What knowledge, skills and personal qualities/attributes are needed for success within the profession?
For success as a producer, having a high technical knowledge is very important. Most artists will already have some level of knowledge when it comes to recording, even if it’s just plugging a guitar straight into an audio interface. Being a producer is about being able to take that to as high a level as possible, whether it’s on the sound engineering side, knowing which microphone to use for a specific sound and where to place it or how to use a DI box or whether it’s behind the desk, knowing how to efficiently use a DAW and create a final mix.
Having some form of education is very important, whether it’s a degree or postgraduate qualification, an internship in a recording studio or even just an online course, they are good ways of getting a higher level of technical skill and getting that edge over artists who self produce. As well as being a good opportunity for learning skills, universities, collages and internships can be some great places to build up connections with other musicians and prepare to enter the industry as soon as possible.
While technical skills are very important, creativity is another important part of being a producer. Knowing the best microphone placements and how to use a patch bay are important skills, but without creativity, there’s nothing to set one producer apart from any others.
Communication skills are very important for working as a producer, whether you need to communicate with the artist and work as a team to create the desired sound, provide constructive criticism for the guitarist’s big solo or even negotiating an initial deal with an artist or label, being a good communicator can take a producer even further ahead.
What are the duties and responsibilities of the profession – what does a typical day’s work involve?
The main responsibility of a producer is to take an artist’s performance and turn it into a track that people can listen to. This could begin with the performance capture, placing microphones on instruments and amps or vocals and recording as many takes as necessary. This could be done with an entire band playing at the same time or layering each individual instrument on top of each other. There are lots of ways to record different instruments, so it’s important to be flexible in order to achieve the perfect sound. Depending on the genre, a producer may also be responsible for sourcing samples and creating beats.
What are the main financial and legal issues that impact on this profession?
One of the main ways a producer makes money is through royalties. Royalties from the recordings are usually collected through PPL (Phonographic Performance Limited), who licences over 250 television stations and over 2000 radio stations including online radio stations (PPL, 2020). Licence holders report to PPL on what songs they play and pay a fee, which is then split up between the rights holders, provided that they are registered. If the producer provides some form of composition to the piece, i.e. a beat or melody, then that entitles them to a share of the composition royalties, which are usually collected through PRS.
Negotiating a deal with the artist is very important and, while it may seem unprofessional or rude, should be done as soon as possible and put onto paper so that everyone involved can be held to those terms. Doing this early on is important as once the money starts coming in, some people can try to get themselves a bigger slice of the pie, so to speak, which can mean a less fair deal for anyone else involved.
What would the potential marketing and promotional aspects of this profession look like?
Networking is a good way to promote yourself as a producer. Whether it’s posting tracks that you produced online to an audience of listeners, sharing a soundcloud link with an artist you’d like to work with or even attending dedicated networking events, these can all lead to jobs within the industry, even if they start out as smaller jobs, like just recording a short EP for a local band. Chances are, those local band members speak to other musicians, and those musicians speak to other musicians, and while it might take a while, word of mouth can be a great marketing tool.
Of course, word of mouth can only take you so far. For anyone outside your reach, the internet can be an amazing tool to use. Creating an online portfolio, even if it’s just a wordpress page with a bit about yourself and a few links to youtube or soundcloud, is an easy way to show off, not just what you’ve produced, but it’s also a way to sell yourself as a person, and really persuade an artist to want to work with you. Once you’ve created this portfolio, using social media, posting it and adding it to your bio is a good tool, as well as posting on music related forums or sites like reddit, which can be good ways of reaching a desired audience of artists.
What are the intellectual and personal challenges presented by the profession and how might these be dealt with?
One of the main challenges with Music Production is the sheer amount of technology and how quickly it evolves. While analog equipment is still widely used, ever since the seventies the gear required to make music gets lighter, cheaper and more powerful. It’s important to keep up with these developments and not to fall behind, especially with the recent technological breakthroughs in powerful yet dystopian artificial intelligence. It’s important to learn how to use new tools in your workflow before you see them replace you altogether.
Another challenge with music production is that sometimes it can be harder to see the bigger picture during mixing, especially when mixing something that you performed on yourself. It’s much easier to spot the mistakes when you’ve been listening to the same take on repeat for half an hour and it can eventually become grating. Taking regular breaks can help avoid this, as it allows some time to relax before returning with a fresh mindset. It can also help to get another pair of ears in to listen to the whole mix, as they will be less aware of what went into it and may not even hear the tiny mistake.
What career-progression/development opportunities are available within the profession?
One of the major career development opportunities for music producers are internships. These allow people to get familiar with what it’s like to work in the industry by allowing them in the studio to assist the engineers or producers. These are great ways to get hands-on experience and often lead to jobs within the industry. Once the internship is complete, it is normally possible to get a full time job as either a recording engineer, record producer, mastering engineer or a multitude of other jobs that may be on offer. After a career of producing music, the position of executive producer may be offered. The executive producers are in charge of setting deadlines, budgets and ensuring that all projects are running smoothly (Discovery Channel, 2013), and their experience in the industry helps them to do this, as they already have an understanding of how it works. Executive producers can work under a bigger record label, or could own their own studio.
Bibliography
Discovery Channel – What Does An Executive Music Producer Do?: https://archive.ph/20130410181827/http://curiosity.discovery.com/question/what-music-executive-producer-do
Dom Bishop – How To Grow a Following as a Music Producer: https://pirate.com/en/blog/music-producer-marketing/
Erin Barra – How to Become a Music Producer: Unlocking Your Dreams Through Training and Education: https://www.savethemusic.org/blog/what-education-needed-become-music-producer/
PPL – An Introduction to PPL for producers: https://www.ppluk.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/PPL-in-Session_for-producers-final.pdf
