After our second week of Music Tech Forum we dove a bit deeper into the vast array of talented producers there have been (and are) around the world. Just by listening to a couple of thirty second samples of a particular producer's work, with different genres of artists and bands, it becomes clear the impact the producer has on the completed work. The producer’s role is not just to drink percolated coffee and smoke (against popular perception). They help the band/performer artistically, motivate them to write/perform/record and provide them with their knowledge and experience of the music industry.
Some of the producers we looked at in this week's lecture were Butch Vig (producer of the classic Nirvana album "Nevermind" and "Siamese Dream" by The Smashing Pumpkins), Bill Lazwell (famous for producing a large number of world music acts and travelling across the globe to form and record experimental jam bands such as 60’s funk bass player "Bootsy Collins" jamming with metal guitarist "Buckethead") and Rick Rubin (producer of early Run DMC, Aerosmith, The Red Hot Chili Peppers and various other artists). They are all classic examples of great producers who have developed their own methods and individual sounds for producing an artist's work. The job of a good producer isn’t just to be responsible for the overall sound of the CD, but to work with and advise the artists on their song choices and best sequence for these to appear on an album.
Along with all this, producers must possess great people skills, tact and patience as they will be working with all kinds of personalities. They’ll have to put up with many different egos, pre-conceived ideas and band conflicts as well other factors (i.e. the artist may want to sound exactly like his/her favourite group but not have anywhere near the quality of instruments/talent to reproduce it)!
A producer can also give artists advice and insight into different aspects of the music industry. This can be great asset to a performer, giving them valuable guidance on styles of songs to best showcase their talent and where and what concerts/gigs they should/shouldn’t play. The producer has to maintain a balance; keeping both the artist(s) happy as well as producing a marketable recording which sells or is well received by clients.
Some of the producers we looked at in this week's lecture were Butch Vig (producer of the classic Nirvana album "Nevermind" and "Siamese Dream" by The Smashing Pumpkins), Bill Lazwell (famous for producing a large number of world music acts and travelling across the globe to form and record experimental jam bands such as 60’s funk bass player "Bootsy Collins" jamming with metal guitarist "Buckethead") and Rick Rubin (producer of early Run DMC, Aerosmith, The Red Hot Chili Peppers and various other artists). They are all classic examples of great producers who have developed their own methods and individual sounds for producing an artist's work. The job of a good producer isn’t just to be responsible for the overall sound of the CD, but to work with and advise the artists on their song choices and best sequence for these to appear on an album.
Along with all this, producers must possess great people skills, tact and patience as they will be working with all kinds of personalities. They’ll have to put up with many different egos, pre-conceived ideas and band conflicts as well other factors (i.e. the artist may want to sound exactly like his/her favourite group but not have anywhere near the quality of instruments/talent to reproduce it)!
A producer can also give artists advice and insight into different aspects of the music industry. This can be great asset to a performer, giving them valuable guidance on styles of songs to best showcase their talent and where and what concerts/gigs they should/shouldn’t play. The producer has to maintain a balance; keeping both the artist(s) happy as well as producing a marketable recording which sells or is well received by clients.
References:
Fieldhouse, Steve. 15th of March 2007. “Introduction to Producers Lecture.”
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