Arranging = Mixing

A beautiful and well conceived arrangement is essentially the same as a great mix.

Mixing concepts share many parallels with orchestral arrangement. The spacing and panorama of an orchestra, the conductors control of dynamics and the wide range of tonalities and timbres in the instruments are all core concepts for many mix engineers in their approach to the mix. Even if you never work on traditional or classical styles, the concept stays the same. The music should have depth, a sense of dynamic range, and a variety of sonic colors. These decisions are made at both the arranging stage and the mixing stage.

I rarely work on classical styles or orchestral recordings, but I have taken bits and pieces from the school of thought that there is essentially no difference in approach between mixing or arranging an orchestra and mixing a hard rock project with lots of layered guitars. My feelings on arrangements that work the best are pretty simple:

1) Loud is relative, so play/mix things softer and with more space to create more impact on the loud portions instead of trying to play harder/turn thing up on the loud portions. 100% is all you have so make it count when you get there.

2) Play Less/Play more: An orchestra usually adds whole instrument parts in or takes whole parts out at a way of developing dynamics as opposed to always having everyone play something. Lots of bands feel that they need to have a part for everyone at all times and as a result, the dynamic range and impact suffers. A verse with four layered guitars, drums, bass and big vocals is cool, but it's tough to go up from there on the chorus. Try drums and guitar only under the lead vocal or bass and drums only. I do this in mixing all the time where the arrangement is too dense and the verses need to be thinned out some. Makes for a much more interesting listen.

3) The mix should pull you in. I like to balance things in such a way that you are pulled into the sound field. Practically, this means placing the lead vocal (or lead instrument) at a level so that when the listener turns up the volume to hear the words, the rest of the mix is at a level that seems to envelope your head. Basically, any really loud element that causes the listener to want to turn down the music or be "pushed out" of the sound field is avoided. Additionally, I try to pan things a little wide so that the vocals have lots of room to live in the middle without any loss of intelligibility. If you have used the previous two concepts in the arrangement, this is pretty easy to accomplish. Sting's Desert Rose Album is a really good example of this. You can't listen without being sucked into the sound field!

These are all elements that are common to both mixing and arranging and could work either way. Hope you find that useful!