Song sequence on an album.

[Soulbrother]

Just finished working on my second album, 11 songs, about 50 minutes long.

Have any of you guys got any tips or ideas about what order to put the tracks in? I came up with an order I liked, but test audiences all had their own suggestions:

"That song isnt strong enough to be the first song" or

"The first song should be a slow introduction to the album" vs. "The first song should punch you in the face and after that you can relax".

Any of you guys got any general thoughts on how the "perfect" album should be sequenced? And what do you think is the perfectly sequenced album? (I know it's gotta be Dark Side of the Moon)

[The dman]

Soulbrother

I'm sure your style of music will have a bearing on this but here's my 2 cents

I would suggest putting a very strong song first and second. I think that if you can reel em in on the first couple of songs you have a better chance of keeping them. Do not start with a weak song.

As far as a slow intro for the first song I think the style of music you do would dictate that. I think that would work for newage but if your doing mainstream type music (pop,country,rap etc) I think it would be a bad idea.

I would also be careful not to place too many of the same key,feel or lryical type songs together.

Usually a slower song seems to work better after an uptempo song or two and if you have a few slower songs spread them out. Just leave enough time after the fast song to let the listeners ear adjust to the change.

As far as all the advise your getting from friends I would listen to them and see if there's some songs that that people like more than others. But if their all over the map (opinions are like a@@holes right?)

I would trust the opinion of strangers more than friends or relatives because they don't have any preconcived or prejudice opinions, they either like it or or they don't.

I think a good album is like a roller coaster where the songs will keep moving from one song to the next without staying on a straight line for too long.

I sometimes make a list of the songs and then rate them from 1-10 on the strength of the songs and then kind of lay it out from there. EX, song1 is a 10,song 2 is a 8 etc.

Hope this helps

[Bob Olhsson]

Today most CDs are what we call "front-loaded" with the three strongest songs right up front. You need to knock out reviewers, program directors, store managers and label personnel with the first three or your CD will most likely wind up in the trash. Likewise front-loading is critical for retail listening stations and on-line stores.

Slot 2 is often where the strongest single gets put. A typical order would be 2, 1, 3. If none of the first 3 are slow songs, you might put your strongest slow one in slot 4 to set up the next up-tempo number. Beyond that, think about pairs of songs that go together well and then find pairs of pairs.