So,
Are You Going to Finish Your CD or
What??
by John
McKay
Every band I know is
always in some stage of the CD production
process. But often they've been in the
same stage for a long time, sometimes a
VERY long time! The key to getting your CD
finished and to your fans is to have a
plan. Project planning methods are very
useful here, since you're really doing a
fairly large project!
That said, let's look at the stages, and
ways to make sure they move along.
1. Project deliverables and
constraints.
Basically, your main "deliverable" is
going to be a CD that is packaged in some
attractive fashion, manufactured in large
enough quantity to meet demand, and of
high enough quality to please your fans
(and yourselves). It helps to articulate
what these things mean, however. So, get
specific:
Deliverables:
- Album featuring
10-15 songs, radio quality recording,
shrink-wrapped initial quantity of
250
- Press pack with
Bio, Photos, and One-Sheet to describe
CD
- Promotional
artwork for advertising, flyers,
etc.
Constraints: This is where you list
your budget, completion date, and any
other rules you wish to impose. For
example:
- Budget of $2000
total, for recording, mastering,
production, and initial
promotion.
- Completion Date
of August 1st
2. Make your
plan.
This is the part where you break
everything down into steps and
dependencies. For example:
Track 1:
- Finish songs
(You should start to think about
what songs will make the cut. It is
often wise to record an extra 3 or 4
songs. This will allow you to select
the strongest songs for the final
album, and leave you a few tracks for
compilations, b-sides,
etc.)
- Find a studio or
engineer
- Book studio
time
- Rehearse
- Record
tracks
- Mix
- Master
CD
Track
2:
- Photography
- Write out lyrics
(if you intend to include a lyric
sheet)
- Find a
designer
- Design
sleeve
Track
3:
- Send for
manufacturing
Track
4:
- Design ad
artwork
- Book ads (many
publications book ads a month or two in
advance)
- Put together
press pack
- Update or create
Web Site
In the above
example, I have listed tasks in order of
dependencies. Items which are not directly
dependent are in separate Tracks. For
example, you have to finish the songs
before you record them, so that's a
dependency. On the other hand, You can
begin designing the sleeve and taking
photos even before the songs are finished,
if you want to.
3. Establish responsibilities and
timelines.
Basically, someone should be
responsible for the completion of each
step. This person has the job of making
calls, keeping on top of progress, and
letting everyone else know how things are
going.
Timelines are simple enough, especially if
you work backwards from your deadline. In
this example, we can assume that
manufacturing the CDs will take 45 days.
Working backwards, that means we need our
master done by June 15th at the latest.
Artwork will need to be finished by then,
as well. If we assume 1 week for
mastering, we need to have the album
recorded and mixed by the first week of
June. If you book time for the end of May,
and give yourselves two weeks to practice,
you should have your songs finalized by
the middle of May.
You can see that working backwards will
show you that time is inevitably shorter
than you thought!
4. Execute!
This is the fun part. Now that you
know what you're supposed to be doing, get
busy!
Once your CD is finished, you can apply
this same methodology to promotion,
touring, etc. And as soon as your CD is
finished, it's time to start thinking
about the next one. As we've seen, if you
want to release another CD next year, you
need to start working on new material
soon!
All of this is pretty simple on its own,
though it can seem overwhelming if you
don't break it down. If you need advice,
contacts, or references, let me know. I
like to see the music I record released,
and I'll be as helpful as possible to see
that it does. You can find some good
starting points on my Resources
page.
And, of course, you can request
a quote from
me, and get the big ball
rolling!
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