Record producer
In the
music industry, a
record producer (or
music producer) has many roles, among them controlling the recording sessions, coaching and guiding the performers, and supervising the recording,
mixing and
mastering processes. This has been a major function of producers since the inception of sound recording, but in the latter half of the 20th century producers also took on a wider entrepreneurial role. These activities comprise
music production (
record production).
During the 1890s
Fred Gaisberg ran the first recording studio and provided the closest approximation of production by guiding an opera singer closer or further away from a gramaphone's horn to match the dynamics in the score (Gronow and Saunio 1998, p.8 cited in Moorefield 2005, p.1).
Within the first half of the
20th century, the record producer's role was comparable to that of a
film producer, in that the record producer organised and supervised recording sessions, paid technicians, musicians and
arrangers, and sometimes chose material for the artist.
In the
1950s this role was performed by the
A&R (artist and repertoire) directors, one of the most notable of whom was musician and composer
Mitch Miller at
Columbia Records. Until the
1960s most producers and A&R directors were salaried staff on the payroll of major record labels, and most recordings were made at studios owned and operated by major record labels, such as the famous
EMI Abbey Road Studios in London.
In the mid-1950s a new category emerged, that of the independent record producer. Among the most famous early independent producers are the famed songwriting-production duo
Leiber & Stoller,
Wall of Sound creator
Phil Spector and British studio pioneer
Joe Meek.
This change was facilitated by the introduction of high-fidelity
magnetic tape recording technology in the mid-1950s, which dramatically altered the processes and economics of music recording. Magnetic tape enabled the establishment of independent recording studios in major recording centres such as London, Los Angeles and New York. Unlike the old record company studios, which were effectively a "closed shop", these new studios could be hired by the hour by anyone who could afford to do so.
The biggest and best commercial studios were typically established and operated by leading recording engineers. They were carefully constructed to create optimum recording conditions, and were equipped with the latest and best recording equipment and top-quality
microphones, as well as electronic amplification gear and musical instruments.
Top-line studios such as
Olympic Studios in London or
United Western Recorders in Los Angeles quickly became among the most sought-after recording facilities in the world, and both these studios became veritable "hit factories" that produced many of the most successful pop recordings of the latter 20th century.
Prior to the 1950s, the various stages of the recording and marketing process had been carried out by different professionals within the industry -- A&R managers found potential new artists and signed them to their labels; professional songwriters created new material; publishing agents sold these songs to the A&R people; staff engineers carried out the task of making the recordings in company-owned studios.
Freed from this traditional system by the advent of independent commercial studios, the new generation of entrepreneurial producers were able to create and occupy a new stratum in the industry, taking on a more direct and complex role in the musical process. This development in music was mirrored in the TV industry by the concurrent development of
videotape recording and the consequent emergence of independent TV production companies like
Desilu, established by '50s TV superstars
Lucille Ball and her then husband
Desi Arnaz.
These producers now typically carried out most or all of these various tasks themselves, including selecting and arranging songs, overseeing sessions (and often engineering the recordings) and even
writing the material (or at least claiming songwriting credits). Independent music production companies rapidly gained a significant foothold in popular music and soon became the main intermediary between artist and record label, signing new artists to production contracts, producing the recordings and then licensing the finished product to record labels for pressing, promotion and sale. (This was a novel innovation in the popular music field, although a broadly similar system had long been in place in many countries for the production of content for broadcast
radio.) The classic example of this transition is renowned British producer
George Martin, who worked as a staff producer and A&R manager at EMI for many years, before branching out on his own and becoming a highly successful independent producer.
As a result of these changes, record producers began to exert a strong influence, not only on individual careers, but on the course of
popular music. Other notable past and present independent producers include
Don Kirshner (
The Monkees),
Mickie Most (one of the most successful of all time),
Tony Visconti (
David Bowie,
T.Rex), pioneering Australian producer
Ted Albert (
The Easybeats) and, more recently, American producer and label owner
Rick Rubin (
Beastie Boys,
Red Hot Chili Peppers,
Rage Against the Machine,
Johnny Cash) and Hip-Hop mogul
Dr. Dre (
N.W.A,
Eazy-E,
The D.O.C.,
Snoop Dogg,
Eminem,
50 Cent,
The Game).
Realising the potential for creating recordings that could match their musical vision, many successful recording artists have become producers in their own right. Examples are
Nile Rodgers,
Jeff Lynne,
Brian Wilson and
Brian Eno.
Some producers also became
de facto recording artists, often creating records with anonymous studio musicians and releasing them under a pseudonym. Examples of this phenomenon include the records by fictional groups
The Archies and
Josie & The Pussycats, produced by Don Kirshner and
Danny Jansen respectively, who were contracted by TV production companies to produce these records to promote the animated children's TV series of the same name.
In modern
electronic music (not to be confused with "electronica" music, but any music created using electronic equipment, which can include rap and r&b, as well as the many different categories of dance music and new age), the producer is often the only person involved in the creation of a musical recording, and is responsible for both writing, performing, recording and arranging the material. The term "producer" is nearly synonymous with "musician" in this field. This change has been partly due to the increase of inexpensive yet powerful music production software, which allows for entire tracks to be composed, arranged and recorded at home on a PC or laptop, allowing the traditional roles of a team of people to be performed by one individual. Popular PC music production software packages include
Sony ACID Pro,
Sony Vegas,
Pro Tools,
Cakewalk SONAR,
Logic Pro,
Cubase,
Reason,
Ableton Live and
FL Studio (formerly "Fruity Loops").
With the advent of portable recording equipment, live album production has become much more cost effective than in the past couple of decades. This has resulted in thousands of live music recordings flooding the internet and music stores. Notable live concert record producers include: Guy Charbonneau,
Randy Ezratty,
Eddie Kramer,
Mark Cavener,
Allen Reynolds, and
Chuck Plotkin.
*
List of record producers*
Recording studio*Gronow, Pekka and Ilpo Saunio (1998).
An International History of the Recording Industry. ISBN 030470590X. Cited in Moorefield (2005).
*Moorefield, Virgil (2005).
The Producer as Composer: Shaping the Sounds of Popular Music. ISBN 0262134578.
