so i've decided to make an EP

lately i've been spending most of my free time making trip-hop style beats, with some other people that play live instruments. and i've got to say, it's the most fun i've ever had. shit is coming out nice too. plus no sample clearances.

so we've decided to put out an EP, officially and everything.
we're also going to do everything ourselves, recording, mixing, mastering, cover art, distribution, promotions, everything except dupication. we only plan on getting like 5000, and that's at the very most.

i'm going to post everything in this thread kind of like a step by step guide on what steps i take on the road to making a small record.

this is my first time doing anything other than production and mixing, so you guys that have been here before, give me a hand if need be please.

We'll be doing both our EPs at the same time. I'm working on mine too. I'm gonna have someone else master it though I am not that skilled.

Interested in reading your posts about all the steps you're taking. Good luck.

step 1 mix and master all your music and get it ready to go on a cd. Just how you want it. A normal 12" record holds about 12 mins on each side. So make a cd with the final product. then send it to a mastering house. Once u get the master back you need to send it to a pressing plant. There are many different plants to use and some are very picky with using uncleared samples. A good one i heard is Bill Smith Mastering. You would send it to him and he would cut a plate. WIth this plate you can use him to press the units or send it to another press. Press the records then they will leave it at the warehouse and ship it out using what they call drop shipping. Its like they charge a flat rate and precent to ship anywhere. They basically warehouse your shit and when you get orders you call them and they send it for there fee. Unless you can pick it up, but sending 1000 units through the mail is costly so drop shipping is nessacary. Once you get the product, u need to send out promos and promote it. Then find someone to distribute it. Its very hard to retail 1000 records with no name or venue to pump it so you would mainly be wholesaleing the joint to record stores. This is not the definitave way on putting out a record, but its how imma get down in the future.
read this for more info
http://www.asisphonics.net/makingarecord.html

well first we have to come up with the rest of the music. we plan on having around 8 tracks, and so far we have two written, one recorded.

i agree with what you said about sending it to a mastering house, when we get to that point we already know someone that will master it for dirt cheap. as far as the duplication process goes we're going through discmakers because the school has a studio partner program with them. remember, we don't have any uncleared samples.

thanks for the post bing, good read

im also workin on a ep (mostly done) and im in the process of cleaning it up. im doing it all myself. im even thinkin about buying my own duplicator. im not an expert at mastering but i have some experience thru out the years and some small tools (nuendo mainly). one thing ive learned is to take your time (you probly already kno this). the more time you take into perfection, the more you learn and grow.

this may be going to full blown album status. depends on how much stuff we get recorded, cause right now it's flowing like water. we did three good songs today. keep in mind nothing is written yet aside from the three today, plus one more from before.

we also got some pretty good cover art ideas. our goal is to have the copies ready for distribution by the end of the year.

also trying to get in talks on selling them joints on a couple of popular music sites

5000 is a bit much for an unknown group. you sure you wanna press that many? a lot of unknowns generally press 500-1000 as far as I know, but then again, depends on how well you market yourself and get people to buy your stuff. even if you were to get someone to distribute your music they'll probably only do it on a consignment basis. if I were you i'd start off small and go from there, be practical, otherwise you're gonna have a few thousand records sitting in a warehouse collecting dust.

mech1 wrote:5000 is a bit much for an unknown group. you sure you wanna press that many? a lot of unknowns generally press 500-1000 as far as I know, but then again, depends on how well you market yourself and get people to buy your stuff. even if you were to get someone to distribute your music they'll probably only do it on a consignment basis. if I were you i'd start off small and go from there, be practical, otherwise you're gonna have a few thousand records sitting in a warehouse collecting dust.

smart

huge sit down session today, hopefully we will leave with at least three new songs.

secured sitar player yesterday, a fu*king sitar. i've got to say i'm having a lot of fun so far, i know i'm going to change my tune when the post stage starts.

we have also decided to do a cover song, "rock on" by david essex.

Does anyone know the rules for covering songs?

these are the rules...

"In America compulsory licensing laws allow a musician to perform and publish a previously recorded song without getting the permission of the copyright holder. A band of unknown but talented musicians, then, can churn out imitations of popular songs that can then be sold at a high profit margin. Otherwise, the record company would have to either pay licensing fees to the copyright holders of the music or not even be able to release the music at all, if the copyright holders deny permission."


-From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.





how about that

i took some test pics today and i need you guys' help.





or





the background is what's in question
help is mucho appreciatedo

i like the first one - the red and the angle set it off nice......

yo i cant wait to hear your ep man - i wish u the best

i hope everbody on this forum can be successful with their music to the fullest extent they're trying to take it.........im going to be doing the same thing within the year - getting a 12 out there.........cant wait

what i'm thinkin is im gonna use the white background with the red angle. then use the red one for my 12" cover

go check myspace out for a more detailed account of the album

btw it's full album status now

yeah def take your time, i did a album with a rapper from around hte way, he wanted everything in like a week, i told him tis not gonna be near perfect, and it wasnt, i was rushed into mixing and mastering everything my selkf, and very quickly, nota good mixture, came out "ok",wasnt to bad, could have been 1000x better

tanamo00420, we have similiar music styles. I'd like to hear what you have going on. I'm working on a trip-hop project that's based off synth and sampling, but I also include live acoustic and electric guitars, bass, percussion, and soon brass and woodwinds. A lot of people will be involved in my album and I hope to get some different singers and MCs on it.