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Unless you hire yourself, someone has to hire you!

Usually fees for the arrangement are discussed before the hiring. Price may often be the reason why you were chosen, but hopefully you were chosen because of the quality of your work. Fees can vary greatly for a single string arrangement from $500 - $3,000+. Most of this depends on your name value. You can consult many resources for rates.

IMPORTANT: You work for them! - Period!

Now, let’s be straight here. In any collaborative effort there are differences in opinion. That’s just life, and part of the human experience. You as the arranger, are certainly entitled to your own opinion, and I never recommend compromising your work, or yourself, beyond what you can, and still retain your integrity.

But in the final analysis, they (the producer, the artist, whoever is paying you) is the boss!

My preference is to work with an experienced producer rather than the artist. That’s because working directly with the artist can be, well….difficult. Not because they’re difficult people per se, but because if they don’t know what’s involved with strings they tend to complicate the situation.

Result - nothing gets done.

Most of the producers I work with have experience working with string sections and arrangers. The result is that the experienced producer generally understands my needs as an arranger, and once the creative work begins, leaves me alone to do it.

By comparison, the artist (usually being a singer, songwriter) does not have as much experience in this aspect of production. As a result, there can be a tendency to interfere prematurely in your work.

Where it gets tough is when the artist is also the executive producer (the money person). In this situation, and even when working directly with the producer you still have to be a bit of a diplomat!

A little story

Like a lot of arrangers, in my early days, I liked to always have a new idea, or some cool technique, that I could use when I wrote for strings. It could be a clever counterline, a re-harmonization, string effect, whatever.

Many years ago there was an Asian producer for whom I arranged literally hundreds of albums. This producer loved strings. So every album usually had 5-6 songs with a string section.

One evening he called and said he had everything set up for the string date the next morning at 10:00 AM! I freaked! He’d neglected to tell me prior to his call which songs he wanted strings with (as he should have days earlier), and then went ahead and booked the session, players and all!

The first thing I did was to call the contractor (who was also the concertmaster/lead violinist) and try to move the date. She said there was no way it could be moved because she’d already set it up.

So, at about 7:00 PM for a 10:00 AM call - I began arranging all six songs.

Oh, by the way, besides writing the arrangements, I was also responsible for the score and all the parts. I had no time to try out something new. I had to go with my (primarily) first (gut) ideas. Luckily, this string section was violins and cellos only. This let me do a two-stave score (like a piano part - treble and bass clef), then reproduce the score and have the players read directly from it.

NOTE: Please keep in mind, I had no choice here, no copyist was available, etc. I don’t recommend you make a habit of this, strings players can be very brutal. When you can, have separate parts.

I didn’t even use the piano, I sat down and wrote the arrangements while sitting on the sofa! Believe me, I wrote a lot of “pads” (whole notes) and single high lines - keeping it all as simple as possible because (again), there was no time to be innovative!

The next morning, we recorded the songs with me conducting.

After the players left, the producer said, “Ric, let’s go to lunch.” At lunch he said, “Those were the best arrangements you’ve ever done for me.”

I was stunned (and of course, relieved). I had done about 50 songs for him before this. Most were very cool arrangements, and he did like them. BUT…(here’s the moral of the story): this producer loved simplicity. Even though he told me he loved simplicity, I was too young and stubborn to really get it. In this crunch deadline situation I had finally written simple enough for his desire. So…he was right, I was wrong (if you will).

I’ll never forget this experience because it taught me to not be afraid to take a simpler, (more communicative?) approach. Sometimes being innovative or “cool” is, well…not being cool. I like to look at this as God stepping in and forcing a piece of wisdom for me!

After that, he and I did many other projects together.

I don’t mean to belabor this point, but when writing for others, you have to realize that it’s a collaborative effort. We as arrangers aren’t always right and usually don’t have the final say, much like an actor whose best scene ends up on the cutting room floor.

I have, over the years, learned to actually enjoy the collaborative exchange, and I’ve also learned to handle it better.

I close with these final thoughts.

Most of my life I’ve been a work-for-hire arranger. However, since about 1989, I’ve kept my own artist career active to do my music my way. This helps me keep a balance. I encourage you to do the same. Do the work that pays the bills, but also do writing of your own, whether album projects, concert works, whatever, to keep that balance which also leads to a more objective view when doing projects for others.

Also, beware of always writing for other instruments with an instrument.

I’ve written at the piano, the guitar, the computer, MIDI keyboards, and with just pencil and paper - whatever works! However, I do believe that if you write at an instrument for other instruments, your skills (or lack of skills) on the instrument on which you’re writing may get in the way.

Fortunately I studied with “old school” teachers that, as part of my training, had me write away from an instrument in case I needed to. Many great composers worked at a piano, many didn’t. Much depends on the styles you are working with. Obviously, the more advanced the harmonies, the more the tendency to write on the piano (Ravel did).

If you’re tied to writing at an instrument, as an exercise, try writing just at a desk. Then check your work. A quick way to develop this skill is through learning solfege which teaches you to sing lines with comprehension away from the piano.

I usually orchestrate away from an instrument without sample libraries as I like to be clear in my head what I’m doing. I do hope this makes sense. If you’re doing all, or a majority of your orchestration, with sample libraries, again, I encourage you to step away from the technology and develop your inner ear by orchestrating directly to pad.

Ric Flauding

www.ricflauding.com