How are music song and albums produced?

Ha, this is a loaded question. Tons of stuff go on behind the scenes. The board you are talking about is a sound board. Basically all the sliders(faders) control the volume level of whatever is plugged into it. All the round knobs are level adjustments to various things. Like EQ or panning and many other things. A short run down of a recording session is the band comes in, sets up all of the instruments where ever they are recording at. The engineer or producer will come in and set up all the mics on the instruments. Then he/she will ask each person to play individually and then as a group to get all the volume levels set correctly. After that they will start recording the band. If something does not record well and needs to be re-recorded they will try it again. Most sessions last many days, weeks or even months. It really depends on how much money you have and if you already have all your songs written before you go in to record. I know some major label bands use their studio time to write their music and are in their for several months. This is a very simplied answer. If you want to know more just ask!
sorry this is a long post

Look up some interviews with Rick Rubin, George Martin, and Jeff Lynne.

Quincy Jones.

@ tekn: Just curious… what makes you ask this question? Are you just wondering or are you trying to start up as a musician or what?

I recorded an album for the first time this summer with my band and it’s been quite the experience. I went into it knowing absolutely nothing, so I can relate!

Just curiosity. I have always wondered about the process and happened to see a production board one day on TV and it prompted the question.

Congrats on your album, sounds really exciting.

Everything happens in small steps. First you have to record the drums along with a click track that keeps tempo. When you have drums laid down, you begin laying down all of the other tracks (instruments) over top. On the actual computer screen, there are just multiple “bars” parallel to each other that you can record different tracks in. While recording, it’s helpful to use “scratch tracks” along with whoever is recording his or her part, meaning that another band member will play the part or sing the part so the recorder can follow along better. Eventually, all of the tracks get recorded and the producer mixes them together by volume and timing!

So there’s a basic version of how recording works! I don’t know if you’re interested, but if you want to see how ours turned out, you can listen to one of the songs: News from Verona – Daydreams & Nightmares.

That’s a great answer. You told me exactly what I wanted to know. I wondered if the process was like you just go into this room and play as you would any other time. But it sounds much different than that, building up the finished product one layer at a time. Very Nice. Thanks!

you’re welcome!