When Do You Know You Need A Producer? Part 1
In the present landscape of pop music we have seen many transitions in
the way this music is presented to the public. Internet technology in
particular has made music of all kinds much more accessible to the
consumer. Likewise this same technology has made it easier for the
independent creators of music, singers, songwriters, bands, groups, to
find and develop their own audiences without relying on or being at the
mercy of a record label to expose and publicize their work.
While these are new and innovative times for independent artists to
carve their own niche, as the artist it is still important to ask
yourself some very good and basic questions as you prepare to record
your music.
1. What songs do I choose to put on my cd?
2. Where or how will I get these songs recorded?
3. What instruments should be used for each song according to my music style?
4. What specifically is my music style?
5. Who will arrange the instrumental and vocal parts for
each song?
6. What musicians and background vocalists should be used
for each song?
7. Who will guide both background and lead vocalists
and musicians during sessions so that everything is sung and played the
way it should be?
8. Who will mix the songs?
9. Who will master the songs?
Asking yourself these and other questions like them will
quickly help you determine whether or not you need a producer.
What exactly does a music producer do? When ever I am asked that
question, and I have been asked that many times throughout my twenty
years producing music, I give a quick response. A producer is to music
what a director is to film. When you are watching a movie you are
seeing the efforts of many people from the actors to set designers,
makeup artists, screen writers, costume designers, music score writers,
and so on. However, the way that you see all these elements in the
movie is determined primarily by one person, the director. The movie
is the director's vision of artistically how all those elements come
together to tell the story. A music producer has the same
responsibilities in a recording project.
When I produce a cd for an artist, I first help the artist choose the
songs they want to record. Going song by song I ask for a rough
version of each song and, after getting a sense of the artist's vision
for each song, I determine what instruments need to be used to put the
song across. I recently produced and co wrote a cd for my wife singer
songwriter Leslie Clemmons, called Stop The World. After hearing her
melody and lyrics of one of the songs, Interpret The Sky, I decided
that the instruments that would best serve her emotional and artistic
performance of the song would be drums, bass, acoustic guitars, electric
distortion guitars, clean electric guitar, electric rhythm guitar,
Mandolin, organ, and harmonica. Then I created the arrangements for
these instruments, or in other words, what each instrument would play.
Once the instruments were recorded, I gave the track to Leslie to live
with until she was ready to record the lead vocal. After her lead
vocal was done I created harmony vocals for the choruses, and I also
asked her to double her lead vocal in the chorus to make her melody in
the chorus stand out from the verse melody. After all those tracks
were done, I mixed the song, taking all of these elements and balancing
them together, and determining what effects should be used, such as
reverbs, delays, etc. Once every song on the cd was done in the same
way, I went to a mastering studio and worked with an engineer to give
it the final touches so that it can be released to consumers, radio
television, and other media. The producer handles all these
responsibilities so that the artist can focus on what they do best
performing the song.
Like myself there are many singers and singer/songwriters who are also
very skilled musically and have a rigorously trained understanding of
instrumentation (which refers to the choice of instruments used in a
song), arranging (which refers to what the instruments play), and
harmonic structure (which is important to the entire song, but
particularly important to background vocal arrangements). On the other
hand I'm sure that there are just as many singers and singer/songwriters
who are excellent vocalists and write great melodies and lyrics and
who may even play an instrument very well, but do not have the
skill to artistically oversee an entire music production. These particular
artists benefit greatly by using a producer to help put their projects together.
How do you choose a producer? One of the first things you want to do
in selecting a producer is to find out if the producer has ever worked
with your style of music. There are some producers who are limited to
one or two styles of music, while others, depending on their musical
training, are able to work with many music styles. Neither scenario is
right or wrong, good or bad. As the artist preparing to spend hard
earned dollars to hire a producer, you want to be able to listen to
some of the producer's work to be sure that he or she can communicate
your style of music.
You also want to get a sense of the producer's personality. While
musical and technical expertise is of primary importance, it is also
very important for producer and artist to get along. This can have a
great impact on your project. The artist needs to feel musically
protected, nurtured, and nourished by the producer. Mutual trust and
consistent communication are also vital to the successful outcome of
your project.
(copyright 2005)
Rod Clemmons
Music Producer
President
Verdict Entertainment
www.verdictentertainment.com