Last week’s work really set me up for success this week. I managed to record a dozen fretless bass phrases this week. I recorded one phrase for TriStar, 737, DC-8, and 707. I recorded two phrases for A300, 727, DC-10, and DC-9. Accordingly I only have five fretless bass phrases to record for next week. That being said, rather than get a head start on pedal steel guitar recordings, I may add more fretless bass phrases, or re-record some of the phrases I’ve already recorded in order to have more exciting bass parts.
Again, in the interest of having some visual material to share, here’s the string arrangement for DC-8. In the first six measures you can see arpeggiations of a progression in G major: B7, Em7, CM7, Em7, D7, to GM7. The final seven measures shows a static section where the upper voices slowly arpeggiate a D# diminished chord while the cello stays on an E pedal.
This was a productive week. I finished with the bass harmonica, recording phrases for the B sections of 727, DC-10, & DC-9. Thus, I was able to get a head start on recording fretless bass recordings. I was able to record two fretless phrases for each of the following movements: TriStar, 737, DC-8, 707, and 747. I was also productive outside of the recording project, finishing a grant report, a conference presentation, some sound design work, and a conference presentation proposal.
In the interest of having some visual content on the entry I’ve included the score for the string parts for DC-10. In the B section, the beginning of the example, the strings only use the notes G, B, C, D, & F#. In the A section, the strings reduce to only using G & E, ending on harmonics. This will be one of two movements that use tremolo in the string parts.
Week two has not been as productive as I had hoped. Part of that is due to labor day, part is due to a trip to Boston on Tuesday, and part of it is due to a cursed plumbing job that would never end. Finally, on Wednesday, the external hard drive I use for recording started acting quirky, so I went out and bought a new drive, and spent many hours transferring about a terabyte of data to the new drive. I am glad to report that that process went well, and all my data is safe.
Before going through my productivity for the week, a bit of background on the project. The album will consist of nine pieces. Each piece is in ternary form (ABA). The lead guitar the drum machines and the automated synthesizers pretty much play throughout each piece. This material is already fairly thick and robust. For the additional instruments I am recording I plan to have them play one phrase for each section. Since I completed work on the theremin recordings last week that means there will be 27 theremin phrases on the album (3 x 9 = 27).
The reason I was able to complete the theremin recordings last week is I went into my sabbatical having already recorded many theremin and bass harmonica recordings. To complete my bass harmonica recordings I only needed to record seven more phrases. That being said, I only got four phrases recorded this week, so next week will be a light week for bass harmonica, and I will likely get a head start on recording fretless bass next week.
The four recordings I made this week were all for B sections, specifically, for: TriStar, 737, DC-8, and 707. I feel that bass harmonica is an integral part of my sound as Darth Presley. I love the sound of a bass harmonica. In fact, in terms of satisfaction per dollar, my bass harmonica is one of my favorite instruments. That being said, bass harmonicas manufactured in most countries are actually quite expensive. There are, however a few Chinese manufacturers that make budget instruments. The instrument I have is a Swan bass harmonica, which can be purchased for under $200.
Since this is a light week, I’ll comment a bit on the string arrangements. As I stated last week, I finished the string arrangements. Over the long weekend I formatted them on paper, and created parts for each of the four instruments. The recording session is booked for late October. The musicians will be listening to a click through headphones while recording, so I should be able to just drop the recordings into place once they are edited and mixed.
Each of the string arrangements covers the transition from the B section to the return of the A section. For each movement, the number of pitches used in the B section is greater to or equal to the number of pitches used in the A sections. To put it another way, the A sections have a limited number of pitches (as little as one, and no more than six), while the B sections tend to have a much greater variety of pitches (at least three, and as many as nine).
In the interest of leaving the reader with an image to look at for the week, I’ll leave you with the score for the string arrangement of TriStar. All of the string arrangements for Rotate tend to have a similar profile to this movement, that is the pitch tends to go up, and tends to crescendo into the arrival of the final section. In this case, that section uses only the note G.
Writing an arrangement for a song can be challenging. While multiple verse / chorus songs can encourage familiarity, this can be an asset as well as a detriment. The familiarity is what engrains a song in your memory, and prods you to sing along (especially with the choruses). However, the same familiarity also breeds boredom.
Thus, each successive verse and chorus should be progressively more detailed and layered simply to sustain interest. Some of this can be covered by the song itself. If the story of the song hooks and engages listeners, it should help in this regard a bit. The performance itself may add some of this interest. Performers (vocalists, drummers, bassists, guitarists – the whole ensemble) may, intuitively or otherwise, grow in dynamics and musical detail over the course of the song, adding a level of progressive drama and interest.
However, this progressive adding of aural interest is complicated by the convention that the chorus should be higher energy than its surrounding verses. Again, this can be covered a bit by the song itself. A melody that goes into a higher musical range or a key change to a brighter (higher) key can infuse much of this energy.
Typically, some (if not all) of the interest must be built by the arrangement itself. Thus, many effective pop songs can be classified as what I call orchestrated crescendos. An orchestrated crescendo is an arrangement where at least one layer of audio material is added on each successive verse and / or chorus.
It is helpful to think of arranging and mixing to be allied fields. In fact, in many styles of popular music the roles of arranger, producer, and sound engineer (mixer) may merge into one or two roles. The importance of these roles has caused many artists to self-produce, or act as producers for other artists.
“You Really Got Me” by the Kinks is somewhat different. Rather than being arranged as a crescendo over the course of the entire song, it is arranged to be a crescendo over every verse. In the second stanza of each verse the backing vocals are added, with all the vocals becoming strident around the seventh line, building to the refrain, “You really got me, you really got me, you really got me.”
However, my personal favorite example of on orchestrated crescendo is “The Boxer,” recorded by Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel. The introduction is a stripped-down arrangement that focuses on an acoustic guitar with an arpeggiated figure. The first verse adds Paul Simon’s lead vocals, while Art Garfunkel’s backing vocals are added in the second verse.
Up to this point the song has sounded bright, clean, and sweet. When the chorus starts, the lyrics “Lie-la-lie” repeat using a simple sing-songy melody. The sweet, lullaby-esque nature of this melody contrasts heavily with a very loud, heavily reverberated snare hit, which sounds comparatively violent (almost like a gunshot).
As each verse progresses, some small element is added: percussion (bongos), bass harmonica, dobro, etc. The solo section features an electric guitar playing a simple arpeggiated melody that sounds like a trumpet. This was done by recording the part on both an electric guitar (picking the note with the sound off, and fading in) and trumpet, and blending the two together at the mixing console. Rather than go for an impressive, complex solo, “The Boxer’s” solo section is used to feature a pleasant melody that reads somewhat like a funereal bugle call, that adds to the work’s overall somber mood.
In the final verse, the song moves from a first-person perspective (“I am just a poor boy”) to a third-person perspective (“In the clearing stands a boxer”). This shift in perspective leads us to question is the song’s protagonist the boxer? Is the boxer a person observed by the protagonist? Is the story of the boxer and protagonist simply connected by our view of the adversity encountered by both?
This final verse also makes use of some addition of gain, which in concept is good, but in its execution comes off a bit clumsy. Starting in about the third or fourth line of the verse, the volume of the lead vocals is gradually increased.
When we reach the end of the song, the chorus is repeated over and over, string sections are added one by one, going from mid register, and moving into higher registers. As we near the end, low brass is added giving and dark heavy tone to the chorus. At the very end all the layers are stripped away, nearly all at once, leaving a solo acoustic guitar. This super-high contrast is very cathartic in terms of releasing the built-up tension of all this layering.
So, if the recording of a song you are working on seems fine, but not terribly engaging, try adding more layers as it goes on. If that means that you need to strip down and simplify the first verse so you have somewhere to build from, give it a try. It may just be the narrative thread that will keep your listener engaged.
