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Arrangement - Part 2

Hello and welcome to this part two lecture where we're going to continue arranging this song. So previously, we went through and created a chorus, a verse and a pre chorus. Now we're going to have a second verse and another chorus and then actually a bridge or a breakdown and then finish with a chorus and an outright. So a lot of popular songs will start kind of with this formula. There are of course variations, but a typical one will be a verse chorus, verse chorus, bridge chorus. I've added a couple of variations with a pre chorus and starting the song off with a chorus. But ranging is really about taking your listener on a journey. They want to be listening to your music and feel like they're on a journey with you. So you don't want stuff to be too formulaic or too repetitive. You want a listener to feel an experience when they hear your music. And also remember that arranging is important and can take a very long time. Obviously, I'm doing this quite fast just for this tutorial. Bu...

t at home when you're arranging your music, take your time, don't rush things and if something doesn't quite seem right, go back and keep on going until you think it's the best it can be. So, let's continue. Now, we're going to have another verse. So this first verse started off building up this time, we're gonna continue with the drums built up because we've built up all this momentum into the chorus. I want to keep this momentum there. And when we get to the breakdown, we're gonna bring it all the way down and strip it right back. But also for the next verse and the chorus, we're going to keep that momentum there. So when the bridge comes, it'll be even more impactful. We break it all down and then the second chorus, we're going to add even more elements to the drum beats. So I could copy over the drum beat from the verse. But if you remember the chorus had the high tom drums as well and I wanna keep that going. I wanna keep this momentum here. So let's just continue this loop over for now. And we're also going to make the next verse shorter. So you can see here, we have three of these blocks. Each one has four bars. The first verse is 12 bars long. The second verse, I wanna have it shorter. I'm gonna have this eight bars. So it's just two of these blocks. So I'm actually going to copy over the base part and the chords from the first verse and trim these loops to eight parts. I'm not going to have the lead part for the verse. We will have vocals though for the verses eventually. OK. And then I'm going to have the second chorus. So let's copy this over and then I'm going to trim this drum loop to size. But this time we want something different. We want this to build, like I said before, we want the momentum to continue. So I'm actually going to add a new element on the second verse and then on the second chorus, we're going to add another element as well. So I'm actually going to add another instrument onto the second verse. This time, we're going to add some strings. We're not going to have it playing exactly the same as the piano chords, but we will have something very similar. So I'm just going to add some string sounds now. So I've decided to add cellos this way. It's not too low. It's not going to clash with the bass sound, but it's not going to be too high that it will clash with the vocal melody that we're going to add later on. So for now, I'm just going to copy over the information from the piano chords and then just go into these and change them slightly. OK. So I've opened up this midi information and you can see here that there's only two notes that actually change, the other notes are the same. So I'm going to delete these, just have two notes that are changing. Otherwise we're just going to be bulking up the call for the sake of it. I just want a small bit of movement. So let's hear this cello part in the mix. OK. So the chords don't change. It's just the last two chords. But that doesn't mean we can't have the cello part changing. So going back to the notes, the last two chords were a minor and an F. So let's have a look at some of the chords from a minor and f and change this cello part. So make this cello part, four bars long, even though it's just a two bar loop. So if you remember it was an AM and an F and I want this to gradually go up and then go down. So create kind of a pyramid pattern of going up and then down. But we don't want it to move too much. We want a nice gradual string sound. If it's too much, if it jumps too much, it will stand out in the mix. We want this string sound to really blend in with the song. So remember a minor and then f, so let's actually move this F to an A minor. Then we go down to an F. So we're getting some movement with the strings now. So we've got this two chord loop, but the strings is now a four bar loop. Let's hear this we can even continue this and make the string part an eight bar loop. So we've got different notes going on over this two bar loop. So remember it's just the same chords as before a minor and f, so let's add other notes that fit in a minor and f so I'm gonna continue this kind of pyramid shape, but change some of the notes, we have a similar shape. So the listener doesn't feel like it's changing too much, but the notes are still changing to make it sound a bit interesting. And then a minor, we can play an E which is the fifth of the chord, a minor 12345 and F, we can play F which is a root of the first note of the F major triad. OK. Let's continue the shape. So we're going to go up and then down again. So let's continue this shape. Let's have an A which is the root of the chord A minor. Remember we're just looping the last two chords, a minor and F and then the last one, we're gonna keep this a minor going. In fact, I'm just going to delete this note and drag over the last one. So it sounds like the string player is just continually holding that note. Remember that A is the major third of the F. So if we count five from the F 12345, look at this. A, so this note will fit on both of these. So the first time we hear this note, it will be the root note of the chord. So it'll be the first note of the a minor chord. And the second time, even though it's the same note, it would give a different feeling because the chord behind it changes the chord changes to an F major and we're playing the major third of the note, even though it's the same note, it will sound different. So now let's have a listen to this eight bar cello phrase against this two bar loop. And then the second chorus enters. So what I want to do now is continue using this cello part, but we can change the notes even further because the chorus has four chords and the verse has two chords. So we're going to copy over this cello part to the chorus. Now we're going to adjust these notes to make sure they fit with the chords of the chorus. So going back to our notes here, we have ac and the first note is an E and the E is the third or the major third of C. Next one, it's this note here which is an F OK. The next call is a G. We don't really want the F that's not in the triad. The triad for G is a G A major third. Remember count at 512345 A B and then the fifth, which is the D. So let's move this up to a G. Now it fits next one is the A minor. This is an A which is the first note of the chord. And then going down, we have the F which will fit because it's FFC cord. OK. Going along the loop continues, we have an E. So in ce fits the E is the major 3rd 12345, the major third going along, we have the next note which is an F. So having a look, we have G so that doesn't fit as well. Let's move this to G again. Then we have this note here which is an A which fits in both a minor. And remember F because A is the major third of the F. Now we've slightly adapted this shallow part to fit over the chorus as well. Let's just change the color of this because we have changed the part slightly. OK? One more thing I'm going to add to the chorus just to build it up even more. So when the breakdown happens, when the bridge happens, we can really strip it back and that is to actually add some more percussion elements. So let's go back to the drums. So we're gonna add another element here. This time, I'm going to add a ride Cymbal. It's going to be very subtle. People may not hear this ride symbol but they might be able to hear that there's a bit more movement in this chorus. So every eighth note, so two per beat, I'm gonna have a ride symbol. So let's just copy it over this ride symbol. So every eighth we can hear a ride and this will just add a little bit more movement for this chorus. I'm just going to color this again, slightly different because it is a different part. Now, let's hear the second verse going into this. OK. Great. So we have a bit more movement in this second chorus and now we're gonna break it all down. We're gonna have the breakdown or bridge and then we're gonna gradually build up to a final chorus. So we're actually just going to have one chord to start with. I'm just going to use the last cord and just repeat that. Keep it ever so simple. So I'm just going to turn off a loop for this and drag this back to just the last chord. And then we're going to make a loop of just the last chord and build this up. And also we're just going to add a kick drum. So if we go back to the drums, I'm just going to take this part here and I'm just going to have a kick drum. So let's go into the drums and I'm just going to mute all these other sections because I can always go back and add them later on. So I do like muting. OK. So now we just have a kick drum and the last chord of a lute playing. Let's now hear this back. OK. So now I'm actually going to add a new instrument. We're going to add a new instrument into this mix and that is going to be an Arpege synth. So we're going to have a synth playing the notes of the chord to gradually add some movement. So let's add a synth instrument and this time we're going to add more of a synth pluck sound. OK. So here we have a synthesizer sound. So I'm just going to drag over this cord and add an Ar por. So I'm just going to loop this for now to find the right Arpege settings. So most D Aws will have an Ar pu you can manually type in the midi notes but using an Ar Pu is just much simpler. I like this one here, 16th notes, but we're not going to start with this. We want to build it up. So the first part isn't going to have this Ar Pated Symp sound, but we're going to add this Arpege sound after a bar and the bar after this as well. We're going to add the bass. So let's just copy over the bass. Turn off this loop, then just use last cord and loop this again. I'm actually going to change the color of this section as well. Just so I can quickly tell it's the bridge. OK. Let's have a listen to this now and then I'm going to add the string part. So I'm actually just going to add that one note that a note on the string cos if you remember the last part of the chorus was just that a note which fits on this last chord, which is a F major because the A and F major is the major third. So let's just open up the information here. You can see here, there's a, is the major third of F 12345. There you go. So let's trim this and just use this last note. So we're gonna add the string part as well. So you notice we're just gradually building up, we start off with the piano playing the last chord with the kick drum. Then we have the ar pated synth sound, then we have the bass, then we have the cello sounds and then after this, I'm gonna build up the drums even further. So we're going to loop all this as well. And then after this, I'm gonna build up the drums even further. So let's actually copy over these drums. Then we're going to add the snare and the clap just to build this up even further. I'm not going to have this last clap here. I'm just going to have the claps and the snare on beats two and beats four. OK. So I've actually gone through and I've trimmed this bridge section. That. I'm going to copy the chorus over from before, but I'm actually going to make it twice as long and we're going to have a longer chorus here. However, we're also going to have this Arpeggio going. So I'm going to copy over the Quartz to the R Educated Synth. I do want to add one more thing. The last chorus here just to make it stand out from before. And what I'm going to add here is actually an octave for the cellos. So we had the cello notes from before. So I'm actually going to copy this up on octaves. So the first note here is an E, so I'm just going to copy this up and add another E just to make it sound a bit fuller. And I'm just going to turn this string part down slightly. And now let's have a listen to the song. There's only one more thing we really need to add after this. And this is an outre. But for now, let's have a listen to this middle eight section, the bridge and then the last double chorus at the end. Ok, great. I'm just going to add an outro, but before I do that, I'm just going to turn everything down a little bit because we're getting a little bit hot on the output. So whatever digital audio workstation you're working with, you don't want to exceed zero DB, you don't want to clip or you can ruin the song. So an easy way to do that is just to turn everything down a little bit. You can always turn your output monitors or your headphones up later on. Ok. Great. And I'm just going to add the outro and for the outro, I'm just going to have the chords from the verse, just these piano chords and that's it just once free, just these two chords at the end and that's it. So when you hear the reverb tales, so when you hear that Cymbals finish, or when you hear the reverb from certain instruments, you'll be able to hear these chords play as well. Just a nice way to finish the song. I'm actually just going to finish on this third chord here. The reason I did that is if you look at the third chord, it's actually an A minor. This doesn't actually resolve. This leaves us with a bit of a question at the end. If you really want to r to resolve, we can finish on the c so we want more of a standard pop song, we can finish on the C. If we don't want it to resolve, we can have it on the A minus. It sounds like an unanswered question. Just for this example, I'm just going to get the C and the A minor. Let's start with the A minor. The question unanswered sounds a bit moodier. Sounds unanswered. Now, let's finish on the sea. There we go. The question answered. It really depends what you want. Do you want the question that's answered to resolve? Or you want an unanswered question? I personally prefer the unanswered question to make it a bit mysterious at the end. It really depends on what you want. Ok. There we go. We've arranged a song. We start off with half a chorus. Then we have a verse, then we have a pre chorus, then we have the main chorus, one verse two, chorus, two, bridge or breakdown. And then this big double chorus at the ends and an outro.