From Idea to Release - Part 1
A music release is the ultimate expression of art for a geeky artist/artistic geek such as
myself.
“It all starts from an idea”
There are stages to it: It all starts from an idea; that’s
stage 1. From the idea I create music and lyrics, or lyrics
and music, depending upon which comes to me first. This
is why I say that art in its pure form is a meme; pure
energy floating in the pool of universal inspiration. –
Then, one day, the artist’s mind connects with that meme,
and the artist develops the energy into an idea and gives it
form. – That’s exactly what I do, and here is how I do it: The next step is to develop and refine the lyrics, as well as
to develop and compound the music, and then fit the two
perfectly and synchronously together. At this stage
everything is still ideas; ideas which are taking shape on
paper and/or on a computer’s hard drive, with several
varying versions of draft musical tracks stored in the
storage area of a piece of studio software, in the form of a
number sets of compounded tracks, each set of which
combine into a draft variation of different layouts for the tune that I’ll be using in the final
release.
After a certain undefined amount of time has elapsed a number of these variations may get
discarded, others may be ruined by adding the wrong instrument, or over-experimentation,
resulting in them getting seriously over cooked as it were. Still others may fall victim to overcompression; because they just don’t sound right with too little compression but sound even
worse with too much compression, yet no “sweet-spot” can be found. The same type of thing
can happen in the case of choral effect, reverb, or any DSP effect where no perfect level can
be attained. Sometimes it’s even the case where I know what I did right but can’t fathom
where I went wrong; in which case it’s back to the drawing board and start again in the same
vein.
Eventually, in most cases, I find that version X of compound track Y goes pretty well with Z,
and eventually - with maybe quite a lot of tweaking - a tune is born and the lyrics are
rewritten or re-timed to fit the beat. That’s what song creation is in essence; a load of ‘suck it
and see’. – Eventually something sounding really promising turns up, and following that if
enough pieces with the right pattern and the right shaped edges can be tweaked into existence
I end up with a great-sounding idea. – But notice that at this stage it’s still an idea. Sure I may
have a draft tune, and yeah I may even have a set of lyrics that I wrote to go with it… And
this is where the quality-check comes into play: -
Quality over Quantity
When I was concentrating on quantity (2013, 2014) I’d take every one of these ideas through
the production process and quite possibly end up releasing it. I was establishing repertoire,
numbers. – But that can be a dodgy game if it goes on too long – because the audience see
that there is no real concentration on quality. I’m not saying that there weren’t some pretty
good numbers released by myself during that time; but it was becoming like yet another
noise-production-line, the output of which was just joining the millions of other sounds out
there as yet another noise-dot on the overall picture of the background-noise of millions of
artists at various stages in their development; all of which blended into a background hum
which had become a part of modern-day life and was generally ignored as everyone became
used to it and impervious to it.
The Changing Face of The Music Industry
Let’s face it; this 21st Century so far, since the tables have
turned and the world of music has changed from the
domain of the chosen few as it was last Century, to a freefor-all that everyone and anyone can try their hand at;
everyone and their family and their dog and their cat have
been making music, all thinking that they are the next big
thing. Whereas before, not so long ago, you knew who
was a musician because there were a few of them
producing all the world’s music, and also there were a few
rich amateurs producing some small-time sounds – there
was a buzz of music in the background and you could
select out of a relatively few acts which ones to listen to,
and pay their companies, producers, agents, Etc., for the
privilege of doing so: Those were the days where if you
wanted to listen to music you had to physically go to a newsagent or record-stockist and buy
a vinyl disk to play on your stereo system. Other than that there were small synthesizers on
which you could play a limited number of chords in a couple of octaves costing a few
hundred pounds, or massive analogue multi-oscillator professional synths the size of a room
and bristling with knobs and switches on which you could make decent music after a 5-year
course on how to use them – if you could afford the well-over £36 thousand price-tag. If you
could afford it and learned how to use it then you’d probably eventually end up becoming a
sound engineer on a £100-a-week income, working for a signed pop-artist who spent £150 a
day on snacks.
Nowadays you can get a track released on a whim; even if you’re crap and wouldn’t
recognise a decent beat if it came up and slapped you. – Everyone can release; although there
are still only a select number of signed artists who are making it “big”. – This has led to the
musical buzz becoming a background hum which is generally ignored. If I or anyone else
released a track 35 years ago people would think that I (or anyone else) was something
special and would buy it and listen to it, with the result that it might even chart above #100.
Today it’s pretty much normal to release a track, but unless you’re ultra-talented and signed
forget about ever getting anywhere near the charts.
Back to the theme of this thread now, and I’m now quality-controlling anything I decide to
produce and release… Because most people aren’t, yet everyone and anyone in music are still
releasing in the hope of getting heard. That’s a good thing IF the artist or group in question
has something of quality which is new and good. The thing is that a large percentage of the
music being released today may well be new – or it may be good – or it may be new and
good but never properly marketed, and could end up being given away free in the hope
someone will hear it and sign the artist(s): But that very rarely if ever happens these days. –
All this adds to the background hum that everyone ignores.
So there really is no point releasing everything I create. – It just again adds to that
background hum and is wasted. I need something which is of definite quality, something new
and exceptional, which I can market successfully and get it heard above the background hum.
In doing so it may be true that I miss and delete something that might have been, or might
have developed into, a work of genius, granted. I’d love to be able to keep a recording of
everything that I create; but to do so I’d eventually need a massive data storage facility that
would rival Google’s in size. I could store things in the cloud relatively cheaply, but even if
encrypted it would be ‘out there’ and available to some hacker in eventuality. Maybe I’m just
too privacy and security conscious; but when/if I get the money I’ll invest in many terabytes
of my own data-storage.
So eventually I come up with a set of lyrics that match perfectly with a tune I’ve composed
and, if I think the track is good after performing it in my head several times, I tack a draft
version together and physically perform the track in private – and I record myself doing so. I
analyse the recording in the light of my growing artistic maturity. I look for bits that could be
better; both in the technical layout of the piece, and also in my performance too. I refine, rewrite, re-adjust where necessary. I practice, I perfect, I change some facets of my
performance – from the amount of time I hang on a single note right up to maybe the overall
timing of the piece and the entry and exit points. I may even take it back to the drawing board
and rewrite everything. Sometimes I do that more than once, twice, or more.
“I need something which is of definite quality, something new and
exceptional”
In doing so I’m looking for art, fluidity, convergence and continuity: I’m looking for
something that says: “I’m not just good enough; I’m better than expected.” – Not necessarily throughout the
piece, but in numerous instances. I’m looking for catchiness, for complexitieS – but at the
same time for an overall simplicity that makes the entire piece memorable: What I mean by
that is something that’s going to stick in people’s memories because of it being catchy and to
an extent repetitive; but also something that is memorable for having something out-of-theordinary in it… For instance in my track *Afterglare* – which has a catchy beat anyway - the
first chorus lines begin at the start of a bar as expected in the first several instances. –
However after the verse which goes: “The heat is on – I melt like ice-cream in the sun:
A su-per-star that ventured out too far and under par.
A flower bloomed and shone beyond im-pending doom.
I drown my-self in you; it’s something I must do.”
…It at first appears that I’ve missed my cue at the beginning of the next chorus bar; but then
you hear my voice winding up: “Ooooooo – there there – Yeah yeah; I’m ready for the afterglare…
I swea-a-a-a-ar;
I’m ready for the afterglare.”
…And with many people their conscious mind doesn’t actually notice that; but their
subconscious does, and as a result they subconsciously hang it on a memory-hook and they
remember it. – Not simply semiconsciously because it’s a catchy number with a strange
synchronous beat arrangement but also subconsciously because of the above. – And that’s a
complexity amidst overall simplicity that the mind of the audience picks up on.
Now I don’t know if I’m right here but I don’t feel that every track on an album or an EP
should necessarily be structured with complexities in that way. On *Afterglare* EP track#2
*Love (Radio Edit)* has a memory-hook-inducing quirk in it. Again it’s a tune written
immediately before *Afterglare* actually, that repeats the first verse as the last verse – or at
least that’s what the listener thinks: They hear the first lines of the last verse, and they’re
identical to those of the first verse. – But rather than the subsequent line being identical also,
as expected; as in: “Like a bird of peace – don’t cease – ‘cos I can’t – I can’t get enough…”
You hear: “Oh do you think your love is anything – like a dove?”
(OK I may not have quoted that exactly right; I’m tired goddamit lol.)
Now this doesn’t have the same effect: The subconscious notices it and maybe thinks: ‘Surely that line was a bit lame –?’
But the conscious notices it too, and starts working and thinking, waking the listener out of
the over-relaxed state they were falling into. – And because of this the song jogs a memory;
even if it is “I think that song could have finished a bit better than it did – but it did remind
me of Marc Bolan’s style, yeah.”
The listener, now almost fully conscious having heard that, also subconsciously makes a
mental note that the song is a track from the EP *Afterglare*. – Target neutralised! – The
title track and its title will reside in the listener’s memory for quite a while, and even if they
don’t hear the EP again for decades, doing so at some point in the future will definitely ring a
bell in their mind.
(Other than having a somewhat catchy beat, the other tracks on the EP don’t really have that
much memorable about them; other than track#3 *IKYABWAI* is rather echo-y, and track
#4 is rather long and instrumental with varied instrumentals as to the type of instruments
played throughout and the style-genre variations. – But overall it’s an EP that sticks in the
mind of the audience.)
Why can I remember *Rapper’s Delight* by The SugarHill Gang from 1980 almost word for
word? – Because when I was a teenager I used to sing it while I worked. Why that particular
song? The reason is that it has catchy lyrics and a very memorable beat. – ‘Even the 15
minute version on the 12 inch vinyl single disk which I used to own. When I hear the first bar
I know, even after 35+ years, exactly what song it is. It hung itself on a memory-hook in my
mind. – And any song that can do that – whether or not it charts – will be remembered.
‘The next step… is producing the thing…’
The next step – when I feel that I have something which is going to
make its mark – is producing the thing. I have a very rough draft of the
basic technicalities of the song. I have a lyrics sheet, and I have a tune:
Maybe a tune that needs tweaking, maybe an unfinished tune; but
nevertheless at least a basic beat. Now it’s time to make what I have
into something that will be good enough for public consumption.
So it’s back to the beat that I’ve recorded as a draft and decided that I’d
like to use in this case above all other drafts: It’s currently only a draft
with a single beat and a few instruments, a bit like something a
teenager on a keyboard with a friend on a drum-machine might
produce in the teen’s bedroom. – Definitely nothing marketable.
The task is to now enhance that draft beat; using a little DSP (Digital
Signal Processing), some other instruments, and then more DSP. I don’t want a final piece of
music here, not even when composing an instrumental. Nevertheless I do want something
that’s perfect, although as-yet-incomplete.
Having achieved that I attenuate the sound: This involves first mastering the incomplete
music track to get all the levels right. Mastering, in short, involves creating an EQ
(Equalisation) file, then compressing the result, levelling the volume using ALC (Automatic
Level Control), and balancing the stereo mix. The equipment settings for these operations are
unique for every piece; and giving instructions – even in short-form – on how to accomplish
them would keep me typing this article into next year, and is well beyond its scope.
Following the mastering process I manually perform a further attenuation trick: There are
basically 3 frequency-notches that I reduce using graphic equaliser software. – Again the
detail of these and the full manual operation is beyond the scope of this article.
At this stage I have something that is worth singing to; but before I do that I check the lyrics.
– I’m not sure if there’s software that can do this; but I play the tune in my head and I add the
lyrics to it. If something doesn’t feel right; whether that is a glaring mismatch of the flow of
lyrics and music as one, or if it’s just a niggling doubt of some kind, I play the beat I’ve
created so far and sing the lyrics to the tune. If I’m still not happy I’ll rewrite the lyric so that
it matches the tune perfectly. When I’ve played back the lyrics track and matched it to the
music track precisely I master it; again creating an EQ file, adding compression, ALC, and
stereo balancing. Then I attenuate the lyrics track, but in a slightly different way to the music,
depending upon the song type: I may add choral resonance, or reverb…
Notice that so far we’ve gone from a thread of biological thought energy inside my mind to
something solid and physical; although still yet an idea in the making.
When I’m happy that the flow of the lyrics matches the music perfectly – and at times there
can be an instance or two where it’s necessary to compromise on this to some extent in order
to keep the lyrics’ meaning; but necessary to camouflage it in the song as a result. – I play the
instrumental track I’ve created so far - either over headphones or in the background on the
monitors - and sing to it; into a good quality microphone while recording it. If it sounds great
then ‘next stage. – If not then go back and correct the error and try again: Rinse and repeat
until I’m happy with the result.
“…we’ve gone from a thread of biological thought energy inside my
mind to something solid and physical”
‘Play that back and listen: This is take#1, and any number of takes is called for to get the
perfect result. Having accomplished that, it’s time to add extra instrumentals and harmonies.
My aim here is not just to ‘fill the gaps’, but to bring the song to life. - Yes it may already
sound good but I’m hoping to sell this to the public. ‘Good’ is OK, is mediocre, like the teen
in his or her bedroom with a group mastering their sound. - I’m at that stage, so I need to
enhance the sound further. One of the methods I use to do this is to compose a second track
that sounds extremely similar to the first draft and will blend into it, but with extra melodic
harmonies incorporated into it yet many of the original instruments left out of it. As I’m
doing so I’m playing the two tracks together all the time, checking the timings, the resultant
notes. I’m also checking for interference: What I mean here is, for example, that a bar set to a
beat with two instruments may sound good. Adding harmonies may enhance the sound of
both instruments, but adding a third instrument can either bring that bar to life or destroy it
completely.
This is because of something which I call
resonant interference; and that’s something
like the proper technical name for it too: In
short what happens is the sound-waves from
the third instrument at X frequency clash with
some or all of the rest of the sound at Y
frequency. The result can actually be painful
to the trained ear. Sometimes you’re playing
the same tune at the same key on another
instrument and doing so makes the resultant
sound appear like you’ve absolutely no
musical talent whatsoever and also seem tone
deaf. Other times playing in another key or even another octave can really bring the sound to
life. – As an example; the 4-guitar-riffs in *Twenty-Teen-Queen* from my mini-album
*Tributes*. - I added 3 riffs together in D and they sounded rather lifeless. So I added another
lead-guitar in C sharp, playing an accompanying riff, and suddenly the riffs took on a life of
their own!
When I’m satisfied with the result using this method I have 2 tracks of music and a lyrics
track. I synchronise and sync both music tracks in a superimposure onto the lyrics track,
while of course keeping a copy of the original tracks. Usually – not always, but usually, the
result sounds good. If it doesn’t, then back up and start again.
A tip here: Synchronising over a home network can lead to timing incompatibilities. Keep the
entire sync operation to one single computer; otherwise the entire product is ruined: For
instance on the first verse you fully sync the starting point, but by verse 3 the sync can be
anything up to 500ms out. I made that mistake with my track *Facebook Games* on my
*Divine Social* EP, and it significantly held up the track’s production. The track that was
released was well synced, but the first draft out of this process was a joke; all because I tried
to sync it across a LAN. Syncing across a LAN (Local Area Network) should present no
problem to pure data-streams; but digital audio files somehow get stretched.
So whatever method or methods I used to get there, I now have a draft. I check the draft, and
if I’m unsatisfied with it I mark it as a possible fail; but I continue with it for now. – You see
when the raw draft is produced at this stage it won’t sound perfect by any means: The levels
may not correspond correctly, it may sound too tinny or ear-rasping; but a lot of that may
well be able to be corrected in later stages. Right now I’m looking for perfect tracksynchronisation, and if I have it within a tolerance of a microsecond or so then I can move on.
“this is the tricky one”
Next it’s time for final mastering; and this is the tricky
one: Adding exactly the right resonance and/or levels of
compression at different frequencies to the EQ file is
way way beyond the scope of this article, and is an artform in itself. There is a similarity to the initial
mastering/attenuation though: There are the same 3
frequency-notches on the audio-frequency-spectrum
which require manual levelling again. I don’t intend to
tell you the numbers because I paid to learn this, and
even when you’ve learned it you’ll need to be able to
shape the levelling-curve appropriately within the envelopes of those notches so as not to
induce drop-off distortion at the relevant frequencies… What I’m writing here is the shortversion of the abbreviated crash-course. I’m still learning, and practice makes perfect –
eventually. I’m no expert; but if I were to tell you everything I know in detail I’d be typing a
very long time, and I’d have to charge for it too.
Eventually I get to the point where I have a final draft. Sometimes I go through a lot of the
above more than once, more than twice even, and end up with 3 final drafts. I have to decide
which draft sounds best: In the case of drafts that are supposed to be identical I use my ears
as well as checking the frequency-spectrum for anomalies. Some such anomalies can be
rectified and tweaked-out on a final edit, others render that particular draft substandard.
In the fullness of time, even if I have to go back any number of stages any numbers of times,
I eventually end up with a final product – which I listen to ad-infinitum over the course of a
few days, trying to find fault with it. – And I always do find fault with it. – It depends to what
degree I find fault with it as to whether I go back to stage X and try again. I’m getting more
and more fussy lately: In the past I’ve let a couple of errors that stuck out like a sore thumb to
the trained ear (But not to the average listener using cheap sound equipment.) go by, due to
the pressure to build a repertoire-base. These days I’d scrap some of the drafts which I’ve
passed in the past.
~ I have a final master ~
Next – well I have a final master, but it’s going to take me a heck of a long time to offer it to
the world from my computers – even via my website. I have to distribute it; on iTunes, CD
Baby, 7-Digital, GreatIndieMusic, Spotify… everywhere I can. That involves paying for the
services and is beyond the scope of this article – because I don’t intend to reveal all my
secrets just yet; but when I’ve uploaded it to my distribution agents, having given a few
private performances and got some pre-release reviews, the fun really begins.
‘You think the above sounds like hard work? That’s the fun-part, the music-making part. The
hardest part is yet to come: Marketing.
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- We’ll talk more about marketing in Part 2 – to be produced in due course. –
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