So you’ve got your demo recorded, the studio booked and are now sitting there thinking to yourself “there are a ton of record producers out there, how do we know which is the right producer for us?”
In some sense, record producers are a dime a dozen, most people today call themselves producers of some sorts, but what does that really mean?
The title sounds great but what are we paying them to actually do? The studio comes with an engineer and assistant so why the need to for a record producer?
All good questions and the very simple answer is that good record producers should bring your music alive! They should make the sounds sharper and the tunes flow in the way that they need to.
It’s really important to realize that good record producers have an innate ability to listen to each song from a demo and from that point on have a vision in their head of where that song needs to go for it to sound amazing and sell a million copies
Trying to figure out if the next producer you work with passes the “I’m a man or woman with a vision test?” consider the following aspects that any good successful record producer should understand -
Knowing which parts of a song to cut out and add
I had the privilege of working once with the legendary Ric Ocasek from that awesome 80’s band The Cars. Ric produced a track called New Technology for a band I was managing at the time called Waikiki and one thing that made the finished version of the track was his whole idea to cut out a whole section and add a bridge after the second chours into the end of the song. It really brought the song out, but it took the vision of the record producer to make it happen.
Not only did he do that he helped add a trumpet into the bridge which made that whole section melt with emotion
Bringing out a certain instrument in a particular area of the track
Ok, so I lied before, Ric also introduced the harmonica into the mix of the track he produced which totally made the track amazing aswell.
When the song was taken to radio, everyone loved the harmonica. Again, all part of the record producer’s vision.
How to bring out the vocals and create killer vocal arrangements
This is pretty straight forward there are so many ways that creative music producers can play with vocals to make them shine. Also knowing which take it best and how to try and get the best take out of an artist. Sometimes you can record something 20 times but know that the ninth take was the best.
Any good music producer will have his ear to the speakers and will know exactly which take was the best for the finished mix
Picking and choosing different microphones to get the right sound
Definitely part of the overall vision of a producer is to know which mics to be using for each amp, each part of the drums and most importantly for the vocals. This is where you can separate out the great producers from the amateurs. Before working with any producer, ask them what sort of mics they like using - test them out a little, push their buttons and see how visionary they really are.
The more clued in they are to different mics and equipment the more experience they probably have had and the more likely they are to experiment to bring out the best sound for your band or group
Knowing how to direct the engineers with mic placements etc
The engineer producer relationship is pretty crucial. Any seasoned music producer, regardless of how popular or successful they are should almost never walk into any studio with a level of arrogance that a rock star might have. After all they are only producers.
For this reason, it’s so important to make sure that the relationhip between all parties is mutual and respectful in order to achieve great results.
Additionally, don’t ever get confused with the roles inside a recording studio. Record producers should always be guiding the engineers as to what they want and it’s up to the engineer to execute. If you ever notice that the roles are reversed, start asking yourself what your paying the producer to do?
As I’m sure you are starting to see, music production is no simple task and requires a lot of subtle and creative processes. If you line them all up and compare similarities, you’ll notice that all the great record producers of our time generally create a bigger picture vision in their head of how each song and track should eminate through the speakers as a finished piece of art and then know exactly how to go about realizing that vision.
Ultimately, finding a person that can transmit that vision from their head down, through the speakers is really the ultimate task that all good record producers should possess….
Tags: Music Producers
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