how you arrange your song after you compose

[nefastriti]

I would like you to give me some ideas how to arrange a song after I compose.
I write my songs, I play them in my guitar but then what? I would like to be able to arrange them in cubase(I 've tried) but i have no idea what the bass or the drums or the piano should play.I 've tried many times to be with a band but I 'm so unlucky, we play for a while and then for various reasons (jobs, lessons, arguments) they break up!
So I want to be able to do arrangements on my own! Please advise me! Thank you
nefastriti :confused:

[rockonn91]

okay once you get the guitar part, you just need to work with how it sounds. a major part is just by ear.

for piano, you can play the same chords as the guitar but in different transpositions. you can also do some harmonizing on the piano too... its a very versitile instrument for rythems.

for bass, you just play the single note root of the chords. thats the easiest way.

drums (not my thing) just find a beat and stick with it i guess. haha

just think about what sounds good. if it doesnt sound right together, something went wrong and you should figure it out.


and theres nothing wrong with a one man band! ive had a one man project for a long time now. :p

[magicninja]

Start with a solid rythm section. Drums, Bass, Rythm guitars, keyboards, Vocals, Lead guitar. The drums and bass need to be your foundation even if you've already worked out the guitar parts. ;)

[pure]

dude go find backing tracks and play guitar over them! thats what i do and its very impressive.

[magicninja]

I believe he's talking about creating his own originol music.

[pure]

oo my bad. then if he's trying to make his own than the advice about making bass and drums first is the best cause it similar to how i choose a backing track before i make a song.

[Mr.Guitar!]

First(i think it's really important)- try to create a backing track without guitar, creating drum beat only bdrum, hi-hat % snare(like tum-tak, tum-tak), then takeing the bass part - we need garmony-bu/ b- du- du- du, bum bu du du - like this :D ...and when you finised- take guitar and get groove!

[tehplatypus]

the first and most important part is setting up a click and finding the tempo. doing this makes the entire process a lot easier.

[Superhuman]

This is what I do every time without fail for composing and arranging (which I do at the same time):

1) Create a collection of riffs that flow well from one to the other
2) Set the correct bpm (tempo)
3) Record the most basic core riffs to a click
4) Work out a basic midi beat that suits the riffs
5) Re-record all riffs to the new beat as it has an impact on inflections and can alter things slightly
5) Then I set about working on the first section without any thought for what is to come after it... I find that by doing this I can create more easily as it is much easier to work into a blank canvas than a predetermined structure
6) Once the basic rhythm riff is in place, I record it again and pan to each side
7) Then record the same riff again but on one string (instead of power chords) and use plenty of vibrato and harmonic pinches
8) Record a harmony to the riff up higher on the fretboard, perhaps using some notes that would create a chord. Multi track recording for rhythms makes things sound a lot more impressive and full.
9) I record the bass-line last because I am a guitarist and I don't want the bass to sound just like the guitar. So rather than be lead by the riffs, I look at it after all guitars are done and play along to the drum beat with the riffs in mind. Another benefit of doing it after the guitar parts is that you may have new ideas for counterparts or harmonies that could sound great on the bass but not so good on the guitar.
10) Now get the collection of riffs (each recorded onto a separate track on Cubase) and arrange them (using copy and paste with the 'snap' to 'beat' or 'bar' function)
11) You can experiment to see what sound is best introduced where (eg, beats first, then bass, then guitars or guitars, then everything, or even everything at the same time etc). The more experimentation you do, the better ideas you will come up with.
12) Export to MP3, burn to cd and drive/sit/walk around for a few days listening to it non-stop. Doing this gives you the opportunity to critique what you've done without going too far into the song. But more importantly it allows you to imagine what would sound good next and what melodies/harmonies.lead parts would sound good over what you've done so far. Just imagine the parts in your head, hum it aloud or sing it, if you can write music, jot it down, or if you are out and have an amazing idea, call your cell phone and hum the idea onto your voice-mail. It feels a little weird at first but it saves you from losing ideas. Some players like Marty Friedman carry a little tape recorder with them everywhere and sing ideas into it.
13) Now the real fun start;-) Just work out the ideas (leads, melodies etc) you've come up with in the same fashion as above (changing and re-recording previous parts to match the entire composition as you go along).
14) The last thing I do is the final drum track. It's tedious, boring and very difficult but you can use the original beat as a guide. Try making a recording of everything with the drum track muted out. Again, put it in your car or walkman or whatever, don't listen to any other music for a few days and just imagine what would sound good over it. Try tapping the beat out a few times, it gives you a better idea of which drums to use where and helps to create better grooves.
15) That's it... if you can, export as 44100 x 24 bit and make sure that all tracks you record are wav files in the above format - no MP3 files!!!
16) Last bit of advice, use the volume control and pan function as often as you can, it makes things easier to hear in the mix. Just experiment until you get something you like.
This is the way I do things, other people do it different ways. Hope. this helps
As you can see, I am having a quiet day at work!!

NOTE: I forgot to mention, when you record any part make sure that you give yourself at least 1 bar of an intro after the click. Recording straight after the click will result in a wav file that sounds unnatural (starts too abruptly). You can always edit the file later to remove any unnecessary silences. This also apples to ending wavs, leave a few seconds of silence after each riff and edit later.

[rockonn91]

hey superhuman, in regards to tip 15...why do you do it as a .wav for the final? is it higher quality? i know that its a bigger file size.

[Superhuman]

hey superhuman, in regards to tip 15...why do you do it as a .wav for the final? is it higher quality? i know that its a bigger file size.

MP3 format is quite destructive to audio recordings, you end up losing a lot of resolution and depth. It's always best to record everything in wav format on at least 44100 x 24 bit, if your soundcard can handle 96 bit all the better but file sizes start to become a problem (can impact cpu performance on regular systems). Bouncing a mix down to MP3 for listening to is fine but you should never record tracks in MP3 unless it's only a rough mix. Also, wav format is a lot easier to manipulate (editing/effects etc).

[nefastriti]

:p Ok, your advices were great and i thank you too much! I also would like to say that I'm not a "dude " I'm a "she", a "one woman band " from Greece!
Now, another problem: when i tried to write audio tracks in cubase, (I wrote the guitar and then the vocals) they didn't have the same tempo! I don't know how the program works , i 'm trying to figure it out on my own. Does anyone knows some easy steps to cubase? if you want you can also e-mail
NOSPAMnefastriti@yahooDOTcomNOSPAM Please please Help! :confused:

[rockonn91]

hmm, i used to have similar problems with the program i used. then i forgot what i did, but i havnt had the problem since. haha

welll, if you record the different tracks at the very beginning, just press the skip to beginning button or whatnot. that should line it up. you can also move the second track a bit to line up with the first.


i bet these other recording giants can help you much better than i. :p