How to quickly ARRANGE a song for production: The "scratch vocals" --your partner in crime!!!

Arranging a composition in order to have it laid out for production requires some planning depending on how the creative juices are flowing.  It could take a long time or not.  But, having your bases covered from the beginning will make the process a smoother one.

From my experience, the most useful technique so far (and I have tried many!), has been the scratch vocals.  A general ideal of the vocals with all its desired inflections will give the producer/arranger a very clear path as to what comes next.

How to get the vocals recorded as a scratch recording?  Well, this is a rough recording, but not necessarily an unimportant one.  Sometimes, I have kept a track of the scratch vocals in order to keep referencing even after the song has the definitive vocals in the mix already.

The attitude transmitted and emotions put in this performance of scratch vocals have proven very hard to duplicate later.  So, record your scratch vocals first and foremost.  Keep them in a very safe place through the tracking and production, and you will notice how the blueprint will be that much easier to follow.

For other great production techniques, please visit Larry Crane's webpage.  A great resource!

This video posted on Larry's production techniques can help quite a bit as well.