What's a good song arrangement?

[Coldfingaz]

Sure, it's almost different in every song, but surely there's a basic guideline that everyone follows?

[ariston]

is there room enough here for a book?

Some basic guidelines, even though someone is sure to post "anything goes" in a short while...

1. Focus on the most important voice in the arrangement and make it the center of your attention (usually the vocals, right?).
2. See that your instruments cover the entire frequency spectrum without too much overlap. This will facilitate mixing no end. I.e., don't use three wobble basses, two bass drums, and a bass drone.
3. Always ask yourself: is this (bass line/arp/lick/sound/etc.) REALLY necessary? Does it add anything to the arrangement? Does it add anything to the intention of the song, or does it distract from it?
4. Get some movement in there: changes in dynamics to reflect the song's flow and progress.
5. This is really not a must, but often arrangements really benefit from the inclusion of an unexpected sound - like inserting a kazoo or a fart noise into a delicate string quartet.

These are some very broad thoughts, but then you didn't mention whether you're talking about 70's era Miles Davis, Death Metal, or avant-electronica.

[uppercase]

is there room enough here for a book?

Some basic guidelines, even though someone is sure to post "anything goes" in a short while...

1. Focus on the most important voice in the arrangement and make it the center of your attention (usually the vocals, right?).
2. See that your instruments cover the entire frequency spectrum without too much overlap. This will facilitate mixing no end. I.e., don't use three wobble basses, two bass drums, and a bass drone.
3. Always ask yourself: is this (bass line/arp/lick/sound/etc.) REALLY necessary? Does it add anything to the arrangement? Does it add anything to the intention of the song, or does it distract from it?
4. Get some movement in there: changes in dynamics to reflect the song's flow and progress.
5. This is really not a must, but often arrangements really benefit from the inclusion of an unexpected sound - like inserting a kazoo or a fart noise into a delicate string quartet.

These are some very broad thoughts, but then you didn't mention whether you're talking about 70's era Miles Davis, Death Metal, or avant-electronica.

+1
Very well put

[Melkor]

Think of all the boring, meandering songs out there that have dubious arrangements .... What makes them so bland/crap/whatever ?

[Kim Lajoie]

Are you referring to 'arrangement' as a song's structure, or the composition surrounding a (pre-written) song?

If you're referring to structure, I suggest reading up here:

http://kimlajoie.wordpress.com/tag/structure/

This one in particular is one of my favourites:

http://kimlajoie.wordpress.com/2009/05/ ... ture-work/

If you're referring to composition in general, there are some good ideas here:

http://kimlajoie.wordpress.com/tag/composition/

-Kim.

[PlasticSoul]

Sure, it's almost different in every song, but surely there's a basic guideline that everyone follows?

If I have problems sequencing a track, I map the arrangement of a track I like in that genre.
Example: if I'm producing prog. house, I take a prog. house track and I add locators (ableton) all over the track, marking buildups, drops, instruments, etc.

So I follow that arrangement and adapt it to my own taste.

[cybertron]

Im actually struggling with an arragement at present myself, which has great potential and a good composition, its just not arranged at all. Some good advice here. Thanks all.

[tapper mike]

Give each of your instruments their own identity. To to that you need breathing room. Not every instrument needs to exist on the same beat.
Also build your beats in time. Don't have everything come crashing in at once and staying all the way through.

Most important listen to music with a critical ear. You should be able to hear and identify what is going on where. Such as why is the end of a progression when it moves to a new progression different then when it simply repeats.

[ugocapeto]

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I think that a lot of people struggle with arranging, i being the first.

Listening to a ton of tunes in all kinds of style (and that includes jazz and classical) can get you out of an arrangement block where you don't really know where your tune should go. It's kind of a make or break thing though but as with everything else, the more you do it the easier it gets.

and i like Kim's blog (http://kimlajoie.wordpress.com/)

[wrench45us]

when I break down a song arrangement that really works, I'm always a little surprised how much space there is. A lot of instrument parts only come in during certain sections and may only add a bit of color and they're gone again

The biggest problem I have with arrangemnet is piling everything on and when I remove a part for some space it sounds so empty, it seems better to leave everything in. That tends to clog the whole notion of development.
The real masters at this layer and unlayer and build with some dynamics

[finalfragment]

is there room enough here for a book?

Some basic guidelines, even though someone is sure to post "anything goes" in a short while...

1. Focus on the most important voice in the arrangement and make it the center of your atten[...]ust, but often arrangements really benefit from the inclusion of an unexpected sound - like inserting a kazoo or a fart noise into a delicate string quartet.

These are some very broad thoughts, but then you didn't mention whether you're talking about 70's era Miles Davis, Death Metal, or avant-electronica.

Very good point. One of my main mistakes is I put to much crap on my tracks, and suddenly, what was a good melody becomes a labyrinth of sound.

When it comes to the arrangement it very much depends on what kind of music your making. I make liquid dnb and that genre is usually very progressive without a lot of "normality" to the arrangement. I try to just follow what feels right.
I really like to make a song develop as I write it, and let it change by it self. By this I mean, I experiment until something feels right, and move on from there. I like music that isn't the usual 2:30 minute radio hit, but has room for surprises and variation.

[tapper mike]

This is a very old book, But it's the bedrock
http://www.amazon.com/Arranging-Techniq ... 082561130X

[jlocri]

It might not be very relevant to the style of music you create, but have you checked out the sonata form? If it was good enough for Mozart, it might be good enough for you.

It's a very good idea to

[pietrofracicone]

you're on right!!!!
cool!!!!!