Who Is A Music Producer and What Music Producer Do?

In the last two decades, the term music producer has evolved more than any other term in the music industry. Roles, responsibilities, skill set for a music producer has changed with time. In this article, learn who is a music producer and what music producers do.

Who Is A Music Producer?

Music Production is the process of creating and releasing music. Music Production is both managerial and a creative process required for creating and releasing music. Managing a project is challenging and demanding. A music producer is a person responsible for finding, launching and directing a music project.  A music producer is sometimes also referred to as a music director for commercial projects. Music Producers incorporate both artistic and managerial skills. They are responsible for visioning, managing and making artistic decisions for a music project. Sometimes Music Producers also engineer the project on their own.

Definition of Home Studio Music Producer

Earlier, producing music required big studios and manpower. In such commercial projects, Music producers were responsible more for launching and managing music projects. Their vision and direction was the key to the successful completion of projects. These roles still stand whenever music is produced commercially on a large scale.

As the home recording studios and small studios have evolved, in 2022 the term music producer has changed. In 2022, a music producer is also referred to artist/engineer who is in charge of creating, engineering and producing a music track from start to finish. With changes in technologies, the artistic and engineer roles of music producers have evolved more than managerial roles. Now one can easily create a song or an album from their home studio, all on their own with the use of minimal equipment. Such music producers are called home studio music producers.

What Does A Music Producer Do?

Music Producers play different roles in different scenarios. First the commercial studio music producers and other home studio music producers also known as small studio producers or freelance music producers. Let us understand the roles of both types of music producers:

Roles Of Music Producer In A Commercial Studio Or Projects

Music producers who work on large-scale commercial projects operate with a team which generally consist of artists, composers, lyricists, engineers. In such projects, music producers act as a director and manager and carries out the following roles:

Vision

The first and foremost role of a music producer in a commercial project is to provide a vision to the project and launch the project in that direction. Working with other artists and creators, music producer understands their needs and visions. Then the music producer compliments it with their vision and experience. 

If a music producer fails to provide vision and experience to the artist or creator, the project will most likely fail or not do well.

Management And Directing

In a commercial project like a music album, a background score, music for film, or audio for games. The music producer is responsible to understand the creators and artist needs. Then they are responsible to launch the project and manage it. Generally, a music producer is assisted by an executive producer and his team. Executive producers mostly take on financial and law-related roles.

Music producers collaborate with their team and creators to ensure that the project is running smoothly and in the right direction. It is the responsibility of the music producer to get the best out of all artists/performers and provide the desired coaching. 

Artistic And Creative Rulings

A music producer can opt to create and write musical compositions for a project. Generally, a music producer acts as a composer in projects like music for films and tv. Here, music producer works as a music director. He/she writes all the compositions and produces a demo. Once the demos are approved they are recorded and engineered with help of other artists and engineers. 

When a music producer is working with a band or an artist, a music producer acts mainly as a manager and a coach.

A music producer can at any time make artistic decisions and change the songs or their parts. This is completely dependent on what the producer wish to achieve. 

Engineering Roles

Most of the time is large scale projects, music producers hire audio engineers and sound engineers. Once the artistic and composition decisions are finalised, music producers and artists work with engineers to record and produce the music in studios. 

A music producer can decide to engineer on their own as well. 

Roles Of Music Producer In a Small Studio Or A Home Studio

In small studio or home studio, music producers work independently or collaborate with other artists and producers. In such scenario music producers are generally a one man army, responsible for everything. In home studios music producers perform the following roles :

Artist and Composers

In a home recording, studio music producers are responsible for writing, composing and creating music. Whether these are beats, song structure or melodies. The music producer writes and creates all the parts. 

In small studios, music productions work in collaboration with other solo artists or bands. In such scenarios, music producers may write the artistic pieces or may not. This completely depends from project to project.

Engineering

In-home studios or small studios. Music producers act like engineers. They are responsible for recording, mixing and mastering the tracks or albums. 

Sometimes one or more producers collaborate to engineer differently. One may act as a recording and mixing engineer, and the other might act as a mastering engineer. This approach helps as it brings in more minds and ears.

Sales And Marketing Manager

In a commercial project, distribution and marketing are taken care of by a music label or record label. If a home producer is signed by a label, he/she will avail the services of the record label for promotions and distribution of music.

Independent home music producers either do marketing and distribution on their own Or hire a 3rd party service provider to distribute and market their music. 

Most people think that Music Producers and Engineers Are The Same. Let us find out in the next article who are audio engineers and what do they do?

Also, if you wish to know How To Become A Music Producer, Checkout This Article.