There are a lot of variables that go into the cost of professionally recording and releasing an album.  Whether you self-produce or hire a professional producer, how many modern production techniques you use, and how much perfection you seek in your takes all play a role and make it difficult to give you a one-size-fits-all number.

However, there are some commonalities in what I'd consider a "typical" recording process that can help you get on the dartboard, if not hit the bullseye, when estimating the cost of your next album.  So, I will focus this article on a "typical" situation, giving you the caveat that mileage may vary in your particular situation.  

This approach assumes that you'll be recording with an engineer, but not a separate producer.  A producer, in a professional sense, takes a very hands-on approach with the artist: co-writing and arranging songs, changing parts, rehearsing and coaching performances, etc. The compensation for that type of pro producer is usually quite high and, therefore, will not be a part of this calculation.

First, let's talk about four variables that you need to get values for before beginning the calculation of your recording and release costs.  Those are:

A.  Studio Hourly Rate (SHR):  Most more professional studios will charge an hourly rate, many of which range between $50 and $75 per hour.  If it's a studio where noteworthy national acts record, that rate can go way up.  Some studios may only offer "blocks" of hours, like a half day/4 hours or full day/8 hours.  In those cases, just divide the block cost by the number of hours you get to determine the hourly rate.  We'll be doing a lot of multiplying by the SHR, so make sure you get actual numbers and don't assume what you'll be charged.

B.  Number of Songs (NS):  This is simple - how many songs are you going to record?

C.  Number of Drum Days (NDD):  In the recording of many albums, usually drums are tracked first and tracked all at once as opposed to the band laying down a whole song before starting a new song.  One of the reasons for this is that drum set up takes a long time.  We'll get to that in more detail in a minute.  But, for now, focus on estimating the number of days you will spend recording drums.  This may vary but, in my experience, five songs is kind of the maximum number of average-length songs for which you can track drums in a single day.  So, even if you only are recording six songs, if you use five songs as the max per drum day, you will need two drum days.  There is no fraction of a drum day...if you set the drums up, it's a full drum day.

D.  Number of Parts (NP):  Now, you need to think of breaking down the number of parts your songs have.  A drum track is one part.  A bass track is one part.  Each guitar track is one part.  An overdubbed guitar solo is one part.  A lead vocal track is one part. A backing vocal track where all members of the band sing at the same time is one part.  If you have harmony vocals where three different band members will record three different parts separately, those would be three parts.  Whatever instrument or voice needs to be recorded on its own track represents a discrete part for the purpose of this calculation.  

Now that you've determined values for these variables, you can start plugging those variables into a calculation.  The calculation is a master calculation separated into sub-calculations for five of the phases of recording and releasing music:  Tracking, Editing, Mixing, Mastering and Distribution. 

1.  The Cost of Tracking

First, you need to calculate the set up time for the drums.  For first time recorders, this cost can be an unpleasant surprise as it can often take around two hours just to set up the drums, get them mic'd, get them sound checked, etc.

So, multiply the number of drum days by the studio hourly rate by two:  NDD x SHR x 2.  

This is your drum set up cost.

Next, understand that - in my experience - it takes around an average of a half-hour per part per song if you're reasonably prepared.  If you're not, it can take much longer.  So, let's count on you being reasonably prepared.

So, multiply your number of songs by the number of parts by the studio hourly rate by 0.5 (i.e., a half-hour):  NS x NP x SHR x 0.5

This is your parts recording cost.

Add the drum set up cost to the parts recording cost to get your cost of tracking.  Expressed algebraically, this would be
((NDD x SHR x 2) + (NS x NP x SHR x 0.5))


2.  The Cost of Editing

Editing involves a lot of things.  Taking noise out in the silence between parts, tuning vocals, quantizing drums and other things.  In my experience, the average song requires about two hours of editing.

(NS x SHR x 2)


3.  The Cost of Mixing

Mixing times can vary.  I've witnessed professional mixing done in as little as three hours per song (for a full band) to as many as 10 hours per song.  I will plug three hours into the formula. Ask your recording engineer for the typical amount of mixing time he/she/they spend and use that number instead.

(NS x SHR x 3)


4.  The Cost of Mastering

Mastering costs can vary wildly.  The mastering studios that major labels use can run thousands of dollars per song.  The mastering studios that indie labels and independent artists use will typically run between $50 and $150 per song.  Before and After Music Group's mastering services, are on the lower end of that price scale but the upper end of the quality scale.

As I've written about before, there is a huge benefit to identifying your preferred mastering studio BEFORE you even begin recording.  So, reach out to a mastering studio sooner rather than later and learn your price.

(NS x Per Song Mastering Cost)


5.  The Cost of Distribution

There are several digital music distribution service providers out there who can get your music on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon, etc.  Their prices are often in the form of a per-album fee or an annual subscription.  Per album fees can be lower but, if you are planning several releases in the same year, an annual subscription may make more sense.  There are other differences, so I encourage you to research the many options and go with the one that fits best with your objectives.

Because both per album and annual subscription rates top out at around $30 (US), just use $30 for the sake of calculating the cost of distribution.


The Master Calculation

You need to add the costs of Tracking, Editing, Mixing, Mastering and Distribution together to come up with an estimate of the total cost of your project (not including the manufacture of physical products like CD's or vinyl).

Combined together, the calculation (in US dollars) is:

 ((NDD x SHR x 2) + (NS x NP x SHR x 0.5)) + (NS x SHR x 2) + (NS x SHR x 3) + (NS x Per Song Mastering Cost) + 30


Because many musicians don't release how long it takes to set up drums, or how long it takes to track a three-minute song, or how much editing is involved, this calculation may make it seem like it is more expensive than anticipated to record and release an album.  But, hopefully, having this calculation - put together after lots of experience - will enable you to more accurately estimate your costs and avoid unpleasant surprises.

Before and After Music Group specializes in music mastering.  We'd love for you to consider us to help get your music to reach its sonic potential.  Contact us!

Before you enter the recording studio, you should do a quality control check of sorts on many aspects of the songs you are recording.  Today, we'll explore how to do such a QC check on your lyrics.

Lyrics are often written hastily.  Whatever comes to you in a stream of consciousness is what goes down on paper.  

Because lyrics often have the least repetition of any of the parts of the song, lyrics are often the last component to be completed.  This can put pressure on the lyricist as you can't have a complete song without complete lyrics.  As such, sometimes the first draft of lyrics are less than perfect.

And that's OK.  However, before you cast your song into proverbial stone in the recording studio, you should carefully review your lyrics and, if necessary, rewrite them to make them perfect.  Here are some questions to ask yourself that can help reveal ways to improve your lyrics.

1.  Does every line make perfect sense?

Obviously, when we write our first draft of lyrics, they make sense...in our own heads.  We know what we are thinking.  We have an idea of the context.  We are assuming certain things.  But, without what is in our heads, a different person may not have a clear idea of the story.

Look at every line.  Would each line make sense to someone reading or hearing it for the first time?  Are you missing details that would help you tell the story better?  Does anything sound lazy, like you just picked that line because it fit and not because it is the greatest line possible for that part of the song?

Asking yourself these questions - and answering them honestly - can help you infuse your song with better lyrics.  Even if you only improve one line from your original version, it can make a big difference to listeners and help your song be positioned for greater success.


2.  Is your listener expecting a rhyme and you disappoint them?

Music styles changes throughout the years and decades.  The most popular songs today sound nothing like the most popular songs from the early 1960's.  

However, one thing that hasn't changed is the fact that the most popular songs all have rhyming lines.  It's expected.

Sometimes, an amateur song will set up the listener to expect a rhyme and fail to deliver that line.  Imagine something like "Roses are red/Violets are blue/I am in love/In love with her."

You were expecting "In love with you," right?  So, when the lyric said "her" instead of "you," you had an unmet expectation that felt upsetting.  Don't give your listeners this feeling!  

Spend the time, find a rhyme.


3. Are your rhymes too predictable?

There's something called a "perfect" rhyme, where the entire ends of two words rhyme and the only thing that's different is the beginning sound of the two rhyming words.  From our last example, that would be "blue" and "you."  That's a perfect rhyme.

But, in modern music, over-reliance on perfect rhymes is frowned upon.  It is regarded as more creative to use "imperfect" rhymes as perfect rhymes can be too predictable.  This is where the two rhyming words share a vowel sound, but may have other sounds that keep them from being perfect rhymes.  

Examples of imperfect rhymes would be rhyming "me" with "beat," or "slay" with "tame," or "beach" with "treat."  Hopefully, you get the idea.

As an example, let's say that you've written the line "Twinkle, twinkle, little star/How I wonder what you are."  You are using a perfect rhyme scheme and it sounds a bit predictable.  You want to convey the same message, but wish you had an imperfect rhyme.  You could rewrite it as "Twinkle, twinkle, little star/You have me so in the dark."

Not exactly a Grammy-worthy lyric there, but it's just to illustrate how using imperfect rhymes can open creative doors and make your songs less predictable.  Embracing imperfect rhymes can help you avoid being boxed in and unable to tell your story well because you feel you have to be obedient to the perfect rhyme scheme.


4.  Are your rhyming rhythms too predictable?

Rhyming rhythms can be predictable, too.  When you have rhyming words on the same beat of their measures, your lyrics can sound dated.  Modern music often has rhymes on different beats.  Using the "Twinkle, Twinkle" example, here's how you can change things up a bit.

If you want your second part to be longer than your first part, you can subtract syllables from your first part.  Like, instead of singing "twinkle" twice, sing it once, keeping the same rhythm thus moving "star" from beat four to beat three and having a quarter rest on beat four, such as:

Twinkle little star
How I wonder what you are

"Star" will be on beat three of its measure and "are" will be on beat four of its measure.

You could also leave the first line alone and modify the second line similarly by subtracting two syllables and, thus, having "are" fall on beat three with a quarter rest to follow:

Twinkle, twinkle, little star
Wonder what you are

Another idea is to add one syllable/one eighth note to the second line, thus placing the rhyming word on the "and" of beat four, as in:

Twinkle, twinkle, little stars
How I wonder what you dudes are

So, there are three very quick examples of how a very small tweak can make your lyrics (as well as your melodies) sound less predictable and more modern.


5.  Can you convert something simple sounding into something more creative?

Plain words are fine in speech when you are trying to convey a message.  But, lyrics should be more creative.  They should express an idea in a way that no one has heard before.

For example, you could write "You've ended relationships with a lot of people."  And your audience may relate to that sentiment.  But, it's kind of boring.  Christina Perri's "Jar of Hearts" is a great example of how to take a boring sentiment and make it exciting, new sounding, and very visually-oriented:  "Collecting your jar of hearts/And tearing love apart."

Another example is "Black Vultures" by Halestorm.  The song expresses the theme of "I will prove my critics wrong."  But, that would be a bit pedantic if the band sung those exact words.  Instead, they sang:

Black vultures, circling the sky
Pick at the pieces
Scavengers wait for me to die
But I'm not defeated

Again, way more interesting and very visual.  

Plus, did you notice the imperfect rhyme scheme?  Halestorm rhymed "pieces" with "defeated."  Cool!


Planning Ahead

I hope that these tips helped you to discover ways to improve your lyrics and make them the best they can be by the time you put them down in the studio.

As you plan your recording and release strategy, you'll eventually need mastering between the time that you finish mixing in the recording studio and the time that you submit your music for digital distribution.  

Before and After Music Group is a professional mastering studio that would love to help your music reach its sonic potential.  It's never too early to decide who will master your recording.  

Whether it's just to ask questions or to take the final step in securing mastering services for yourself, we welcome you to contact us by email at beforeandaftermusicgroup@gmail.com or by phone/text at 412-600-8241.

Best of luck getting your music prepared for the world!

“We’re gonna release an album this year!”

How many bands say this?

It has to be millions, right? And how many of those bands have all of the steps of their album release planned out in advance?

I’d guess a very small percentage.

But it shouldn’t be that way. It doesn’t have to be that way.
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Knowing what the steps are in the music release process and planning them have tremendous benefits for a band, including:

• You will be able to estimate how much money it will cost to get your music recorded and released
• You will be able to estimate the amount of studio time you’ll need to reserve. Sometimes, underestimating the number of hours or days you need will result in a delay to your project as the studio may be booked weeks in advance and you can’t get back in as soon as you’d like.
• You will have a more realistic idea of when your music release will be available
• You will be better prepared for the parts of the process that influence how good your recorded music sounds
• You will avoid common mistakes that will take time and money to undo
• You will be able to more accurately plan all of the other, time-sensitive activities that accompany a music release, like submitting your music to publications to review, hosting an album release party/concert, getting album artwork done, and so much more

So, in this post, I will cover the nine steps of the music release process so that you can be better prepared to release your music on-time and sounding the best it possibly can.

STEP 1: SONGWRITING (& REWRITING)

Obviously, before you record music, you have to create it. To many bands, writing a song is something that is done in one session. And, undoubtedly, many hits throughout the years were recorded where the melody, lyrics, music, etc. were exactly the same as first day the songs came into existence.

But, for most songs, there is room for improvement after the first day. What’s the best part of your song? Maybe it’s the riff. Maybe it’s the chorus. Maybe it’s the opening line.

What can you do to make every part of the song that good? There’s probably something you can improve. So, don’t think of songwriting as an activity that takes place in one hour then you’re done. Allow yourself time to craft your song. To challenge yourself to make it just a little bit – or a lot – better.

Don’t rush the songwriting process. Allow yourself time to make each song the best it can be.

STEP 2: REHEARSING

When musicians think of releasing music, their thoughts will drift to the recording studio. Ah, isn’t it alluring to think of being in a studio, surrounded by gear that is too complicated for you to understand, and being on the precipice of making history?

Sure. The studio is a place to make history. It is not a place to figure out what you are going to sing or play!

Studio time can be expensive – $60, $75 or even more per hour. So, you want to make efficient use of your time. Figuring out the notes you sing on a part or how you will play a guitar solo is not something you want to be doing while the proverbial meter is running.

Know what you’re going to sing or play once it’s your turn in the studio’s live room or isolation booth. Rehearse your parts so that they are so second nature that you’re likely to nail them perfectly in just one or two takes. Then, the time you spend in the studio will simply be executing what you’ve prepared.

It’s expensive to do it any other way. Not to mention that the results could be disappointing if you don’t go in prepared to kill it.

STEP 3: PRE-PRODUCTION

Pre-production is kind of a mysterious term. That’s because only professional musical artists and serious amateurs do it. If you want to be serious about getting the best recording you can, you should include pre-production activities as part of your music release process.

Pre-production involves all activities associated with tying up all loose ends prior to going into the studio. It’s when you make sure that your songs and your musicians are ready for the tracking step. Ideally, the pre-production step will end with you having a home demo of your songs.

Here are a sample of some of the things you should hope to accomplish in pre-production.

• Planning the order in which your music will be eventually recorded. Will you record multiple instruments live? Will you record “scratch tracks” (i.e., non-final recordings of one or more instruments or voices) to help keep the various musicians on-track as they record their “official” parts? Will you record drums first and then add one instrument/voice at a time thereafter?
• Making sure that all of the parts of your song work well. Change anything – from lyrics, to drum fills, to melodies, to instrument parts – that sounds awkward or less than smooth.
• Getting your drummer practice playing to a click track. It sounds easy, but some drummers struggle. The studio should not be the first place that your drummer tries playing to a click track – that can be stressful! And, by the way, assuming that you’re going for a professional recording, your drummer will play to a click track in the studio. Today’s music quality standards can’t accept any tempo inaccuracies and still result in a recording that sounds competitive with modern, professional artists.
• Identifying where overdubs will be necessary. We’ll talk about overdubs in a minute.

STEP 4: TRACKING (ALLOW 2+ HOURS PER SONG + SETUP TIME)

At this point, you are in the studio. Finally!

The tracking phase is where each musician – sometimes simultaneously, often individually – records his or her primary part of each song. If you engaged in pre-production activities, not much should be a surprise here, but merely a matter of execution. If you did not engage in pre-production activities, there may be many surprises.

One key thing to be prepared for is that, if you have a good engineer/producer tracking your project, you can expect feedback on your performance as you track. Maybe the engineer heard a vocal line that was delivered with too little confidence, or a guitar part that had some string noise, or a drum fill where the rim of the drum was hit, or some other subtle imperfection.

A good engineer will ask you to re-record your parts when he or she feels you can do better. That’s OK. No need to get frustrated. The more takes you do, the more likely you will end up with one that’s perfect. That’s important. You will have to live with your best take for the rest of your life, so it’s good to have multiple takes from which to choose!

Finally, be aware that you don’t have to do a whole take from the start of a song until the end. You can “punch in” to fix errors in the middle of a song while keeping the good parts of your take.

The amount of time it takes to track a song varies tremendously based on the number of instruments and voices involved and how many takes each musician requires to nail their parts. Don’t be surprised if it takes each musician a half-hour or more per instrument/voice per song to track a song.

Also, don’t be surprised if it takes two hours to load in and mic the drum set. Depending on the studio, you may be charged for this time. If the studio charges, factor that time – possibly over $100 – into your budget.

STEP 5: OVERDUBBING

Some may consider this step to be part of tracking. I like to list it separately, so you’re prepared.

Overdubs are where a musician plays a part that he or she was unable to play during his or her first run-through of the song. For example, your guitarist may want to record a song from start to finish and play the rhythm guitar part where the guitar solo will be, and then record the solo by itself during a separate take. Another example is if your lead vocalist is also singing back up vocals – he or she would sing the lead vocal first, then listen to that lead vocal while recording the backing vocal part.

STEP 6: EDITING (ALLOW 2+ HOURS PER SONG)

Editing is a phase of the recording process that many first-time recording artists didn’t anticipate. Sometimes, a recording process can bounce back and forth between steps 5 and 6, depending on the recording engineer’s workflow. And, while the process of editing isn’t very painful for the musicians, it can chew up hours and add to your total cost of recording. It’s not uncommon for editing to take two or more hours per song. So, it’s important to be financially prepared for editing.

Common tasks done during editing include:

• Combining multiple takes (“comping”) of a voice or instrument into a single track
• Vocal pitch correction
• Quantizing the drums (usually done after drums are tracked and before anything else is tracked, so that all instruments can be played in perfect time)
• Minor timing adjustments
• Cutting and pasting repeated parts where one instance of that part sounds significantly better than others. To cut-and-paste, tracking with a click track is required. That makes all repeated parts exactly the same length and available for cutting/pasting.

STEP 7: MIXING (ALLOW 3-10 HOURS PER SONG)

Mixing is the process of taking all the instruments and voices and blending them in a sonically pleasing way. This includes not just volume adjustments, but also how strongly each instrument or voice is heard in each ear/speaker (called “panning”). The mixing step also involves applying effects processing – like EQ, compression, reverb, delay, and other special effects – to the mix.

In my experience, I’ve seen songs require between three and 10 hours per song to mix. Ask your recording engineer what is typical for him or her for a band like yours.

STEP 8: MASTERING

Mastering is a step that surprises a lot of new recording artists. “You mean there’s something else I need done after my album’s been mixed?”

Yes. Yes, there is.

Mastering is the final – and critically important – process in getting your recorded music to sound as professional as possible. It also puts your music in a format that meets the technical requirements for radio airplay, streaming on services like Spotify, and CD manufacturing.

You should expect your recording to sound better once mastered. When done well, mastering will:

• Adjust the frequencies of your mix to have a sound that comes closer to matching the tone of national releases, with sufficient amounts of big bottom end and high-end sparkle
• Reduces the impact of any harsh frequencies that are in your mix
• Smooth out your mix so no part of your recording “jumps out” at the listener and shocks them or no part gets too quiet that the listener would have to increase the volume in the middle of a song
• Bring up the overall volume of your mix to the highest point possible before audible distortion rears its ugly head

It’s also important to know what mastering does not do. It does not fix a bad mix – if your vocals are totally buried and you can’t hear what your singer is singing, that’s a mix problem and something that mastering is not designed to address. If there are noises in your mix, mastering won’t take them away.

So, if you’re unhappy with a mix, don’t send it to mastering with the hopes that everything you hate about your mix will disappear. Professional mastering will help your mix sound even better. But, it’s not a cure-all for a bad mix or a miracle.
One last point on mastering…Mastering should not be done by your mix engineer, even if that mix engineer “claims” to be able to master music. Here’s why not:

• Mastering allows you to have another professional involved in your music production and bring a fresh perspective to the table in a way that really pays off. Your mix engineer will only bring his or her perspective and that was probably already exhausted out in the mix.
• Professional mastering requires specialized tools designed specifically for mastering that your mix engineer is unlikely to have invested in. Pro tip: Pro Tools and similar Digital Audio Workstations were not designed specifically for mastering!
• If you’re gonna pay someone for the time to do mastering for you, it makes sense to get someone who specializes in it, doesn’t it?

Disclosure: Before and After Music Group offers mastering services. Contact us if we can be of service to you!

STEP 9: DISTRIBUTION

After mastering, you will have the files you need to get your music out into the world! There are many services out there who have a web-based process where you upload your music, fill out some info, pay a small fee and they will distribute your music to Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon and all the other streaming platforms and digital download sites. These include CD Baby, Distrokid and others. Bandcamp allows you to sell digital downloads right on their site.
There are other services, like Discmakers, that can duplicate your CD’s, vinyl, USB drives, etc. and package digital distribution in. See what’s out there, ask some friends, and choose which service feels like it fits your needs best. Fortunately, there are a lot of good services to choose from!

GOOD LUCK

Well, these 9 steps have covered how you take an idea and eventually get it released as a song. Was this process more involved than you thought?

For most newer recording artists, it is. But, now that you know many of the fine details involved, you are better prepared to get your music out there in a time frame, within a budget, and with a quality production that meets your expectations!
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Good luck and please do keep Before and After Music Group in mind for your mastering needs!