Former K-Pop Idol Reveals The Entire Process For Making An Album
Former Crayon Pop member Way goes in-depth to show fans the entire process of making an album. She explains that there is a lot of work and effort that goes into making an album for a K-Pop group. She gives a detailed explanation from the beginning stages to the album release and showcase.
She first explains that the group must choose an album concept in order to select songs to match the album. For larger companies or companies with senior idol groups, they usually will have songs saved up for other groups. For newer companies, they usually have to ask around or post a notice in order to receive songs.
Sometimes, the group might receive a song that needs to be arranged a bit differently. As an example, if the group has 10 members, they may ask them to lengthen the melody to fit the number of members. Another example she gives is changing a boy group to a girl group song and vice versa.
The song’s producer will usually come to the recording and work with the group and the engineer to pick the best recordings to put together and complete the song. Usually each member will sing the entire song through and decide which member will get which part. This decision can be made by the company, producer, or the members themselves.
After the recording is done, the song needs to go through the process of mixing and mastering for it to be officially complete.
They will then make a contract with a song distributer who will help release the music to music sites like Melon and Genie. They also help in choosing which date to release songs by comparing other artists’ release dates so that they don’t overlap.
The next step is to make the choreography for the song. They will send their songs to choreography teams and choose the team that fits the most with the song.
After you get the choreography down, next is outfit production. Before, they would buy outfits sold in the market, but nowadays, they mostly custom make all the outfits. A designer draws sketches according to the concept and usually creates 4-5 different outfits.
Next is filming the music video for the album. The company will give the concept to the production team and they will create an outline of how the music video will be shot.
After the music video, it is time for the album production. There is no need for this step if it is a digital album, but if it is an actual album, it will take time to create the album jacket, photo cards fan sign tickets, etc.
Then it’s time to advertise to music programs, radio, show programs in order to make an appearance. They will make a PR album to distribute to the producers of the show so they can decide if they are fit to make an appearance on their show.
Lastly, it is time to prepare for the showcase and release the completed song. It is really hard to reserve a showcase location no matter how famous you are, due to the influx of reservations. It is also a good idea to release the song right after a showcase.
She finishes by saying that there are many unknown idols that have gone through all the hardships of creating an album without any recognition for their efforts. She hopes that everyone can understand all the work that goes into creating one album and to please support all the idols out there.
Take a look at the full video below!
