If something's letting down your pop tracks, it could be the arrangement rather than the song itself at fault. Derek Johnson & Debbie Poyser offer some advice on how to make sure your music gets the star treatment it deserves.
You don't need us to tell you how important arranging is. If a song is a bare room with plain walls, empty so that you can see its structure, the arrangement is the carpet on the floor, the pictures and hangings on the walls, the furniture that adds life and comfort to the room, enhancing its good points and disguising its weaknesses. Sometimes you're quite happy to sit on the floor in a bright empty room, but often you want to luxuriate in beautiful or stimulating surroundings.
Training in proper classical orchestration takes a long time and lots of formal instruction, but training to be a competent arranger of pop music requires only your ears, your brain, and a pile of your favourite records. Some of the ideas in this feature we picked up simply through careful listening to commercial recordings. The validity of this approach is proved by the fact that when we did some extra background reading and research we came across many of the same ideas in textbooks. In addition, as an educated listener, you probably know what works in a pop track: you may just need to identify your instinctive reactions and apply them to your own music.
Eric Turkel, at the start of his excellent book Arranging For Synthesists (available from the SOS Bookshop — see contact details on page 46), provides a set of guidelines for anyone about to begin on an arrangement. He suggests first becoming acquainted with a song's lyrical content, and understanding it if possible. If you haven't written the lyrics, this makes good sense, and even if you have written them you should consider what atmosphere is evoked by them. It's going to help you arrange the song if you have a feeling of its mood. Then get together a list of sounds and/or samples you might like to use for it, together with the sections of the song where you think they'll work. A list of off‑the‑cuff rhythmic and harmonic ideas can also give you some starting points. Then begin trying out the ideas, discarding all but the best ones. As Turkel observes, "Arranging is like assembling a jigsaw puzzle with more than one solution and too many pieces."
These arranging ideas, which inevitably also cross over into production, can't pretend to turn anyone into a fantastic arranger by themselves, obviously, and they're directed more towards actual songs than, say, dance instrumentals. But you can try them out right away, and they might get you thinking about why some things work in musical terms and some things don't.
Beginnings & Endings
How do you start your songs? Make an effort to think of a few different ways to introduce variety and grab the listener's attention right from the word go, especially if you're working on a whole album's worth of songs. For example:
- Fade a long instrumental intro in from nothing, so that the song begins as just a suspicion in the listener's mind and gains strength gradually. Check out 'This Is The Day' from The The's Soul Mining album for a good example of this tactic — a sparkly, haunting, music‑box synth part twinkles in from the far distance. You strain to hear this lovely sound and your delight only grows as it becomes more audible. By the time the song proper kicks in, you're hooked.
- A variant on the above idea is starting a song with ambient noise and bringing the instruments in over that. Air's 'La Femme d'Argent' uses a technique something like this, with rain as the ambient noise, and it works beautifully. (As a side note, there's really only one thing you can hum in this whole atmospheric instrumental, and that's the distinctive bass line, so Air make sure to bring that in right at the start — after all, it's their hook.) Using ambient sounds related to the subject of the song is a well‑used but potentially winning idea too: Kraftwerk's 'Autobahn', opening with car noises, is an example, as are Madonna's 'Swim' (from Ray Of Light), which starts with the sound of running water, and 'Good Morning Good Morning', by The Beatles, which starts with a cockerel crowing.
- A deliberately weird intro can work with the right kind of song: listen to Air's 'Le Voyage De Penelope' (from Moon Safari), which kicks off with thoroughly out‑of‑tune, heavily‑processed piano oddness, for one example. Erasure's 'Chorus', from the album of the same name, uses the weird noise intro — bloopy, bleepy, sci‑fi synth textures — to good effect. However, do not let this type of intro last too long! Boredom will set in very rapidly if you don't get going on the song.
• It may sound obvious but don't forget you can pile in immediately with a catchy riff. Kraftwerk, amongst many other examples, do a lot of this (just think of 'The Model' or 'Pocket Calculator'), as do Blondie for at least half the tracks on their huge classic 1978 Parallel Lines album. The advantage is that the track is stamped immediately with a strong identity and the listener's desire for something to happen is satisfied right away. Thundering in with a big, brash, hooky chorus, lyrically the simpler the better, is another time‑honoured trick.
So, once you've started well, how are you going to set about finishing? Give this some thought before the whole arrangement is done, otherwise you might find that all you can do is fall back on a fade. There are other possibilities: stopping dead is a well‑used one which can be very effective. Stopping the backing track dead and leaving a final vocal phrase a capella can also work. Sequencer users should be familiar with the idea of dropping out an instrument at a time until there's only one left. Alternatively, lose instruments in stages and then build them up again to a big finish. How about not finishing at all? Segue or crossfade into the next track! False endings, too, can be good for a laugh.
Less Is More
If you listen to a lot of good pop arrangements, it will soon become apparent to you that most of them don't contain huge numbers of parts. Five elements at one time — counting the drums as one — is generally the most you'll hear (sometimes six) and this rule seems to extend across style boundaries. Laying on more and more parts may be a waste of time, as there's only so much the brain can follow before the sound turns into a mush and the impact of the individual parts is lost. However...
- Five parts doesn't necessarily mean only five instruments: extra texture can be added through doubling parts, either straight or an octave up or down, with different timbres. Know why you're using doublings, though — for example, you might add a flute to an oboe part because it lends delicacy, lightness and accent to the deeper warmth of the oboe, without overpowering the oboe or the rest of the arrangement.
- If you are using a lot of instrumental parts, it's wise to keep the individual parts simple and create your effect through how they work together. Vince Clarke is a master when it comes to using several monophonic lines to create a complex polyphonic sound.
Vox Top
The arrangement and instrumentation of Madonna's Ray Of Light were an important part of William Orbit's inspired contribution to this hit album.
Good vocal ideas can make a decent track positively sparkle. Here are a few quick ones to try:
• How about bringing in BVs shortly ahead of the line they're meant to harmonise, so that the lead vocal is, perversely, actually an echo of the backing vocal line? Prince has used that one. Another Prince special, although it's not unique to him, is doubling a line with the same thing sung an octave higher or lower. (To twist this same idea for instrumental use, consider doubling a bass line with something high and tinkly, like a glockenspiel.)
- Apply different EQ, processing or effects treatments to the two halves of a vocal line, for a call‑and‑response feel. ABC's classic 'Poison Arrow' does this to good effect. ABC also alternate high falsetto vocal lines with lines sung an octave lower — listen to 'Tears Are Not Enough' from the Lexicon Of Love album. The feel is of a manic multiple personality holding an internal dialogue with other parts of himself.
- If you have a dramatic, important vocal phrase that you'd like to highlight, stop the whole backing track dead so that the phrase is completely a capella.
- Process just the backing vocal with a weird effect such as ring modulation or vocoding, leaving the lead au naturel. And/or pan the BV far left or far right to the lead vocal's central panning, so that the backing vocal comes in at the listener's ear like a sneaky aside or offstage comment — it's even better if this idea fits with the song's lyrics.
- Always give a lead vocal space. It's great to punctuate a vocal with instrumental parts — a bass line that takes off on little extemporised flourishes between vocal phrases, for example, sustains interest — but make sure that punctuation is what you're doing and that instrumental riffs and hooks don't fight with the vocal for the attention of the listener. Likewise, try to avoid using instrument parts in the backing track that are in the same register as the lead vocal.
Captain Hook
Vince Clarke of Erasure has been responsible for some memorable synth‑pop arrangements.
We all know the importance of a hook in a song — it's the vocal or instrumental bit you just can't forget. Lee Mavers of the La's, who wrote 'There She Goes', has the various hooks of this catchy little track to thank for his continuing royalty cheques from radio play, covers and ad campaigns worldwide. Be crafty with your hooks. For example:
- Use a hook in more than one way. It's a classic arranging technique to have the main vocal melody played by instruments too. To go way back in time, Frank Sinatra's 'In The Wee Small Hours Of The Morning', arranged by the legendary Nelson Riddle, opens with the vocal melody played by a delicate piano/celeste layer, it has a breakdown section which features the vocal melody, played on strings, and very little else, and a fragment of the melody is used again, once more on celeste, to finish the song. You'll never forget the tune after all that! (This track also yields another arranging hint: echoing the song's lyrics with the arrangement. When Frank sings the line "down to my shoes", the string line descends to match, reinforcing the lyrics subliminally.)
- As implied by the above, repetition is a good thing in pop music, even though many consider that a lot of current hit tracks take the principle to extremes! If you've created a good riff or clever part, making sure to use it at least two or three times will help create a feeling of continuity. However, if you want a track that doesn't become boring, repetition has to be balanced with novel ideas. When you listen back to your arrangement you should be asking yourself whether something new happens often enough to stimulate new interest, and also whether the best bits of the track are repeated sufficiently often for them to become lodged in the mind of the listener.
All Together Now...
Frank Sinatra's 'In The Wee Small Hours Of The Morning', arranged by the legendary Nelson Riddle, echoes the song lyrics with the arrangement. When Frank sings the line "down to my shoes", the string line descends to match, reinforcing the lyrics subliminally.
Choruses are very important. Indeed, some arrangers recommend working on arranging the chorus before you do anything else, because the other parts of the song should proceed from it. There are various things you can do to heighten the interest of choruses:
- An idea used well on the Dubstar track 'The Day I See You Again' (from the Disgraceful album) is to lay a new set of chords underneath a part that's already been repeated several times with its original chords. The effect is unsettling, adding tension and twisting the tune to show new aspects of itself, and once more helps to maintain listener interest.
• After a certain number of repetitions, even the most catchy of choruses can begin to pale. Well, a change is as good as a rest. Take a hint from Dubstar's 'Stars' (again, off Disgraceful) and move as far away from the established harmonic/melodic content of the song as you can, into a dissonant section. This creates a feeling of instability. Then return to your chorus, which now sounds even more poignant and tuneful, and somehow new again, as well as producing the return to stability that's a basic desire in the listener.
- On the same tack — varying choruses — turn the first half of a chorus into an instrumental, then bring the vocals back in for just the last few lines. This engenders a curious feeling of satisfaction in the listener. Another tip for listener satisfaction: observe the rules of tension and release when working on melodies, because these two opposites provide a lot of the power of a melody. Melodies that proceed upwards usually create tension, while a feeling of release is engendered when the tune descends from the tension point.
Listen & Learn
There's a lot to be learned from classical music. It's hard to pinpoint any one thing that you'll pick up from this source, but if you use a lot of samples of real instruments in your work (and even if you don't), listening to the work of a wide range of composers will provide plenty of ideas with regard to new textures and instrumental combinations. If you read music, see if your local library has any miniature scores available to loan. Have a score open while you're listening to a piece, and if you hear something you like — a texture, an arrangement of a particular chord, an instrumentation of a melody and accompaniment — copy out the bars that interest you, with a note of instruments used (but watch out for transposing instruments!). You now have a template that you can apply when arranging your own work. And if you don't read music, perhaps now is the time to learn; it'll be an invaluable facility. Check local colleges for courses.
If you'd like some instant insight into how a real orchestra works, and how the various instrumental groups interact, there are three classic text books: Principles of Orchestration by Nikolay Rimsky‑Korsakov, Orchestration by Walter Piston, and Orchestration by Cecil Forsyth. These are of most use if you read music, obviously. For those who don't (or don't read much), Eric Turkel's Arranging Techniques for Synthesists is an invaluable book, crammed with common‑sense ideas and tips, solid information gleaned from much experience. You'll get more from it if you read music, because he prints lots of examples to illustrate his points, but the text alone is enormously enlightening and written in a simple, engaging style.
The last thing to say is this: though you can certainly improve your arrangements by applying simple principles, rules are made to be broken, and frequently are!
More Strings To Your Bow
String arrangements will sound more varied and lively if you use the different registers wisely. Strings backing a chorus could begin in their lower registers and move up, to end in their highest. The Frank Sinatra track mentioned in the main part of the article does this for its chorus, as does ABC's 'The Look Of Love' and any number of other tracks. The effect is of 'lifting' the chorus and increasing its impact towards what should be a powerful ending. Speaking of strings, one of the oldest tricks in the book is using a single, high, sustained string note behind a chorus or wherever you need to create extra impact or energy. Another tip which will give your string arrangements more realism and integrity is creating string counter‑melodies which work on their own, in terms of melody, harmony and rhythm, rather than just playing the song's chords with a string sound whenever you want a string part. Also note that string parts sound most effective if they are able to sustain and fade out naturally when you want the part to end, so allow the time and space to allow this to happen.
Staying with background instruments for the moment, most modern synths come with a plentiful supply of pad voices of different kinds. Be careful which you choose if your main background sounds are pads. The sound chosen needs to be very interesting because there will probably be little going on in the pad part rhythmically. Using a tempo‑pulsing sound or a filter‑swept pad (often heard in contemporary synth‑based music) can provide movement and interest without distracting from the main action. Another idea to enliven a static pad is to arpeggiate whatever it's playing, possibly adding timed delays, if that fits with the feel of your track.