EP length

adzbro · Post by **adzbro** » Thu Aug 06, 2009 10:04 am

kinda a silly question
I have no way to play vinyl so im listening to all my dubstep digitally
I'd just like to know how long an EP usually is? like how many tracks/runtime etc. on a vinyl
I come from a rock/metal background where an EP is like 3-6 tracks or so and maybe 20 mins or something.

similar thing in electronic music?

Mad_EP · Post by **Mad_EP** » Thu Aug 06, 2009 10:21 am

there are probably a dozen different views (and most of em equally legit/correct)...

but personally I feel an EP should be at least 3 tracks. if it is only 2, then I consider that a single. additionally, even if there are 3-6 tracks, but only 1 tune with remixes, I still call that a single.

as for length- since you are talking about vinyl- the range is going to be limited because most people don't like to press longer than 12-13 minutes per side for sound quality reasons.

however, a cd EP with 3-6 tracks could easily be 35 minutes.

just my opinion tho--

morro_e · Post by **morro_e** » Thu Aug 06, 2009 10:35 am

i agree with mad ep pretty much

2 songs = single, 3 and more = EP, after comes albums and shit

paradigm_x · Post by **paradigm_x** » Thu Aug 06, 2009 11:21 am

AN EP traditionally had to be less than 40 minutes to not be an album in terms of charts etc.

Irrelevant these days (AFAIK???)...

I have a 5 treack EP coming out soon, you should buy it and check against that

lojik · Post by **lojik** » Thu Aug 06, 2009 12:16 pm

I'd usually go for 4 track EP, its a nice number a can get the point across easily.

morro_e · Post by **morro_e** » Thu Aug 06, 2009 8:30 pm

Paradigm X wrote:I have a 5 treack EP coming out soon, you should buy it and check against that

abZ · Post by **abZ** » Thu Aug 06, 2009 8:44 pm

Paradigm X wrote:AN EP traditionally had to be less than 40 minutes to not be an album in terms of charts etc.

Irrelevant these days (AFAIK???)...

I have a 5 treack EP coming out soon, you should buy it and check against that

I have never heard that before. Albums when vinyl was king where usually 30 to 40 minutes long. It is somewhat irrelevant these days but I have recently seen with digital dubstep releases where it is 2 songs and they call it an EP conversely I have seen as many as 16 tracks conisdered an EP! For my label I just call it as if it was vinyl, that is what I know. My singles are 2 tracks and EP's are 4. LP is 10+.

Technically EP stands for Extended Play whereas LP is Long Play. The way I would decipher that is EP is an extended single.

Wikipedia is usually pretty good for this sort of thing http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extended_play

whineo · Post by **whineo** » Thu Aug 06, 2009 10:39 pm

if 1 song is 40 mins or more then it is an EP
(well, that was true in the 90s)

deadly_habit · Post by **deadly_habit** » Thu Aug 06, 2009 11:29 pm

3-5 tunes makes an ep for me
in runtime depends on if your cutting 33 or 45

paradigm_x · Post by **paradigm_x** » Fri Aug 07, 2009 8:06 am

abZ wrote:
Paradigm X wrote:AN EP traditionally had to be less than 40 minutes to not be an album in terms of charts etc.

Irrelevant these days (AFAIK???)...

I have a 5 treack EP coming out soon, you should buy it and check against that
I have never heard that before. Albums when vinyl was king where usually 30 to 40 minutes long. It is somewhat irrelevant these days but I have recently seen with digital dubstep releases where it is 2 songs and they call it an EP conversely I have seen as many as 16 tracks conisdered an EP! For my label I just call it as if it was vinyl, that is what I know. My singles are 2 tracks and EP's are 4. LP is 10+.

Technically EP stands for Extended Play whereas LP is Long Play. The way I would decipher that is EP is an extended single.

Wikipedia is usually pretty good for this sort of thing http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extended_play

There was def somethign to do with this in the UK for chart ratings; maybe a 'single' had to be 40 mins or less. I distinctly remember because some shoegaze band did a 'single'/'EP' that was 39mins 59, which got some publicitiy.

Utterly irrelevant these days tho

3-5 tunes makes an EP i guess.

adzbro · Post by **adzbro** » Fri Aug 07, 2009 10:58 am

im assuming you guys are talking about 12" yeah?
also Im definately gotta go find a record player somewhere.

EP length

EP length

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