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Malan Darras

Malan Darras

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April 6, 2021

How To Record An Album

Right now I am putting the finishing touches on a full length album called “Cowboy In The Sunshine”. I checked the timestamp on the first recording file I created. It said I started working on it about forty five days ago.

That sounded like a long time to me. So I thought about how many days I’d actually worked on it since I began. That number looks more like about two weeks.

Malan Darras Cowboy In The Sunshine
This is me sharing the album artwork with you. Step #25.

So – how do you spend a month and a half working on an album for two weeks? Well… I’m about to tell you. Here’s a look at the process of making an album.

How To Record An Album

  1. Get stoned and play guitar for a few months with no plans to make an album
  2. Start recording ideas onto your iPhone
  3. Write out the lyrics and finish the ideas
  4. Forget most of the lyrics and ideas
  5. Stare at the wall contemplating the pointlessness of human existence
  6. Decide there is no point in ever releasing another album
  7. Watch Netflix and YouTube for a week or two
  8. Sit down in the studio and record a song in two hours
  9. Finish the song in one hour the next day
  10. Get stoned, listen to the song on repeat and cry for two days
  11. Lose interest in the album
  12. Repeat steps 8-11 until eight to twelve songs are done
  13. Start writing songs in a completely different music genre
  14. Vow to never release the songs you’ve recorded
  15. Stare at the wall contemplating the pointlessness of human existence
  16. Get stoned and listen to the album you’ve been working on
  17. Decide it’s the best thing you’ve ever done
  18. Mix the songs for a week
  19. Decide the album sounds terrible and vow to never release it
  20. Play around with the order of songs
  21. Come up with a title and start working on album artwork
  22. Consider selling all your music gear
  23. Finish album artwork and mixes
  24. Start the mastering phase
  25. Share the album artwork online
  26. Finish the mastering phase
  27. Upload the songs to streaming services
  28. Consider deleting the album and doing something in a different music genre
  29. Release the album
  30. Sell some copies, get some streams and make a video
  31. Decide releasing music is pointless
  32. Get stoned and play guitar for a few months with no plans to make an album
  33. Start recording ideas onto your iPhone

As you can see, the last two steps are the process starting over again.

It sounds funny and at this point I hope you are laughing. But this isn’t a joke. This is the real process I go through when I release anything.

Whether it’s an album, a blog post, a YouTube video or a damned coffee cup it’s a roller coaster of excitement and doubt from beginning to end. But at the end of the day – the thing gets released.

This album will come out. And very soon.

So if you’re ever working on something and you feel like it’s pointless and you want to quit before anyone ever sees it… please know that myself and a million other artists are right there with you. It’s called the creative process and it’s not easy.

In fact – I think I’ll just delete this blog post right now.

PS – I didn’t delete the blog post. But I did make it into a video.

Malan Darras is a singer, musician and blogger. He is also one of the top affiliate marketers in the world. Malan writes, records and releases his own music and is founder of the popular marketing forum MadSociety.

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