4. Avoid overcrowding the arrangement
Sometimes we get excited about our compositional ideas and want to utilize all of them at once. This will almost always lead to overcrowding which, especially with woodwind arrangement, can diminish the clarity of a piece and ruin the balance of an ensemble. Too many elements in a narrow register make it difficult for a listener to discern the voices in a piece. This creates a muddy sound that lacks impact.
To avoid this kind of overcrowding, you should carefully consider the orchestration of your instruments. Don’t think of your woodwinds in a vacuum – remember that they are likely interacting with other voices across the orchestra (or instruments like synthesizers). Be mindful of the overall texture of your work and distribute melodies and harmonies strategically. An arrangement can be muddy, just like a mixdown.
Within Action Woodwinds, you can use the Editor tab to customize which instruments are playing in which register, per phrase. This can be a super effective tool for dialing in exactly how many woodwinds you want to play at any given moment, ensuring that all the instruments in your piece remain balanced.