How to tackle your next arrangement.
Arranging means thinking through how all of the instruments, voices, or elements of a piece fit together — ideally to create something greater than the sum of its parts.
It’s a tall task almost any time you sit down to compose or produce a track, so it’s helpful to be able to rely on tried and true methodologies for approaching this high-wire act of orchestration. Below are 5 lessons culled from Soundfly’s artist-led courses that provide actionable techniques and perspectives for tackling your next musical arrangement.
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Ian Chang: “Elements should be pushing or pulling against each other.”
Drummer, composer, and producer, Ian Chang is constantly exploring the outer boundaries of rhythm and sound design in his work. Here he walks us through the technique of rhythmic elasticity in arranging.
Kimbra: “The voice takes on a completely different character when its doubled.”
Kimbra is no stranger to using the voice for pretty much everything; here, she dives deep into the various techniques and tools that can turn anyone’s vocal range into an entire orchestra of instruments.
RJD2: “I look for something harmonically interesting that can propel a loop forward.”
RJD2’s work is a perpetual challenge. How do you arrange a track with vinyl samples when taking key, tempo, and sonic elements into account? His sage advice: build arrangements one step at a time…
Jlin: “With a transition, you can lose the flow, gain the flow, or establish the flow.”
In Jlin’s fast-paced, continually evolving electronic dance music, almost everything becomes a transition to the next idea. Watch her add transitions throughout a track to alter its pathway in real time.
Ian Temple: “Build options around your sync points — don’t break the moment.”
In this lesson from Intro to Scoring for Film & TV, we cover why sync points between cues and scenes are so important, and how to create alternate options that coalesce at just the right dramatic moment.
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