Remember the old saying “less is more.” Most of my favorite music is by 4-5 piece bands. Drums, Bass, electric, acoustic, and maybe keys. Just because you have a lot of musicians, doesn’t mean that you have to use all of them, all the time. When arranging instruments be careful that they don’t step on each other’s part or sound space.
Many people believe that by having multiple guitars, or adding tracks, it will “thicken the mix.” While this could be true, it could also destroy your mix if not done properly. One thing that drives me crazy is when you have two electric guitar players, lead and rhythm, who are both strumming the same part, the same way during the chorus. All this typically does is complicate the mix and just adds more noise.
My other pet peeve is percussive loop tracks that fight the natural beat of the song. Loops and other tracks can add dimension and depth to your music but can also be just another source of noise. Most worship songs aren’t meant to be super busy, not to mention that very busy instrumentation tends not to translate well in a live environment, turning your sound to mush.
When arranging parts, think about this: Each instrument should have a pocket or a space in the sound spectrum. I will expand more on this from a mixing stand point in the next post but it starts with the instruments. Make sure your players aren’t over playing their pocket. Fills and accents can be cool but not when two or three people do it at the same time or when done too often.
One other note about instrumentation. Click track. Practice with it. Use it on stage. Get used to it. If you do, your band will magically sound tighter.