Fishing For A Music Album Theme

I entered my home recording studio early last week for the first time in a few months. I have commenced my latest album recording. All I had to 'run' with was a thread of a bass guitar track. Four days later, I re-emerged with five full tracks, minus vocals. The album, even at this early stage has taken on a life of its own. I'm not particularly 'involved' any more. Ideas are hitting me left, right and centre and they're all of a vaguely similar nature. Luckily they're not SO similar as to be blatantly repetive album-wise.



I generally stop the 'creating' process when I have around sixteen or seventeen tracks fully completed. As far as a 'theme' is concerned, it is currently happening right now which is why I can't divulge any more at this point. I shall, however, be addressing the album HERE on its release.


Creating an album is a process, and keep the basics in mind. An album, in itself, consists of two elements. First is catchy tunes that appeal to a large audience. Secondly is the often overlooked 'theme' of the album. It's not just a matter of recording ten or twelve songs and comiling them haphazardly

Too many ideas will spoil an album. When listening to an album in its entirety, you will often notice that the music is made of certain phrases that repeat themselves or appear as a slight variation of a previous track. They are called themes. A theme may be melodic, rhythmic, harmonic or combination of these. When you hear the themes, it registers to the brain and that makes it easier to remember, particularly when applied with care to an entire album.


A common mistake of songwriters is they make it boring, where the listener has no urge to want to hear the song again. Remember, if they like it, they want to hear your song again and again and again (which can translate into more record sales for you).


Sometimes a songwriter will experience "writer's block". When this happens, you might want to use a different approach, such as creating the melody first, or experimenting with some chord progression first then melody, or even rhythm first, then melody, and chord progression last. I've doing this all week.


Remember, there is no correct way of creating a theme for an album. Experiment with different instrumentation. Relax. Take a break. After a few days out of the studio, I have deliberately gone for a walk up the street, to the Post Office and newsagents and returned, every time, with at least a handful of lyrics. I KNOW that at least some will be used on my upcoming album


It's every independent musicians goal to produce an album full of great songs. You think they are perfect, where the girls go gaga over your songs and the guys elevate it to the national anthem of angst and raging hormones. But!....you need to record those songs and try to find a way to put it in public in a manner that is even more conducive to sales than an individual song alone, right? Much to a musician's chagrin, there are steps and systems to follow. Yes, the way to the gold pot at the end of the rainbow requires a keen sense of direction from here to there.


Despite many years of vodka abuse, I have a surprisingly good memory for things musical. Having said this, like everyone else, my neurons my misfire at anytime and you may lose those precious, MTV award-winning lyrics (Well, some musician's neurons misfire ALL the time. Why am I not surprised...?). Make sure that you record all of the lyrics or, at the very least, put them to paper/notepad. Don't be afraid to use different schemes also (acoustic or amplified instruments, or if you feel operatic -- solo, duet, or acapella). The more variations, the better your chance of hitting that sweet spot for airplay cut. Anyway, you need to record that track. Once every track is to your liking and you're ready to compile your album, this is where things get very frustrating and indecisiveness reigns....if you let it.


Fine tuning: Any portion in any part of a song can be repeated in throughout the album as often as you want. The more, the better but keep it subtle. You may cut the portions that makes no sense, portions that puts the great rhythm in the grey instead of concrete, defined colors. Edit out any unwanted portions of any song. You can polish up on those areas that needs polishing, strengthening the areas of the album where the tune must flow freely and the thought unobstructed.

Mastering: Here, you try to maximize the tracks and optimize the cuts by stuffing tracks that are weak in between strong tracks. Or you place weak tracks at the latter portion of the album and the strong ones as the opening singles. This is an indirectly VERY time-consuming affair. I say 'indirectly' because it means walking away from what you think is a well-themed album for a few days, only to return and listen to it wondering what the hell you were doing.


Copyright: Here, you stamp it down and tell the whole wide world that the song is yours, with a great heaping of blood, sweat and tears. You put enough protection and fence around the real estate of your mind's work, telling them to get lost or else...well, depends on you and your vigilance to protect what is yours.