Album Structure & Song Types | Pulling the Lever
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Holistic Songwriting is the most relevant resource for modern Songwriters/Producers on the net.
Friedemann Findeisen is an award-winning songwriter and the author of the bestselling book "The Addiction Formula". As a musical profiler, he coaches some of the biggest producers in Germany.
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One of the most important and interesting ways to analyze popular music is album architecture.
I actually compile my playlists, and love digesting/listening to them, as concept albums...some taking me months of off and on tinkering to get right. Adding structure, controlled flow, and oftentimes a narrative really takes an album up a few notches.
I always tend to go with my feeling with these things.. but it's good to know the "rules".
I am about to arrange my current EP in the works like this:
1. Intro
2. Title Track/Banger
3. Story telling track 1
4. Ear catching track
5. Story telling track 2
6. The best one that i put the most work in and has the most energy
7. The DEEP, dramatic track with a music video
8. a Bonus, Outro track that's kind of light and funny.
Learn the rules, Then break’ em!
There were no rules. So I made ‘em and then i broke ‘em!
When shit hits the fan, are you still a fan? Perfect ending...
I actually compile my playlists, and love digesting/listening to them, as concept albums...some taking me months of off and on tinkering to get right. Adding structure, controlled flow, and oftentimes a narrative really takes an album up a few notches.
Hi there. Are you a Virgo too? 😅
@@vaniaelizabethespinoza6363 Libra
ChrisJ Fox Oh, it’s cause that’s an answer that I would probably give about my playlists too, and I’m a Virgo. 😊
and now EP structure pleaaase
EPs can deliberately have a lack of cohesion to them if you so choose, for the sake of showcasing a variety of what you can do. But if you do choose to make an EP more concept based, the structure he talked about here would still apply, just more condensed (i.e., no time for filler, and each track may take on more than one of the roles he mentioned here...yet still in the same overall order).
would imagine it's the same thing, just condensed. My guess is that FF would say of a 3 song EP to do the opener, 2nd single, and closer, that way you're following a 3 act structure and still leaving surprises for fans down the line with your other 2 singles.
Your album (or playlist) is a journey, a story! The format is the main reason why albums are still very important. When curating an album keep in mind to sequence your tracks to release and build tension, doing this will make the songs leave a more impactful listening effect. If you have a couple of songs that soft, pair that with a couple of songs that are livelier after. However, grouping similar tracks work too.
Never release the best single first. Then the following ones will be disappointments. Start with the weakest single and build up from there, people will be amazed every time. That advice is from Depeche Mode and given the length of their career I think it as solid one. Also when you hear it, it just makes so much forehead-slapping sense.
Here's my take on a good album structure.
1) an overall good and catchy song that pulls one into the album
2) a little faster or heavier piece to finalize the pull
3) time to calm down for a while and also show you have some versatility
4) another fast or heavy
Some bulk, with at least one single
9?) fast, happy or heavy to contrast with the last one
10?) a ballad with a fade out that keeps you hanging on. Sad or bittersweet one that makes you want to start over again with the uplifting first track. If it is much slower than previous, the previous song should not have a fade-out, because that sort of makes the last one sound lazy and dragging. There should be a sudden stop and at least few second gap before the last one so it can have a fresh start.
Your mileage may vary :-)
This is really interesting. I love the concept of structuring an album the way you would structure a novel or screenplay. Thanks!
Np 😉 April and also a album 💿 structure and album sequencing are exactly the same.
Think of sequencing as writing a story, it would be odd if in the 1st chapter the characters are introduced, and in the next chapter, they are dead. For your listeners, it would be awkward to hear a soft song that transitions into a heavy fast-paced song. Singles are what attract your listeners, but an album is how you make them into fans. You have worked hard to create and produced every part of your story, so take the time to focus on the sequencing. Listeners will easily skip from one song to the next, you need to give your listeners a reason to stay for the whole story, and not to skip chapters.
"Road to Joy" off Bright Eyes' I'm Wide Awake It's Morning is, in my taste, the greatest album closer ever. How it stays low energy with a positive yet unconfident sound throughout, then with a powerful breach of confidence at the end with a mass of instruments and him screaming the album title into a harshening finish. Just... yes.
Thank you so much for giving us your insight on this!! Much appreciated!
Dan Harmons story circle really drives home the structures of stories
Normally my favourite songs are the last one of the album, i.e. Bedshaped by Keane or Daft Punk's Contact. I always knew that last song had to be good for a reason.
I love when closers sound like great closers. It'd be interesting if a die-hard music theorist could extensively break down the chord progression characteristics that most closers partake in.
I like 'hope ur ok' by Olivia Rodrigo because it doesn't follow the rest of the album, and it switches to a happier but sad ending.
I watched this video to help me with creating my new album structure and it turns out I was already following the structure! Thanks for you help!
This really does tie in well with film. It's all the Hero's Journey!
One of the best closing tracks I’ve ever heard is Björk’s Anchor Song, it’s incredibly moving and one of her best ballads
Wow that was a nice one! I used to think that the structure of an album is all about having enough fast songs to fill in the space between the ballad kind of songs. Or the other way around. Thank you!
Thank you so much for this! I’m in the process of making my first project! I’ll come back to this when it’s out and doing amazing numbers
Metallica albums are kinda like this. Their openers are always lit af. Fight fire, Battery, Blackened and Hardwired.
Metallica albums mostly go by :
1. intro
2. opener
3. single/light filler
4. power ballad
5. dark filler
6. dark filler
7. instrumental
8. mfcking (head)banger
Tracks 5 through 11 have seemed to be where my favourites are on so many albums, especially 5.... occasionally 3 or 4 hahaha! Most albums I listen to have more than 11 songs on.
i could not click this thumbnail fast enough. love everything you do. Just got your new book last week and read up to the start of the journal, So exciting to jump in tomorrow! Now I am re reading the addiction formula that has helped me evaluate the way we write our songs. Thanks for the great value as always.
I'm getting the book
@@thesuncollective1475 Recomed it def
Thank you man! Always means a lot to hear that what I do is helpful!
my idea for an album has been all over the place and this really just structured my whole idea into a more sound project thank you
Not only do you want variety from song to song, you also want to vary up the way your songs segue into each other. Sometimes you want songs to fade out, followed by a few seconds of silence before the next track starts. This is especially good if the song in question is powerful, so listeners will have a chance to digest it all before the next song begins. Other times, you’ll want one song to flow into the next, or perhaps have a song brashly cut to the next one, startling the listener.
Again, the White Album offers up a nice mix of segues. “Back in the U.S.S.R.” cross fades into “Dear Prudence.” “The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill” ends abruptly, cutting straight into “While My Guitar Gently Weeps.” The variety of songs and segues keep the listener engaged.
(By the way, in order to get these segues just right, you’ll want to hire a mastering engineer who will have the tools and experience to handle fades, cross fades, and everything else you need.) Listeners need a break in the action, otherwise they get overwhelmed. Albums used to have two sides, so artists were forced into telling a story in two, roughly 20-minute chapters (or four chapters for double albums). Today you have the ability to break your album into as many chapters as you want, and keeping them to 20 minutes or less is good practice. To create a suite or chapter, simply have the last song in that chapter fade out or include a grand finale of sorts, then include a few extra seconds of silence before beginning the next.
Smile, by Brian Wilson, is nice example of an album that is broken up into three chapters. The songs within each chapter flow directly into each other, but then there is a definite sense of closure to each suite.
example king of fools by delirious and feeder Polythene used a lot of segue for sure.
I love this! I feel like a lot of my favorite albums follow this structure! The 1975s last couple of albums come to mind. They start off with the super poppy songs and bring the more somber, more emotional songs in the second half
I definitely needed this. Thank you so much.
About closers, I believe you can have the best of both worlds. A nostalgic, closing feeling that tells me: “Things had change since song one.” “We are at our destination and you traveled the path with us.” But, at the same time, musically, it’s a song that’s representative of the band singles: “This is still us. Changed, yes; but still us.”
For me, no one used to do this better than the Foo Fighters. “New Way Home” from “The Colour and the Shape” being the perfect example. Nostalgic and yet powerful.
Thank you so much for sharing this. I keep coming back to this particular vid and it really helps me organise thoughts and ideas
This makes so much sense, thank you!
Thank You so much for making these videos man, they're very helpful and inspiring
Thank you! I imagine this is useful for so many things with any creative assemblies and beyond to make a great impression on an audience. ♥️
Great video! This makes a lot of concepts that I was struggling with clear. I will definitely be looking back at this for some inspiration once I start arranging my next album 😄
Single frame @ 2:44
Tyler Durden is that you lol;)
Gained so much from this channel x thanks so much man
Incredibly helpful video bro thank you
Album is amazing.
I like taking these templates and modifying them to fit my style of music
Thank you so much for this video☺
Great video. I’ve been making music as a hobby for some years now; but finally trying to put together some legitimate music. I’ve been looking for a “blue print” to guide my scattered ideas into Completed projects, and your videos help a lot
You basically just saved our upcoming album, Big thanks!! /NINA
awesome as always
This is great info! Thanks man
Great insight!
Next up, seamless album structure. Albums like Dark Side, Metropolis Pt 2 and Colors.
Really cool content. I like to think that all has to be coherent in an album so the structure of album itself has to say something. Maybe you could add 2 or 3 examples for each of these types of songs.
For example (talking about the energy of the songs, not the quality of it, don't kill me all should be singles in term of quality):
The Opener:kanye west - power or good morning
Singles: Arctic monkeys - When the sun goes down| SOAD Chop suey
Banger: Muse - Hyper music (that bass...)
Light filler: Coldplay - The Scientist
Switch: Queen - Bohemian rhapsody
Dark filler: Marilyn Manson - Coma black or Coma white | The Raconteurs - Blue veins
Closer: Radiohead - Exit music (for a film)
Another advice for album structure would simply be: copy the structures of albums you like and make it yours, or live concert setlists.
It could be fun to write this kind of album structure per band, I mean picking a list of songs for best of album for a band or artists
Like it - Good mix strong opening , variation..fillers mo fillers..Fillers are important once ppl are sick of the single they can go deep..nice arc..M on my forth album..looking to choose out of twenty..great ideas thx
Good info thanks Bud
“You see?! I told you!” < that’s me saying to a friend after watching this video when we talk about the importante of the order of the songs in an album. Really nice, dude!!
:D perfect!
I can only listen to about 3 songs max in a row form one artist nowadays ! Even the new tool album that I think is amazing , I find my self listing to about 3 songs then I go to podcasts or other artist
Agreed. The same sound can get boring. I make concept playlists that convey a narrative but want them to be playlists with as much track variety as possible while still being as cohesive as possible.
As shown on 1:02-1:04 so true.
My album is structured like this:
1. Intro/Bop
2. Jam
3. Bop
4. Jam
5. Banger
6. What the fuck
7. Bop
8. Light sound, heavy subject
9. Back to banger
10. Jam
11. What the fuck
12. Jam
13. Bop
14. Light sound, heavy subject
15. Banger
16. Bop, banger, jam, with a touch of wtf
This is so interesting! I just discorvered this channel and I'm loving it! More of this!
So here's a question (not sure if it's really in your topics).For me the hardest songs to write are upbeat, danceable songs that just make you smile widely and make you want to move your legs. Is this the case for more people around here? Any tips on that? :)
And yes 👍 the last song like track 12 20th century trip is the end of the story polythene and when it was repackaged it was track 13 too.
Hi, nice video! I recently stumbled upon an article which explained why today's chart albums are 'long'. It's because 'Billboard' counts 1.500 online listens as 1 album sale. When you release an album, and you have more songs on you album, you get to the 1500 faster (assumed fans listen to the whole album the first time). Interesting right?
Great video! I really agree with all of this. In the future I'd be curious to see an analysis of how to structure longer albums. The best example I can think of is Paramore's "Paramore" where the short ukelele songs break up the album so it doesn't feel too long/boring.
Think of each few songs as a mini album all its own. The overall still “needs” to be cohesive and tell your story, but each handful of tracks needs to have a semi-completeness (at least in your own mind) while at the same time leaving no sense of resolution just yet.
It's the same - the only difference is that you might have 2 songs that fulfill the respective function after one another. So you might have Intro - Opener - Opener - Single - Single etc.
Thank you for this, very informative. Can you give us any good examples of albums that you've listened to which have followed this pattern you're describing?
12. The Encore
do you have this as a list *with* descriptions somewhere? it'd be pretty handy ;)
Make sense.
This perfectly sums up Gaga's albums!
how do i apply this to death metal?
Intro - set mood
opener - Grab Attention
Sample Bite - all killer, no filler
Flavored Sample Bite - Experimental Summary (still palatable)
Different Flavored Sample Bite - Experimental Summary (still palatable)
Sample Bite 2 - Get investment
SWITCH - show other side (open second half)
Heavy Flavored Sample Bite - Experimental Summary (still palatable)
Heavy Different Flavored Sample Bite - Experimental Summary (still palatable)
dramatic nostalgia (often performance closer)
Credits Rolling
Great video! Due to streaming, artists are making longer albums. What would be the structure for those? More fillers? More singles? More acts/another switch (Light, Dark, third vibe)? Thanks
good video!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Noticed a rendering issue on 2:44. Almost thought it was a subliminal message.
Anybody else notice that little flash at about 2:40? Is that some kind of sumbliminal programming??
The Heaviest Matter in the Universe is, in fact, the 6th track on From Mars to Sirius
Think of sequencing as writing a story, it would be odd if in the 1st chapter the characters are introduced, and in the next chapter, they are dead. For your listeners, it would be awkward to hear a soft song that transitions into a heavy fast-paced song. Singles are what attract your listeners, but an album is how you make them into fans. You have worked hard to create and produced every part of your story, so take the time to focus on the sequencing. Listeners will easily skip from one song to the next, you need to give your listeners a reason to stay for the whole story, and not to skip chapters.
Bro i loooove this. I've been struggling with how to create the vibe in an album or set cause like... do people wanna be in a mood for a while? I personally love being thrown through my emotions and this validated that.
At any rate, josh waitzkin (art of learning, chess grandmaster, tai chi world champion) says that we should learn opposite schools from the depths of our own characters, and not the characters of another, so this fits perfect :)
I keep coming back here to make sure I'm doing everything differently...
(also, 2:44, subliminal messaging?)
Tyler's recent albums are like this
Does all the songs on the album has to be related to the title?
WELCOMEbackeveryonefiflibbfbiclifsfwesmersinsnWITH Holistic songwriting. XD Love how you rattle that out so quickly.
THANKYOU for the great content.
I am presuming (from this informative video) that this form of album structure pertains to albums to be released by performing bands. Should there be a different structure when in comes to making albums that will not be performed live? E.g a recording only singer/songwriter? I think this topic could make great follow up.
I dont think its different. He's made some interesting observations. I would suggest trying to observe others music for your self and figure out what you like. It probably also is different concerning what you are trying to accomplish
I think that it pertains to singer songwriters as well. Sure we might not have tracks that are "bangers" per say, but we do have lighter songs or more catchy songs or songs that do not have as much "lyrical depth" to them that we can open with and are more crowd friendly 😅
On my own EP, I started with catchy melodies / relatable lyrics and slowly progressed into songs that strongly hinted towards political views / deep heart break songs.
It's all about making the narrative or the journey that your album offers interesting and coherent I guess.
What everyone else said. Canohead will not be performing live either, and I still absolutely followed the formula for structuring the album.
Still part of storytelling too.
2:44 Starlight uses powers
Where can I check out your record though?
Could you turn old songs that's a year old into a new album today?? Without any problems on the distributions?? Or any other platforms from doing this
How would you go about it in a band. Would you first just gig around to gain a bit of a following, maybe a record deal (however unlikely it would seem), or would you first write a whole album and then gig around? I know making demos is great for looking to send to record labels and such but is it worth the time making an album in the beginning?
I'd say do it! I feel like having a solid album demo (or even an EP) can only be advantageous! You can show that to the venues you want to gig for as well as the record labels. If it is well constructed it will help you "sell" your gig a lot easier. The time and effort will also help with perfecting your songs and arrangements with the band.
Also 😅 Giging around with merch to sell (CDs) is a winner. I started giging before I had an EP recorded and people would ask me : "do you have a CD??" The answer was no at the time and I lost a lot of potential followers who probably forgot that I had a Facebook page and TH-cam account by the time they got home, but would have listened to my EP if they had it.
My two cents on the topic! Good luck and success with your band 😁
Hey man, first of all I'd say stay away from record labels - you're wasting your time. As for whether to write an album, check out th-cam.com/video/f1txIkjTGJI/w-d-xo.html
@@OliveOliFera Right! Definately seems like it would only be benificial, just very time consuming and also a big investment in general. It's a bit daunting but I think with this template as guidance I'm sure I'll come up with something! Thanks!
@@Holistic-songwriting Will you be going in depth about that in the future or have you already made a video on that topic already that I might've missed? The artists that I am into don't seem like they dislike being on a record label, right now I can only think of unfair contracts and the tendancy of becoming too ''commercial'' like a lot pop music as downsides of those labels.
And I've always been a bit confused by EP's, singles and b-sides, is an EP a small collection of singles and their b-sides or am I looking at it wrong?
2:43
that lover tracklist tho lol
So when's the Canohead album coming out?
I pushed it back to next year because I had some neat ideas for the release ;)
Hey
Album structure and album sequencing are the same.
0:03
Heyyy, what about EPs?
1:27
Opeth_still life
what if all I have is the heavy songs that make you want to scream or cry?
surely the intro, opener and first single can be done in just one song right?
Yeah the search by nf is literally that
Lots of older bands do this and it works perfectly
💕😷😷😷
Why song 🎵 have to start from beginning to end?
You just described Tyler the creators Igor
Why do songs have to start from beginning to end?
Simon whistler?
Se parece al tipo de visualpolitic, "...pero antes, vamos a ver un poco...de historia!"
binging with babish is that u??!?!
Lol but what if they press shuffle play when they click on your album?
wild card...thats a good sign imo
Cringe
Then they don’t deserve it any other way
First!!!......
Is Canohead out yet??
I had to push it back to February 2nd. It will be worth it though! :)
So what's your album? I couldn't find your name even 😅
Anybody catch the subliminal picture @2:43, I couldn't catch it lol...