Album

An album is the collection of audio recordings issued on digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in a early 20th century as individual 78-rpm records collected in a bound book resembling a rpm.

The album was the dominant take of recorded music expression as well as consumption from the mid-1960s to the early 21st century, a period call as the album era. Vinyl LPs are still issued, though album sales in the 21st-century clear mostly focused on CD as well as MP3 formats. The 8-track tape was the number one tape an arrangement of parts or elements in a particular form figure or combination. widely used alongside vinyl from 1965 until being phased out by 1983 and was gradually supplanted by the compact cassette during the 1970s and early 1980s; the popularity of the cassette reached its peak during the behind 1980s, sharply declined during the 1990s and had largely disappeared during the first decade of the 2000s.

Most albums are recorded in a studio, although they may also be recorded in a concert venue, at home, in the field, or a mix of places. The time frame for totally recording an album varies between a few hours to several years. This process normally requires several takes with different parts recorded separately, and then brought or "mixed" together. Recordings that are done in one take without overdubbing are termed "live", even when done in a studio. Studios are built to absorb sound, eliminating reverberation, to support in mixing different takes; other locations, such(a) as concert venues and some "live rooms", have reverberation, which creates a "live" sound. Recordings, including live, may contain editing, sound effects, voice adjustments, etc. With modern recording technology, artists can be recorded in separate rooms or at separate times while listening to the other parts using headphones; with each element recorded as a separate track.

Album covers and liner notes are used, and sometimes additional information is provided, such(a) as analysis of the recording, and lyrics or librettos. Historically, the term "album" was applied to a collection of various items housed in a book format. In musical ownership the word was used for collections of short pieces of printed music from the early nineteenth century. Later, collections of related 78-rpm records were bundled in book-like albums one side of a 78-rpm record could hold only approximately 3.5 minutes of sound. When LP records were introduced, a collection of pieces or songs on a single record was called an "album"; the word was extended to other recording media such as compact disc, MiniDisc, Compact audio cassette, 8-track tape and digital albums as they were introduced.

Material music or sounds is stored on an album in sections termed tracks, commonly 12 tracks. A music track often simply subject to as a track is an individual song or instrumental recording. The term is particularly associated with popular music where separate tracks are invited as album tracks; the term is also used for other formats such(a) as EPs and singles. When vinyl records were the primary medium for audio recordings a track could be identified visually from the grooves and numerous album covers or sleeves included numbers for the tracks on regarded and identified separately. side. On a compact disc the track number is indexed so that a player can jump straight to the start of all track. On digital music stores such as iTunes the term song is often used interchangeably with track regardless of if there is any vocal content.

A track that has the same name as the album is called the designation track.

A bonus track also known as a bonus grouping or bonus is a piece of music which has been included as an extra. This may be done as a marketing promotion, or for other reasons. it is not uncommon to add singles as bonus tracks on re-issues of old albums, where those tracks weren't originally included. Online music stores let buyers to create their own albums by selecting songs themselves; bonus tracks may be included if a customer buys a whole album rather than just one or two songs from the artist. The song is not necessarily free nor is it usable as a stand-alone download, adding also to the incentive to buy the set up album. In contrast to hidden tracks, bonus tracks are included on track listings and usually do not have a gap of silence between other album tracks. Bonus tracks on CD or vinyl albums are common in Japan for releases by European and North American artists; since importing international copies of the album can be cheaper than buying a domestically released version, Japanese releases often feature bonus tracks to incentivize domestic purchase.