[MUSIC] One really effective tool, when you

start thinking about arranging the music that's going to be on your record,
is a concept called The Rule of Threes. Now, again, there's no real rules here,
but these are tendencies, and once you start thinking about the record
in this way, it can be really, really helpful, in terms of trying to organize
what you're doing arrangement wise. And what the Rule of Threes
basically states is this, is that most records that really work and are successful
arrangement wise,
basically have three things going on. They have the lead, which is often
the vocal or the lead instrument. Then they have a rhythm section that
really kind of acts as a cohesive unit, and your mind can kind of
lump all that together. And then there's usually one more thing,
and I call that the wild card, and that can be the one thing
that isn't the lead vocal and it's not the rhythm section,
it's doing something else. If you think about some examples, and
I'd encourage you to go find these and listen to them. One really easy example to
get your
mind around is Sultans of Swing by Dire Straits. You've got that rhythm section,
and they are just playing so well together that you're not thinking
about the separate drum part, and the separate bass part, and
the separate rhythm guitar part. The rhythm guitar and the high hat
are just totally dialed in together. The bass and the kick drum are just
absolutely coupling in a very, very effective way. And they just form this really
great
cohesive unit that your brain can say, that's the beat. And then you've got the
lead vocal
which is telling the story, and then the wild card, in that case,
is Mark Knopfler's lead guitar and that's giving the other
interest in the song. And those three things are really
working together very effectively to make this recording. The interesting thing is
it's not
just recordings of popular music. Most Beethoven symphonies really kind
of adhere to the Rule of Threes, if you listen to it. You've got the main part
that's going
forth, you've got something in the rhythm, you've got something else going on. And
these are all intertwining to make all
sorts of cool stuff, and it seems very, very complicated, and yet,
we can really ferret out what's going on. What we're talking here
about is cognitive load. How many things can human beings have
going on in their brain at the same time. In terms of some other examples that
are maybe a little bit more complex, I will invite you to listen to
I am the Walrus by the Beatles. Now, this is one where
the wildcard keeps shifting. And if you listen to this carefully, first off you
notice that the rhythm
section keeps this quarter note pulse, and just as throbbing into this quarter note
pulse, and it's kind of mesmerizing. But it also really keeps
that rhythm section focused. You've got the lead vocal, John Lennon,
that's very distorted, and the lyrics are very strange. And then the wild card
tends to go
between these very strange cello lines. And this choir of vocals
that are going up and down. And a lot of times it's actually being
handed off between these things. And sometimes you'll hear, if you analyze
this, you'll hear the cellos switch between being the wildcard, where they're
doing all sorts of glissandos, to then going right into the quarter note pulse
and becoming part of the rhythm section. As one other elements takes
over as that wild card. So it's a really interesting
thing to analyze if you really want to get into how this
can be done in a more complicated way. A more contemporary example would
be just something like Uptown Funk. If you listen to that,
the rhythm section is right together. They got a really steady beat,
the bass and the guitar and the drums are right in there together, and
then you've got the vocals, obviously. The wild card goes between
being the background vocals, kind of the gang vocals, and the brass and
those things all kind of mix together and make a really unified,
unified sounding record. So, thinking about this can help you
when you're arranging the record in the first place. It can also help you when
you're
going to organize the mix. It can also help you when
you're editing tracks and trying to get things to
play nicely together. And it especially can help you
when you're trying to decide, what are the things I
should maybe get rid of. Often, when you're in a multi-track
recording situation, and you're adding tracks, and
you're adding tracks, people come in and they ask the question, gee,
what does this record need. And I think that a much more valid
question is what can we leave out of this record. Is there too much on there and
having the rule of reason why
can help you kind of figure out. You know what? This doesn't really work as wild
card,
this doesn't really gel with the rhythm section, let's see what
happens if we mute this. So think about this Rule of Threes,
I think it can really help you. It's really helped me, and I know it's
helped a lot of other people think about how to organize the arrangement. Now if
you're just a singer songwriter,
if you're just doing recordings of just you and your guitar, you don't
have to fill up all three things. Okay, you can have a Rule of Twos in
your case, or you can sing acapella and just have one thing going on,
and that can be super-effective. I'm not saying that this Rule of
Threes is really a hard and fast rule. But it's generally a way of organizing
ensembles of players and soloists into a way where cognitively, human beings are
going to respond to it in a positive way.