Arrangement

steevio · Post by **steevio** » Fri Aug 29, 2008 7:25 pm

i dont do arrangements, for some reason for me it doesnt work. whenever i try to arrange anything it always sounds contrived to my ears.
i just start the machines and jam. i just feel where its got to go next.
i'm with the follow-your-nose skool

::BLM:: · Post by **::BLM::** » Sat Aug 30, 2008 2:00 am

steevio wrote:i dont do arrangements, for some reason for me it doesnt work. whenever i try to arrange anything it always sounds contrived to my ears.
i just start the machines and jam. i just feel where its got to go next.
i'm with the follow-your-nose skool

Yeah man I'm exactly the same. Everything is done live. I normally just open something like Soundforge, set record then just jam.

coldfuture · Post by **coldfuture** » Sat Aug 30, 2008 2:01 am

Im in both camps I guess. I am defo with Steevio on the jam yer way out of a tight spot. I do that almost alway to get an idea. I will often employ both methods when doing a track. I will jam the boxes along with placed items in the Logic timeline. A lot of times I will go back for a final edit and nose my way thru some extra time if I want the groove to carry longer or something like that.

I am getting interested in live performance, so likely the jamming aspect will increase a butt-load once I dive in more.

steevio · Post by **steevio** » Sun Aug 31, 2008 4:49 pm

i sometimes do arrangements in editing if i've got some really interesting live stuff that isnt totally flowing or theres too many mistakes, but i like whats happening enough to make a tune out of the good bits.
thats fun for me.
pre-meditated arranging dosent mix too well with live jamming, i cant relax and get into it, because i already know whats going to happen, theres no natural flow.

oblioblioblio · Post by **oblioblioblio** » Sun Aug 31, 2008 9:43 pm

it's a strange one really.

i guess for everyone it comes down to finding a personal balance.

guys like Brian Wilson made absolute magic from premeditating arrangements whereas others sing best in the moment.

I'm not sure how possible it is to be 100% 'in the moment', as there are always things that need to be 'hard wired', and with the advance of technology the options which we have available are limitless.

For me, it's best not to think about it too much. If I put my effort into following my nose the necessary things kinda work themselves out. Like whther I sequence in the moment, or whther I have certain sequences pre written but can modify them slightly in the moment. Or whther I have effects chains attached to certain instruments or whther I can change the routing live.

victorgonzales · Post by **victorgonzales** » Mon Sep 01, 2008 9:44 am

I think the best arrangements are formed when your not thinking about how your going to sell a track but what the track naturally wants to do.

Dont know if that makes sense but sometimes Ill have a track that just wants to breakdown forever and most people will hate it but thoe that like it absolutely love it. And if i woulda cut the tracks break to make it better for others it woulda just been mediocre for everyone rather than awesome for a few.

Let the song go where it goes and forget about arrabngement rules. Forced tracks dont make people get goosebumps.

steevio · Post by **steevio** » Mon Sep 01, 2008 11:13 am

oblioblioblio wrote:
I'm not sure how possible it is to be 100% 'in the moment', as there are always things that need to be 'hard wired', and with the advance of technology the options which we have available are limitless.

it cant be 100% in the moment or it wouldnt be techno.
although sequencing is a form of arrangement, it's more like roughing out an idea, getting some notes which work together, what i think of as arrangement, is the time line of the tune, and how all the bits fit together, for me that part can be 100% in the moment.

AVX23 · Post by **AVX23** » Mon Sep 01, 2008 5:26 pm

I think it depends on what you are doing.

For writing say a film score, or doing sound design for media for example - arrangement can be very important indeed, the whole act of arranging a composition is what will define how functional your work is.

For writing techno tracks, I'm with the follow your nose ethic, I'm a big fan of music which could as easilly be played live as released as a record, which in most cases means I tend to favour music which doesn't have big arrangements or isn't over edited and more drifts from one feeling into another or, sometimes retains one feeling or mood for the purpose of creating a temporary space for a DJ to remanipulate and merge with another.

For writing say IDM or similar, again - it's different, arrangement becomes pretty important again as a lot of this sort of music is based around interesting fills and lots of changes along with (going by my own tastes) strong lead melodies which require a lot of arrangement and structure to work.