Developing an album can be a lengthy and tedious process for all involved. Sure there are multiple ways go about planning your album from end to end, but we are going to attempt to give you the basic details of the development process so you can get started on your own project.

First you need to decide if it is going to be an album or an EP. An EP or Extended Play has fewer songs than an album, usually about 4, and is used sometimes to introduce the artist or band and create a buzz. Next find a studio that fits the needs of the project. Not everyone needs a $300 hour studio. Remember, in today’s times most acts are going the independent route so you also want to look for one that is inexpensive that happens to have quality equipment. Or you can also go the home studio route if you can make it work. After finding a studio and recording a bunch of songs now you have to pick the ones that make the cut for the project, and proceed to get them mixed.

The mixing process is when you balance the song. First you take all of the individual tracks, which in most cases contain instrumentation and vocals, and balance the volume so that one track is not overpowering the other. Next you can start adding your effects which include compression, which takes the sound and squishes it so that it doesn’t peak at certain intervals, equalization, or adjusting the highs and lows of the track , reverb, which adds an echo type effect to the music and if needed a delay, or a repeating and decaying echo. After that part is done, you can now take the album to its final stage which is mastering. Mastering takes all the mixing that has just been done to the song and highlights it as a whole. Along with making it radio ready, the mastering process adds that special polish to your project that makes it shine.