1)a folder with tons of tracks I have recorded in the last week or so and some tracks that didn't make it on the last album.
2)each track is a mastered 44.1K 16 bit wav CD ready WAV. file which has a silly name such as : 191turkfinal, 191dopfinal1,191dopfinal2
3)a windows explorer folder of .wav files where i also create a folder called not used and one called masters whereI put the nonmastered original recording and the not used is where I put tracks I decided to not use for the album because of some reason. if I really like a track but it doesn't fit the album , I will instead put it in the next album folder (album 192 for instance) to be included in the next album. this helps me keep track of all these files that build up.
4)I use a simple program called Roxio CD creator Classic: I have a folder called album191 which contains a bunch of mastered unreleased tracks that were recorded for this album. Hopefully error free. From these, I choose which tracks will appear on the album, how long the album will be, the order of the tracks and length between tracks and then I burn a CD-r 'master'.
NOTE: click on the graphic above to see it full size
Notice the names of each track are cryptic silly names.The reason for this, is that I base the names of the tracks on the artwork of theme of the Album usually after the track has been recorded,simple enough because these are instrumental tracks.So, eventually a track called 191mort2final will end up being called 'Escapade' ,etc... I also try to keep an album to about 1 hour or people complain that its too long or too short.I have seen albums that are 30 minutes long only. In any case, this is just my preference.1 hour or so seems just right.
To me, ,even in the days of .99 single tracks, the order of the tracks is very important as it creates a theme for the album and the flow of an album. From slow to fast or vice versa and intensity or perhaps one track is a perfect intro for the next track ,etc..this is where your creativity or musical sense comes in and to me is as important as creating the music. for examples, see Pink Floyd the wall for example. or the Who "Tommy' albums. (except for that freaky fiddle about song...?!?!)
Transitions /gaps in songs - the industry standard is 2 seconds between tracks and it works for me most of the time. Sometimes if you want to have a track come right after the first for dramatic affect you might say no transition, but I have only done that one time on Modern rock guitar vol. 33 years ago.It had an orchestral intro and then the track would come in. But, most of the time 2 seconds per tracks works great,allows those crappy cheapo CD players mechanically to keep up without cutting off intro's or endings.
Use the preview section to listen to the tracks or even the first couple of seconds of the track, does the intro of one track sound like the one before or after it? if so, it may not be in the 'right' place for the CD.This is subjective of course. Also, listen for correct fade in's,etc...
I guess I should also mention CD volume of the tracks. I master my own tracks so they all have pretty close the same volume. But this is something to listen for as well.there are fancier red book CD creator programs that will bring all tracks to similar volume,but sometimes those have bad audio results.But it may be a needed,if your tracks go from way to loud to not loud enough.This should be handled in the mastering or at least for me this works out fine and I have rarely had to bring the volume down of one track to match others. Use your ears. Don't be a pinhead and try to get the loudest CD that distorts and has digital distortion to beat out the major label discs destined for radio. you squeeze the dynamic range and add noise and ear fatigue. I mean if your tracks are mastered they don't have to be the loudest of the loud, case in point: compare any Rush album to a Michel Hedges album (Arial Boundaries is a good example) ,you will be amazed at how much louder the Rush album is compared to the Michael Hedges Arial Boundaries album, yet the Michael Hedges album will have every bit of sound quality if not more dynamic range.
I guess I should make an exception for those who use premastered tracks to send to a professional mastering house.But, some prefer the cheap home computer mastering which is cheap but can work ok..Of course a professional mastering house would be better but so would recording in a million dollar studio instead of your bedroom /.
Another tip is burn a draft CD of the album and go listen to it.I do this while going to sleep.It has been so very helpful, as I often find crappy choice of song order, faults in songs I didn't realize were there or tracks that were never faded out and abruptly end when they should not. If listening on the computer it is easy to get distracted and songs tend to just flow by with little thought.It is hard to concentrate on music critically for long period s of time,so I advice creating a CD to listen to and live with for at least a day or two if not longer. you may find you want to make changes.
.I have at least 3 or for 4 Cd-r coasters of earlier attempts before finding the right order for an album.I sometimes make a track change and even some further editing before its done. So make sure you stock up on those 100 CD-r rolls of blanks and a CD burner of course.
If satisfied, I then send the cd-r to a manufacturer along (with arwork which I will cover in another blog) to be made.Pat your self on the back that you didn't need Satan's help or dark magic to create an album/CD.
Denis Taaffe
denis@dtguitar.com
http://www.dtguitar.com
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