• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Arranger For Hire

Custom Music Arrangements | Sheet Music | Transcription | Tracks | Production | Scoring

(917) 861-1242
  • Our Services
    • Online Music Arranger
    • String Quartet Arranging Services
    • Show Choir Arranging Services
    • Custom Choral Arrangements
    • Online Recording, Arranging and Production Services
    • Choral Production Services
    • Production Music for Media
    • Music Arrangements, Orchestrations and Tracks for Shows
    • Ghost Composition Services
    • Music Engraving Services
    • Music Transcription Services
    • Music Orchestration Services
    • MIDI Editing Services
    • Learn Music Arranging via Zoom Tutorials
    • Opening Finale XML or MXL for Musical Theater Composers in Dorico
  • Our Staff
  • Reviews
  • Case Studies
  • Articles
  • What do Music Arrangements Cost?
  • Music Production Services
  • Choral Production Services
  • Videos
  • News Features
  • Production Music for Media
    • Get Bar Count from Tempo, Duration, and Time Signature
  • Music Arranging and Production Glossary
You are here: Home / Case Studies / Case Study – “You Were Always Beautiful” by Mandy Williams

Case Study – “You Were Always Beautiful” by Mandy Williams

Vocalist/Actor Mandy Williams sent us a recording of her singing her composition, looking for an arrangementrefers to the structure and order of musical elements in a composition, such as melody, harmony, rhythm, and instrumentation. and theatrical demoA recording created to preview the content of a show or song. Demos can also become master recordings. recording with pitSpace in front of and below the stage for the orchestra or band; or any offstage space where the orchestra is located for live performance band orchestrationThe art and science of arranging music for an orchestra, including the assignment of individual parts to different instruments and the creation of a score..

https://arrangerforhire.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/You-Were-Always-Beautiful.mp3

TranscriptionThe process of notating a piece of music as it is performed, either by ear or from a recording. and Harmonic Scheme

After transcribing the melodyA sequence of single pitches perceived as a unit, usually the main theme or tune in a piece of music. and lyric into Finale, the next step for us was deriving a harmonic scheme. The song’s possible harmonic structureThe arrangement of chords and harmonies in a piece of music. was suggested by 2 factors – the changing mood of the lyric, and its melodic contour, containing intervals with functional implications.

After sketching in some chordTwo or more notes played simultaneously; a group of three or more notes played or sung at the same time to create harmony. changesJazz shorthand for Chord Changes; the chord progression over the lead sheet, or adding hints of a bass line in spots, we were ready to start writing the arrangement.

Image showing chrod symbol markup on lead sheet

The ArrangingThe process of adapting a piece of music for a different ensemble, style, or performance context. Phase

Her brief asked for a Broadway style, with pit band instrumentationThe array of different instruments or sounds incorporated in a musical score for the track. 

RhythmThe pattern of beats and accentuations in music, which gives a piece its sense of movement and flow. Section Role

Writing the bass line came first. In most of our work, it defines the style and groove – it’s the backbone and foundation of the chart. Next was writing 2 bars of drums, with the bass drum matching the bass rhythm – then pasting it out to the end of the chart, with divergences to be handled as we get there. The groove goes through a few changes during the course of the arrangement, and the drums will play fills and hits with the band.

The restA symbol indicating a period of silence in a piece of music. of the rhythm section provides harmonic support, rhythmic and melodic counterpointThe art of combining two or more melodic lines in such a way that they complement each other harmonically while retaining their independence as melodic lines., completing the definition of the style and groove.

Horn Sections’ Role

Performing multiple functions, the horns can

  • Reinforce hits in the rhythm section
  • Play countermelodies
  • Play responses in the gaps in the vocal line
  • Play “pads” adding color to the harmonic background, often with rhythmic interest
  • Reinforce the vocal line or harmonize it
  • Provide ongoing melodic commentary (obligato)
  • Provide lead-insA sequence of tones approaching a target or chord tone chromatically, diatonically, intervalically, or some combination of those to set up the next section of the tune
  • Provide a lead voice on instrumental sections (if present)

Countermelodies are most effective when their targets are on a different chord (color) tone than the vocal, when they differ in rhythmic density, and when they’re more active when the vocal is less active and vise-versa.

Screen shot of the score

Finale playback file from the ScoreA written representation of a piece of music, including the notation for all parts of an ensemble.

https://arrangerforhire.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/You-Were-Always-Beautiful-arr.mp3

The Music Production Phase

On approval of the arrangement, we saved our Aria Player bank configuration in the player, then exported the midiA protocol for communicating musical information, such as notes and control signals, between electronic musical instruments and computers. from Finale. 

Finale into Proacronym short for Publishing Rights Organization, such as ASCAP, BMI, SESAC Tools

In Pro Tools, we 

  • Imported the midi into tracks to capture the tempo mapComponent in MIDI data defining the tempo and tempo changes in a musical piece or track
  • Set up the instrument tracks (as “multlis,” 16 different instruments per player instance) 
  • Routed the audio from the player back into the session via auxChannel strips in a DAW offering additonal in-out routing with support for additional plugins inputs for mix1. Collection of individual tracks or parts 2. The process of adjusting relative sound levels, processing and placement within a sonic realm 3. The result of sonic recording and processing control over every channel
  • Created a rough mix
  • Exported individual instrument tracks (“stemsIndividual tracks extracted or exported from a mix as individual sound files”)
  • Loaded the stems and pdfs into a Dropbox for the artist to use recording on her end

Screenshot of the ProTools session

After some time, Mandy sent her vocal stem back to us, and we completed the mix, bringing out the counterpoint and commentary by the sections, humanizing the rhythm section, etc. The recording below is all samples with the exception of Mandy’s vocal.

https://arrangerforhire.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/You-Werre-Always-Beautiful-PreMaster-2_01.mp3

 

Share this:

  • Share
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook
  • Click to share on X (Opens in new window) X
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window) LinkedIn
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) Email
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window) Pinterest
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window) Reddit

Related

Summary
Case Study - "You Were Always Beautiful" by Mandy Williams
Article Name
Case Study - "You Were Always Beautiful" by Mandy Williams
Description
Case Study: Arranging and Production process from Solo Vocal line to complete master1. Intellectual property consisting of a sound recording 2. The process of optimizing a mix through further signal processing to adjust presence, timbre, loudness, and tone recording
Author
Jon Burr
Publisher Name
Arranger for Hire
Publisher Logo
Arranger for Hire

Primary Sidebar

Get a Quote

Our Services

  • Custom Music Arrangements
  • Music Arrangements, Orchestrations and Tracks for Shows
  • Online Recording, Arranging and Production Services
  • String Quartet Arranging Services
  • Custom Choral Arrangements
  • Choral Production Services
  • Production Services
  • Music Transcription Services
  • Music Engraving
  • Scoring For MainStage 3
  • Printed Parts
  • Arrangement Copyright Management
  • Custom Composition
  • Our Apps and Libraries
  • Tutoring in Finale or Dorico Notation Software
  • Study Music Arranging Online
  • NiftyCues-Music on the Blockchain
  • Film Scoring
  • Ghost Composition Services
  • MIDI Editing Services
  • Opening Finale XML in Dorico

Latest Articles

  • Here’s What’s Great about Dorico
  • 🎉 Press Release: Introducing DoricoTuts.com – A New Resource for Finale Users Migrating to Dorico
  • Transform Your Suno Song into a Professional, Royalty-Free Master Recording
  • Uploading a Big Band Score to JW Pepper
  • Importing Jazz XML from Finale into Dorico
  • Using Cantamus.app to Create Vocal Music Mockups
  • New Musical and GoFundMe Campaign
  • Using ACE Studio AI to Create Vocal Tracks or Choral Music from MIDI
  • News Release: Jon Burr Featured on Selling Sheet Music Podcast
  • New Symphonic/Pops Arrangement – Trumpet Feature on “Laura”
  • Setting up Spectrasonic’s Trilian for use with Articulation Sets in Logic Pro X
  • New Choral Production – Universal Mind
  • Unveiling a Musical Masterpiece: The NYPD Choir Sings “Galway Bay” in a Heartfelt Short Film
  • We Compared Automatic Audio-to-MIDI Transcription Tools to Aural Transcription by a Music Arranger
  • Composer Jon Burr’s new Symphonic Band Commission is Available
  • Case Study – Arranging to existing Track “One More Day”
  • Making a Rubato Tempo Map In Logic Pro X For Use With Finale
  • New – Film Scoring Demos
  • Preparing a Logic Pro Session for Notation
  • What Makes a Good Song?

Friends and Links

  • Dorico Music Notation Software
  • Our posts on the Finale Blog
  • Find us on Wedding Wire
  • Find us on Sheet Music Plus

Footer

© 2013 Arranger for Hire | Site by jbQ Media | Policies and Terms of Service | Cookie Policy

Manage Cookie Consent
We use cookies to optimize our website and our service.
Functional cookies Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
Manage options Manage services Manage {vendor_count} vendors Read more about these purposes
View preferences
{title} {title} {title}
 

Loading Comments...