Arranging Your First Album
As with all things, arranging an album is about balance, and whether this is your first album or your hundredth, these simple principles will ensure that listeners will be engaged by your music from start to finish. For the sake of this article, I will assume that you are working on a 5-track EP (since that is the goal of the GameGrooves Album Challenge), but these principles can apply to much larger albums as well.
5 Fundamental Tracks
There are 5 fundamental tracks in every album. When I start to arrange an album, I try to find these tracks first as it can help to provide structure to a seemingly chaotic process. Keep in mind that you don’t need to find these tracks sequentially. In other words, I’ve arranged albums with the Closer being selected first and the Opener last.
Opener
This is the track that will set the tone for the rest of the album. It doesn’t necessarily have to be the boldest or the best track, but it needs to convey certain promises to the listener. In other words, if you have written an experimental jazz album with a single metal song, it’s probably best not to lead with the metal song. Sometimes, you want to start an album with a bang, whereas other times, you want to ease the listener in. Regardless of genre or mood, I would highly recommend choosing a track that’s 3 minutes or under as a longer track might overstay its welcome.
Ma
Before I explain the purpose of this track, please read the following quote from acclaimed director Hayao Miyazaki: “The time in between clapping is ma. If you just have non-stop action with no breathing space at all, it’s just busyness, but if you take a moment, then the tension building in the film can grow into a wider dimension. If you just have constant tension at 80 degrees all the time, you just get numb.” The purpose of this track is to allow the listener a chance to catch their breath before continuing the adventure. Also, for larger albums, you might need more than one Ma track. For 10-track albums, I usually place one Ma track before the Anchor and another before the Climax.
Anchor
The purpose of this track is to anchor the album, or to pivot from the first part of the album to the second. To use my English degree, this would be considered the mid-point of the album if this were a three-act structure, and there generally is some sort of twist involved. Likewise, this track can often blend two or more genres. The listener might have thought they knew how the album would end, but this is your chance to surprise them, so go big!
Climax
As the name would imply, this track will be the most dynamic on the album. Most of the time, this is the track that is easiest to find since it will be the most intense. Of course, the name is derived from the three-act structure, so you can probably guess what is the final fundamental track.
Closer
The purpose of the closer is to bring a satisfactory end to the album, and this track will often be the slowest on the album (although not always). If the album is a joyous one, this is the part where the characters ride off into the sunset. If the album takes a more tragic route, this is where we mourn for the ones we have loved and lost. Length isn’t as important for this track, so take as much time as you need to say goodbye to the listener.
Tempo
Tempo is an integral tool for keeping the listener engaged throughout an album, and we can use the 5 Fundamental Tracks to illustrate this principle.
Opener: Mid to Fast Tempo
Ma: Slow Tempo
Anchor: Any Tempo
Climax: Fast Tempo
Closer: Slow to Mid Tempo
You can also scale the tempo to correspond with how many tracks you have on the album. For instance, if you have a 10-track album, you might need three or four mid to fast-tempo tracks (including the opener) before you reach the Ma. Likewise, you might need a slower tempo track before the Climax if you’ve had several fast tempo tracks in a row. Variety is the spice of life, and the same can be said for arranging an album. Don’t be afraid to change things up!
Genres
This might be the trickiest principle to teach of all since there aren’t any hard and fast rules for how to arrange genres on an album. I’ll give three specific album examples to help illustrate how genre(s) can shape an album.
Single Genre Album
To most people, this might seem the easiest type of album to arrange, but I’ve found it can be pretty challenging myself. For example, I had a hard time arranging our charity album with Pixel Mixers, Heartwood. Most of the tracks had a similar vibe and tempo, so the problem wasn’t how to ensure they all meshed together; the problem was how to keep them all from blending together into one track. If you have an album with a single genre, tempo and the 5 Fundamental Tracks are more important than ever. Of course, many single genre albums will include a track or two that breaks from the genre mold to combat any would-be monotony, so if in doubt, give that a try!
Dual-Genre Album
For this type of album, there are two main approaches: separate the album in two or blend the genres together. First, ask yourself, what are you trying to accomplish with this album? Are you trying to compare/contrast two seemingly dissimilar genres or do you want an epic journey that takes a drastic twist? If you separate the album in two, take care not to lose the listener in the Anchor track, and if you blend the genres, take care not to have tonal whiplash (e.g. going from a Baroque classical track to Industrial Doom Shoegaze). Again, the decision of how to incorporate the two genres depends entirely on what you are trying to say with your album.
Multi-Genre Album
Of the three album types, I am most familiar with this one, having coordinated several video game cover compilations over the past 7 years (first with GameLark, then with GameGrooves). For some, this might seem like the hardest type of album to arrange, but I enjoy the challenge of making sure that genres play nice together. In some ways, it’s like creating a seating chart–metal and jazz get along nicely; ska can get along with anyone so let’s put them next to classical; EDM and country don’t speak to each other, but what if punk rock was sitting between them. Our latest two albums, Live and Learn, featured a variety of genres from metal to ska to hip hop, and in my opinion, there is no wrong way to arrange a multi-genre album. I find that most video game music fans (and indeed music fans in general) are accepting of many genres of music, so don’t be afraid to keep it fresh and surprise the listener!
Conclusion
These are just a few of the principles I’ve learned from arranging albums over the years, but hopefully, they can help you as you arrange your first album. If you would like me to discuss any of these principles in more detail, let me know in the comments below!