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How would you go about making an album? I hear a lot of people saying an album needs to be 'fluid', 'cohesive' and not just a bunch of tracks thrown together. The question is HOW do you go about it, technically & creatively? I've never understood this concept.

It IS a difficult thing man, and artists and labels all have different approaches.
Some artists might say I'm gonna write a bunch of tracks around a theme tying together a particular set of methods, sounds or styles. And the appearance of cohesion might just result from the tracks being written within a short period anyway.

Or a label might say send us a bunch of tracks and we'll select the best ones for a long player format based on whatever theme appears to them.

If you are self releasing then you're free to do it however u want and just apply whatever constraints necessary to get it done. To get it released by a label, however, might be difficult, as I think albums are typically the RESULT of a label's existing interest in you based on demos they've heard. Most artists I know who've released albums have done it according to a label's initiative and review and it's totally up to the label to decide which tracks go together. You can piece this together from artist interviews too.
I'm Policy by the way and have a forthcoming album coming out this year.

I'm currently constructing an EP, admittedly it'll never get a proper release, but I wanted to force myself to finish the countless WIP tracks I have.

I've based the tracks around the same tempo and downtempo theme so that they do flow, but I wouldn't say that defines an EP or album - if you look at the releases from some "big" names recently their albums are anything but cohesive whereby jump-up electro tracks sit side by side with heavy dubstep and chilled prog house tracks.

I'd say go with whatever feels right to you.

I would be very happy if I even get to the point where I have enough tracks I'm content with to just
throw an album together

I find an album/ep creates itself if you do all the songs at a particular point in time. This period could even be months long, maybe even a year. But eventually your production methods, technical skill & general mood will change, affecting the new tracks your making...

The way I think about it is this. Get your setup. Use your DAW. Make your music. End of story. Oh, and have FUN!

Things will evolve with that sound as you keep learning and evolve as an electronic music producer. You just have to have the passion, the ear, and the musicianship to understand what will sell and what won't. Listen to what others might be producing and avoid making similar things, Be original. Focus on making an EP and putting somne tunes on iTunes. Albums are the next step. Big time stuff. Good luck!

Makes sure not to make 10 dance-floor tearouts back to back!

I had decided to consiously make an effort to write an ep. After doing that i ended up just writing four tracks in the time i usually olynwrote a single track, they all share a few similar elements and i just would work out an idea and instead of craming my next littleidea into the one track i would just move on to the next track instead, letting my ideas morph into several different tracks that share a similar overall vibe without exerting to much more effort during mybwriting phase. Ibstill have work todo on three of the ideas but alot of the heavy lifting got knocked out during the week of writing. Now i just smooth stuff up mix and master them.


What are your guys thoughts on artwork for free digiral releases like ep or lp? Inthought of contracting a more well known artist to create a album cover, even though i am not making money off the relese i kind of dig the idea of artwork and stuuf like that.

oops!

If you want to hear examples of these seamless albums, go listen to The chemical brothers - Further album

They merge tracks together so you can listen to the whole album non stop, but when you just listen to individual tracks they sound separate too.

MixTheVision wrote:The way I think about it is this. Get your setup. Use your DAW. Make your music. End of story. Oh, and have FUN!

Things will evolve with that sound as you keep learning and evolve as an electronic music producer. You just have to have the passion, the ear, and the musicianship to understand what will sell and what won't. Listen to what others might be producing and avoid making similar things, Be original. Focus on making an EP and putting somne tunes on iTunes. Albums are the next step. Big time stuff. Good luck!

if only it were that easy

Nothing easy is worth having ...

plus, if you're doing this because you want to be "that cool guy at the decks", then you need to re-assess yourself.