Anyone got arrangement thoughts?

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K-dub

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Toss it all behind

This one is VERY early in development, and I'm wondering if any arrangement thoughts occur as you listen along. That is: What might you add because you're hearing it in your head? There are no bad answers ...

Mix comments later, after everything is settled w/ the arrangement. It's REAL early for that part yet.

Thanks all!

Kev-
 
as long as u arent using that horn sound in your mix :D no nits about the arrange tho
 
So ... don't leave it just criticism w/o solution ...

What is your suggestion?

Elimination of horn doesn't tell me what to replace it with ... So, imagine it's not there. What is? I'm listening. :)
 
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I like the song a lot. I was thinking a marimba instead of the horn. It would fit the mood of your song very well I think. If you could get your hands on some violin players the outro could become really intense, now there's synth strings in there that don't do much. I'd try out some guitar arpeggios, should work well with the rhythm of the horn part. I'd also put the piano back in at some point. Always a good idea ;)
 
singlespeak said:
I like the song a lot. I was thinking a marimba instead of the horn. It would fit the mood of your song very well I think. If you could get your hands on some violin players the outro could become really intense, now there's synth strings in there that don't do much. I'd try out some guitar arpeggios, should work well with the rhythm of the horn part. I'd also put the piano back in at some point. Always a good idea ;)
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Excellent thoughts ... and I do have access to some excellent string players. Thanks!

Kev-
 
K-dub said:
So ... don't leave it just criticism w/o solution ...

What is your suggestion?

Elimination of horn doesn't tell me what to replace it with ... So, imagine it's not there. What is? I'm listening. :)
Click to expand...

Oh well IDK, I thought u just wanted comments on the arrangement, andI thought the arrangement was good. I figured you'd do real tracks later, the horns sounded too synthy, thats all. Real horns (or better samples at least) would be fine.
 
I think it's a pretty damn good arrangement as is.:cool:


I'd like to hear a nice, strumming acoustic guitar in the verses....Just playing the "one" of every bar.

Also, you might want to have the bass playing the same thing it's playing now, but an octave higher in the verses, it would make the chorus kik in more powerful.

The drums sound great while the side-stick is playing, but the snare is a little box-y.

You write very catchy, commercial songs. Well done.
 
This tune is from a forthcoming album that I'm doing w/ my longtime co-writer John McLaughlin. Almost all the material on the first three albums I published were written only by myself.

I started to work on another song that he and I had written together, and the thought occurred to me to do a whole collection of our co-written material. So I called John and said ... "Hey, I can think of about a half dozen songs that we wrote ... can you think of any more." John's father was one of those people who had total recall. John didn't fall far from the tree. He came back with about 40. We then both selected 20 of our personal choices, and where they intersected is what will be produced and released.

Good ideas for the arrangement, Rami. I'm not sure I hear exactly what you're saying about the rhythm guitar though ... should it be played straight w/ accent on the first beat?

Thanks!

Kev-
 
K-dub said:
Good ideas for the arrangement, Rami. I'm not sure I hear exactly what you're saying about the rhythm guitar though ... should it be played straight w/ accent on the first beat?
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I mean, just one strum on the first beat of each bar. Not quite an arpeggio, but not a staccato strum either. I hear it in my head, but I wish I could think of a tune with an example of what I'm talking about. I'm sure there are many.
 
What I can Imagine is replacing the strings with an organ and some oohs and aahs here and there, Kev.
Another very good song. :)
 
RAMI said:
I mean, just one strum on the first beat of each bar. Not quite an arpeggio, but not a staccato strum either. I hear it in my head, but I wish I could think of a tune with an example of what I'm talking about. I'm sure there are many.
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I may understand ... strum once on first beat and let ring like a zither?
 
joeym said:
What I can Imagine is replacing the strings with an organ and some oohs and aahs here and there, Kev.
Another very good song. :)
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Now that's an interesting thought, Joe ... particularly for the middle, where it just goes through once. It'd add a more organic feel to the section. I'll have to experiment. Thanks J!

K-
 
I'm just now getting to this..sounds like you added the organ. Sounds good, but I would recommend a better organ patch with some kind of leslie sim, or, preferably an actual B with a leslie. Leslie builds and swells could really add something to the momentum.

The horn line is pretty cool and it aint that hard. Could be that you could get an actual trumpet player to punch that in? If not, I might have enough chops left (still have my Bach Strad, but it's been just a bit since I've played it) to pop it in for you if needed.

Also in the spaces where the horn is playing in the 3rd and 4th bar of the pharse where it's doing the little repetitious 3 note phrase, it would be cool to echo that with another voice..maybe a bell or vibraphone. Just a thought.

Not a fan of the uber extended fade out....would be cool to have something jamming along with the horn line there.

This is a very cool tune...I really dig it alot. I'll be really interested to hear it develop.
 
TeyshaBlue said:
I'm just now getting to this..sounds like you added the organ. Sounds good, but I would recommend a better organ patch with some kind of leslie sim, or, preferably an actual B with a leslie. Leslie builds and swells could really add something to the momentum.

The horn line is pretty cool and it aint that hard. Could be that you could get an actual trumpet player to punch that in? If not, I might have enough chops left (still have my Bach Strad, but it's been just a bit since I've played it) to pop it in for you if needed.

Also in the spaces where the horn is playing in the 3rd and 4th bar of the pharse where it's doing the little repetitious 3 note phrase, it would be cool to echo that with another voice..maybe a bell or vibraphone. Just a thought.

Not a fan of the uber extended fade out....would be cool to have something jamming along with the horn line there.

This is a very cool tune...I really dig it alot. I'll be really interested to hear it develop.
Click to expand...

Thanks T!

This is the power of these boards ... expanded ears and expanded input. I heard the vibraphone when and where you said it. I also know what you said about the leslie, and I'm a fan of the effect and it's ability to add sonic texture. I'll work w/ that too.

The extended fade is some sort of jam ... I'm leaning towards an orchestral under arrangement, with perhaps a straight fiddle over the top intertwined w/ the trumpet (which if you could do ... would be great -- no pressure)? I've access to a very good fiddle player who I think could do an awesome job.

Great food for thought, T. Thanks so much.

Kev-
 
My thoughts (which aren't very good).

A distorted guitar in the verses, but introduced in the 2nd verse.

Horn solo replaced with either a guitar or vibes.
 
Actually, Trip ... you may be onto something. Say in the middle it's a horn ... like it is now.

But then imagine making this a "Layla" style ending w/ piano doing the underlying part and Duane Allman doing the slide guitar ... except perhaps w/ a fiddle? I'm not kidding. That may be the right direction.

Great food for thought. That might just have been an answer I was looking for.
 
What I'd do:

Busy down the drums...more solid basic groove...like Steely flavor.

At 1:05 add an E-7 to the A7... for a strong ii/V7 to introduce the chorus, and build expectation.

Use G chord @ 1:11 in chorus. Think it would be stronger, and set up the remainder nicely.

"Queens English" rephrase...hard to grok, major...took four rewinds to catch it.


That's it!
 
Hey Jeff ...

Excellent thoughts. I like the drums myself, but I will continue to listen w/ your comment in mind.

I think the rest of what you said is very interesting ... and you speak a language I do. I am a songwriter first and foremost and you made comment on the writing/arrangement and not just how I tracked.

Cool. I'll take the comments, experiment and see how I like it.

Thanks-

Kev-
 
As an alternative, you could make the bass lines a little busier, catching many of the graces with string sputters and melodic anticipations.
 
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