Producing a record for the first time :

Why ? What songs ? How ? How much is it gonna cost ? ! ? ! *

Being in the top 50 of any style of music is not the easiest thing to do with a first record. Nevertheless, you will always stumble upon producers who say, do this, do that, your music is great , I'd like to sign with you.

Watch Out ! ! ! There are good producers and good editors (I thank them very sincerely for their passionate work) but unfortunately, many swindlers are out there just for the money. You can pick this type of guy our pretty easily, they won't harm you, or very little. They will often propose editing contracts but in reality are only interested in 50% of the author's rights.
Do not sign anything before having consulted a contract professional. A contract leans your responsibility and bad contracts are legions. Now, if we offer you 70.000Euro in advance (non-refundable in case the disk gets a 'check mate') start by thanking the nice producer..., consult a contract professional and remember that negotiation can be a win-win situation.

You must know that above all, an album is there to help you with promotion, knowing good producers and playing concerts. It is also a marker in your artistic evolution, a piece of work your loved ones are proud of or a memory of your group. How can you make it successful ?.

What songs do I pick ?

When you rehearse, you know the songs you like to play. Choose them . When you perform, you know the songs that the audience likes to hear. Choose them ; If the number of songs is really important, you may have to take off a few from both sides (among your favorites and the public's favorites.) Don't forget that your disk will be distributed and sold to a part of our existing public. You must please yourself but others as well. It's a dog eat dog world out there. But you will probably be limited by the amount of track time (74 min or20 min) and your budget..

How ?

The 1st phase : The Studio.
You can find numerous pieces of advice on the page devoted to studio preparation. All you really need to know is that the better prepared you are, the more magic moments you can have in the studio.
Studio time should not be for rehearsing.
Choosing between analogical and digital : I personally prefer analogical but digital is quicker and easier to correct. 2 '' analogues are no longer really in use in smaller studios (small analogue tools no longer have the quality of the big, bad machines we now use today.)
If you are able to , I would say do the sound recording on analogical and then use digital for the mixing process in the studio. But this is a first record !
While choosing between 24 bits and 16 bits, there really is no difference as long as the CD is 16 bits, a 16 bit studio is amply sufficient.

The 2nd phase : Studio Mastering.
Be careful not to neglect this stage. An un-masterized album has no chance for play time on the radio in a battle against a masterized CD. Time is crossed by the quality of a masterized album and the number of participants. If you're short on cash, make us an offer and you'll be surprised.
Never master your album in the studio you recorded in. New ears are needed as well as new, different material for the mastering phase.

The 3rd phase : Manufacturing.
Here you will have the choice of manufacturer and type of packaging.
You should have a printed out version of the CD booklet (from a Photoshop type of program.) Be careful with packaging packages also. If you look around, you are sure to find someone who loves Photoshop, Corel Draw or Paint Shop Pro. In case you can't find a creator around you and still wish to save money, preparing the texts and pictures on mini disk, CD or email files, can help you out. This would be a " first stab " stab at it and an actual designer would not take more than two hours to put together your CD jacket. For CD packaging, try to avoid a paper slip cover. It will be lost among the 1000s of CDs received by each producer and after each concert. Stick with plastic covers and it's sure to be well conserved as time goes by.

How much is it gonna cost ?

This is where it hurts ! You have 2 possible options- the album or the maxi (album being 74 min ; and maxi 20 min.) For a first album, I would suggest the maxi option. It requires less studio work, less time and the mastering is less expensive, packaging costs less and the copyrights are less expensive (if you wish to protect your music.) You can get out this less wounded. Plus, if they like your tunes, you can play some concerts, get a bit of money to produce a real album and your first time in the studio will have taught you lots of things that you will remember the second time around.

Minimum Costs :

Maxi (<20'): 3 studio days = 550 $, Mastering = 150 $, CD covers = 100 $ , 500 CDs = 900$ TOTAL : 1700 $ + copyrights (optional)

Album (<74'): 10 studio days = 2000 $, Mastering = 300 $, CD covers = 100 $, 500 CDs = 1.100 $ TOTAL :
3500 $ + copyrights (optional)

The prices listed here are the average prices in a small studio. If you want a serious album, prepare for higher prices with bigger studios. You need a quality sound engineer (and quality microphones.)

The rest of this article on the page Recording