Planning your Arrangement.........

Hi guys,
 
so I write a song at home using my guitar and I decide I want to record it......
 
so I do.
 
then I realise that I didn't give enough thought towards the instrumentation....
 
 I listen back to my song that includes xylophone, 5 pianos, a kazoo solo, and of course.....a car crash sound effect at the end. Its cringe-worthy but I've been working on it for a week and its too late to turn back and change anything now.
 
If only I'd planned more before beginning my project.....  but how am I arrange a song I've never heard?
 
Is it just a question of imagining what it should sound like? Should I use reference songs? How do you plan what you're going to record?
 
Ed.
 
 

you start off saying you wrote it... then conclude by asking how can you arrange a song you've never heard before........what?

You are the creator and producer.  Stick with your genre.... learn what you do best.

When you write a song maybe... don't rush to record it...play with it hear it in your head.... play it on guitar or piano....imagine the instrumentation that will bring out the beauty in the song.

I start with drums and bass... this is the backbone..... I lay down the drums first, then a scratch vox acoustic track... then I add bass, keys, and whatever else I think I need.  I advise keeping the instrumentation realistic.

Let me ask you.... who uses 5 keyboards in a song ( not counting Gary Wrght and Dreamweaver Band from the 80's) ? Nobody does..... even Gary didn't last long... a one hit wonder.  Who uses a kazoo?  And the other sound effects... well the Beatles were pioneers with experimental sounds..... but be cautious there.

Another thing..... since digital recording came to the masses, and studio time only costs the time invested in it..... it is never too late to delete a project and start again. Only a week invested.... chump change.... scrap it and start again if you have a better idea a week later.  Salvage a track if it makes you feel better, but don't be "married" to a project to the point that you can't let go.

So, redo it and don't feel bad or look back. I can't count all the projects I have dumped into the recycling bin that didn't turn out like I thought they would..... move on write the next tune and have another go at it.

Genré will help define the arrangement.  If you do rock, you figure drums, bass, rhythm guitar and vocals.  Each of those have a sonic space.  Maybe keys, too.  Things are already getting crowded.  Then there is/are the lead(s).  These go where the vocals aren't.

Singer/songwriter is harder if you are not genré specific, tho the above works for rock, pop and country.  A lot of the arrangement is playing the instruments, too.  If you are doing chuncky guitar bits, you probably want sustained keys.  If the bass is going wild, you don't need 4 on the floor kicks and the guitar needs to sustain.

Once you learn to write w/in the rules, then you can learn to break them.  But it takes a lot of time, a lot of listening and a little theory.

@

If only I'd planned more before beginning my project..... but how am I arrange a song I've never heard? Is it just a question of imagining what it should sound like? Should I use reference songs? How do you plan what you're going to record?

I dont think its planning. I start with a guitar riff and a few ideas in my head and then the song just evolves into its own.
 
You should never use another song as a reference. Thats a very very bad idea. Use your imagination. Using another song as a reference will ruin your imagination and insight. The song comes from within you. It doesn't come form another song that someone wrote.
Cj
 

greekmac7


Hi guys,
 
so I write a song at home using my guitar and I decide I want to record it......
 
so I do.
 
then I realise that I didn't give enough thought towards the instrumentation....
 
 I listen back to my song that includes xylophone, 5 pianos, a kazoo solo, and of course.....a car crash sound effect at the end. Its cringe-worthy but I've been working on it for a week and its too late to turn back and change anything now.
 
If only I'd planned more before beginning my project.....  but how am I arrange a song I've never heard?
 
Is it just a question of imagining what it should sound like? Should I use reference songs? How do you plan what you're going to record?
 
Ed.
 
 

This I don't understand. Isn't the whole point of having recording facilities at home to have the ability to change whatever you like, whenever you like? There are no time constraints, no budget, and a week is no time at all to spend on a song. If you don't like it, change it!

I don't agree with CJ either, if you're shooting for a particular sound/genre, what's the harm in listening to tracks that are similar in feel? We get our musical inspiration from what we hear, not from a vacuum.

You should probably cut one of the pianos out.

It depends on what you are going for, genre-wise.

If I am doing a rock song, then guitar riffs have to come first. But maybe what gets that started is a great drum loop.

If it is funk, then the bass line is everything.

If it is jazz, I always start with a good jazz beat on a appropriate sounding kit.

If it is techno, it is a sound that I find interesting, and then go from there.

Vocals and words usually come together at some point.

I need at least a jumping off point at some juncture to begin arrangements. But then again, a lot of that is dependent on the genre.

Like CJ, I find that the song evolves during the recording process. It's not that unusual to have to go back and change the arrangement several times before I'm satisfied. on the other hand, sometimes it goes just like I planned, and I don't have to alter anything. No two songs are the same.

I rarely hear anything in my mind but the piano part to begin with...cause that's all I play.  Everything else just piles in wherever it seems right.  Only one time did I actually arrange a song with a sort of echo between the piano and sax and wrote it that way.  I imagine I could/should do that more often, but haven't yet. 

I never record anything that I cannot hear in my head with full arrangements.

greekmac7


[snip]
And, HairyJamie I'll look into that book since the mixing and mastering books I've read have been worth their weight in gold. 
 

No worries - I've just noticed that you're in England, you can get the books really cheaply from the Amazon.co.uk site.
 
The same author has a whole range generally targeted at guitarists.