On Dec 29, 2004, at 5:07 PM, dhbailey wrote:
I would think "transcribing from midi files -- $40/hour [or whatever]" would be sufficient.
Have the potential jobs listed as follows, each with its own rate:
Copyist -- no editing, straight copying;
Arranger -- starts with melodic line and chord progression;
Orchestrator -- starts with melodic lines and countermelodies and bass lines with chord progressions outlined;
Transcribing from midi files
Transcribing from audio cassette
Each of these jobs ends up with complete score and parts as agreed upon in the following section:
[have a checklist of various instrumental and vocal parts that you will provide]
I would list it as a separate job with a specific rate (the higher one he already said he charges for such work.)
I have a bit of a difference of opinion as to what constitutes orchestration. In your list above, there doesn't seem to be any essential difference between arranging and orchestration. The way I was taught, the orchestrator does not add or omit any notes or change any voicings, counterlines, melodies, or accompaniment figures. Once one starts in on any of that, he is an arranger, not an orchestrator. As I mentioned before, the difference is in responsibility. The responsibility for the final sound shifts from the composer to the arranger.
In most high-end film and show work, this is indeed the way orchestration goes, but in the middle-to-low end of things where I am, working that way is impossible. I have to figure out what the client actually wanted, and create it. (It is not unlike what I do with my students, making suggestions to improve things!)
Christopher
_______________________________________________ Finale mailing list Finale@shsu.edu http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
