Your setup is ready. Your room is ready. Your song is ready … right? Not quite. When I started recording, I thought I entered my booth well-prepared. I’d written lyrics and chords for the full song. Maybe I even printed that on paper, so I didn’t have to remember or look at my phone!
It wasn’t enough. When you start recording, you suddenly realize there are a million more decisions to make. Just “chords” isn’t enough.
What’s the tempo? What’s the strumming pattern? What’s the instrumentation? How long is the intro actually going to be? Do we add a pause between verse and chorus or not?
I kept getting stuck on these questions. I wasn’t prepared for them. I realized my song … was actually only 10% of a song.
My personality is very improvisational. I hate planning or structure. But let me tell you, I had to learn how to arrange songs beforehand. Without it, recording became a mess from which I could never recover.
So what is that, arrangement?
Arrangement
It simply means you decide on all parts of a song. Not just a single take. Not just one instrument. But all the recordings, which will combine to make the full song.
You arrange all the pieces you have into a final recording. This isn’t “music mixing”, it’s more “songwriting”. But it’s close enough to recording that I needed to mention it here.
If you don’t do this beforehand, you’re likely to waste time, or throw away 50% of what you do. Because you realize you wanted a different tempo. Because you invented two melodies, but never tested if they actually work together. Because you thought you were done, then realized a week later that you forgot to record that drum that’s sorely needed.
There’s one song online, by me, which was recorded in the wrong tempo. It’s one of the very first I ever recorded. I had an amazing take … and only realized later that I wanted a different tempo and key. Because I was naïve, I thought “meh, let’s just transpose and edit it”. It sounds okay, but anybody with a critical ear can tell it’s been edited and sounds worse for it.
Similarly, I once spent a lot of time recording a complicated guitar piece in one go. A few days later, I hit my forehead and called myself the stupidest person alive. I could just … split the piece into multiple parts. Multiple layers, different recordings, which combine to sound similar. In fact, doing so made it sound much better.
Arrangement ensures you know what to record and how. All recordings for the same project will fit together and go smoothly, because you thought about it beforehand and decided exactly what parts you want.
Stating it like this, it hopefully becomes obvious. Good audio recording starts with being certain about what to record.
How to do it?
As mentioned, this is more Songwriting. Check out that course, especially the Arrangement chapters at the end, for details. After that, this is more Music Mixing. Check out that course as well! 😉 Yes, writing and arranging compositions is a huge area which takes a lot of skill.
But if we just focus on the recording aspect, I can also give many useful tips.
Set it all in stone
First of all, you should have every part of the song. The lyrics, the chords, the melody, the support, the timing, the time signature, etcetera.
Like, really know it. Not “the melody goes something like this …” or “and then you do those few high notes, and then …”. You know the pitches and the timing of them.
Why? Because if you don’t, you will do something different every time. Which means all your takes are incompatible, which means you recorded the wrong thing. Something you can’t fix with editing 99% of the time. The recording might sound amazing, but it’s still the wrong thing, and thus of no value.
If needed, make your first few takes about this. Lay down the exact rhythm or melody. Test a few different tempos until you find your perfect fit. Only once you’re sure about those details, start going into “record a lot of takes of everything” mode.
Won’t that kill creativity? Inspiration? No. This is recording, not songwriting. Use that creativity and inspiration while writing the song, while coming up with all those details. Recording is about getting that song idea as digital audio files. Recording while you’re still writing the song means you’re mixing two disciplines that have a clear order in which they should happen.
Sure, you can experiment. Play it as loose as you like. As I said, I like improvising (a lot)! That, however, means I create an arrangement beforehand, but allow myself to deviate it if needed. If all goes wrong, I still have that arrangement to fall back on.
There’s no downside to this. You can throw your arrangement in the trash can if you have lots of inspiration or better ideas during the recording session. It’s not holding you back. It’s a valuable tool to prevent mistakes or wasted time during the recording process.
Once you do that, you’ll realize the power of doubling and splitting
Doubling
To get that stereo sound our ears like, you can record the same part multiple times. (One is panned to the left ear, one to the right ear.)
When played simultaneously, it will sound wide and three dimensional. Because our ears hear the same thing, but slightly different, which also happens in the real world! Our head merges the two sounds and views them as coming from the same source.
It’s that simple. It’s a “trick” that every song on earth uses in spades. It’s one that’s cheap and easy to execute.
All you need is two takes that are almost identical, but not quite. If it’s a background instrument, you can get away with even more imperfection.
When you play too perfectly, that’s actually a problem. If the takes are practically identical, you lose this stereo effect—because our ears hear two sounds that are the SAME! You also get phase issues, which I’ll cover soon.
This works on any instrument. The voice often has multiple doubles, especially in pop songs. Guitar chords absolutely love this, as long as the strumming rhythm is tight (otherwise it sounds like stuttering).
The lesson? Do multiple takes of everything. Most things will sound much better when doubled. Otherwise, you can just forget the other takes and play it as a mono source.
Splitting
This is a powerful technique that’s barely mentioned. It’s what I mentioned in the example above: I split a complex piece into multiple parts to record separately.
Why is this so powerful?
- It allows you to do easier performances. (Less mistakes, takes less energy, easier to edit.)
- While the end result is often more beautiful and more flexible. (Splitting a melody might give new ideas or potential for recordings.)
The melody I talk about had both very high and very low notes. That’s why it was so hard to play: I had to stretch my fingers the full length of the guitar. So I split it into “low guitar” and “high guitar”. But now each piece was a bit boring on its own. So I added a bit of flourish to both recordings. Then, when I played them at the same time, I surprised myself by how much better it sounded.
Often, I play the main part of a song on my guitar using pretty standard chords. But then I’ll record the same chords but higher, and a variation of the chords that emphasizes more of the lower strings. Combined, it sounds like you’re playing one guitar—the most beautiful one in the world.
When I just started, I’d often send recordings to friends and family. Until I told them about the process, they always assumed it was one guitar, recorded really well. This is true for 99% of songs. You think you hear a few instruments and a voice, but it’s actually an arrangement of multiple layers that brings out the best of the song.
The lesson? If something is too hard to play, or you’re uncertain about the sound, split it. Usually by frequency (low, mid, high) or rhythm (slow, mid, fast). Easier recording, potential for surprising effects, more flexibility.
Conclusion
Arrange your songs.
- Think about every part and write down every detail. No vague melodies, lyrics, or instrumentation when entering the recording booth.
- Determine your layers in advance. Which should be doubled? (Or quadrupled?) Which might be split?
- If you want multiple instruments, make sure they are available and have their own parts.
This will remove errors and wasted time from your recording process. It will also teach you a lot about songwriting. It will ask your brain to not only write a song, but also think about the steps further down the line: how it will translate to a microphone (and finally a finished mix).
As the saying goes,
A well-written song will lead to easy recording and mixing. A bad arrangement can never be saved.
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