Making an album is both a significant undertaking and a fascinating project. So what are the steps for completing and submitting an album? In this short blog post, we’ll go through the process I and many others follow when creating and releasing our albums. It is not the only process, so research and develop an approach that works for you.
Step one:
Decide on a general idea or concept for the album you want to create, and picture a vision that unifies this collection of pieces.
Step Two:
Start writing the music. Some people write and produce their songs simultaneously in the DAW; others write their music in notebooks or on music manuscript with the intent to record later. Whatever your process, there are endless ways to create songs, do whatever works for you.
Step Three:
Once you have your compositions done, if you haven’t composed or produced the songs already in your DAW, now’s the time to sit down with your favourite DAW and start recording,
Step Four:
With your songs recorded, it’s time to sit down in a quiet place and mix each song in your album. Once you’ve mixed your album, you should take a break and return to it in a few days to review your mixes with fresh ears.
Step Five:
Mastering phase. At this point, load all your songs into your mastering temple and check the tracks for consistent volume and tone. Provide gentle EQ’ing to the tracks as needed. Once you’re satisfied with your mastered album, print the final mastered tracks to a folder to submit for distribution.
Step Six:
Your album cover is the visual face of your recording. Several phone apps and image editors like “Poster My Wall” help you create your album cover; avoid using anything with copyright. Here’s where you can let your imagination run away a bit. Have fun, and make sure the album title and the artist’s name are easily readable on the cover. Make sure to follow the guidelines of the distributor regarding cover art. Add the album cover art image to your mixed and mastered album file.
Step Seven:
- Choose a distribution service to distribute your recordings to online music retailers and streaming services.
- Submit your single or album.
- Choose the release date when submitting.
Step Eight:
Hop on your social media, and start promoting your single or album. Use whatever free and paid promotional services the distributor may provide (that you feel comfortable using).
This post briefly outlines the process you might go through to create and release your album. Every artist has their workflow, so happy recording. Thanks for reading; I’m just a music teacher having fun; catch ya on the next one.
