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Music => Music => Topic started by: Master_Z on June 14, 2011, 08:11:30 AM

Title: How long does it take for you to arrange a piece?
Post by: Master_Z on June 14, 2011, 08:11:30 AM
Just wondering this because I seem to get sidetracked and lose my motivation to continue a lot of times.
Title: Re: How long does it take for you to arrange a piece?
Post by: Greg on June 14, 2011, 08:48:27 AM
Depends on how much time I have to arrange, and how complex the piece is. I do focus on one piece at a time though.

In terms of working time, about 3 hours for a two-piano piece typically.

In terms of actual time, it varies from a week to a month. >_>
Title: Re: How long does it take for you to arrange a piece?
Post by: SlowPokemon on June 14, 2011, 09:29:14 AM
Usually less than two hours.
Title: Re: How long does it take for you to arrange a piece?
Post by: Shadoninja on June 14, 2011, 12:03:24 PM
depends on the length and complexity.
a short, simple piece could be done in around 30-40 minutes.
a long, complicated may take me probably 8 hours total.

also, if i'm doing it by ear there's a lot of time used to repeat sections, so it'd be like double if I was arranging by midi.
Title: Re: How long does it take for you to arrange a piece?
Post by: fingerz on June 14, 2011, 03:25:12 PM
About a day.
Title: Re: How long does it take for you to arrange a piece?
Post by: Olimar12345 on June 14, 2011, 05:46:05 PM
Yeah, an hour or two if I'm actually trying. I believe the fastest I've ever completed a piece(from start to finish) was 4 minutes, but that piece doesnt really count...
Title: Re: How long does it take for you to arrange a piece?
Post by: MaestroUGC on June 14, 2011, 09:06:04 PM
I used to at least produce them in about 4-5 hours, not in one sitting. Now, since I started to get more artistic with them, anywhere from about 3hrs to a few days, total time actually working on them.
Title: Re: How long does it take for you to arrange a piece?
Post by: Tangy on June 19, 2011, 04:58:07 PM
A 40 bar piece for solo piano done by ear usually takes me three hours, unless it's really repetitive or something.
Title: Re: How long does it take for you to arrange a piece?
Post by: starrgrl24 on June 20, 2011, 10:31:04 AM
Normally it would take me about 1-2 days to arrange a music, but that's because I spend most of the time trying to figure out the meter and inserting the notes onto finale. Also I tend to distract myself from time to time...

Now that I have a tablet, I can actually put the notes in much more efficiently. :D
Title: Re: How long does it take for you to arrange a piece?
Post by: fingerz on June 20, 2011, 02:55:39 PM
I have a tablet, though I prefer to use a mouse.
Title: Re: How long does it take for you to arrange a piece?
Post by: Shadoninja on June 20, 2011, 02:57:07 PM
mouse and keyboard works best for me.
Title: Re: How long does it take for you to arrange a piece?
Post by: Olimar12345 on June 21, 2011, 11:12:33 AM
Quote from: Shadoninja on June 20, 2011, 02:57:07 PMmouse and keyboard works best for me.
Me too. All of those keyboard shortcuts...
Title: Re: How long does it take for you to arrange a piece?
Post by: KefkaticFanatic on June 22, 2011, 01:49:32 PM
The one I ever did took like 3-4 hours, and that was through painful manual click input and not knowing any shortcuts.

Arranged by listening to the song by a piano, figuring out individual notes and marking them on paper, and then putting that into Finale.
Title: Re: How long does it take for you to arrange a piece?
Post by: Brassman388 on June 22, 2011, 04:04:32 PM
Quote from: KefkaticFanatic on June 22, 2011, 01:49:32 PMArranged by listening to the song by a piano, figuring out individual notes and marking them on paper, and then putting that into Finale.

Oh the days of good ol' pen and paper.
Title: Re: How long does it take for you to arrange a piece?
Post by: fingerz on June 22, 2011, 04:34:15 PM
Yes. I remember doing that until I got a computer. :P
Title: Re: How long does it take for you to arrange a piece?
Post by: KefkaticFanatic on June 22, 2011, 10:24:54 PM
No laptop (or portable keyboard) so no such option for meh o:
Title: Re: How long does it take for you to arrange a piece?
Post by: dahans on June 25, 2011, 02:15:48 AM
It takes me about 2 hours if I like the piece :D. Otherwise it might take me a week.
Title: Re: How long does it take for you to arrange a piece?
Post by: Nana1Popo2 on June 26, 2011, 12:15:32 AM
Quote from: KefkaticFanatic on June 22, 2011, 01:49:32 PMArranged by listening to the song by a piano, figuring out individual notes and marking them on paper, and then putting that into Finale.

that's actually how I still do it, haha. Works well!

for me, considering how detailed I can be, about.. a few weeks.. only because I rarely have time. for a piano piece.
Title: Re: How long does it take for you to arrange a piece?
Post by: Clanker37 on June 26, 2011, 05:07:09 AM
Meh it depends on how I like the piece. If I love it I will start it and finish it in one go usualy taking about 5 hours max, but if I don't really like it sometimes it can take weeks. Also if the piece is really difficult it can prolong it even further
Title: Re: How long does it take for you to arrange a piece?
Post by: Sekter77 on June 26, 2011, 08:34:37 PM
It's usually only a matter of a few hours. I only pick short-ish songs most of the time though. Very few songs I've arranged have even gone up to 2 minutes in length. Once I get the motivation to start, I'll go through the whole arrangement in one or two sittings.

The hardest part is almost always the accompaniment because either I can't hear it very well over the melody or there's so many (or so few) parts that I don't know what I would write down. I decide which songs to arrange by figuring out if I can hear all the necessary parts in them. Songs that I would've liked to arrange I sometimes have to reject because they fail those criteria. That's why I love arranging classic tunes, especially Game Boy stuff. They have only a few distinct parts to them so it's easier to focus and decide what to write.
Title: Re: How long does it take for you to arrange a piece?
Post by: Dudeman on June 27, 2011, 03:41:52 PM
Quote from: Sekter77 on June 26, 2011, 08:34:37 PMIt's usually only a matter of a few hours. I only pick short-ish songs most of the time though. Very few songs I've arranged have even gone up to 2 minutes in length. Once I get the motivation to start, I'll go through the whole arrangement in one or two sittings.

The hardest part is almost always the accompaniment because either I can't hear it very well over the melody or there's so many (or so few) parts that I don't know what I would write down. I decide which songs to arrange by figuring out if I can hear all the necessary parts in them. Songs that I would've liked to arrange I sometimes have to reject because they fail those criteria. That's why I love arranging classic tunes, especially Game Boy stuff. They have only a few distinct parts to them so it's easier to focus and decide what to write.
^This is me, as well.
Title: Re: How long does it take for you to arrange a piece?
Post by: Oritendo on July 06, 2011, 11:56:14 AM
depends if you like it or not
Title: Re: How long does it take for you to arrange a piece?
Post by: SlowPokemon on July 06, 2011, 12:53:22 PM
I only arrange things I've already heard and like. Btw, I usually have youtube open in one window and finale also open, and I listen to maybe a five second chunk of the song several times until I can get the melody, then I listen purely for the bass to get that accurate as well.
Title: Re: How long does it take for you to arrange a piece?
Post by: Greg on July 06, 2011, 03:00:53 PM
Youtube... pshhh, I DOWNLOAD the video. Media player is the best for getting those hard-to-hear parts.
Title: Re: How long does it take for you to arrange a piece?
Post by: Shadoninja on July 06, 2011, 03:03:44 PM
audacity's even better because then you can adjust the tempo to your liking instead of having to use media player's default "slow" setting. also you can select a range of what's played so you can go over a certain measure(s) or a certain few beats.
Title: Re: How long does it take for you to arrange a piece?
Post by: Oritendo on July 06, 2011, 05:30:03 PM
Quote from: gzgregory on July 06, 2011, 03:00:53 PMYoutube... pshhh, I DOWNLOAD the video. Media player is the best for getting those hard-to-hear parts.
download, pshhh, I buy the game!  :)

EDIT: Ok, I don't BUY the game. if I don't have it I just dont try it.
Title: Re: How long does it take for you to arrange a piece?
Post by: SWMadness on July 07, 2011, 07:52:25 AM
Quote from: Sekter77 on June 26, 2011, 08:34:37 PMThe hardest part is almost always the accompaniment because either I can't hear it very well over the melody or there's so many (or so few) parts that I don't know what I would write down. I decide which songs to arrange by figuring out if I can hear all the necessary parts in them. Songs that I would've liked to arrange I sometimes have to reject because they fail those criteria. That's why I love arranging classic tunes, especially Game Boy stuff. They have only a few distinct parts to them so it's easier to focus and decide what to write.

Yeah, I've been trying to work on a few Kirby's Epic Yarn songs, and I've been running into those problems. The recognizable melody is shared between several different layers and it's kind of tricky to figure out how to combine them together into a playable form.