Lars Lentz Audio™

I have a massive vault of tracks that are in various stages of unfinished-ness. I’d like to make them into tracks and albums with common themes, but how to sort them?

The Vault

Everything I make goes into a “vault” which is just a pile of files all in one folder that are unfinished. I can go back to them at any time and resurrect them into full tracks if I want to.

But. I. Don’t. (This is the problem.)

Now, I have tons of files of various genres and sounds because I go through phases in my listening and producing and end up creating several differing genres of unfinished tracks. Some are boom-bap, house, ambient, tropical, and mixes of all of these. They all have strange names that are hardly descriptive, and they’re all just sitting in a folder collecting digital dust.

This situation comes about because I make music every day and come up with different experiments and snippets of sounds and tracks that I save in a folder (my vault). I’m doing something almost every day so in a year, I have hundreds of files that are unfinished.

Creating a wide range of tracks of all sorts is perfectly okay and demonstrates a diverse and creative mindset toward music production in general. Don’t stop doing that. I still do that every day.

I received validation about doing this very thing from Joel Zimmerman (Deadmau5), who said he also uses a “vault”:

Sorting the Vault

But the next step with a pile of tracks is to sort them into categories, and here’s what I did:

1. I put the files all into single folders that grouped the various versions of each file together.
2. I put the folders into an encompassing folder. This is what you see in the image below this section.
3. I opened each folder’s latest file and listened to it.
4. I kept a spreadsheet of various categories and assigned the name of each folder to a category. It didn’t need to be too accurate.
   • I had four categories: ambient, beat oriented, classical piano, guitar oriented.
   • I found I had a lot of cross over between ambient and beat oriented and some with guitar oriented. It doesn’t matter so much now though – I have a good list to work from and rearrange.
   • I foresee doing this in several iterations as I move tracks from one category to another, but for now it is all I need.

Now with a list like this in spreadsheet tabs for each genre, I am free to work on each and move them into lists for albums after I develop them. I can even put the stage of development into a column for each so I know where I’m at with each one.

Here is a sample from my spreadsheet for one of my genres (ambient):

Now I can go into my files and open each one and develop it further.

If you’re only interested in releasing singles, then the next section may not be for you, as it focuses on creating albums of tracks. But if you want to make great albums, read on.

Cohesive and Thematic Album Creation

Cohesive and themed albums enhance the listening experience by taking audiences on an emotional journey and providing a narrative structure that fosters deeper connections with the music. They strengthen an artist’s identity and recognition while encouraging repeat listening and engagement. Additionally, such albums often feature a seamless flow and polished production, leaving a lasting impact on listeners and contributing to the cultural landscape.

But how can you get there? I think there are two primary ways.

The “One-to-Many” Approach

Take a single track and expand it into several for an album.

1. Take your vault of material that has been sorted and pick one track that has the sound and feel that you are looking to expand into a whole album of material.
2. Choose a theme for the album (see below).
3. Use only the instruments and effects of that one track and create several other tracks that are similar but different enough to have an impact on the listener and tell a story or expand on the theme.

You can take individual tracks and develop whole albums based on them by using the instruments and effects as a foundation.

Choose a Theme (or not)

Assuming you already have chosen a track you like and want to expand upon, choosing the theme can be one of the most difficult tasks in album creation. But, don’t worry too much, here’s some simple ways it can be done without a lot of stress.

1. Make tracks that have a similar sound. The instruments and effects can be different, but maybe they are all in the same vein of sounds. For example, this could be various types of piano variations with treated pianos, untreated, harpsicords, or even guitars.
2. Make tracks that use a certain set of instruments and effects and limit yourself to just those. I’ve tried this, and it works well for me as those instruments and effects create a type of sound but with variation depending on the settings of the instruments and effects. It causes me to focus on the composition, melody, harmony, chords, and tonality, and I like that because those are the things that make a rich and deep track.
3. Make a conglomeration of tracks of a similar style and don’t have a theme. Do you think every album has a theme to it? Most don’t, and that’s perfectly o.k. Listeners might even make up their own thoughts about your album and imply a theme of their own to it. That’s great!
4. Use the genre as a theme. It is o.k. to have a collection of ambient tracks, house tracks, downtempo tracks, or tracks of whatever genre of music as long as they’re all kind of similar. You can even overlap genres. Maybe you make genre-crossing music already and there’s none out there like it and want to give a set of tracks to your audience to satisfy the niche. That’s actually really excellent and innovative so why could it be wrong?
5. If you have a specific story to tell, then that is your theme. Use each track to expand on the story and go from opening to closing with music.
6. If you have a general story or message, then that can be your theme. Have a collection of tracks that espouse your vision. Make each one a reinforcement of what kind of message you’re trying to get across to your listeners.

See. It’s not so hard to choose a theme or to have no theme at all. It is still good to have an arc to the collection though, and that I will discuss below.

Now on to expanding on that original track you picked.

Analyze the Original Track

Break down the elements. Identify the instruments, effects, and production techniques used in the track. Pay attention to the arrangement, dynamics, and overall sound. Capture the essence. Determine what makes the track unique. Is it the rhythm, melody, or a specific sound design? This will guide your development of similar tracks.

Create a Template

Set up a project template in your DAW that includes the same instruments and effects used in the original track. This will help maintain a cohesive sound across the new tracks. Use similar settings for effects like reverb, delay, and EQ to ensure that the new tracks have a similar sonic character.

Develop New Ideas and New Tracks

Experiment with variations on the original track. Use the original track as a springboard to create new and unique variations. Modify melodies, harmonies, or rhythms while preserving the core elements. Incorporate different arrangements: While maintaining the same instruments, try different song structures or arrangements to explore new directions. For example, try adding layers to your new tracks using the same instruments, but consider different articulations or playing techniques to keep things fresh.

Maintain cohesion amongst the tracks. Use a consistent sound palette, as they say, for all of the tracks. At least don’t deviate too far. Try to stick to the same types of instruments and effects throughout the album to create a unified sound. Consider thematic elements, and if the original track has a specific mood or theme, ensure that the new tracks align with this to enhance the overall concept of the album.

Consolidate to an Album

Play your new tracks together and listen to how they work as a collection. Make adjustments to ensure they flow well from one track to the next. The tracks, when heard together, should form an arc, much like a story arc, but in musical form. Arrange the tracks in a way that creates a cohesive journey for the listener, considering both energy levels and emotional impact.

• There should be an opening track that sets the tone for the album and hooks the listener into wanting to listen to more of it.
• The core or middle tracks should develop the theme and explore variations in mood, pace, or texture.
• The closing track should resolve the story, allowing the listener to reflect on the album as a whole.

The “Many-to-One” Approach

Take a collection of tracks and compile them into a single album.

1. Choose a theme of the album.
2. Take your sorted vault of material and choose all the tracks that fit with the theme.
3. Organize them into an album that tells a story or expands on your theme.

Choose a Theme

Assuming you already have chosen a group of tracks you want, choosing the theme is the next logical step. Try some of these ideas or come up with your own:

1. Make a compilation of tracks of a similar style. You’re done at this point except for making sure they all fit together well in an album.
2. If you have a specific story to tell, then see if these tracks can tell it for you. You may have to make a few more tracks and if some of the ones you’ve chosen don’t work or don’t fit then you’ll have to get rid of them.

Some of the same items apply from the “One-to-Many” approach, so take a look at that above as I’m not going to repeat them here.

Analyze the Group

Listen to the similarities in the group of tracks you’ve chosen. Try to identify the items that make these tracks special for you and can translate to your listeners. The last thing you want is to drive listeners away, so weed out the tracks that don’t fit and recognize that you may have to create additional tracks to fill in the album.

Create Additional Tracks / Refine the Existing Tracks

As mentioned, you may have to create additional tracks. A good approach is to take an existing track you’ve already chosen and convert it into a template in your DAW so you can make similar tracks. You may want to do this with multiple tracks if necessary.

You will also probably need to refine the existing tracks you’ve chosen. They may need nudges in a different direction or tweaks of some kind to make them fit better with the album.

Consolidate to an Album

This is essentially the same instruction as above and I’ll not repeat it here, so see above for this.

Summary

Cohesive and themed albums enhance the listening experience by taking audiences on an emotional journey and providing a narrative structure that fosters deeper connections with the music. They strengthen an artist’s identity and recognition while encouraging repeat listening and engagement. Additionally, such albums often feature a seamless flow and polished production, leaving a lasting impact on listeners and contributing to the cultural landscape.

By following a few steps, you can take your unfinished or misfit tracks from your vault and distill a well-organized and thematic album from them. It takes some effort, but it can be worth it.