I had a question about arranging first. And that question is, after a songwriter lays down the basic foundation of the song, which is the main melody and chords, maybe lyrics. Would arrangement be the next step? And what would be considered arranging. The reason why I ask this question is because of the misinformation that is produced to the masses, threw places like youtube, answers.com, etc. so I come to you guys to here some knowledgeable truth.
Orchestration and arranging
- Thread starter Micro79
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rhythmgj
Character in Spades...
Technically, "arranging" is (or includes) note-upon-note composition for harmony (as in "Ah, this chord voiced this way will sound great right here, and I'll use these instruments to play it"), but in actual fact, most of us call the process of choosing a genre, creating a rhythm-section part, and mapping-out the basic harmony and song structure "arranging." "Orchestration" is arranging for orchestra, which by it's very nature, the variance in available note-range of instruments, and their unique timbres, is a bit more complicated. Often, especially in the Hollywood underscore scene, an arranger/orchestrator will do exactly as you describe and take a composers bare-bones skeleton lead sheets of their compositions and create a piece with section parts for full orchestra. Tis obviously requires a working knowledge of all of the orchestral instruments and their peculiarities.
To get the basics of arranging, the simple "choose a style, add a groove, and add specific instrumental parts" type, there is a great little book that used to be available from Billboard Books called "Rock Arranging": The Billboard Book of Rock Arranging: Mark Michaels: 9780823075379: Amazon.com: Books . Check it out if you can.
GJ
To get the basics of arranging, the simple "choose a style, add a groove, and add specific instrumental parts" type, there is a great little book that used to be available from Billboard Books called "Rock Arranging": The Billboard Book of Rock Arranging: Mark Michaels: 9780823075379: Amazon.com: Books . Check it out if you can.
GJ
Milo Burke
New member
If someone wants to adopt a known song for a choir, one person wears the arranger's hat and officially gets credit for it. There are people who make a living doing this: arranging music for a genre it wasn't intended to be.
In the rock sense, often most of the arrangement happens by the band: partially as the song is written, and partially as each musician learns how they fit into it as they rehearse. Though during recording, I'm sure the producer has tweaks: perhaps harmony vocals are added, perhaps the drums don't come in until after the first chorus, etc.
For pop, often most of the arrangement is up to the producer (unless he hires an arranger) once he/she starts working with the artist. There is a song, perhaps because the producer hired songwriters on behalf of the artist, and decisions need to be made to know what instruments it consists of.
For electronic music, the arrangement is usually embedded into songwriting and sound design. Each song is a living experiment, and I imagine most electronic artists don't know where a song will take them until it's done.
I suppose an analogy of photographers and painters could fit. Rock is like a photographer who captures whatever is in his environment. Pop is like a photographer who adds and removes things to his environment to take a better picture. And electronic music production is like a painter starting on a blank canvas: he might know where he's going when he starts; he often might just try something to see if it develops into something bigger, and he probably throws away a lot of drafts that didn't turn out as intended.
In the rock sense, often most of the arrangement happens by the band: partially as the song is written, and partially as each musician learns how they fit into it as they rehearse. Though during recording, I'm sure the producer has tweaks: perhaps harmony vocals are added, perhaps the drums don't come in until after the first chorus, etc.
For pop, often most of the arrangement is up to the producer (unless he hires an arranger) once he/she starts working with the artist. There is a song, perhaps because the producer hired songwriters on behalf of the artist, and decisions need to be made to know what instruments it consists of.
For electronic music, the arrangement is usually embedded into songwriting and sound design. Each song is a living experiment, and I imagine most electronic artists don't know where a song will take them until it's done.
I suppose an analogy of photographers and painters could fit. Rock is like a photographer who captures whatever is in his environment. Pop is like a photographer who adds and removes things to his environment to take a better picture. And electronic music production is like a painter starting on a blank canvas: he might know where he's going when he starts; he often might just try something to see if it develops into something bigger, and he probably throws away a lot of drafts that didn't turn out as intended.
HolisticSongwriting
Writing/Producing Coach
Hey Micro79,
The above comments were more on the songwriting/arranging side, so I'll recommend 2 orchestration books:
- Samuel Adler's Orchestration is the most famous, but not my favorite. It comes with tons of examples, but it's a TON of work to go through.
- My favorite is Orchestration by Forsyth - little old but well-explained. If you're into film music, this is your book!
If you're interested in how to arrange for songs, I also describe a simple, commercial approach in my book "The Addiction Formula".
Hope this helps
The above comments were more on the songwriting/arranging side, so I'll recommend 2 orchestration books:
- Samuel Adler's Orchestration is the most famous, but not my favorite. It comes with tons of examples, but it's a TON of work to go through.
- My favorite is Orchestration by Forsyth - little old but well-explained. If you're into film music, this is your book!
If you're interested in how to arrange for songs, I also describe a simple, commercial approach in my book "The Addiction Formula".
Hope this helps