Producer vs. Arranger

[MrLip]

OK, there's been lots of discussion on what it means to be a producer vs. what it means to be an engineer, but what about the musical arranger? What are their responsibilities?

Up until now I always that the "arranger" was responsible for the "musical arrangement", which is basically the "music"; the instrumentation, the chords, which instrument plays what, etc. This can then be broken up into string arrangements, horn arrangements, percussion arrangements, etc.

BUT now I've received a job to 'arrange' a song and this guy wants me to be responsible for the sequencing of the different parts (Should it be Verse 1 then Chorus OR should it be Verse1, Verse2, and then Chorus? Should the Chorus repeat 2 or 3 times?) He also wants me to edit the song (cut out a verse, a bridge, etc.) should it get too long (over 5.30 minutes)

Do these responsibilities fit the job description?

Please help clarify what the 'arranger' is supposed to do.

 

[Cyrokk]

Up until now I always that the "arranger" was responsible for the "musical arrangement", which is basically the "music"; the instrumentation, the chords, which instrument plays what, etc. This can then be broken up into string arrangements, horn arrangements, percussion arrangements, etc.

This is pretty much arranging. Usually a person that arranges a piece of music takes the various musical ideas expressed in a composition and assigns them to various instruments. Arranging also can involve writing out the actual music notation for the other band members to follow. Arranging tasks range from the very simple, such as changing who plays what during the second verse, to very complex, such as arranging an orchestral backup to the main composition.

The rest of the tasks you described, i.e. determining the structure of the piece actually falls under composition. Although the composition phase is often done by the writers themselves, sometimes the producer will step in and make changes to the work to make it fit the spirit of the composition or make it more marketable.

Cy

 

[bdbdbuck]

The major role of the producer is to pay for all the stuff you're doing, as well as other things. That's what gives him the right to make little changes here and there.....he's protecting his investment.



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