't have a higher version of Finale, no. But as far as I can tell, there are only two things that can't be fixed up through my combination of Musecore and Notepad, and that's measure numbers and "Piano" markings. So we could have someone with higher Finale tackle those, for instance, and I or other Musescore/Notepad users could do ones that need BPM fixes, and people with just Notepad can see to the text formatting issues, for instance. Maybe I should color-code the sheets that need fixing based on what fixing they need...

first thought that came to mind is about the "Save Link from Extinction!" project. Where we basically fixed a lot of URL but when doing so also a lot of wrong composers, titles, formatting etc. However the project was put aside due to maybe other projects, submission, Deku leaving (he started the project). So maybe we could merge the 2 projects together? The only thing we didn't do in the project was edit anything musically, wrong accidentals, time signatures etc. That project was supposed to be a quick one, fix the URLs and done... but it was somewhat abandoned.

Yeah, that basically seems like the exact same thing I'm doing. It's the exact same idea, except more than just URLs I'm looking for all of the quality standards to be met.

second thought: we could probably ignore the games being treated in official projects such as Banjo Kazooie, Pokémon Red/Blue/Yellow and Animal Crossing: New Leaf since those will be treated in those threads.

Yeah, probably. (Which, I guess, means it's good I already got BK and AC out of the way so nobody else has to waste time with it :p) RBY is a focus of a fixing project, but Latios212 also called spot-checking the entire Pokémon section, so either way we don't have to worry about it.

[JDMEK5]

....if we can determine which sheets on the site need formatting fixes, this may be a starting point to figure out which sheets need musical fixes.

first thought that came to mind is about the "Save Link from Extinction!" project. Where we basically fixed a lot of URL but when doing so also a lot of wrong composers, titles, formatting etc. However the project was put aside due to maybe other projects, submission, Deku leaving (he started the project). So maybe we could merge the 2 projects together? The only thing we didn't do in the project was edit anything musically, wrong accidentals, time signatures etc. That project was supposed to be a quick one, fix the URLs and done... but it was somewhat abandoned.

Personally I was fixing formatting when I would fix URLs anyways but yeah sure I support this endeavor.

[Altissimo]

Looks like the same thing then. Guess I missed the thread :V but here let's use this as a starting point I guess

[JDMEK5]

Well it wasn't technically for formatting fixes before so it's not like this thread shouldn't be here. (Double negative basically means I support this topic's existence)

So pretend I didn't say anything at all and continue as you would have.

[Brawler4Ever]

I don't have a higher version of Finale, no. But as far as I can tell, there are only two things that can't be fixed up through my combination of Musecore and Notepad, and that's measure numbers and "Piano" markings. So we could have someone with higher Finale tackle those, for instance, and I or other Musescore/Notepad users could do ones that need BPM fixes, and people with just Notepad can see to the text formatting issues, for instance. Maybe I should color-code the sheets that need fixing based on what fixing they need...

From prior experience, I can say that asking somebody else to make a large number of changes is, at best, an uphill battle. The way I see it, we have 3 options:

A) Notepad users update the sheets as well as they can, then pass them off to higher-level Finale users who can volunteer to make the rest of the necessary changes.
B) Somebody upgrades to a higher version of Finale so that they can complete Step A.
C) We submit sheets that only feature Notepad-exclusive updates to them.

These options are given from best to worst case scenario. This project cannot be fully accomplished unless somebody is able to make the rest of the necessary changes that a Notepad user cannot make. Do we have anybody, so far, that is able to make the changes to these songs?

[Altissimo]

From prior experience, I can say that asking somebody else to make a large number of changes is, at best, an uphill battle. The way I see it, we have 3 options:

A) Notepad users update the sheets as well as they can, then pass them off to higher-level Finale users who can volunteer to make the rest of the necessary changes.
B) Somebody upgrades to a higher version of Finale so that they can complete Step A.
C) We submit sheets that only feature Notepad-exclusive updates to them.

These options are given from best to worst case scenario. This project cannot be fully accomplished unless somebody is able to make the rest of the necessary changes that a Notepad user cannot make. Do we have anybody, so far, that is able to make the changes to these songs?

As far as I can tell, the only options of those that require a program other than finale are: metronome marking, measure numbers, lack of additional "Piano" markings at left. The rest (dynamics, copyright/site URL, title, subtitle, composer, arranger) can be accomplished with Notepad. Most sheets don't need the metronome marking, measure numbers and "Piano" fixes. So yes, the majority of the sheets can be fixed by us Notepad lowlife alone and the rest can be handed to higher-Finale users.

[AwesomeYears]

Just a question, why do we do the North American release date and not the Japanese release date? (2013 Vs 2012)

[Olimar12345]

We actually do the earliest release date, regardless of region.

[Altissimo]

I didn't know anything about New Leaf so I just went with the more popular date (2013). In that case I suppose it should be swapped: every sheet that ISNT 2012 needs to be updated.