novabrkr said:

Really? I've never seen the word "arranger" used in that manner. That sounds exactly what a "producer" does, or rather, used to do in the past decades. An arranger is the person who provides the musical arrangements for the songs, by taking into account what type of musicians and instruments are going to be involved. That's exactly what someone like Gil Evans did.

In some cases, an "arranger" may be someone who writes only specific parts for the music. For example, Clare Fischer has done many string arrangements for Prince's songs. I've never seen the term being used for "arranging" organizational and practical matters.

Both words are used to describe the same function basically(which is why they're so damn tricky nowadays).

What you described is also very accurate.

I'm done. I lasted about 15 seconds. As soon as I heard "you know where I come from shawty" I'd had enough.

novabrkr said:

It's just a remake and they're seldom that special.

The autotune sounds very cheap on it, but it always sounds cheap when it's overused.

I don't think there's anything too strange about old artists releasing "updated" versions of material they were involved with during their most successful years. Quincy Jones has done a lot of covers anyway, so it seems like a natural choice. The track might have been also chosen for an inclusion on his record, because Quincy Jones was given also a songwriting credit for it originally. Notice that Michael himself wasn't. It's not like Quincy is insisting on including this version on all the future editions of "Thriller".

Harlepolis said:

SoulAlive said:

Very good point.Quincy seems like the type of producer who basically brings together a bunch of talented musicians and supervises their work.In the case of 'Thriller',Michael had already written and recorded a few demos before entering the studio with Quincy.

Back then, the "arranger" term was more used than producer, which is the practical term that describes Quincy just as much it described Gil Evans, Arif Mardin, Jerry Wexler, Willie Mitchell.

Those guys provided the musicians, the setting and how an album should be recorded.

Yeah, I figured he was probably an arranger, as he started out with big bands.

I doubt he was writing out arrangements for the pop stuff (to the point of telling the guitar player exactly what notes to play), but my guess is he more or less was the arranger for his fairly complex productions.

NDRU said:

Harlepolis said:

Back then, the "arranger" term was more used than producer, which is the practical term that describes Quincy just as much it described Gil Evans, Arif Mardin, Jerry Wexler, Willie Mitchell.

Those guys provided the musicians, the setting and how an album should be recorded.

Yeah, I figured he was probably an arranger, as he started out with big bands.

I doubt he was writing out arrangements for the pop stuff (to the point of telling the guitar player exactly what notes to play), but my guess is he more or less was the arranger for his fairly complex productions.

Probably co-arranger on the pop stuff.

Timmy84 said:

NDRU said:

Yeah, I figured he was probably an arranger, as he started out with big bands.

I doubt he was writing out arrangements for the pop stuff (to the point of telling the guitar player exactly what notes to play), but my guess is he more or less was the arranger for his fairly complex productions.

Probably co-arranger on the pop stuff.

depending on who he worked with, yeah, but really I'm just saying that big band stuff might be written out note for note, but I doubt the pop stuff is. My guess is pop musicians get more guidance and suggestions than they get sheet music.

This song, as well as the rest of this album is atrocious.

Don't even let me get started on that Sanford & Son remake...

NDRU said:

Timmy84 said:

Probably co-arranger on the pop stuff.

depending on who he worked with, yeah, but really I'm just saying that big band stuff might be written out note for note, but I doubt the pop stuff is. My guess is pop musicians get more guidance and suggestions than they get sheet music.

There are usually charts with the chord structure and possible rhytmic accents the arrangement calls for, or bass lines. So a "pop record" arrangement is definitely not written out note-for-note - it's usually only in the case if the composer wants a certain rhythm or bass line, everything else is up to the musician(s). That's what their craft is, creating something good out of a chart and some directions.

In terms of those MJ records, I believe the arrangements were mostly made by Quincy Jones and Jerry Hey, and Quincy's responsibility was mostly the rhytmic arrangement. Remember, Quincy comes from a big band background, so he definitely knows how to get an ensemble sound great, and how to arrange a horn section. Jerry Hey is a master horn arranger though and I think he did most of the horns.

I wrote about the same subject a bit on the "Open letter to Quincy Jones" thread over here.

Identity said:

bboy87 said:

I want Identity to be banned for posting this

Ha! Ha!

I should've prefaced the video with a warning that "listening to the remake might cause short-term dizziness and nausea".

Listening to that gave me erectile dysfunction.

I don't even have a penis

Nikademus said:

Identity said:

Ha! Ha!

I should've prefaced the video with a warning that "listening to the remake might cause short-term dizziness and nausea".

Listening to that gave me erectile dysfunction.

I don't even have a penis

Vaginal Dryness then?

EmbattledWarrior said:

Nikademus said:

Listening to that gave me erectile dysfunction.

I don't even have a penis

Vaginal Dryness then?

Mojave

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