Orchestration: Make Block Piano Chords Sound Like an Organized String Arrangement
My biggest challenge when I started using sample library orchestras was figuring out how to achieve clarity.
I couldn't make sense of what elements were affecting which sounds. Why did it sound so muddy? Why did it feel monotonous? Why were some notes or sections getting lost?
This is my way of systematically approaching orchestration in the broadest way possible. There will be metaphors and analogies.
Use Four Voices
To start, use SATB (Soprano, Alto, Tenor, Bass) as your anchor point—keep chords to 4 notes—then expand onto adding more notes/colors once you know what the essence of the chord should feel like.
Your chord's essence is its "vibe." Adding to or subtracting from it changes the "vibe."
Once you're comfortable with adding more colors (6ths, 7ths, 9, 11, 13th notes, etc.), you can give those colors to different instruments in the orchestra.
Rhythm
I like to think of rhythm as organic cell division. When a cell divides, a whole becomes two halves. Those two halves become four quarters, etc.
All of those cells want to organize themselves to become an efficient, breathing ecosystem. You, the creator, instruct those cells to organize in specific ways.
Movement
Cells are made up of molecules. When molecules vibrate, they create heat. When they don't, the heat leaves.
This is the process of heating and cooling.
Similarly, if your orchestration has too many complex lines and moves in unnecessary directions, it sounds messy/overwhelming. Your composition is too hot! Slow things down!
If you've written sustained notes for too many measures, your composition sounds a little cold—there's no fire to it. It's boring.
The trick to making your composition interesting is to have enough elements moving around so that our ears can pick up on certain things while the rest of the elements are things we feel rather than hear.
If It's Low, Use Wide Spacing. If It's High, It's OK to Use Closer Spacing
This isn't a hard rule, but it's a great way to think about how frequencies work together. Generally, think of what happens when you play a bunch of low notes together... it gets muddy and disorganized. What you're hearing is frequencies clashing against each other. This can be good for some things, but not for when we want to make something generally considered "beautiful."
The Bass Is What We Feel The Most
A relevant side note is to remember that the bass note is what we feel in our chests. When the bass note is the chord's root note, it feels the most "complete."
A Video Example
Here's what you're watching:
Pure piano chords (D7, Gsus4, Gmin). Block chords for clarity. I did 4-voice chords with a melody (5th voice) on top. I'm about to shave that 4th voice off on the next one so we can keep it to a simple SATB. This is usually how I write melodies and chords. I think of the melody or "vibe," then layer colors vertically (chords) and horizontally (chord voices moving up or down).
Here are those same chords, but organized into SATB (represented in Blue, Red, Green, and Orange). I've moved them around (usually by octaves) to get the sound to feel open (less risk of muddiness and it lends itself to good voice leading). But, as the creative process goes, I ended up not liking this iteration when I performed it with strings. In the next step, you'll see that I moved things and added more "color."
On this next iteration, I've added movement on the Bass, which is playing a simple arp'd chord (D, then Gmin—I leave the additional colors to instruments with higher frequencies). Also, I'd like to point out that I've taken the Alto from Part 2 down an octave and made it a Tenor. I often have to move notes an octave to achieve the sound I want. They're usually the exact same note (again, just an octave), but moving them an octave can make a world of difference. The Alto and Tenor both start to take on more colors as we move into the 2nd part of the melody (on the Gmin chord).
Finally, this is what it sounds like on strings. There's a lot of movement, but it's relatively simple from a rhythmic or harmonic POV. They're just playing simple chords but with added colors on top. From here, you can consider what woodwinds or brass can do. I remember learning that I should think of instruments in an orchestra as "additional color" rather than "additional notes." That alone has offered my compositions clarity and room to breathe.
No Rules
Ultimately, there are no rules; it's about preference. And it takes a long time to figure out what colors work for the sound you want to achieve. The hardest part about that is not knowing what will sound good until you try it, but the remedy is to keep playing around, experimenting, and studying the giants that came before you.
Eventually, you'll notice that you like one configuration over another, and you'll do more of that until you settle into a comfortable, wonderful-sounding pattern. That becomes your "sound."
And then you'll say, "I feel like I need to reinvent myself," and you can go on this journey again in a different direction.
Have fun rediscovering yourself over and over again. I look forward to hearing what you come up with!