showing my ignorance-define 'producer'

[gjm]

Just trying to stay up with all you hip music folks and what certain bits of lingo actually mean. What/who is a 'producer.' When can i call myself a 'producer'? Are musicians producers? What do 'producers' produce? Can you be bad or good? Ta.

[Johnisfaster]

I freakin hate it when people make a few beats and they call themselves a producer. That's all I know.

[tlennon]

In the music industry, a record producer or music producer has many roles, among them controlling the recording sessions, coaching and guiding the musicians, organizing and scheduling production budget and resources, and supervising the recording, mixing and mastering processes. ...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Producer_(music)

[john gordon]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jVNF944 ... playnext=1

[gjm]

In modern digital music, it is possible for the producer to be the only person involved in the creation of a musical recording. The said producer is entirely responsible for writing, performing, recording and arranging the material. The existence of such producers is, in some ways, challenging the role of the traditional recording studio in that feasibly, an entire album can be created and recorded from the producer's home studio. [2].This change has been partially due to the increase of inexpensive yet powerful music production software (such as FL Studio, Nuendo, Ableton Live, ProTools, Digital Performer, Logic, Cubase and Sonar), which allows for entire tracks to be composed, arranged and recorded on a single computer, allowing the roles traditionally carried out by a team of people to be performed by one individual. With the advent of portable recording equipment, live album production has become much more cost-effective than in the past.
With the advent of the computer web applications like Facebook, YouTube and MySpace, record producers can now serve in very non-traditional roles, using "social networking." They can produce music via the internet by having their clients email .mp3 or .wav files to them. In this way the producer can be located in a different geographic location and still accomplish their goal.

Kind of a nice definition, however, there are connotations to using the word 'producer' that make people react negatively when a person makes the claim "I'm a producer." Yes technology is redefining the boundaries of responsibility between making the actual music and making the final 'production' if you will, but me thinks there is still either some line in the sand, or maybe a glass ceiling to get through that people 'in the know' are aware of that makes the claim genuine and therefore respected vs a quick dismissal with a bit of disdain for the claim.... pffffft... and he calls himself a producer

According to the above definition, anybody who makes a few beats can call them self a producer. My 12 yr old son can use Acid Express, create "... some beats..." upload to Acid Planet.com under his DJ name and presto, another producer is born. Nobody has to know the details as to how he got there, I mean, just because he used Acid X doesn't disqualify him from being a producer... or does it?

Perhaps this 'Glass ceiling' is related to your equipment. Maybe user of lite or LE versions of DAW's don't qualify, or maybe they need certain brands of hardware. I know this is a ridiculous thought, but I put it out there perhaps to eliminate it from the mix.

If I move outside of music I can find plenty of similar dilemma's. Producing a baby makes you a parent, however most of us can recall to mind people who we think should not have that title, regardless of the child involved. In this situation there is a series of mental cross checks we make to judge a persons worthiness for this title. It seems in the music field this same type of judgement takes place. There is a balance point between having the gear and making the tune with a perceived track record or peer approval. Maybe this is the glass ceiling or line in the sand. Dunno... still not entirely happy with the above definition and peoples reactions to the claim of 'producer.'

[moodles]

I think the confusion is that producer has two different but similar meanings:

In traditional recorded music, the producer is the person who oversees the recording session.

In electronic dance music, the producer is the person who creates the tracks.

[kaffein]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Record_producer

[ThrowAway]

producer: noun someone who produces.

[Tarekith]

producer: noun someone who produces.

Damn, beat me to it.

[nebulae]

A producer of a song/album is like a director of a movie.

[pilgrimomega]

Anyone with a crate of old record, Live, and autotune.

Apparently.

[sdmiddleton]

I think you have the right to call yourself whatever you want - but beauty will always be in the eye of the beholder.

I drive, therefore am a driver. But by no means am I Lewis Hamilton. Anyone can strum a guitar and call themslves a guitarist. That doesn't make them Joe Satriani. So let some 12yr old Hip Hop enthusiat drag and drop beats and call himself a producer.

If that makes him feel good, let him have it. But the rest of us know, abiltity, track record and time will ultimately dictate the credibility of the title. Its just a word like any other.

Everyone has their own path to lead - do what you do, live and let live... Live your dreams, you may die tonight.

Peace.

[Hermanus]

Personaly I'm just a human being Who loves music tremendously

__________

do what you do, live and let live... Live your dreams, you may die tonight.

+1

[SubFunk]

Anyone with a crate of old record, Live, and autotune.

Apparently.

[Khazul]

I think we all call ourselves producers because we are responsible for overseeing our own productions, ie music, tracks etc - its just easier to say your a producer than say your a writer + voclaist + musician (or worse, keyboardist, guitarist, drummer etc) + sound engineer + etc etc...

In the broader industry, I think you only really get to call yourself a producer when you produce other peoples work and thus do alot of the organisational and creative guidence associated with being a 'producer' - ie arranging studio sessions, hiring session musicians and whatever else is needed, bugetting it, working with recording and mixing engineers, actively guiding creative choices at all stages etc.

Most solo producers however would be completely clueless about trying to produce someone elses work and deal with labels, publishers etc.