writing an album!

[eeb]

Okay so how do all of you go about writing an album... (either solo or as a band)

Do you write songs and when you have enough record it and there you go?
of do you have a process...


My band has been going through transformations for a long time in terms of members.. A year ago we lost our drummer so I was appointed the job.. we just found a new drummer and with that i'm back on guitar.. the bands taken a new direction and now i'm thinking about the next album.

What i wanna do this time is focus on writing an album.. not a bunch of songs thrown on a cd. Our bassist has a really nice cottage with amazing acoustics.. what i'm thinking is moving our gear and the studio there.. and going up for a few weekends.. say spend 1 or 2 weekends writing and one or 2 weekends recording.. we'll be out in the middle of no where in the late fall.. anyone else use the "lock your band in a the studio until you come out with a great album" tactic?

 

[mikeh]

I've only recorded two actual "albums" with a band I was part of - and that was many years ago (I've played sessions for many songs that were part of someone else's recordings). I've never been involved nor do I personally know anyone who secluded a whole band to write and record an entire albums (although I've read about artists who have done that.

Both albums I did with a band I was a member of were 1st albums (I've never been in a band that did a second album). In both cases the songs that made in onto the album were a combination of songs individual members had writen (in some cases long before the bands formed) and other songs that were either a collaboration between a couple members or which grew from some jams. I never did feel that the flow or direction of either album was really all that conhesive (too many different musical directions, etc)

Normally a band/artist either writes/records maybe 30 songs (or looks for 30-50 songs by outside writers) and then tries to narrow that down to the dozen or so songs that make it onto an album.

I think it would be a very gifted writer who could simply write only 12 songs (or whatever number they needed for an album) which all worked together well enough to create an album with no other material recorded or considered.

 

[up-fiddler]

Normally a band/artist either writes/records maybe 30 songs (or looks for 30-50 songs by outside writers) and then tries to narrow that down to the dozen or so songs that make it onto an album.

I think it would be a very gifted writer who could simply write only 12 songs (or whatever number they needed for an album) which all worked together well enough to create an album with no other material recorded or considered.

I agree. Both gifted and unusual unless they were starting with a theme (a Tommy-like rock opera, Peter and the Wolf, etc.) right from the start. Personally I just keep writing and when I have enough tunes of a certain genre or theme I release an album. I have far more songs that have been recorded but not released than the other way around, but that's just my process.

Good luck with your album.

 

[TerraMortim]

Okay so how do all of you go about writing an album... (either solo or as a band)

Do you write songs and when you have enough record it and there you go?
of do you have a process...


My band has been going through transformations for a long time in terms of members.. A year ago we lost our drummer so I was appointed the job.. we just found a new drummer and with that i'm back on guitar.. the bands taken a new direction and now i'm thinking about the next album.

What i wanna do this time is focus on writing an album.. not a bunch of songs thrown on a cd. Our bassist has a really nice cottage with amazing acoustics.. what i'm thinking is moving our gear and the studio there.. and going up for a few weekends.. say spend 1 or 2 weekends writing and one or 2 weekends recording.. we'll be out in the middle of no where in the late fall.. anyone else use the "lock your band in a the studio until you come out with a great album" tactic?

there really is no method. SOme people sit down to write AN ALBUM, sometimes you just write a bunch of songs until you have enough to release. I can't say that you'll have a bad time in a cottage like that. I would love to write in an environment such as that, go for it.

 

[liv_rong]

i have been wanting to do an album for a couple years now. what stops me from actually doing it is the total amount of songs i have, and most dont all fit into a certain theme that would flow for a full album.

id sday out of 40 or so songs i have written, i would only consider 5 or six songs that i would put on an album. and then there is the the personal feelings i have for some songs, once i record them and get it all down, i do not want to revisit it again to re-record for an album,, because i know it would end up having a different vibe to it. plus i always think to myself, that my newer stuff is better, and im always trying to get better, so i feel like if i put out an album that it would have all these old songs on them and that i can do better now. eventually i will go back and re-record a bunch of songs and do an album, because no one knows when it was all written.

i wish i could do what you want to do with a band, that would probably be one of the most satisfying experiences in regards to music, and i wish you luck if you guys decide to go for it.

 

[eeb]

plus i always think to myself, that my newer stuff is better, and im always trying to get better, so i feel like if i put out an album that it would have all these old songs on them and that i can do better now.

this is EXACTLY our problem.. we write and write and write.. then the old stuff get's forgotten or ditched because we keep writing better songs.. this band is still rather young.. we've only been together in our current format for maybe a year (now we have a new drummer so the dynamic changes again)

with alot of the bands i do we always end up with only 8 songs we play at a time and another 30 we don't play anymore cause we're "bored" or "don't like it anymore" etc.

the older ones we do keep don't end up working in an album context with the new songs.. and the cycle continues.. that's why i was thinking about just breaking the cycle and going on a writing/recording frenzy and just get it done..

 

[eeb]

plus i always think to myself, that my newer stuff is better, and im always trying to get better, so i feel like if i put out an album that it would have all these old songs on them and that i can do better now.

this is EXACTLY our problem.. we write and write and write.. then the old stuff get's forgotten or ditched because we keep writing better songs.. this band is still rather young.. we've only been together in our current format for maybe a year (now we have a new drummer so the dynamic changes again)

with alot of the bands i do we always end up with only 8 songs we play at a time and another 30 we don't play anymore cause we're "bored" or "don't like it anymore" etc.

the older ones we do keep don't end up working in an album context with the new songs.. and the cycle continues.. that's why i was thinking about just breaking the cycle and going on a writing/recording frenzy and just get it done..