Harmonic/Frequency clarity
I thought I'd start with Harmonic clarity first. It goes without saying that in any ensemble volumes should be adjusted correctly and correct harmonies are used. However even when you do that sometimes you'll find your song is muddy or there is something that doesn't sound right. I'll go over a few common problems.
Be careful not to exceed low interval limits. The lower you go the wider the intervals should be. Of course there are no absolutes , but in general this is true. I'll give some examples.
Some don't sound too bad and others sound like a muddy mess. Although all the notes are correct something sounds wrong.
Now here are some better voiced chords.
I just changed the bottom notes to octaves and then arranged the top notes accordingly.
Here are a few more examples of bad voicings followed by better versions.
I'm sure you're thinking, that's easy enough, but the hard part is remembering not to do this when you have multiple instruments playing. It's easy to voice your piano parts the correct way, but then once you add the guitar you end up with frequencies clashing all over the place. This is especially apparent when 2 instruments play on the downbeat of a measure. This is a common problem, so I'll give a few examples.
Although I've heard worse, something definitely seems off. In the 2nd measure the piano is playing a B and the Oboe is playing an A. These 2 notes are causing a congested sound. The same thing happens in the following bar also. Below is a version that has the piano playing a different chord voicing.
To be honest this version isn't ideal for me, but sometimes you can't always get what you want and sometimes you have to compromise. In general I think that if you have an extension like a 6th(the note A in this example) it should be in the melody(oboe) and not just the harmony. That said I believe it is an improvement. Below are some other ways to solve problems with arrangements.
Subtract notes- Instead of having the piano and guitar both play big lush chords have each play less notes and the combined sound will be better. Often times in jazz the piano or guitar will just play 2 notes and let the bass play the root of the chord. This leaves very little chance for clashes to happen since there isn't much to clash with. Funk music takes a similar approach and goes a bit further by having each instrument play its own rhythm/riff. Often times guitarists and piano players that are used to playing by themselves play these big chord voicings and then when they are playing in a band they tend to clash with the other instruments. Sometimes all it takes to fix this is have the guitar player use only the top 4 strings or have the piano player take their left hand off the keyboard.
Change the rhythm- As long as the clashing notes aren't playing at the same time things will be fine. Sometimes shortening a few notes will be enough to fix things and other times it's better to change a chord into an arpeggio. Arpeggiating chords can be used as a way to avoid clashing notes when you can't change octaves. You can also make a riff that will outline a chord which is useful for funk, rock or metal.
Change the octave- Sometimes it's as simple as changing the octave of a note. The minor 2nd is pretty dissonant, but the minor 9th is much less so.
Hopefully that helped a little bit, but as always let your ear be your guide because if it sounds good it is good. Also check out some of my songs and arrangements on the side of this page or at productiontrax and leave a comment below.
Part 1 - Thoughts on Arranging
Part 2 - Timbre
Part 3 - Rhythmic clarity
Part 5 - Seeing the big picture
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