The music producer has been a major part of the music industry for years, but it is a role that has changed its character over the years and has become very worstilly, which changes according to the needs of different artists and suits a multitude of different styles, to the point that today it is not always clear what you need to know to be a good music producer. In this article we will give you guidelines on what is important to know as a music producer today.

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introduction

If it was once clear that the music producer was responsible for areas such as processing and management of the recording session, and the division of roles within the studio was clear and scattered among several cast members, then today the boundaries are much more blurred. With the advent of technology and computing into the music world, and the drastic transition from commercial studios to home studios, the various types of musical producers began to specialize in areas that would never have been considered their territory, turning the music producer’s title into something that could contain many more skills from time to time.

It is likely that there is a certain limit to how much each musical producer can be excellent in any of the areas listed below, but keep in mind that the more areas you specialize in, the more prominent you will be in the field in the face of the huge competition that exists today.

A musical producer needs proficiency in musical language

A music producer must know music first. This is a principle that is difficult to define, as different musical styles require different proficiency in the language. So let’s start by saying that music doesn’t necessarily speak classical characters, scales, and classical harmony.

The music producer is in many cases the visionary who takes the song forward. This is expressed through understanding the musical idea of ​​the song, and writing new roles in a piece that aims to strengthen the root of the song (in most cases the vocals and chords), and it is necessary to know how to express the same ideas to those who need to understand them. Whether external musicians, band mates, producer and artist or himself – it is important for the producer to bridge any musical gap between the parties in order to convey musical ideas clearly, effectively and intuitively.

Good ways for musical communication

A great way to do this is to dabble in musical theory, processing and orchestration. The more independent and quicker you are to express your ideas, the more creative productions you get, regardless of external factors. This is also very necessary when producing genres based on acoustic music: from pop through folk, Fank, solo, jazz, orchestral music and more.

In addition, playing a musical instrument is definitely an advantage in this case, as the musical instrument can be used as an easy way of communication between the producer and the various parties taking part in the production.

But it is important to note that there are also excellent musical producers who perform orchestral work without strong knowledge of musical theory. A good example is local producer Tamir Muscat (Balkan Beat Box, Assaf Avidan, Efrat Ghosh, etc.), who says that although he has taken part in a lot of productions with symphony orchestras, he usually sings the songs he wants him to play, without really knowing their name.

A musical producer needs sound knowledge and recordings

Knowledge of sound and recordings have always been synonymous with musical production to some extent, and this is true in many cases even today. A musical producer needs to know, at the most basic level, how to take the sketch song from the acoustic world, and to perform the process that ultimately produces a well-produced and processed song that sounds good and ready to be played on the various platforms.

This translation process comes through proficiency in technology required to work with sound and production software (or DAW – Digital Audio Workstation such as Cubeys, Ableton Live, Logic and more), recordings of various musical instruments and electronic instruments (whether analogs such as synthesizers or VST tools played on the DAW software via MIDI), knowledge of the sound world and everything related to mixing and mastering (the process the song goes through in terms of sound to sound good) and more…

This means that it is advisable to have the same home studio producer, but the possibility of commercial studios still exists and relevant so it is not mandatory.

 Synthesis and sound design

Part of the sound world is also the ability to shape sound. Electronics today plays a dominant role in almost all types of production across all genres, and can be heard everywhere in non-electronic genres in their being.

That’s why it’s important to specialize in synthesis – understanding the sound, its character, parameters that characterize it (like a shell), and how to apply that knowledge to existing audio information like the channels you record, as well as roles you write yourself on electronic tools like synthesizers, which are based Direct on your sound design capabilities and ability to use them wisely to add interesting elements to your production.

 A musical producer needs to be diverse

What has always been true of the musical producer is that a producer has to be a kind of musical handyman. The music today is very eclectic, that is, from a special blend of loads of genres poured into one pattern, especially in pop music. A producer needs to know how to take influences from any existing music and apply it within his productions, and stay up-to-date.

What this means is that a music producer should also love to listen to music in general, and appreciate appreciating the masterpieces throughout musical history, catching up on current trends (even if not tracing them), being versed in the modern technologies of musical creation and production, and generally knowing how to take tools from all The periods in order to give each particular song he works what he needs to flourish.

Therefore, it is always advisable to spend time during the routine listening to music of all kinds, listening analytically and critically and always trying to understand how different producers and creators do what they do. Try listening to your favorite songs and breaking them down into elements: what instruments play and when, how the channels were recorded / created, what the mix sounds like, how the section develops dynamically and structurally, etc.… Each production can be a lesson on what is worthwhile and not worth doing in productions