Comments on: How to complete full pop song music arrangement in 60 minutes

By: eric lin

eric lin — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 05:35:09 +0000

KC Lau:
You did a good job, thanks, in the process of arrange 為愛多走一里路, step 1 to 4 is not difficult, but step 5 is too hard for me, I play guitar, just little bit piano, and you play at real time,that’s impossible for me, Is any other way can make it?, Can we use Band in a box first , then export to Sonar, chose the tracks we want, (like drum, and piano..) then add some tracks we create.
Is there any good source of music style we can use? for rhythm part,
Is there any good book teach about Music midi arrange?

thanks

By: Rina

Rina — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 05:44:52 +0000

Excellent tutorial, thank you very much!

As a performing singer, I’ve worked with quite a few studio musicians/engineers who could record a song on a computer in one to two hours. Their record was, indeed, 60 minutes. Those guys would just tap near-perfect instrument parts into the keyboard as they went, without even stopping to think. Your tutorial makes it so very clear. I love the advice about writing the fullest drum bit first and then reduce.

Thank you very much! I’m saving your article for future reference!

By: michael

michael — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 23:33:50 +0000

Are you serious?

That really ain’t what pop music is about here in the uk my friend.

Keep up the work though.

Mike.

By: ARash

ARash — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 13:48:03 +0000

Thanks a lot Dear Friend ,
I always thought that it ‘s a very difficult job o arrange pop music and you must be a academic educated expert to do that , but i’d like to know
how much knowlegde of harmony I should have to complete a acceptable arranegment of my own written pop songs ? , do you mean a deep study in classical harmony , that takes a lot of time to learn ?
by the way I found three very good books titled , ” music theory ” , “composition” and “harmony for computer musicians “, hope these can be helpful for other friends here ,

By: KCLau

KCLau — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 01:52:32 +0000

I am glad that this tutorial had helped you in some ways. Thanks for the kind words.

By: Lon

Lon — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 20:32:45 +0000

This tutorial is, quite literally, a miracle. This is my first time doing a complete arrangement of a song, and the tutorial was really, really helpful, the way it goes step by step and provides examples. Thanks a LOT for this amazing resource!

Oh…and hope you don’t mind if I borrow some of your techniques, especially your bass and drums!

By: Music Sequencing with Cakewalk Sonar (Video Tutorials Series) — SonarTricks.com Cakewalk Sonar Tricks

Thu, 22 Apr 2010 07:23:28 +0000

[...] How to arrange music (easy guide) [...]

By: KCLau

KCLau — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 08:30:40 +0000

HI Heather,

Thanks for your compliment. Wish you all the best in making music!

By: Heather

Heather — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 16:23:43 +0000

This is really a cool site! I’ve searched many articles to help me with music arranging, but this lays it out in a very simple, easy-to-follow format. Even though I’m a very accomplished musician myself (35 years now playing the piano) – and even with my background of attending a very prestigious music school – somehow the idea of music arranging and sequencing has always overwhelmed me to the point that I never actually get started – I just kind of shut down. Thank you so, SO much for your tips. Maybe I can finally get started on arranging the catalog of songs I’ve written over the years! (P.S. — Enjoyed your piano playing – nice touch on those keys!)

By: Peter Almosdi

Peter Almosdi — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 12:21:32 +0000

I think the snare drum sounds very annoying. And the whole thing is very plain and uninteresting. Colorless.
But still, with the lack of energy sent, it’s really good! And good tutorial.

By: Mike Robinson

Mike Robinson — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 16:31:27 +0000

I just wanted to drop by and tell you that this was an extremely informative post. I did notice that “the name of the book on music-arrangement” that you referred-to in the post is no longer present. I would very much like to know what the name of that book is.

It would be helpful if you also posted links to suggested sources of information about the harmonization and music theory. (I happen to be fairly familiar with that, having spent a lot of time running around the ol’ Circle of Fifths, but targeted links would still be helpful to many.

It’s extremely helpful that you posted both the screen-shots of the score in progress, and the corresponding sound clips.

Once again, thank you for a well thought out Internet resource.

By: Sanjeev

Sanjeev — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 08:15:53 +0000

Hi
I am new to music arrangement. Please give me some basic tips on chords and harmony.
Is the harmony chords set per bar or random as per tune.Which is the note to be taken the first note in the bar, the last note in the bar or the most prominent note in the bar.
Kindly advise.Request to send on my email id kumaarsanjeev@gmail.com
Regards
Sanjeev

By: free animations

free animations — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 09:08:25 +0000

Hi, this is a really good and concise guide. Thanks for sharing.

By: hanna

hanna — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 10:59:06 +0000

helllo

im classically trained and i really composed a lot of pop songs….
with wonderful lyrics and melodies.
but i just typed all the notes , melodic progressions out..
and recorded it with just a piano and my voice
cna u arrange some of my music for me?
if u arrange 2 pieces..its just 2 hours for u…
^_^ tanks!
feel free to contact me

By: KCLau

KCLau — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 09:50:45 +0000

@Lou,

We may have different perception about “classical”. I always have problem learning to play difficult pieces of classical music.
I am more into improvisation – pop and a little bit of jazz.

By: Lou

Lou — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 00:14:24 +0000

hi KCLau, are you serious? You say that you have no expertise in semi-classical and that you barely passed the theory exam,but your piano style seems classical to me….am I missing something?

By: KCLau

KCLau — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 07:34:11 +0000

Hi Aadi,

I don’t have any expertise in semi-classical music arrangement.
My just barely pass the music theory exam.

By: aadi

aadi — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 03:31:47 +0000

hi……..
nice work
but i want to arrange music for semi-classical music
plz help me n send me information…

By: Max

Max — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 04:43:21 +0000

Hi there,

During my wedding day, i received a gift from a friend. It was a song that he wrote by himself and play it with piano (kind of like a demo version).

I am totally helpless of arrange a song into a real one (with music background).

I am hoping that if there is anyone here, kind enough to help make this dream come true, would be much appreciated.

Please email me and let me know!!! Thanks

alvistsang@gmail.com

By: Max

Max — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 04:42:37 +0000

Hi there,

During my wedding day, i received a gift from a friend. It was a song that he wrote by himself and play it with piano (kind of like a demo version).

I am totally helpless of arrange a song into a real one (with music background).

I am hoping that if there is anyone here, kind enough to help make this dream come true, would be much appreciated.

Please email me and let me know!!! Thanks