Charlie Haden Quotes

George Martin, he's very good at a very sort of lush, sweet arrangement.

I don't try to make 15 musicians sound like two each.

I love making music. I love being involved in arranging music. It's very natural to know what I want to hear next and come up with ideas that are variations of what might be good.

I like that kind of classic-type sound. A lot of my favorite albums were tracked live, with a four-piece band. I love the way those albums sound, but I want to make records that sound like that in the way I like to make stuff.

We really like having songs where we think the arrangement is just as important as the melodies, even though they're typically not.

I like live musicians and personally orchestrate about 80 to 90% of all my scores.

The really pop country stuff can sound a little bland because they put in strings and horns and all of that.

If you're going to start with melody you'll need some tympani, I think.

I would do the occasional score. I thought it was the most thrilling thing. It was instant. You made the music and they played it right away to millions of people. I found it thrilling.

I consider myself a composer.

I'm interested in creating a little sound world for songs, really crafting it, building it, and making it like a little doll's house with little things inside it, staircases and rooms and everything kind of relates to everything else. I've never seen it as drums, bass, guitar and vocals in very separate spaces.

The bass line is the anchor for me. I started with the bass, and either doubled that and then added the harmonies, or sometimes added my own harmonies that I've always wanted to sing on the song. And then it just went on from there - singing violin parts and trumpet parts and just trying to emulate the sounds of the instruments.

The same song can have drastically different feels and personalities just by changing some minor things. A different drumbeat or some vocal overdub could completely transform the song.

Sometimes a piece of music in the score isn't effective. When a score is too well finished with too many elements, sometimes it's too much.

Simon Hale, the British arranger, does all string and wood arrangements on my records.

I had come from an orchestral background, but I didn't really have any orchestral pieces for film.

Doing the instrumental thing, you're really looking for the power of the melody to carry the record.

We knew we wanted to put a lot of melody into it - a lot more than what we did on our first album.

But I would lie on the floor and analyze everything. I'd listen to all the strings and the background vocals on the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack and try to pick out the different instruments.

Well, when The Black Keys make a record, I never really feel limited. To me, it seems the possibilities are always endless. The big difference has been playing live and being able to recreate every little part of the record.

I mean, I don't think I would call Claus to do an album of big band tunes. You know, just like arrangers write for the artist they have in mind; you have to keep in mind if you're going to work with Claus Ogerman. You invite him to do what he does.

When I think of Morricone, more than his using a specific instrument or a specific sound, it's his way of approaching music that sticks out.

In general, we like to play as a band - guitar, piano, and voice. We also tour with a bass player, a drummer, and somebody who plays keyboard and guitar. We try to play all of our parts and flesh it out to get a lush sound, while also keeping the energy of a three-piece punk act. We want to be the best of all possible worlds.

My music lives because of real players.

When I'm making music, I can hear all the parts, all the instruments. I can hear what it should be.