Guides

Practical guides to finishing an album or EP, alone or with a band: tracking it, getting every mix onto your phone, and choosing the tools. Written by Ryan Whitten, who took fifteen years to finish his first album and built StudioTrackr from the system that finally got it done.

Finishing an album or EP

• How to finish an album when you never finish anything

  Albums stall for the same few reasons: no view of the whole, no definition of done, too many versions, and notes that never make it back to the desk. Here's a system that gets an album or EP from demos to masters.

• The album production checklist: every stage from demo to master

  Every step a song goes through on a home-recorded album or EP, grouped into producing, tracking, mixing and mastering, with what "done" means for each, plus the release jobs that happen once per project.

• Why your mix sounds different in the car, and how to car-test it properly

  A car is a small, boomy, noisy room with the speakers in odd places, which is why it exposes a mix so fast. Here's what to listen for, why loudness fools you, and how to take notes you can act on.

• How to name and organize your bounces and mix versions

  A naming scheme that never needs the word "final", a folder per song, and a rule for what to keep, so you always know which mix is current and what changed since the last one.

• How to get mix feedback from your band without a 60-message group chat

  Mix feedback in a group chat is vague, contradictory and lost by Thursday. Ask specific questions, get notes with a timestamp, keep one list per song, and decide who has the final say before the first mix goes out.

Getting mixes to your phone

• How to get your mixes from your DAW onto your iPhone

  Apple Music sync, AirDrop, Voice Memos, Files, Dropbox and Google Drive all get a bounce onto a phone, and none of them were built to play a project you're still making. Here's how each one works, where it falls down, and a way that takes no steps at all.

• How to get a mix from Logic Pro to your iPhone

  Bounce the mix from Logic Pro into a folder on your Mac and it's on your iPhone and in CarPlay as the song's next version. Here's the Logic Pro export, step by step, and the settings worth using for a reference mix.

• How to get a mix from Ableton Live to your iPhone

  Bounce the mix from Ableton Live into a folder on your Mac and it's on your iPhone and in CarPlay as the song's next version. Here's the Ableton Live export, step by step, and the settings worth using for a reference mix.

• How to get a mix from Pro Tools to your iPhone

  Bounce the mix from Pro Tools into a folder on your Mac and it's on your iPhone and in CarPlay as the song's next version. Here's the Pro Tools export, step by step, and the settings worth using for a reference mix.

• How to get a mix from FL Studio to your iPhone

  Bounce the mix from FL Studio into a folder on your Mac and it's on your iPhone and in CarPlay as the song's next version. Here's the FL Studio export, step by step, and the settings worth using for a reference mix.

• How to get a mix from REAPER to your iPhone

  Bounce the mix from REAPER into a folder on your Mac and it's on your iPhone and in CarPlay as the song's next version. Here's the REAPER export, step by step, and the settings worth using for a reference mix.

• How to get a mix from Cubase to your iPhone

  Bounce the mix from Cubase into a folder on your Mac and it's on your iPhone and in CarPlay as the song's next version. Here's the Cubase export, step by step, and the settings worth using for a reference mix.

• How to get a mix from Fender Studio Pro (Studio One) to your iPhone

  Bounce the mix from Fender Studio Pro into a folder on your Mac and it's on your iPhone and in CarPlay as the song's next version. Here's the Fender Studio Pro export, step by step, and the settings worth using for a reference mix.

• How to get a mix from Universal Audio LUNA to your iPhone

  Bounce the mix from LUNA into a folder on your Mac and it's on your iPhone and in CarPlay as the song's next version. Here's the LUNA export, step by step, and the settings worth using for a reference mix.

Choosing your tools

• How to track an album in a spreadsheet

  A spreadsheet is the right shape for tracking an album: songs down the side, steps across the top, a color for each status, and a daily scan for what's next. Here's how to set one up, and what it can't hold once the mixes start.

• Using Notion to track an album: what works and what doesn't

  Notion is good at the writing side of an album: lyrics, credits, release plans. It's weaker at the parts that are audio, where its free plan caps each file at 5 MB and a four-minute WAV is around 70.

• Trello for music production: tracking an album on a kanban board

  Trello works for an album when each card is a task. It struggles when each card is a song, because a song is usually in several stages at once, and the mixes don't fit in a free-plan attachment.

• StudioTrackr vs Samply: which one do you need?

  Samply is built for sharing and reviewing mixes, especially with clients. StudioTrackr is built for finishing an album or EP you're making yourself. They overlap on versions and timestamped notes; here's where they differ.

• The studio whiteboard, and what replaces it

  Studios have tracked albums on a whiteboard for decades: songs down one side, parts across the top, crossed off as they're done. It works while everyone is in one room. Most albums aren't made in one room anymore.