How long should a comp/album should be?

[thanosp81]

I recently acquired a record player that will allow me after many years to listen to my (miniscule) LP collection. In conjuction with a chat I had with Greg, it got me thinking. How long should an album or compilation be? What is the golden ratio for quality/quantity? And more importanly for how long can a listener stay focused in order to appreciate the whole album/comp in one continous journey and stay focused to the music?

In my case, I was finding difficult why a cd shoudln't be packed with over 70min of music. If the total time was less I thought it wasn't value for money. But with years, and becoming a more experienced listener, I realised that this is not the case. It is not about how many (or how long) tracks there are, but how sucessfull are to invoke emotions to you. Growing older and getting a family, it is even more difficult to find the time needed to listen to a whole album in one go. 45 to 60 min is by now a duration that I feell comfortable with. 

So what about you? What are your thoughts?

[Celaripo]

among the options i prefer 60 minutes as my attention drops if a cd gets close to 80 minutes long

40 minutes is just too short for me never liked eps too much

[the goa constrictor]

is this about trance only?
45 -> 60 minutes is great for pop n hiphop albums

70 -> 80 for goa

[Redo]

.

[thanosp81]

19 hours ago, Celaripo said:

among the options i prefer 60 minutes as my attention drops if a cd gets close to 80 minutes long

40 minutes is just too short for me never liked eps too much

Yeap, I agree  

[thanosp81]

16 hours ago, the goa constrictor said:

is this about trance only?
45 -> 60 minutes is great for pop n hiphop albums

70 -> 80 for goa

Interesting. Why different durations fir different genres? Is it because of the typical Goa track length? 

[thanosp81]

4 hours ago, Redo said:

Where's the "Don't care" option? Because most albums have fillers anyways so I don't really care.

Wouldn't you prefer an album with no fillers? Instead of an 80 mins album do you think it would be better to have  a 50 min album full of good tracks though?

[the goa constrictor]

3 minutes ago, thanosp81 said:

Interesting. Why different durations fir different genres? Is it because of the typical Goa track length? 

 

Yeah, essentially. and fatigue. I listen to them differently.

A double pop album can be fatiguing to get through but I don't always listen to trance in a single sitting, or when I do, it's typically while working in the yard or at work or something and desire a long backing track.

I also come from a time of 12" records, so most artists who can't put out a solid 8 -> 10 track trance album would regularly stick to 2 -> 4 track 12"s, which is like half an album. So 12"s for a couple of tracks, a full length for a long journey.

Pop albums are a bit different to my brain. =)

[Redo]

.

[Oopie]

If I may speak for my behalf... let's say I release a self-released cd then I reckon it should be closer to 80 minutes. But that's just me!

 

I still appreciate albums like Morphem's 'Out Of Focus' even if it's little over 60 mins... although never really understood why there must be an edited versions of 'How Can U B So Sure' and 'Closed Sector' on it... frustrating! 

[thanosp81]

EMPTY

Edited January 8, 2020 by thanosp81
By mistake

[dhollmusik]

On 6/23/2019 at 10:46 PM, thanosp81 said:

Wouldn't you prefer an album with no fillers? Instead of an 80 mins album do you think it would be better to have  a 50 min album full of good tracks though?

Fillers (and what are good tracks) is in the eye of the beholder.  I bet in any album we all have different ideas as to what is filler, what are the good tracks and which are the big highlights.  It'd be a shame to lose out on what some consider filler but others consider killer.

I do however agree a shorter length album can often flow better, but only if the album is so constructed as to be a journey (rather than simply a shorter collection of tracks than an 80-minute album).

But if we're not talking a conceptual tonal journey, if we're talking an album of dj-able dance tracks, then I would vote 80 minutes (max CD-length) so as to maximise the amount of tracks on there.

[RTP]

Hi, nice topic, thanks for the bump and reminding me of it 

In earlier times I'd have answered: 60 minutes. I used to listen to music like that, lie on the couch with headphones and soak it in. But this has changed. I am not lying on the couch to listen to music anymore, I tend to be more active and sit in front of the PC or I'm otherwise busy. My listening habits have totally changed: I switched from an _album_ listener to a _track_ listener. When I like a track, first thing I do is put it on repeat ... sometimes for several times. The more I repeat the track, the more I like it! The next days, I keep coming back to it regularly ... until it slowly becomes part of my "collection" - not my physical one, but the one in my head.
In the modern world, this track-wise thinking is more suitable for an activity stream oriented life: because the euphoria gained from single tracks is rather short-lived, I am more continuously checking out new pieces and also finding tracks that I like (which then can be reposted or shared, some may say) ... that generates more frequent and regular activity than listening to albums in entirety and thus having longer pauses because my brain needs these to process it all ... guess I'd be a good music content poster due to that more frequent activity scheme - if you like the stuff that I like, which I had to find out few people really do thoroughly  

Also, one more point - more valid in the olden days: an EP that had only one track per side usually was 45rpm and deeply etched, creating a really rich sound when played. 

Therefore I have to "break a lance" (german expression - do you have it in English too?) for the EPs ... I do like an EP more than an album.

And especially concerning the modern times: consider the posting frequency. Content platforms tend to give new stuff a boost. Better use the boost for each track individually than release one album in bulk. DeviantArt is like that aswell. Which is why I'll release my blacklight pictures one at a time, even though it's old art and I could release maybe 10 at once...