Music Producers...?

Question:How does one start the path to becomeing a music producer. I can write, I have talent, It's what I want to do. How do I get started?

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: How does one start the path to becomeing a music producer. I can write, I have talent, It's what I want to do. How do I get started?

Music producers are partially creative, partially technical, partially psychologist and partially baby sitter.

You said you can write, can you play. Many producers play. Usually piano and guitar and maybe bass

Producers are typically engineers to move up to production. Many producers have home studios and find local talent to produce new artists with lower budgets at their home studios.

Once you have some real credits you can try and affiliate yourself with record lables and they will put you on a sheet of producers available to new artists. You'll be on this "B" list or even "C" list with 100 other people. It will have your contact number and the bands or artists or their management ususally contacts you to meet and see if they like you and you like them.

If a deal is struck you're given a budget by the label and a agreed upon advance of which you get partial now and partial later and maybe a bonus for being under budget (maybe what's left) against your royalties which are 1 1/2 to 2% of the unit sales (amounts to about 7 to 10 cents a CD, after the record clears budget and your advance and the artist advance, which amounts to about $400,000 on a major label at $5 a unit which means about 100,000 units in sales or Platinum before anyone sees a royalty).

Advances are anywhere from $10,000 to $20,000 for a CD to the producer. Usually half on start and half on delivery of a pressable master.

Typically large studio owners work deals to get producer credit on sessions they only rent time and dong enginnering for.

David Bowie did these deals a lot. He did them on demos. He'd demo at a 2nd rate studio in Los Angeles with the studio engineer/owner to credit Producer credit with Bowie on ALL the cuts that make it to CD as mixed.

This is done in exchange for a favorable rate for the studio and engineer.

Bowie would then take it to the lable and they'd discuss which were the hits and a A list producer would come in and re-do the tracks or add to the tracks and re-mix it and he'd get full credit as producer on those tracks.

Small and mid level studios often see local bands come in and buy two days time (we're talking $35-$100 an hour or about $1,800 flat for two day lock out) and you'd quickly learn who was good, get their names and numbers (which they usually tried to give you for work).

then when you get an artist you get a few of these guys in and set them in the studio and try a song out for an hour or two and see if it works.

You give the players some free studio time in exchange for doing these songs for your arist. Or if there's a budget you pay them $100 or $150 a song.

It's cheaper for you if you just gave them 2 or 3 off day hours of time for each song they did. That way they get two or three days lock out (Sun-Tues) for free and you get 15 songs with bass, drums, guitars.

So as a producer you are a studio owner, enginner, you find sessions players, you talent scout new potential talent.

You find someone who sings like a bird, maybe you got a song you wrote you want done, maybe she does, yur bring in yoiur players do both songs and see what the two of you can do to market them.

You go to the little lables and get on their studio and producers list.

The little lables give them $25,000 in budget money and it's all for your studio and you can declare a share as engineer or producer money. Get engineer and producer credit on the album.

Then you give them 5 days time or so to record the tracks. You mix on off days at your leasure. As producer you have final say on the mixes but to be nice yoiu let them in and have some input.

You turn it into the label, they press 10,000 copies it gets on college radio and into small stores.

Maybe you got a potential REM here.

Being a producer is dealing with 4-6 very strong agos from players and singers.

Your job is to be with them in the rehearsal room, work the songs into good shape to record, decide whento go into the studio, which studio to use (if you dont have one), maybe you take some pictures during the rehearsals.

Then you go into the studio for one or two weeks record the tracks. Came back add vocals, overdubs. Then start mixing at a small room, maybe even at another studio, maybe your home studio on Pro tools.

Then you help them with the album cover Find a photographer or have the label give a list of them.

Decide with the band and image department what the album cover will look like.

Do the pictures, help work up the press pack, deliver the final masters and wait to see what happens.

Go find a studio where you can hang out and start taking out the trash and sweeping the floor and work up.

There are schools where you can learn recoding engineering. You might want to consider that.