CD length

[sarNz]

Hey everyone, I'm coming up pretty well on finishing my first CD. I have written a lot of songs and have picked my favorites (a lot of my older ones) that all seem to work together.

My biggest worry so far is the length...

I added up the times for most of the songs, and even with 13 songs, it would still be quite short at about 40 minutes. Ideally I would like to only use 12 songs, putting it a little bit under. I might add in some little transitions or intros, but that would be minimal amounts of time.

I'm doing all the recording / mixing myself and probably just have a couple friends help too with their opinions. If I ever got it mass produced, depending on how much it cost, I would only want to sell it for $5.

What do you think?

I suppose it is a little bit arrogant to think someone would want to listen to me for 40 minutes anyways

[Bob1131]

The pop standard length of a song is 3 minutes. Typically, a CD has 10 to 12 songs, so your times seem to me to be right on target!

[sarNz]

Sweet!

Here's my song lengths (not in order)

5:40
4:06
1:57
3:40
3:30
3:47
2:55
2:32
2:19
3:32
3:39
~1:30 (I think)

And the one other one I would rather not put on is about 1:30 as well. So with 12 songs it would put me right about 38-39 minutes I believe.

The one really long song I have is weird, but people I have sent it to say that it is interesting the whole time, which made me happy.
I'm probably going to copyright everything to, and have it be official

Thanks Bob

[Bob1131]

Hey SarNz, be sure to space out the 4 and 5 minute songs on the CD. IMHO, recording and mastering the songs is 75% of the CD, but the final 25% is the arranged order of the tracks. I like it when a CD takes me on a journey through a topic, emotions, or some theme. I guess I developed a taste for that from early Moody Blues albums!

[sarNz]

Most definitely I will. I'll have a couple people help me pick out what they think as well. There's so much that really goes into the recording process it's crazy. So I i know my CD won't be anything amazing, but it's a lot cheaper than renting out a studio.

[ljguitar]

Originally Posted by sarNz

...I suppose it is a little bit arrogant to think someone would want to listen to me for 40 minutes anyways

Hi sarNz...
I've recorded things that only my mother would listen to the whole thing (and only because I was there playing it for her).

I think you have a valid consideration and that is the limits of what people can endure in listening to us play. If I have a song which is played and not sung these days, I try to keep the arrangement under 2:30 minutes/seconds unless there is a lot of change from verse to verse, or a really cute bridge or hook.

I attend a very supportive guitar society, and I get really bored with a lot of well played arrangements that are just playing the same thing over again. I want people to really listen.

The Beatles knew what they were doing. Most of their radio play songs came in at around 2 minutes...and they got a lot of play. Even they went overboard sometimes - boy did they - in fact, if someone goes on playing too long a friend of mine calls them ''Hey Jude'' length pieces (7 minutes on the album).

If there is singing, I still try to come in under 3:30 minutes/seconds. I hate when people yawn or send text messages while I am playing.