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wcerto
Ahonui
USA
5052 Posts |
 Posted - 06/16/2007 : 08:30:41 AM
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What exactly does a record producer do? Like for instance Jon DeMello and George Winston and their ilk? Are they involved in the mechanics of recording? Are they the ones who front the money? Do they determine what songs go on the CD or what order they will be on the CD? How does what they do differ from a "promoter"?
Yes, I am niele. But, inquiring minds want to know.
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Me ke aloha
Malama pono,
Wanda |
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Retro
Ahonui
USA
2368 Posts |
Posted - 06/16/2007 : 8:11:02 PM
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Short answer: we babysit; we steer; we handhold; we guide; we control; we share; we process input; we offer leadership, expertise, knowledge, advice, ears. It depends on the project, the budget, the performer, the studio, the desired direction. It varies for each album (I've produced/co-produced three, plus individual tracks on a handful of others.)
It's getting late where I am - perhaps tomorrow, I'll give a lengthier or more specific answer. Or maybe that's enough.
The best producers focus on all of the minute details, without losing sight of the grand scheme. |
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Trev
Lokahi
United Kingdom
265 Posts |
Posted - 06/18/2007 : 06:14:18 AM
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Retro is right, a producer may do all those things.
Sometimes, (not always) a producer is involved in the mechanics of recording, having come from an engineering background. Mutt Lange, Daniel Lanois, George Martin all spring to mind. Sometimes they are involved in doing musical arrangements of the songs, having come from a musical background(Quincy Jones, and again George Martin).
Where there is a record company, the producer usually represents the link between the band and the record company. It is his job to somehow get the best results onto the record. The 'best results' being different according to your perspective. The record company, want it to appeal to the largest number of people, so it sells more. The Drummer thinks that the drums should be louder. The Singer thinks that the singing should be louder. The guitar player thinks the guitar playing should be louder. The producer has to try and get something that everyone can live with.
I understand that in Nashville, it used to be common that the producer booked the musicians, chose which songs would go on the record and either had a couple of his own songs on there or at least a writing co-credit.
But basically, a producer is responsible for the actual committing of the music to tape (or disk or whatever). A promoter is someone who puts on gigs - more involved in the live concerts rather than the recording. |
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Retro
Ahonui
USA
2368 Posts |
Posted - 06/18/2007 : 09:11:32 AM
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Just a little further detail ---
The albums I produced were all for a specific jazz label based here in Seattle. Originally, I was just brought in to assist the main producer on Project #1 as an assistant (he was a partner in the label, as well as being a great musician), but he gave me co-producer credit after he saw he could leave a lot of the project in my care (I was also briefly his manager, but that's another tale.) Project #2 was an album to be created from a one-time-only live performance of an original jazz-gospel work, and Project #3 was the second album by the jazz singer who also did Project #1. Here's a few examples of what I did in each case.
With #1, I was brought on-board after the initial planning had taken place (primarily budgeting, musician line-up, song selection, arrangers, studio booking.) My original jobs included getting the musicians to the studio, paying the bills, arranging food and amenities (nothing illegal, mind you) for the performers during recording, and general note-taking on the sessions. I ended up overseeing the later sessions (mostly overdubs and final vocals), as well as the complete mixdown and mastering sessions. I assisted with sequencing (creating the song order) and album design, while the other producer oversaw the budget, promotions, and legal clearances.
On #3 (her second album, and the only one still available, though now on a different label - look up "Legal At Any Age" by Edmonia Jarrett on allmusic.com), I was the producer from the start - this time, I helped structure the budget (she came up with the money, so she was Executive Producer), worked with her on song choices, hired the musicians, booked the studios and the engineers, arranged travel for out-of-town guest performers, assisted with arrangements, vetoed a couple songs after recording, oversaw every aspect of the recording - from pre-recording consultation with the engineers, to the sessions themselves - from first recordings through overdubs to mixdowns and mastering, coordinated the album design (in conjunction with the label), did all the licensing research for the label, wrote liner notes, paid the bills, etc.
Project #2 was unusual in that it was documenting a live performance, so I worked with a mobile engineering truck as a studio, and the performance was in a church. I did things ranging from getting the piano tuned, to taking notes in the truck during the performance (and taking over the board when the engineer needed a restroom break), to speaking with the audience after the recording...because we needed to re-record the opening bars of one song, due to a buzz caused by a loose guitar cable during the concert. I was there for the full mixdown later, as well as doing the hands-on digital editing of the recording (including splicing in that re-recorded intro), and again assisting with album design (which this time included providing many of the photos from the concert and rehearsals), mastering, and so on.
The point of all this long-windedness is to show that every project varies, depending on who you are working with and what they bring to the party. In all three cases, I worked with incredibly talented engineers (at top-of-the-line pro studios for Projects 1 & 3, and a mobile engineer who has worked for years recording the Seattle Symphony for film score work, on Project 2), musicians who had interacted together for years and knew how to play together and communicate, and art direction and design folks with brilliant concepts.
At the same time, I also utilized several friends and volunteers who took session photos, ran food errands, gave massages, and even brought a whole birthday party to one studio session. I also absorbed a mighty powerful stink-eye from an artist the one time I insisted on pulling rank and talked her into leaving one song off the album (because I felt she just didn't "own the song" yet.) I've also got a few psychological tricks I can use in the studio, if a little extra motivation is called for (again, nothing illegal); I can't reveal those, however, in case I ever need to call on them again.
Many of these same skills applied to my radio productions as well - the bottom line is that the producer is there to oversee ALL aspects of the project, freeing the artist to concentrate on committing their best possible creative performance at the time. A producer needs to be organized and managerial, understanding a range of aspects of the music business - while still having feet firmly in the creative and artistic world.
Other producers will have a full range of activities and skills that I didn't touch on, from promotional abilities to playing instruments on someone's session, to running their own studios and labels. So yes, Wanda - producers are involved in the mechanics of recording; sometimes, they front the money; they usually work on song-ordering, too.
May this be the most long-winded post I ever create for TP - but it's an aspect of my life that I enjoyed doing (even though I haven't produced an album in nearly a decade), and getting credit as "Producer" on a commercially-released record album was the culmination of a childhood dream. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to talk about it here.
=Gregg= |
Edited by - Retro on 06/18/2007 09:13:59 AM |
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hikabe
Lokahi
USA
358 Posts |
Posted - 06/18/2007 : 09:37:56 AM
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Gregg,
Let me know if you need a studio musician. I play 10 instruments and can lay down all the tracks for a solo artist of any genre. I can send a demo. Thanks |
Stay Tuned... |
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wcerto
Ahonui
USA
5052 Posts |
Posted - 06/18/2007 : 09:38:57 AM
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Gregg and friends ....sure sounds like lots of work...kind of like being a mama, yeah? I am very surprised that it is mostly men doing this kind of work on accounta I thought men were not so good at multi-tasking, but it sounds like you multi-tasked to the max. (Yeah, OK, one sexist remark, but often true.) This is then why record producers are singled out when awards such as Grammies or Na Hokus are given out. Thanks for enlightening us on what it takes.
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Me ke aloha
Malama pono,
Wanda |
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Retro
Ahonui
USA
2368 Posts |
Posted - 06/18/2007 : 10:02:24 AM
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There's a lot of similarity and crossover between occupations in the music business. I guess what makes most producers distinct from those other jobs is a sense of knowing what those other jobs are, and finding and coordinating the right team of those people. Managers need to be highly organized, but may not know the ins-and-outs of studio gear, or have ears for what works best for a musician. Good engineers have those golden ears, as well as a technology-intense soul, but might not be so good with stepping back from specific details, for "the big picture." Producers should have at least a sampling of every aspect of a project (many of them come from an engineering/musical background, I find.) Yeah - it IS hard to nail it down, because it encompasses a lot, and is constantly morphing. That's what I most liked about it - the unpredictable nature. In many (but not necessarily all) cases, a producer will have a big influence on the overall sound, look and feel of a completed album - that's why certain producers are in high-demand and deserve to be awarded recognition for their contributions.
Some men can multi-task, I guess; I've always been bored by jobs where it was just one activity at a time. I should learn to juggle.
We need to get Daniel Ho to jump into this thread now. He's got the background of a musician, composer, and record-label owner, along with all his production credits. I know he has some great stories. |
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Mark
Ha`aha`a
USA
1628 Posts |
Posted - 06/18/2007 : 10:47:37 AM
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Although you didn't ask; An assisitant producer is what is known in England as "the tea-boy."
My favorite assistant producer credit came when a good buddy was producing a project at Skywalker Sound, George Lucas' legendary video and audio production facility in Marin County. http://www.skysound.com/
We were in the big room with a 30+ member chorus and maybe 40 orchestral musicians. Suffice to say the producer was responsible for everything from booking the studio to contracting the musicians to arranging transportation and meals, to acting as a liason between the group and the orchestral conductor (harder than it sounds) to working with the two engineers to capture the whole glorious mess.
My job was to tap the producer on the shoulder every so often and say: "Can you friggin' believe we are working at Skywalker???"
That, and to remind him when it was time to break for a martini. |
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