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working with a producer


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I have never done this, of course the client is kind of the producer. I have often wondered if the right person could be a help to be the big picture guy. I have friends who listen to different music more than I do and are not musicians. It seems like there are so many ways to listen to music and I am all about how to put the pieces together, but I miss things. What are your experiences with this? Are you using drop-box to play mixes for different people?
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I don't have as much "big league" experience as many here, but what I've found in my sessions, and in listening to other albums, is that you usually have one of two kinds of producers:

 

A. One who works with you to bring out the best in your project. A sounding board who will advise you if something is crap, or make suggestions to bring out the best in you. And you can discuss it and take their advice, or find a compromise that is still "you" and works well for the song.

 

B. One who wants to take your project, and make it theirs, with their additions and sonic fingerprints all over it. Heck, half of your tracks might not even end up being used.

 

No, I'm not bitter about the B's I've worked with before. Not at all.

"Am I enough of a freak to be worth paying to see?"- Separated Out (Marillion)

NEW band Old band

 

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An objective set of ears can be VERY helpful. Somebody who knows their way around a studio can engender an atmosphere that makes recording easier and the results much better. When we stand on our own hill we can only see so much, somebody else might have a view that we've never pondered.

 

I got to be a producer/diretor once - for a sngle song. It was a great experience. I was also the guitarist for the project. It wasn't my song or project.

A friend sold a song, took his cut and put me in charge of hiring the talent, booking the studio and overseeing the recordings.

 

2 events stand out to me.

We were going to record the drums, bass and guitar live in the studio, playing along with a demo I'd recorded that had a vocal track and solid drum loop.

 

The engineers wanted to put the drummer in an isolation room and the bassist and myself out in the control room.

Since guitar and bass were going direct and both solid bodies, I told them we would all be in the isolation room as it was pretty big.

They said "What about leakage?" I said "What if we don't make any mistakes?" And in we went. 3 takes and done, solid.

 

I knew from decades of playing that visual cues are important and very helpful. I wanted to see the drummer's snare hand come down, that's when my strum would hit. It was just much easier to lock a groove with visual cues like that.

 

When it came time for vocals I had selected a male and female vocalist, we wanted Call and Answer and we wanted harmonies.

The engineers said, "We'll put Greg in the booth first and then Sarah can go in." I said, "No, put two mics in the center of the room facing each other and I'll go talk to them before we cut the tracks."

I told the vocalists that I wanted it to be fun and sort of goofy, like the old Ella and Louis sessions. I asked them to scat and banter on the outro - thought it would be more interesting then just another guitar solo.

I told them not to hold back and have fun.

 

We got some great stuff that way. Sarah unleashed a high note and Greg went shooting up past her. She cracked up, that laughter was worth gold!

 

I KNOW that record would not have been half as cool without my "producing" it. It is not uncommon for engineers to put the cart before the horse and record the way they "know" is technically best for isolation etc.

As a musician, I know the ONLY thing that matters (if the song is good), is a great performance.

 

FWIW, it was the theme for the 100th anniversary of the Ski To Sea event we have up here in Bellingham. Whatcom Events paid for everything and it ran on the radio and television up here for 3 years. Everybody heard it. Good times, Kuru.

 

 

 

 

It took a chunk of my life to get here and I am still not sure where "here" is.
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I don't have as much "big league" experience as many here, but what I've found in my sessions, and in listening to other albums, is that you usually have one of two kinds of producers:

 

A. One who works with you to bring out the best in your project. A sounding board who will advise you if something is crap, or make suggestions to bring out the best in you. And you can discuss it and take their advice, or find a compromise that is still "you" and works well for the song.

 

B. One who wants to take your project, and make it theirs, with their additions and sonic fingerprints all over it. Heck, half of your tracks might not even end up being used.

 

No, I'm not bitter about the B's I've worked with before. Not at all.

You absolutely nailed it (I've always been the "A" type, unless the artist wanted a "B" type).

 

The engineer lives in the left brain, the artist in the right brain, and the producer has to reconcile both halves - know when technical AND emotional changes are needed.

 

The very best "objective set of ears" help I've ever experienced happens right here, in this forum. I post a draft of a project (unlisted) on YouTube, and ask for comments from the forumites. They're always invaluable, whether broad or detailed, negative or positive...it's all helpful. And getting options from a variety of people is really cool, especially when multiple people say the same thing.

 

I've often wondered why some of the other people here don't take advantage of what I call "the SSS Production Squad," but to each his own.

 

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I've read a couple of articles lately in magazines like Mix or Tape Op detailing how a recording progressed from start to finish. I've never heard of the artists or producers, but I suppose they're well enough known to write about. In each case, I was fascinated by the work that was done by the producer, and appalled as well, by how much the producer personally contributed to the music. Writing new lyrics, arranging the song, playing most if not all of the instruments, programming all the synths and loops, adding sound effects, compression upon compression upon compression, a dozen different kinds of reverbs. Pages of technical descriptions, which was interesting, but little explaining the choice of whatever was being described.

 

In one case it seemed that the artist sang most of the song and occasionally contributed a background keyboard or guitar track. But I guess it ended up being a good record.

 

 

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