4 ms·

Favorite producer seems equivalent to favorite big band leader.

skrebbel 3y ago
"Producer" means at least two things. In electronic music, it's commonly used for the person actually composing and arranging a track. It's used to differentiate from a DJ, who plays other people's music and doesn't "produce" anything. You can install FL Studio on your laptop, mess around a bit, and you're a producer (not a very good one probably, but the word does not imply quality). In most other genres, "producer" is the person in the studio doing the recording, or also commonly, running the team that does the recording and plays the background instruments etc. Eg your big band leader. In film (and gamedev), "producer" is the "product" head honcho, more like a CTO than an individual contributor. That's not dissimilar to producers of large music productions, but very dissimilar to deadmau5 jamming out a tune in his basement studio.
- skrebbel 3y ago
  More update cause I'm geeking out now: Another way to look at it is Phil Spector needed 4 entire Beatles to churn out hit record after hit record. Today someone in his position (a person in a studio with lots of gear) (or just a laptop even) can arguably make an entire hit record on their own, without anyone singing or playing an instrument. Is that really a different role? In a way it is, because you're no longer managing people. But in many other ways it isn't - it's using gear to make a record.
  - redwall_hp 3y ago
    Instrumentalists and singers are just instruments a producer plays. And now we have DAWs and VOCALOID. Just as the Beatles would be no more than a skiffle band playing bars without George Martin, Stock-Aitken-Waterman is responsible for huge 80s hits from Dead or Alive, Rick Astley, Bananarama, etc..
    - skrebbel 3y ago
      The Beatles did write their hit records themselves though. Lots of people helped making it Sound Real Good but unlike Rick Astley they did write the songs. Not that it matters, in my opinion, a good song is a good song. But sometimes the producer plays the singers and instrumentalists and sometimes it’s more the other way around.
- robenkleene 3y ago
  > It's used to differentiate from a DJ, who plays other people's music and doesn't "produce" anything. Just to be clear, this isn't the etymology of "producer" in the electronic music sense, it's from the second definition you described: The person doing the recording. This is because electronic music is largely created largely using tools that were designed to be used on recorded music in the studio such as delays and reverbs. Electronic musicians are called producers because they use the recording studio itself as an instrument (along with synthesizers and samplers). Hip-hop makes this distinction extremely fluid as the person recording the vocals is often the same person making the backing track.
winternett 3y ago
As a producer myself, the art of production is barely enough anymore as apps like TikTok and Twitter greatly devalue music. Many rappers and music producers also end up becoming vocalists, actors, and even comedians... While also being required by platforms to constantly share behind the scenes videos of how they make music. Don Toliver is a producer turned artist, so is Metro Boomin... Ti is doing stand up comedy, and even Rick Ross is vlogging and running a podcast now instead of working on primarily music. Spotify not paying artists has a lot to do with it I'm sure... It's a sign of doom for music if making music becomes worthless, because the only music left will be artificially generated, and any real music connoisseur knows that's just never going to cut it.

"Producer" means at least two things. In electronic music, it's commonly used for the person actually composing and arranging a track. It's used to differentiate from a DJ, who plays other people's music and doesn't "produce" anything. You can install FL Studio on your laptop, mess around a bit, and you're a producer (not a very good one probably, but the word does not imply quality). In most other genres, "producer" is the person in the studio doing the recording, or also commonly, running the team that does the recording and plays the background instruments etc. Eg your big band leader. In film (and gamedev), "producer" is the "product" head honcho, more like a CTO than an individual contributor. That's not dissimilar to producers of large music productions, but very dissimilar to deadmau5 jamming out a tune in his basement studio.

skrebbel 3y ago
More update cause I'm geeking out now: Another way to look at it is Phil Spector needed 4 entire Beatles to churn out hit record after hit record. Today someone in his position (a person in a studio with lots of gear) (or just a laptop even) can arguably make an entire hit record on their own, without anyone singing or playing an instrument. Is that really a different role? In a way it is, because you're no longer managing people. But in many other ways it isn't - it's using gear to make a record.
- redwall_hp 3y ago
  Instrumentalists and singers are just instruments a producer plays. And now we have DAWs and VOCALOID. Just as the Beatles would be no more than a skiffle band playing bars without George Martin, Stock-Aitken-Waterman is responsible for huge 80s hits from Dead or Alive, Rick Astley, Bananarama, etc..
  - skrebbel 3y ago
    The Beatles did write their hit records themselves though. Lots of people helped making it Sound Real Good but unlike Rick Astley they did write the songs. Not that it matters, in my opinion, a good song is a good song. But sometimes the producer plays the singers and instrumentalists and sometimes it’s more the other way around.
robenkleene 3y ago
> It's used to differentiate from a DJ, who plays other people's music and doesn't "produce" anything. Just to be clear, this isn't the etymology of "producer" in the electronic music sense, it's from the second definition you described: The person doing the recording. This is because electronic music is largely created largely using tools that were designed to be used on recorded music in the studio such as delays and reverbs. Electronic musicians are called producers because they use the recording studio itself as an instrument (along with synthesizers and samplers). Hip-hop makes this distinction extremely fluid as the person recording the vocals is often the same person making the backing track.

winternett 3y ago

As a producer myself, the art of production is barely enough anymore as apps like TikTok and Twitter greatly devalue music. Many rappers and music producers also end up becoming vocalists, actors, and even comedians... While also being required by platforms to constantly share behind the scenes videos of how they make music. Don Toliver is a producer turned artist, so is Metro Boomin... Ti is doing stand up comedy, and even Rick Ross is vlogging and running a podcast now instead of working on primarily music. Spotify not paying artists has a lot to do with it I'm sure... It's a sign of doom for music if making music becomes worthless, because the only music left will be artificially generated, and any real music connoisseur knows that's just never going to cut it.