So, you want to write an EP/Album. Where do you start?

[Lastisland]

^

[Babasmas]

You start with a single track and try building around it to have linked track. Or if you have few tracks in the making, put them together.

[auvic]

I personally rarely ever do singles--I'm an album guy.

What I do is draw up a general concept for the entirety of the album--what styles, what feels, what grooves, what genres, and most importantly, what the album's theme is and how I will portray that. The same will be done for every single song, and although every song has its own story, they all relate in some way and paint a bigger picture.

Of course, this is just my way. A lot of other people have many different ways of doing it. Some albums don't pull together and are just a collection of works. Some albums are designed to tell a big story. How they are done is going to be all specific to every individual.

[Miles Dominic]

I made an EP a while back. All the tracks had a similar theme and I used similar FX and instruments for each track. To keep each track unique, I used different arrangements and different genres for the tracks. 1 DnB, 1 Nu Disco and 1 Progressive house.

[aspenfox]

I've asked myself this before, and I haven't quite been able to nail an answer haha.. I've never attempted to write an EP or album before, and the idea of having completed one seems so distant to me... needless to say i'd really to someday, and plan on it eventually... I guess it would depend on a few things. I couldn't just sit down one day and be like "k ima start writing an album"... I feel like an idea or feeling would just have to hit me, and if it were strong enough I would pull a general theme from it and begin constructing a story to be divided up into a number of songs. Another way I might go about it would be if were in the middle of producing a song, and it sparked ideas for similar songs - from that point i'd just let it flow. I'd bust out the notebook paper and draw up some kind of chart with ideas to follow.

[Joseph]

EP is just a mini album, you can do whatever you want with it as long as it contains more than one song

[BorderCity]

I'm currently close to finishing an album, and what worked for me was doing some thorough planning.

I made a document writing about how I wanted the album to make me feel, what emotion each individual song would convey, the "signature sounds" I wanted throughout the album so it felt cohesive etc. I also found digital art which reminded me how I wanted to feel about the album.

It was honestly about a 10 page document and took a few weeks to complete, but once I had that nailed down, I felt so organised and I had such a clear view of the direction I wanted to go in that the task felt far less daunting.

From there i'd suggest working on multiple tracks at the same time rather than one at a time, so if you've got a block with one particular track you can still work on something else, and it feels like you're getting a lot more done imo

[M3NDES]

In my case I had made alot of tracks and then I put all together and for me all tracks of EP had a own story but the main theme is the story of EP for example the EP is about one person but each track is about a moment or a felling that I have with that person

[TheAGNO3]

I used to approach it differently but nowadays how I'd do it is probably as follows:
Over time, save up some ideas you feel have potential, even if it's just a melody, progression, etc.
Sit down and rework those progressions, melodies etc. in as few sessions as possible so they have more of a general cohesiveness. Add or remove tracks where necessary to fit your idea or concept.
Once you have a really rough layout of your album, and your progressions, melodies, etc. laid out, give yourself some time to figure out how you want to execute each track, then start at track 1 and move your way forward through the album track by track, creating a more developed "skeleton" of the album.
This method may seem a bit rigid but I think if you're working with a concept/theme it's a good way to keep things in line and make sure you're not being redundant or confusing in your message.
So now that you have a rough version of all the tracks, this is when you lock yourself in your studio for the next month or two and flesh them all out. I feel it's really important to work on this part of the process as consistently as possible, so that your full talent and potential at that time is put into all the tracks equally. Doing it this way will also ensure a consistent sound quality between tracks.
I know there's many ways to "skin the cat", this is just the method that I think works best if you're really shooting for a theme or concept album. I know this is how some of the greatest concept albums were made and it makes a lot of sense to me..

[BoyBioNik]

I don't think this is the correct section to post this .The sticky note says'

Welcome to Composition/Arrangement/Theory! This is where you can share and discuss everything relating to the fundamentals of music. This includes melodies, harmonies, chord progressions, time signatures

There is no special section to discuss album's yet but you can certainly discuss this here :
http://theproducersforum.com/index.php?board=12.0

[Babasmas]

I don't think this is the correct section to post this .The sticky note says'

Welcome to Composition/Arrangement/Theory! This is where you can share and discuss everything relating to the fundamentals of music. This includes melodies, harmonies, chord progressions, time signatures

There is no special section to discuss album's yet but you can certainly discuss this here :
http://theproducersforum.com/index.php?board=12.0

It's well placed. Here we talk about the composition and the arrangement of an Album. And the section is called "COMPOSITION/Arrangement/Theory.

[Kave]

In my opinion, I think an album is something you just feel, its a snapshot of whats going on at that moment. You carry the vibes from that moment in time and put them out into the world for everyone else to experience.

[ubervice]

(disclaimer: have never written a full EP or album but am slowly working towards one)

i've been slowly compiling playlists of songs that have been important to me over the past few years, and paying more attention to little things that i do in my own songs that i like and want to keep doing. also, keeping folders of inspiring art that i want the songs on my EP to feel like helps.

also, a question about writing albums. do any of you guys have problems where you'll use ideas in one song, but then start on another song and use the same ideas (chord changes, drum sounds, etc), but the new song sounds better so you scrap the old one? i keep running into that lately, i guess i need to get better at leaving ideas in their own songs.

Absolutely nothing wrong with that. It's all part of the process.

[Pzychosis]

Depends where I'm going with it. I personally try to be a storyteller. I'll create a story or theme around what the album is, like my newest one (and my favorite ) Odd/yssey is entirely based around the story of a dying human race looking for a new life in space, and I started with that, and created what I felt fit the vibe it belonged to that. Kind of like picturing them as chapters in the story, but if you're going with just a kind of normal collection of songs album, Just make your music like you regularly do, and pull aside songs that you think sound good near each other, and put them aside in that album. Last method I do is just have long sessions or near the same time of making the music, so that way that way, that large amount of time, when making that music, you're still in the same kinda vibe so the album will more likely fit together better.