When you arrange music, you adapt it for performance by a chosen set of voices or instruments. The art of arranging is choosing those voices/instruments and laying out how they will work together to create a chosen effect.
Every artist has an artistic goal for a piece of music. I recommend you focus your musical goals and create an arrangement plan in your pre-production meeting (see “Why should I have a pre-production Meeting?”). Talk to your producer about what you want to do with your music and who you want to reach with it.
Keep in mind that we live in an instant gratification society. You only have a matter of seconds to grab your listeners’ attention, and your goal is to hold their attention through your entire song or album. At My Soundsmith, I use creative music technology and a mass communications background to reach each artist’s audience with their message. I would consider it applied audio sciences if it wasn’t so much fun!
Music is considered a fine art, and regardless of the style: rap, rock, pop, country, classical, etc., it should reflect your heart and desire as the creator. I often hear my clients say, “This is exactly how I heard it in my head” when I finish arranging a song. That is the ultimate flattery for an arranger: knowing that I helped you create your art in a style that suits you for an audience that you want.
If you are making your music arrangement decisions yourself, I suggest you define your listening audience and look at successful songs in your style or genre. What about the songs you like makes you like them? How can you apply the things you like in your favorite songs to yours? Does your song get boring and repetitive over time or does it flow nicely in an audio journey your listener takes? Arranging can make a great song a great deal more. Contact us to see how we can arrange your success!