Studio Arrangements

Studio Arrangements

Arrangements for recordings have different requirements than arrangements for live performance. We’ve produced a number of different style of arrangements for use in recording sessions and due to experience of writing and recording we’re confident that we can save a lot of studio time and make the session run really smoothly.
Arranging music for studio recordings requires a different approach in the way that the chart is laid out on the page and exactly what information is included.


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studio-arranging

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This chart is for a single trumpet player who records both parts, so the first obvious difference here is that there’s both parts notated on the score so that the first trumpet can easily be followed when recording the second. Also, there’s a note at the top to tune 1/4 tone sharp(!). Quite unusual, but many commercial producers try to make a pop track brighter by shifting the tuning up a little. You’ll also notice that timings are marked in minutes and seconds so that it’s really simple to drop in and record sections. The producer and engineer probably won’t read music so this is essential to stop time wasting.


Studio-vocal-arrangement

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This arrangement is a score used in a studio session for a vocal backing group. There are 6 voices all reading individual parts and singing live together and for the session to run smoothly the musical director needs to know exactly where everything is in the recorded track. Time stamps are used again here as well as cues from the orchestral recording, which are all notated.


Big-Band-Studio

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This score shows is the the trumpet section parts from a studio recording of “Let’s Face The Music”. The layout for this studio score is quite specific because it was written for a single trumpet player to record all the parts. Because of this, we decided to present the parts in landscape format and we had to make sure all page turns were at points where the recording could be paused and the trumpet player can see all the parts while recording a particular line.