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The Arranging Checklist™

Started by Sebastian, December 31, 2016, 12:03:03 PM

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FireArrow

Althought this stuff is pretty basic, NSM really needs more arranging guides like this.
Quote from: Dudeman on January 23, 2017, 05:35:59 PM
straight from the department of redundancy department

Sebastian

I totally agree^ I hope to do some more in the future.



mrclay

Quote from: Sebastian on December 31, 2016, 12:03:03 PMIX. Make certain that your arrangement is playable to the human body, not a Finale robot.

Last night I went through the classic Metroid Brinstar theme and found numerous mistakes so I put a bunch of effort into getting all 3 voices properly transcribed (https://musescore.com/user/15303996/scores/3382306). The issue is some of these corrections put the voices just too spread out to play.

Is there a place on the site to host accurate, but unplayable transcriptions? I like the challenge of arranging, but are there best practices to follow? E.g. if a middle voice goes too low is is better to cut out, transpose it up, or simplify the bass to keep it?

I also have to do download Finale and learn yet another piece of software, but it can be done.

Maelstrom

Quote from: mrclay on February 09, 2017, 03:29:46 PMIs there a place on the site to host accurate, but unplayable transcriptions? I like the challenge of arranging, but are there best practices to follow?
Musescore

If anything gets on the site, it needs to be humanly playable, and hopefully not require a graduate degree to be able to play. That said, there are some older pieces by a few certain arrangers which may be even beyond that skill level, because we have not always had these standards. I probably didn't explain anything here you wanted to know, but, eh. Could you be more specific?

Latios212

Quote from: mrclay on February 09, 2017, 03:29:46 PMLast night I went through the classic Metroid Brinstar theme and found numerous mistakes so I put a bunch of effort into getting all 3 voices properly transcribed (https://musescore.com/user/15303996/scores/3382306).
The one on site? Yeah, some of the older sheets may not be quite so good... Quality assurance has really only become a thing in the past few years. You're welcome to submit a replacement for it (probably an edit replacement) once you get Finale software up and running.

Quote from: mrclay on February 09, 2017, 03:29:46 PMIs there a place on the site to host accurate, but unplayable transcriptions?
Personal Arrangement Threads is best if you plan on converting these transcriptions into piano sheets!

Quote from: mrclay on February 09, 2017, 03:29:46 PMI like the challenge of arranging, but are there best practices to follow? E.g. if a middle voice goes too low is is better to cut out, transpose it up, or simplify the bass to keep it?
That's the fun of arranging! ;D While in many cases one route may be particularly direct or obvious (see: exact transcription), the way you deal with more complex songs and sections is up to you. There's no one-size-fits-all answer to that; it's up to you to experiment with different ways of writing it out for piano. Browsing sheets on site (high-quality ones, of course) while listening to the originals is quite helpful and exposes you to all kinds of arranging methods - everyone has their own style.
My arrangements and YouTube channel!

Quote from: Dudeman on February 22, 2016, 10:16:37 AM
who needs education when you can have WAIFUS!!!!!

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