The creative process is wide open when making a single or album, meaning you can do anything. Whenever I make a recording, I think of a five-stage process: composing, producing, mixing, mastering, and distributing.
The first stage is composing, which is usually one of the longest stages for me: writing a piece of music. In this stage, I come up with ideas, try themes and concepts in different orders, and compare and contrast one idea against the other to develop a musical form. Hopefully, when this stage is done, I’ll have a piece of music I wish to record.
I then move on to stage two, which is producing; depending on the music I’m recording, stages one and two can mix, but still, I think of it as though I’m wearing a different hat. In the producing stage, I’m thinking about the instrument sounds, effects, and parts of the song and how they sound. At this stage, I’m thinking about doing my best to take a written song and how best to turn it into an audio experience worth listening to. I need a lot of practice and am still working on this stage.
Stage three is mixing the audio so all the instrument parts are heard clearly, adding effects and further audio processing to create an enjoyable listening experience. Stages one through three sometimes happen simultaneously, depending on the type of music being recorded, but at this stage, my main concern is the presentation of the song.
The fourth stage for me is mastering, and I still find this stage the most difficult. In the mastering stage, you adjust levels and equalization to make your recording sound much the same across various listening environments and devices. If I’m going to mess up any stage, it’s most likely this one. Having a reliable audio system to monitor is crucial, and because of my oddly shaped room without acoustic treatment, I don’t have one; I use Sonarworks software and BeyerDynamic open-back headphones, which have helped me in this stage. But I still need a lot of practice here.
The final stage in my process is distribution through social media platforms or streaming music distributors and online retailers. I find this stage the easiest because you are either uploading the song’s final version along with the cover art to your social media platform or filling out forms and uploading your music to an aggregate for distributing your music to online streaming services or retailers.
Many people use these five stages of recording when making a single or album, but it is not the only process that will work. Through practice and paying attention, you’ll soon figure out your process and what works for you. Happy recording.
The Bach To Basics Music blog has more articles like this one in the home recording category. I wish you all the best in your recording projects.