|
Post by mahrgdidj on Mar 25, 2021 3:50:24 GMT -5
Curious about general approach for play order of your tracks. Do you write albums with a track order in mind? Do you wait until you have a collection of songs ready then try things out to see how it flows? Either way, is there an intended listening experience for your work? I notice that a lot of projects on bandcamp default to a song in the middle of the album. As an ego-driven person who checks the bandcamp listens frequently, I get that you don’t want potential listeners to check out before they hear your favorite track. On the other hand, I find myself trying out a new artist, liking their music, then realizing I missed the first half of an album and end up listening to the sides out of order. I know a lot of DS (mine included) is narrative based. That doesn’t leave a lot of wiggle room to adjust after the tracks are finished, so I try to write with that in mind. What’s your approach to tracklisting? Does this keep you up at night too?
|
|
|
Post by stranger on Apr 9, 2021 17:57:44 GMT -5
I will write the music intuitively, and then later decide upon play order. Sometimes, pretty quickly, I will sense that a track is right for an opening or an ending. But, that said, I do think should tracks should be good enough on their own that you could start with any track and enjoy; I am wary of creating tracks that rely on their place in a listing, if that makes sense. Still, I love narrative based music. I think if you like stories in music, you should keep this is a guide, rather than a limitation. That's what I try to do anyway.
|
|
Overlooked
Peasant
https://soundcloud.com/overlookedambient
Posts: 13
|
Post by Overlooked on May 27, 2021 8:07:33 GMT -5
For the moment I have been just making tracks and then seeing where I want them to fit in with each other in the final stages of the album, but sometimes I think that two songs go together well early on so I know that I will have them together, or sometimes I make a track and then know that I want the next track to continue if that makes sense.
|
|
|
Post by Neverwood Records on Oct 15, 2021 3:19:11 GMT -5
I typically write songs first with a concept in mind, then order them afterward. The first song (imo) should show the listener that the whole album is worth their time. That might mean putting the "best" song first, or putting something that makes promises about the album's high concept, or something that surveys the different musical elements that will appear, or just putting something really unique up front.
Personally, I always star the first track on the album, because it's there to bring the listener in to the album. If your album doesn't have a narrative structure and you didn't star the first song, I'd say consider moving that starred track to the front of the album.
Usually a track order that "feels right" to me can be (re)interpreted as a story.
If you're writing story-first, I'd recommend the dropping parts of the story that you can't find a satisfying song for. Better than keeping a song you don't like.
...these I just the ramblings of a wooden mage. Tbh, I don't have much experience in writing music.
|
|
|
Post by Neverwood Records on Oct 15, 2021 3:19:37 GMT -5
Also, I just realized how old this thread is.
|
|
|
Post by mahrgdidj on Oct 15, 2021 5:58:10 GMT -5
Also, I just realized how old this thread is. Actually it's laundry fresh, I like your note about a proper tracklist creating its own narrative anyway. I've written story-first with every DS release so far, currently just writing songs and maybe a story will come later.
|
|
|
Post by Damage Cloud on Jan 31, 2022 0:46:53 GMT -5
For tracklists i usually make 2-3 standalone tracks, then if i notice a common theme or a concept that can be explored further, i roll with that. rather than trying to create a bunch of tracks straight out of my head based on concept, I base it off some tracks I've already created for the project. Kind of a combination of both trains of thought.
|
|
|
Post by scuttlegoat on Feb 3, 2022 6:24:43 GMT -5
Interesting you mention the default track on bandcamp. Having that one not be the first one can be rather annoying, honestly - but having said that, I realise that I did in fact select my favorite tracks as the one that plays first in my past releases, not the first one. Both seem to have advantages and disadvantages - I usually don´t like having the strongest track be the first one, as I feel the whole album can feel a little limp after it - you never get that burst of energy again and the whole rest of the album feels dull, after a while.
Having said that, I feel it heavily depends on the project. I made a concept EP, for example, and that limited my choices of track order. Yet, I just wrote the songs independently, then decided which track was supposed to tell what part of the story and only then, after I had decided on the track order, did I write lyrics. In general, I feel the general flow of "energy", for lack of a better word, is important. On my first black metal release I found the flow of energy pretty quickly - variety is important and hitting listeners with too many similar tracks at once can be an issue, I think. But even just listening back I usually find something that works well.
|
|
|
Post by mahrgdidj on Feb 3, 2022 7:32:57 GMT -5
Thanks for sharing. I’m curious, did you notice that people would listen to your favorite track and then go back to hear the album as a whole? Or was it more common for people to just let it run from there?
|
|
|
Post by scuttlegoat on Feb 3, 2022 8:02:59 GMT -5
Thanks for sharing. I’m curious, did you notice that people would listen to your favorite track and then go back to hear the album as a whole? Or was it more common for people to just let it run from there? Interesting question, actually. I consulted my bandcamp statistics: The featured track has exponentially more listens on both the album and on the EP I released. Sadly, I don´t have data in the order listened; but what this tells me is that many times, people will only check the featured track and decide on the basis of that track If they´ll dive into the album as a whole.
|
|
|
Post by mahrgdidj on Feb 3, 2022 9:28:08 GMT -5
That’s definitely been my experience. And like you said, I hate to make the strongest track first on an album, haha. Appreciate you sharing your data. We’ll crack this one eventually.
|
|
|
Post by erisianchalice on Feb 6, 2022 0:58:46 GMT -5
making my first album, the tracklisting and narrative ideas sort of evolved as I put the songs together. i did the b side songs first intending them for side A but then I had a different part that sounded like it should start the album so I built a new song off that, and the storyline shifted with it.
for the album I'm working on now, I'm composing the songs in order because I'm treating the tape sides as longer suites or whatever where all the songs kind of go together with transitions and there are recurring motifs and some callbacks in the later parts.
and each side has its own story. so which will be A or B will depend on where the tale ends up, which will depend on where composing takes me
i dont really play any instruments and dont have any gear, so composing in my daw is the true creative joy for me.
the narrative story in my head that goes along with it is important but is more a tool to help me identify moods aesthetics in my own compositions, if that makes sense
|
|