Production and Arranging

Most mixing problems are arrangement problems wearing a disguise. These pages start from the decision rather than the plugin, and they stay useful when you change software.

Start here

Roles and Frequency Space.

It solves masking in the arrangement, where you can actually hear it happen. Read it before you touch an equaliser.

Jump straight inPress the triangle to hear it, the name to read it

Arranging

Making the sound

Recording and mixing

Finishing

Arranging

Arrangement and EnergyHear why energy is a difference and not a level. Strip the verse back, hear the chorus grow, and place additions where the ear notices them.
Arranging for a BandHear why adding a part makes a band sound smaller, then split rhythm, harmony and melody across the group and hear each version as you build it.
Roles and Frequency SpaceHear two parts turn into one vague part when they share a register, then move them apart in the notes and hear both return without touching a fader.
Orchestration BasicsHear the same melody on oboe, horn and flute and decide what it should mean, then learn blending, doubling and register from the choices behind them.
Writing for Strings and WindsLearn ranges, transposition, bowing and breathing before you send a part out, and see why a chord that looks correct can be unplayable as written.

Making the sound

Recording and mixing

Finishing

Keep going

The other sections

Everything on this site sits in one of these, in the order they are meant to be learned.

The building blocks

How music works

In practice