Advice on creating a cohesive (first) album

Let me start off by saying I have been producing music for 5 years now (6 months on 6 months off for the first two and nearly every day the last 3), and feel I have (to an extent) found my sound. I have an idea of theme and topic(s) which relate/resonate personally with me, but I am struggling to figure out how to structure it, and how to make it not just sound like a compilation of different songs with no context, and make it a coherent narrative/ which feels connected throughout. I have a ton of music I haven’t released (in fact most of it is unreleased- I have a small catalogue, spread over two different artist profiles and a YouTube channel) I know this is not ideal for growth or solidifying my identity as an artist, and I have some stuff I think is pretty good that I didn’t publish for some reason at the time (oh I will come back and polish later or some other reason), which now feels disingenuous to include in said album, but also to release in general now, just due to its age and my disconnection from it. Any advice? Sorry for the disjointed thoughts

It really doesn't matter if your songs have anything to hold them together besides coming from you. If you make it all at close to the same time, it will sound unified.

Fir me that starts with planning before you write the songs. But if you've already got the. Maybe Pick a theme if it's vocals and try to arrange in a way that some of the songs loosely tell a very abstract story. Could be a change in shift or mood, whatever. If instrumental it might help to look at how symphonies were arranged. If you can have common music ideas throughout, that will help a lot, but you would want to keep that in mind while writing the songs.

Man, just write some songs and put them on an album, its not that deep. If you are doing all the music, then its going to be more cohesive then you think.

I have the same stressor and then everyone tells me "You are the cohesion" - so, just paying that forward. I think it's true and we get too wrapped up in it. But some of my ultimate favorite albums have songs that are insanely different - that's what makes them fun. If you have a theme, that's great. But it's also not necessary.

I've heard of an album being a "snapshot in time". That's your other theme you can always run with. Songs from a time frame because that's the artist you were at that time.

Hope this helps!

I agree with alot of people here that the real cohesion is kinda your own ear and taste as an artist but if you're really hung up on making a sonically cohesive album one thing I've always found that helps is creating a sound pallette for all the songs. The way I think about it is that most bands will come to the studio to record an album with 1 or 2 guitars, a bass and a drum kit and record the whole thing with the same mic setup and amp settings for the most part. Producing by yourself if you create a set of virtual or real instruments that are the base for all the songs you record it gives a sense of sonic cohesion even if you're adding samples and other stuff on top that is specific to the song. Hope this helps!

Holding back tracks you still like is common once the DAW folder gets deep. Splitting them across two names is how an identity stays foggy. Pick one spelling, put the catalogue there, and sequence the first album from what you would play live in one sitting.

Cohesion tends to come from constraints rather than from a plan. Pick two or three things that stay identical across every track and let everything else vary: same drum kit, same reverb, same key or a small related set, same vocal chain.

Most first albums that feel scattered were made by someone learning a new technique on every track. That's a great way to learn and a bad way to end up with something that sounds like one record.

If it's already half made and feels incoherent, the fastest fix is usually a shared mix decision rather than rewriting: one reference track, everything mixed toward it, same mastering chain across all of them.

Just include it. If it sounds cohesive in terms of sound, it fits. That is: instrument palette, production quality, etc. If not, you could rework the songs to match the new sound.

Or you could just release them separately as singles/EP. Who cares if you got a different sound now, it's still you. Albums should be cohesive (IMO, debatable), but your whole discography doesn't need to be

You are the cohesion. You are the glue that holds all your disjointed ideas together.

Just put your music out there and be the glue.

Thanks for the advice man

I think I’m gonna use only new music, I was just really hung up on some of my old stuff. I’m going to pu some of the better ones onto soundcloud and try forget about them. I’ll have a look at symphonies, cheers

Yeah it does, and thinking about it some of my favourite stuff does differ in tone and style a lot on the same album. Thanks. It does help

Edit: autocorrect