The Beginning of the End...Part 4

 

Let's Put This All Together

The songs are done. Alright. Is that it? Are we done? 

Heck no.

So, now what?

The next great adventure is setting the songs in order...assuming you have any interest in that. And, believe it not, it is a part of the process of putting a record out. I know this because I've read enough articles and interviews with bands and artists over the years discussing just how and why they put this song here or that song there to know that it's a part of the game.

And, it can be a lot of fun. Why? Because you get to listen to all your great new songs over and over again (this doesn't count the many times you went through them while recording and mixing and mastering).

The album playlist, the order in which the recording are played, assuming the listener plays them in order, is fairly important as it defines the flow the album will take when listened to. Do you want to get out of the gate fast? Then begin with a flashy number—one that sets the tone; think Hells Bells on AC/DC's Back in Black. Or maybe there's a song that defines the mood or theme of the album, say if it's all about love or a sign of the times. Maybe it's just a party album and you want the groove going right out the door.

Once that's set, lay out all the other songs and see how they fit together. If it's a CD or straight to Soundcloud or Bandcamp there's no need to find a break to flip over the record. (I never thought that would come back into vogue, but...people are buying vinyl again. Just don't know if they're actually spinning the records on a turntable.) Decide what goes where. The best way to work this out is to move them around and find what sounds best to you. Like I said, you'll be listening to the songs a lot.

Now if every song sounds the same, put the best one first—that's your single.

Next is artwork

This I leave up to you. Just make sure it's big enough and available in the right format. We'll get to that when we send it out and if we decide to have physical copies made.

©2022 David William Pearce

The Beginning of the End...Part 3

 

Recording

Because we live in the era of recorded music, it seems the logical endpoint is to want your songs to have a recorded version. Something to play for those who might want to hear it, in all its sonic glory (hopefully). Something to be remembered by. 

Then there's the nuts and bolts of it, which most songwriters and performers are unfamiliar with. The good ol' tech stuff.

Me, I record my own music. I do it because in the beginning I couldn't afford to rent time in a studio. 10 grand was a lot of money, and still is. So I got a 4-track recorder and over time taught myself how to make a decent recording. These days I have a 32-track digital studio (Tascam) on which I work my magic. I have outboard gear and pedals that I run the mics and instruments through; guitars, keyboards, and drums to perform on (I don't program the sounds mainly because I haven't taught myself to, and I'm reasonably proficient as a player so I shouldn't need to). 

The Process

Once I have to chords and lyrics to a song, I create a scratch track of the main instrument, which for me is either a guitar or a keyboard, and one for the lead vocal. From there I put together the song. Usually at that point I have a good idea of how I want the song to sound, which additional instruments to add, vocals, and the like. For the most part I get what I'm going for, but also I find that which I did not expect, which is the beauty of experimentation. Frustrations happen, but as you work through it, good things come through. Some might find this a fascinating process, others bored to tears. Playing the part requires you getting a clean take without mistakes, which sometimes means multiple takes. And every blue moon you get to the end of recording the parts and realize it's not going to work and you have to start over. I've been fortunate that that hasn't happened too often.

Pretty exciting, huh?

Like I said: nuts and bolts. How long a song takes is usually dependant on how simple or complex the arrangement. A guitar and vocal generally go quick. Multiple guitars, voices, keys, percussion, take more time and make mixing a more time consuming affair.

Mixing/Mastering

Mixing is putting it all together into something that sounds great, which isn't as easy as it sounds—exactly. It's like officiating: do it well and no one notices; do it poorly and everyone complains. I personally go for clear and clean, rather than loud and compressed, which often lends itself to muddy thick recording or all low end, some high end, and no real middle. 

I record with the mix in mind, meaning I add whatever effects directly to the track when recording it. The only variable then when mixing is reverb, which I do through the board so it can be adjusted in the mix. This makes the mixing easier because you're basically panning (moving the sound left and right) and setting track sound levels, while not also trying to find the right effects as well. Mostly this is because I don't have a beautiful Neve mixing board and a big room of outboard gear. 

Mastering is a fancy term for setting the right amount of compression across the entire song versus individual tracks after setting the final mix. I'm not a fan of all the massive compression found in pop and rock music these days. I run it through a standard program that's part of my recorder.

If you've gotten this far and haven't fallen asleep, congratulations. Like I said, nuts and bolts.

Next, making sense of what you've got.

©2022 David William Pearce