Ableton Forum

Hi guys,

I recently started work on a "concept" album, and I was wondering if anyone has any tips that would make things a bit clearer. I have finished one tune, kind of an intro/ prologue, and I really feel like I'm going into this blind. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks.

Outline the overall concept of your album. That should make things easier

make other types of art that tell the story of the songs
so you are creating visually as well
kind of like scoring a movie that doesnt exist yet

collect images online that have to do with the concept
start a pimtrest page to collect the images

just a few ideas

Do you already have the design cover? You should focus on the album's cover song for the album design. Aim for a graphic design that would have optical illusions or similar graphics that would have the same effect since it would be a great promotional aspect to the album

Awesome. Thanks for the tips.

I just released a concept album, and have learned a lot about the process over the past two years.

Keep developing your story, but don't think it has to be super-deep or complex. Just a basic idea is enough. Mine was based on a simple premise:

Hong Kong: 2050 A.D. You're about to inject a dose of mind-altering nanobots. This is the soundtrack to your trip.

Here are some techniques that can help you tell a story:

- Take some index cards, and put each song (or a track number for a song if you don't have a name yet), then on the other side write down what's going to be happening at that point in the story.

- Linearly map out a song's timeline, start to finish. On one line, list the sounds that are occurring (i.e. here the drums are fading in, here's the bassline, etc.). On a parallel line, write down what these sounds represent in terms of the story.

- Design certain sounds to represent certain elements of your story. For example, the chiptune sounds in my album represent the nanobots coursing through your body.

- Take some time away from the studio to just think through everything. Put yourself in that world/environment, and live in it for awhile. Develop a deep sense of what you would be feeling and experiencing, if you were actually living that story.

Here's an interview where I explain my process in more detail:

http://www.modulatethis.com/2012/08/mus ... beria.html

Cheers,

Kent // SEVEN7HWAVE

This is great stuff! Thanks, Kent.