full length album

[Kosherbeets]

In listening to many of my favorite albums from beginning to end, I notice how the songs are not really separated from eachother. Instead they lead into one another as if the whole album was really one song. Is there a way I can make an album like this with my pro tools, version 5.1? I was thinking that i could put all of the songs in one session then cut them where i wanted to separate songs, and convert them to their own sessions one by one. After that I'd make them all mp3's and using the c.d. burner in my mac *on the setting that allows it to burn songs back to back with no space between them,* i'd burn my c.d. This seems lenghty and extreme however, and i am sure this cannot be the proper way to do such a seemingly simple thing. Any input is greatly appreciated.
- will

[Redbeard]

Most good audio CD burning programs allow you to crossfade or overlap songs.

I like Roxio Jam, but I don't need to edit PQ codes.

[Kev]

Once apon a time,
there was a software program called,
Master List CD.

http://www.digidesign.com/support/docs/mlcdadd.pdf

[Redbeard]

thanks man. anybody know how big time record labels go about doing it?

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Same way with more expensive hardware/software. Album sequencing is generally done during the mastering process by the mastering engineer.

[froyo]

Hello. Kosherbeets that is one of the things that Mastering houses do. On the one hand, on the more nuts and bolts side, even on albums that are not theme albums (The Wall, Operation Mindchrime, Tommy, etc), often you will have a Master Compression, Reverb, EQ, etc on all or most tracks. What you seem to want however is more of a fade in and fade out sort of deal. As was pointed out specific CD burning applications can do this. You can do it in Pro Tools also. It's just your session will go from 5 minute songs to 45 to 72 minute songs.

[Sam Amato]

If you want one song to fade out while the next song fades in (or any other instance where you hear two songs at the same time) you can do the following:
1. Import the two songs to a new PT session using "Import Audio to Track" so the songs are on different tracks.
2. Drag the second song to the end of the first song and line it up so that it sounds the way you want it to.
3. Automate or draw-in the fade-out for the the first song and the fade-out for the second song (if necessary).
4. On the first song (region), place the timeline exactly where you want the ID # on the CD to change from 1 to 2. Now hit "Command/Cntrl + e" (separate region).
5. With the Grabber tool, click on the first region of the first song. This will highlight from the beginning of the song to where you made your edit (separate region).
6. Now you can "Bounce to Disc" your first song.
7. When your bounce is finished, select (highlight) from your edit point to the end of the second song.
8. "Bounce to Disc" your second song.
9. If you're using a CD burning application like "Toast", all you have to do now is drag the two files you just created in, make sure the time between the two songs is set to zero, and press record. If your CD burning application does not allow you to do this, you need to get one that does.

You can do this with as many songs as you want.
It's difficult to explain, but very easy to do. I hope this helps.

[Barnabas]

Sam Amato said it well.
After mixing the songs, bounce them to a split stereo Wav file or SD2 file. Import all of these into a new PT session. I like to put the songs on alternating tracks and slide them on the time line to visually see the crossfade (rather then using the PT crossfade function). I've done a few live albums this way, where the songs were not in the same order as they were recorded live, but listening to the album you never would be able to tell.

Why are you converting to MP3s before burning your CD. Converting to MP3 would be OK if you are making an MP3 CD, but not if you are making a regular audio CD. Bounce each song to Wave or Sound Designer II format, then burn the CD from those files.

[Kosherbeets]

thanks man. anybody know how big time record labels go about doing it?

[Kosherbeets]

thanks everybody. i learned a lot

[SuperDestroyer]

Or you can just use a free program like Alba to split the songs for you "http://alba.sourceforge.net/"