Arranging
Here are some examples of my arranging work. Short bits in the video and full tracks (mostly) in the player. Some notes about each track are below.
For most arranging jobs the deliverable is audio tracks, made with samplers. Sometimes it’s a score and parts for real players or singers. There are a few of each here.
Here are some examples of my arranging work. Short bits in the video and full tracks (mostly) in the player. Some notes about each track are below.
For most arranging jobs the deliverable is audio tracks made with samplers. Sometimes it’s a score and parts for real players. Even when I’m arranging for actual players or singers, though, I still demo the arrangement in the sampler before printing the parts.
About the tracks:
#1 – Sky
Artist: LEA
From the album Great Big World, which was made at my old studio in Arlington. Alto sax, Tenor sax, trumpet and Trombone. The lead guitar part, by the way, was a first take by Leonard Stephens. More about Lea at www.thisislea.com.
#2 – The last Day of Pompeii
Artist: Matt Holsen (me)
From the album The Horizon
My version of a Michael Peter Smith song. I wrote the backing parts for horns originally, but settled on vocals. Three vocals. Lena Seikaly sang the top two. (More on her at lenaseikaly.com.) I sang the third part.
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#3 – Homecoming (excerpt).
Artist: LEA
The song is also on from Great Big World, but these strings are not. I was learning a new orchestral library (EastWest Hollywood Orchestra) and I added these to Lea’s finished track as an exercise. Just the third chorus to the end. I like the result and added it to my demos, even though it’s not on any released version of the song.
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#4 – Mamma Maiasaura
Artist: Dinorock.
From the show Divertimento in Dinosaur.
Dinorock is a renowned puppet company with some truly amazing (and very large) puppets, plus wonderful songs. I toured with them for several years and knew many of their songs well. In 2003 they asked me to orchestrate eight of the most popular ones for a sort of “Young Dinosaur’s guide to the Orchestra.” Definitely the most ambitious project I’ve ever done. Each dinosaur was associated with one instrument or section. Mamma Maiasaura got the cello section. The show premiered in 2004 with the Chesapeake Youth Orchestra under Julien Benichou. This track is one of the reference tracks we made to give him an idea of the timing of the dialogue.
This was the first project where I used a virtual orchestra: The Miroslav Vitous Virtual Orchestra. It didn’t have some refinements (like real legato) that make libraries today more capable, but the sounds were gorgeous. I still use the pizzicatos all the time.
Maiasaura, by the way, means good-mother lizard. She was the first dinosaur for which they found evidence that she cared for her young after they hatched. I’m pretty sure Dinorock is the only client I’ve worked for that had a consulting paleontologist.
See the full score (with intro) >
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#5 – Crazy Over You
Artist: The Smith Sisters
From the album Roadrunner
The Smith sisters made 5 albums, the last one in 1993. Roadrunner was their third, and featured some very fine players, including Mark O’Connor and Mike Auldridge (pedal steel on this track). Debi Smith has a busy solo career these days. Check out debismith.com.
My brief for this song was to write a lead cello part to weave around their voices. It’s played by David Premo, who today is associate principal cello in the Pittsburgh Symphony. It’s a treat to hear my little cello part played by such a fine player.
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#6 – Icarus
Artist: Matt Holsen (me)
From the album The Horizon
This is a full big band, all sampled. All the winds (2 alto saxes, 2 tenors, 1 bari, 4 trumpets, 4 trombones) use the SessionHorns Pro library. The piano is Wavesfactory’s Mercury. The bass is Spectrasonics’ Trillian. Drums use the StraightAhead! Brushes and Mallets library. The song is mine.
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#7 – Lechem Ha-ohavim
Artist: Zemer Chai
From the album Same Earth Same Sky
Zemer Chai (Living Song) is a 30-voice choir in the DC/Baltimore area, founded in 1976 by Eleanor Epstein, who still leads them. They perform a wide range of Jewish choral music. More at zemerchai.org.
This track is a well-loved song by Naomi Shemer. The choral arrangement is by Gil Aldema. My brief from Eleanor was to write an accompaniment. I went with bass, piano, clarinet and violin. I took my cues from Aldema’s delightful arrangement, varying the texture of the accompaniment as the choral voicing changed. The chart wrote itself.
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#8 – Waves and Sand and Waves
Artist: Matt Holsen (me)
From the album The Horizon
Another song of mine. It’s a light rhythm section, so I used just two instruments: flugelhorn and tenor sax, playing softly in a relaxed part of their range. Both are virtual instruments, from the Session Horns Pro library.
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#9 – Ariel’s Aria
Artist: Lea
From the Album Great Big World
Cello and violin in conversation over the guitars and percussion. The intro, with just the two solo strings, is actually copied from the solo they play later. That was Lea’s idea, and it works well, IMO.
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#10 Gallimimus Gal
Artist: Dinorock
From the Show Divertimento in Dinosaur
Another number from the “Young Dinosaur’s guide to the Orchestra.” (see #4.)
The gallimimus ran fast, in a herd, and the puppets are mother and daughter. So They get the first and second violin sections. The dinosaurs chase each other around the stage and the two violin sections chase each other musically.
This is another of the reference tracks we made, using the Vitous library.
My Approach to Arranging:
No one hires an arranger to write “sweetening” any more. The idea is to add a new voice with its own character. Or more than one. Each added part should be The Voice that Was Missing. Every part should be melodic, in a broad sense. Not necessarily lyrical (my first horn demo, above, isn’t lyrical, but it is melodic) but never too far from what’s singable.
Leave space. If an instrument never shuts up you stop hearing it. A lot of my charts are conversations between two instruments or sections, which creates a more steady “pad” effect without either voice getting old.
After that, it’s mostly about what works for each instrument and in each range. And how different voices work together. Each composer/arranger has his or her own school for those things. My most important school was many years of choral singing. When you sing music like the Bach St. John’s Passion and the Brahms German Requiem repeatedly, over decades, you always have a ready reference for what is good melody, voice-leading and harmony. Use it.
I imagine most arrangers would endorse those principles. I hope that they (and you) hear my demos and agree that I apply them well.
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Samplers vs. Real Instruments
Yes, I do remember when arranging always meant writing out parts for humans to play. These days even orchestral scores for mid-budget films are done with samplers, and almost everyone uses them for mock-ups. I’ve heard it said that orchestral film scores are less interesting as a result. That may well be true, but even if I were writing film scores I wouldn’t want to go back. I’m very attached to my DAW.
There are still things only live players can do, though, and I use them whenever I can (particularly for horns). But if you could only use live musicians a lot of arrangements simply wouldn’t get written because they’d be too expensive to record.
Part of the craft is knowing what not to try. I stay away from certain things that may be characteristic of the instrument, but that the sampler doesn’t do well. (Sample libraries are getting better all the time, though).
Even when I’m going to use real instruments, though, I always test the arrangement and demo it to the client on a sampler.
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How I Work and What it Costs
The first thing is to meet and and talk about what the job is. Usually you have a recording or sheet music. When I have a good idea of your requirements (which may take a few follow-up emails) I make a fixed bid, based roughly on how long I think it will take me to complete the job. (I make my best guess and stick to the bid even if the job ends up taking longer. I don’t log my time, actually. I just work until it’s done.)
If you decide you want to hire me, we sign a “Work-for-Hire” agreement, which includes a description of your requirements, as complete as we can make it, and says what I will deliver and when, and what I’ll be paid and when. It also has some legal language about work-for-hire, which ensures that you actually own the copyright. For more detail, see the Arranging Agreement Template page. The wording may vary a bit with the job, but usually it boils down to: (1) an agreed description of what the arrangement will be, (2) when the demo/draft is due, (3) how and when modifications and final version will be due and (4) the fee. Usually, I deliver a draft/demo by a certain date, you specify any changes and I make them and deliver the final version within some number of days of getting the changes.
Most of the time I make a fixed estimate based on how long I think it will take me to do the work, at an hourly rate which is currently $55 per hour. A couple of string voices (like the 3rd demo, above) I’ll estimate at maybe 8 or 10 hours. That includes the initial meeting to get specs, the time to do the work itself and the time it takes to discuss and make modifications.) A typical horn chart will take somewhat longer. A piano/choral arrangement or a performing score and parts for a small group typically takes 15-30 hours and a full orchestration will usually run 40 or more, depending on how complicated it is. The fee is usually paid in thirds: one third when you hire me, one third when you approve the draft (or specify changes) and one third when I deliver the final version.
If you are adding real instruments to a recording and want me to conduct the session, I’m delighted to do that, but I bid that work separately. If the session is at someone else’s studio, I can’t make a fixed bid and I charge regular hour or day rates for actual time spent in the studio.
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