MTF, Week 3 (15th March 2007) "The Role of the Producer"

Musical producers and their roles was the topic for this week’s Music Technology Forum (MTF). Lecturer Steve Fieldhouse began with explaining to the group what the particular roles of a producer are. These fell under five categories.

In brief:

• Style
  Specific techniques of production that a producer has against their name, which they use to give their own approach towards mixing, editing and arranging
  
  
• Performance
  This refers to the ability and efficiency the producer has in capturing the sound of the band/group in a way that is both entertaining and exhilarating for the listener
  
  
• Financial
  The money side of recording; where the producer may have the responsibility of handling the financial side of things
  
  
• Musical arrangement
  The producer may have the role of writing of music for the recording and/or arranging for commodities such as radio edits
  
  
• Communication
  Steve mentioned this in terms of that a producer should have excellent interpersonal and communication skills
  

To begin, Steve introduced the group to Nirvana’s Nevermind (1991). Producer, Butch Vig, also known for his collaborations with groups such as The Smashing Pumpkins, PJ Harvey, Helmet and finally Garbage, for which he is a co-founder ^[2].


As Steve progresses through his lectures, I find myself… in– some amazement at how he hears elements that when I listen, I couldn’t even imagine even hearing such as subtle increases in volume within songs. For example Steve played in reference to style an example of how Vig being a drummer recognises how a snare fill can be very important to a mix, indicating where Vig will give a sudden yet still subtle level increase. Vig also tends to use variations in level to provide contrast between sections in songs, as well as lo-fi and hi-fi contrasting within his recordings to keep the listener on the edge so-to-speak.

Steve went through a myriad of producers, to go into absolute detail for each one I may need a book, however at this point of the lecture I had learnt that a producer is so much more than what I initially thought they were (which was a simple image of a person who hooked leads up and mixed songs until they sounded “alright”).

Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to attend the whole lecture due to a terrifically timed job interview, anyway, more importantly I was able to grasp onto what Steve was trying to get across; producers have varying roles, and these can go from a mixture of the above, to the absolute extremes. Perhaps this is why musical genres have distinct sounds. For example metal as opposed to pop or classical has a distinct production technique. I think it would be very interesting to hear a rock song produced in a pop, classical or world style to see whether production dominates the sound or if it comes down directly to the musical style, maybe it’s a bit of both…

References

1. Fieldhouse, Steve, (2007). The Role of the Producer, presented at the University of Adelaide, 15^th March
   
   
2. Garbage Biography, viewed 20^th March 2007
   http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:hn6ktr6lkl2x%7ET1

Further Reading

• Rick Rubin’s Skill
  http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1587248,00.html
  
  
• Record Production
  http://www.record-producer.com/
  
  
• The Role of a record producer
  http://www.alexandermagazine.com/business/articles/producer.htm