TO CREATE AN ALBUM... (by Messian Dread)

Throughout this year, I learned a lot about the actual process of creating an album. and in this article I would like to share some of these things with you. Maybe it can be of some use for you.

From 1997 to this 2004, more or less all I did was releasing single tracks. In 2004 I actually released a mini album called "Hardcore Dub Sessions" in which I already did a few things that I have done in this project in a much bigger way. Then in 2005 I went back to releasing single tracks. And when I had enough, I made an album out of them.

But for this new album I had to choose a different way. I couldn't just grab and pick a few tunes and give them to Star Recordings in order to have them burn it on CD.

So I had to create new music. And not just one track, no, a complete album. And since an album is about 70 minutes, you could say that you need at least 15 tracks, preferably more. But since I wanted to make a Showcase album, it had to be around that number of tracks.

So then, does it really have to take a whole year in order to create 15 or 16 riddims? 

Of course not.

But it does take a year to create about 50 riddims, add vocals to them, and mix them.

50?

Yes. 

For it is definitely not enough to create as much music as you want to have on CD. 

One reason for that is, that of course not all the riddims one creates have a similar quality. One day you have a better feeling than the other day, and so there are a lot of circumstances which really define just what kind of riddim you're going to make.

Another reason is that you really want some kind of variety in the music on the album, too. I have periods in which I only make Steppers, for example. And then after a while, I feel more like doing a little Rub a Dub style, where on other periods I prefer One Drops. 

So if I had to produce let's say 15 riddims, I should at least produce triple that amount. And I should go through different periods in order to create different styles. It gives me a big catalogue to choose from, and I need that choice to make a better album.

I started to simply make riddims. Drum, bass, other instruments. When I was more or less satisfied with a riddim, I mixed a DUB from it. This helped me to get an idea from the vibes, and to actually create a set up that I could use for the final mixes. 

For you must have variety in an album, but also consistency. The tunes must together form a story, and so there have to be elements in the music that you can find back throughout the entire album. And it's not just the instruments that make this consistency. Effects are crucial, too. And not just in the DUB mix!

Throughout the year, a final set up was distilled. 

I decided to use two different Drum kits, one Bass Guitar, one "Skank Section" (organ, piano, guitar" and one Horn Section (Trombone, Sax and Trumpet). I also programmed several effects to enhance the sound. Especially the reverb is very important.

So I had more or less formed a "band" with a particular sound and particular line up. 

But I needed variation too, and not just in the music. The instruments themselves are at least as important as the riddims they play. The variation, in my case, is in the percussion and accompanying instruments. 

I used violins, synthesizer strings, beeps and bleeps, clavinets, and other instruments. And for percussion, I used everything from guiro's to conga's, from bongo's to cowbells, from TR808 style Snare Drums to Hand Claps.

It "simply" takes a long time, to figure out all these things. Creating a few tunes is definitely not enough to find a certain sound which can last well over an hour. It took me well over 6 months to come to this.

After creating all these tunes, and the set up, it was time for the next step: voicing the riddims.

As I mentioned in one of my updates, the vocals in themselves were quite a story too. But in the context of this article, I won't really go into that aspect very much. But in short: I rode each riddim with either singing or toasting/chanting style, and sometimes in a combi.

In the meantime, there was a group of people who listened to most of the DUBS I did before voicing them. Throughout the year, I myself listened a lot too, and so the riddims kind of grew on me too. I selected 15 tracks and put them on a Net Album, which I released for free. Feedback about specific riddims helped me to find people's preferences.

I created more DUBS, this time with the voice. The same story: I released them as a free MP3/WAV album and watched closely what the feedback said. 

Only after I went through this entire process, did I start mixing the album: the final step.

Not just "the best of the 50 tunes", though.

I decided to do the "concert approach". I have experience in preparing for concerts, both as member of a band and as a solo artist doing DUB. 

So I selected one tune, which I thought was good as an opening track. I mixed it, just like I would have done it on a concert. In principal, that is. For all my tracks are mixed in such a way that I really need 20 hands to do it all in one take.

The track obviously produced a certain atmosphere. It's the track and the mix doing it. And from this atmosphere, I went to the next track. I asked myself: "what would I play as the next tune, and how would I build that tune". The answer was -obviously- the next mix.

I went through this process during the entire mixing of the album, from the top to the very last drop. First select, then mix. Not the other way around!

One reason for that was, that since I would mix and select in this last phase, the tracks would follow each other more or less in a flowing way.

And this is where my experience in performing came in very handy. For an album is more or less a concert, too. Another reason to mix and select in that final phase. A third reason would be the length of the tracks, for long and short tracks would have to follow each other too, in order keep up a vibe of variety.  

The opening track started with a DUB part, only to go over into vocal in the second half. But the track which followed, has a different arrangement. And so, there are continually vocal parts and dub parts following each other. Those who prefer DUB, don't have to wait to long, and those who prefer the Vocal parts would have the same experience.

Finally, the mastering process. Mastering is where you spice up your track after you mixed it, by using a combination of compression and limiting and normalizing techniques in order to have all the tunes have more or less the same volume, while too extreme peaking is corrected and so on.

To me, it was a very interesting and especially learning experience. And, apart from the production of the album, the project also delivered some very nice by-products. I have a lot of tunes here, all with vocals, which I can release at a later stadium, while working on a brand new line of tracks. And apart from the album "Showcase", I already released two DUB albums from these sessions.

All in all, I thought that the things I learned might be helpful for my fellow colleagues who are planning to release an album, too. I can recommend it to each and everyone.

One Love,
Messian Dread

FIVE TIPS

1. Make at least twice the amount of tracks you want to have on your album.
2. Take your time while you do this, in order to make a variation in tracks and feelings.
3. Develop a set up during the many sessions in order to create a better sound.
4. Make test dubs from the riddims, let a selected group of people listen to them, or pre-release some tracks in a different mix in order to get an idea as to what tracks people prefer.
5. Select an opening track, then mix it. The same goes for the rest. Select the second before mixing it.

LINKS

CHECK ALBUM