The simple but effective way to arrange music 

If you'd like to learn more about the compositional concepts that have helped me the most over the years, I made this FREE eBook for you: bit.ly/FREEcompositionguide

This is also essentially the same way that really good context-appropriate videogame background music is made. You get a bunch of different loops that all go together, but each bring different vibes or some such, and fade between different combinations of them according to the circumstances. It's how you get what feels like live musical accompaniment in Breath of the Wild and stuff.

The same approach I take on my AKAI MPC: Start "full house" with a crammed sequence, copy everything multiple times, then decide which tracks/parts/notes to mute - and add new ones.

Glad I found you. I've been going down a dead end for a few months and this breathes new life into the work. Thank you

This has always been my favorite way to compose. Once I get the subtractive elements taken care of, I make some custom parts to bring in and out during transitions. I usually add things like drum fills at the end of a percussive section or say a crash cymbal at the beginning of a 4 or 8 bar section, that sort of thing. Noise sweeps here an there, or any other embelishments. After that, I go in and add some automation lanes to sweep filters, fade sections in and out, etc.

I do this all the time. Probably a bit differently as I do alt rock rather than electronic. It's basically recording all the parts I want, then first removing everything that isn't necessary and finally controlling the flow of the tune by doing just what you're doing here - but it's often over a progression of different parts, to keep things interesting and to showcase, as you said, parts that might be buried when rendered alongside everything else. Drop the bass and drums, bring the bass back in, bring the drums back in, remove one of the guitars, bring it back, remove the other guitar. Just makes it more interesting to listen to for me, more exciting and tends to be the thing that moves a track from not quite there to finished. Rather than subtractive arrangement, I call them "dynamic cuts".

I used to that in reason , connected the Nectar P1 , loop around with all the instruments , mute them , add dry/wet to effects , like if was a live session , and help me finish my tracks and make sense of all of that.

I have learnt a lot from this video I have watched your videos when ever they come up and I get a kick out of your humour.

Nice video. I don't work with loops that much but thanks for sharing the "subtractive" concept.

Nice to hear about your history with organs.

Along those lines - and I believe you've talked about this in other instances - allowing for "silence" will add drama when that silence is broken. Similarly, whenever you introduce or reintroduce a bass element, that will add a tasty punch. A really great example of this is in Jenny Hval's "Female Vampire" (listen for the bass drum pulse). I ended up doing this myself on the track "Spectre", both with silence and a nice bass entry, in that case it was a deep pad played at the lower register.

There’s a Jenga aspect to this. I’m also reminded of some Beethoven slow movements which reveal their fully-realized design gradually. Op. 7 is a good example.

You are a mensch Jameson, thank you.

@ 11:30 Love your tune. Wicked stuff 🫡

Ok now I actually have to go listen to your music.. It sounds crazy af

This seems like a cool idea for composing video game music. I notice a lot of modern indie games different tracks turn on/off depending on whats going on. I think the classic example is when you ride Yoshi in super mario world the drum track turns on

This is a cool way of composing! Make everything first, then arrange it! I'm not certain it fits with my style but I will give it a go in the future! Thank you as always for the excellent video :) !

Got a lot out of this vid - unlocked a lot for me!

Descant - learned a new word. Thank you!

I use a very similar approach to arranging but I often use 8, 16 and 32-bar loops and not only disable various loops or parts of loops but I also disable some notes in the loop parts to give them variety and space.

You have a refined palate of course. The presentation of Kept was, to my mind, a better representation of both your stacked ideas and the editing you do to create a logical progression. Thank you. The "Long reverb tail." was a monster🤕 Hands up anyone who's ever, knowingly, heard a Bach chorale. Anybody?

Layer cake is great

Works well with groove boxes also

I really like the Arrangment track in Cubase for doing this sort of subratractive technique, it lets you create alternative arrangement versions and compare them really quickly without losing anything. Great vid JNJ!

This was the exact trick that finally helped me turn loops into songs.

I started making music like this too.

I learn so much from your teaching. Thank you!

I have a feeling that a ton of folks work in this fashion. You basically make your idea or “loop” and then flesh it out over time.

I find that just shifting one part forward a few bars can sometimes create interesting syncopations that I wouldn't think of otherwise. Or it can just end up sounding wrong.

Great video. Great way to describe this arrangement method.

This is why session view is the magic that makes Ableton great. I just hit record and start launching clips from APC.

Great video. Ive been already doing a version of this and this helped me narrow it down better! Also hey, could we get a “Drones are boring” video? I love writting with them and id love your take on the matter!

So grateful for you and your channel. Learn so much from you

Great tutorial thanks

Nice one as always! :)

Great video! Your channel is one of my favorites.

good tip, seen it in many streams too, still struggle with my workflow and decided might give this technique a shot. *huggs Jameson* 🤗

I do this a lot with trackers. fill up a loop with all the music then moving the blocks around to make the arrangement. then going through each one to bring the music together.

Very cool. And then, if you're able to get the loop out of your head, you can add in other sections (choruses, middle 8s, tangents, whatever) which will give you a more varied track.

neat concept, will give it a go soon. hope to get the course soon too. Saving up for a nicer hardware synth atm.

Nice video! Hope it helps me to transform from loop artist into real artist. Thanks for sharing, i would like to see more arrangement content like this.

Gush… I didn’t know you can deactivate clips in Ableton. I have to investigate that. I have always arrange my songs like this. Not for ambient, but towards a singer/songwriter approach, with elements to add tension for different verses or choruses. Very effective and a nice way to finish a song. Thanks for this video!

Thank you 🎉 always very thoughtful and helpful….in the wild. Where you can roam free😊

Thank you! Nice sound 5:59

What a great video! I struggle to compose melodies; however, I'm quite adept at deciphering chords and crafting progressions. Do you have a recipe for me :)

And... and... endless posibilites ! Like game never end until mom or dad pushing to stop it in a deep night...

I found myself arranging in a very similar way! It's great method for bringing life to generative modular patches as well - I just record each track for the full duration and then start chopping things out in various ways. One more generative way to have subteactive arrangement is to automate the channels off and on (or turning the gain way down and then back to normal - I use the utility plugin in Ableton) with slow LFOs (square wave for sudden cuts, potentially, or I use thr "Shaper" plugin within Ableton for more gradual fades) that are tempo synced and are also at staggered levels for each, so they are off and on at different times from one another. This can bring life to some very pad-based pieces, or elements of a piece while maintaining a certain stability as each element comes in and out at a steady pace.

I looked for an appropriate place to add this thought and this one seems as good as any. Do you ever begin with physics, gravity, for example. In other words, choosing musical form based on a physical phenomenon. This question popped into my head after watching ‘The Three Body Problem’ and reading the first book in the series. How would I create a musical design that operates as three elements that push and pull on each other but never escape their bonds? Fugue sounds right but maybe just as a background - fugue as ostinato? Would I represent the bodies as harmonies that shift and morph? The POV (as in the story) would be from the planet which suffers and thrives depending on a current position, moving from chaos to peace and peace to chaos. So, just like the book, it’s a narrative scheme based on a physics conundrum. Maybe this is an online composing challenge? Or maybe I’m just thinking way too hard.

it´s a bit of "pattern mode" style: mute or activate parts. I use this all the time.

Question, as it relates to this video and also to others in the series. You develop a set of loops that work together. Then subtract. Which is awesome itself, and a helpful workflow to try. Building up towards a climax. How would the idea of B parts fit into the A parts (or chorus parts, etc.) that you have developed subtractively here fit with the concept of a second set of parts that is different from, but complements the A parts? Not saying it has to be that way, just curious as I am drawn to learning to write in something of a traditional song structure.

Do you like Mogwai at all? Some of these ideas and techniques remind me of their work a bit.

You don't give yourself enough credit, because there is one element you fail to mention: talent (and training, of course). You have to be talented, in the first place, to get to the point where one can start subtracting parts. It is a constant battle with me, and why I have a collaborator who tells me when to shut it down otherwise I would be a failure.

Good stuff. I thought I was being lazy when I tried to do it this way.