My way of thinking about arranging is that its similar to putting together a puzzle. Unfortunately just like a puzzle, the more pieces you have the more difficult it becomes. The main things to worry about are
- Timbre
- Rhythmic clarity
- Harmonic clarity
- Overall effect
Timbre- The overall tone of the song and instruments. Some instruments sound really good together and others don't. Of course this is mostly subjective, but there are some cases where 1 instrument can completely mask another. For example I once tried to double a lead guitar part with a synth playing a sine wave. The sine was was pretty much inaudible unless I turned it up to ridiculous levels.
Rhythmic clarity- Everyone loves a good groove and there are tons of songs(particularly funk) that have almost every instrument playing a different rhythm. However if not done properly the groove falls apart and in the worst case scenarios it sounds like the players are making mistakes.
Harmonic/Frequency clarity- This relates to how a chord is played. Of course the notes of the chord are important, but equally important is what octave they are played in relation to the other notes. If proper care isn't taken, muddiness or seemingly wrong notes will pop up. Also if you have too many instruments playing in the same frequency range harmonic masking can occur. This can happen with things like 7 string guitars and basses, pianos and basses, pianos and guitars, 2 guitars, etc. Having too many instruments in the same range will cause a song to sound muddy and can obscure the instruments. Whats the point of writing/playing a part of listeners can't hear it.
Overall effect- The whole point of writing music is to express yourself and bring about feelings in the listeners. Many people think of arranging in a purely technical way, but arranging can be just as creative as song writing. There is some tried and true tools/tricks that bring about the emotions in listeners and these can make those tired old chord progressions, beats, melodies, etc come to life. Arranging can be used to add musicality to songs that otherwise would be stale and a bit boring.
Anyway, in the future I'll try to explore all of these in greater detail. Until then check out some of my songs and arrangements on the side of this page or at productiontrax. Leave me some comments below.
Part 2 - Timbre
Part 3 - Rhythmic clarity
Part 4 - Harmonic clarity
Part 5 - Seeing the big picture
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