Hiring a Producer for Music Production and Demos

Hiring a Producer
for Music Production and Demos

By C. Cirocco Jones

By Definition - What is a Producer?

A producer is:
1. One that produces, especially a person or organization that produces goods or services for sale.
2. One who supervises and controls the creation and public presentation of a project, or similar work. (Courtesy of Dictionary.com)

Do you really need a music producer?

Generally, you are going to need the help of a good producer, just like most major label artists need help when making a record. Very seldom will you see any successful records made on any major record labels, or even a strong independent, without the help of a qualified producer. Qualified? Yes, because having someone who knows what they are doing - to guide you, and help you make your music come together should not be left into the hands of someone without skills in record production. You need a producer, a good producer; because you want to make sure that you maximize your chances of getting your music to “sound” it’s best. Also, beyond the skills required to produce a record effectively, a producer is also there to be objective, which is incredibly hard to do alone.

Producing Music without a Music Producer?

It seems that lately there have been a movement of some new artists trying to skip the idea of hiring a music producer for help. But, if you honestly look at what has to happen musically (and sometimes politically too) to insure the success of a music project, an artist might be asking for self-inflicted failure by trying to do too much, and being too close to their own music to be impartial.

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In other words, most people that are great producers can usually look at the talent and concept of what has to happen, from a discerning musical, creative, and marketing approach. And this is a skill and an art in itself.

Artists need producers as much as most good actors need good directing. You will most times need that "heads-up" professional to be on the project to assure it having a better chance of success anyway. Plus, producers many times deal with everything from writing and creating the idea for the song, to dealing with the human variables of attitudes, emotion and the atmosphere of working with all the many different people attached to the project; Music Managers, Label A&R, Radio and Club DJs, Musicians, and of course, the actual artist themselves. Note: there is an art to producing, just like there is an art to sampling, dj scratching, singing, rapping, and playing an instrument. And while technology does allow many artists (and non-artists) who never thought that they could make beats & music “sound” pretty good, without having a hired producer - in truth, most of it is far from being “well-produced”, or good enough to release, or give a contract where a company’s revenue is at stake.

Therefore, if you are an artist, you should highly consider taking the most rational approach to getting your record or demo project completed; meaning that you’ll need to find either a reputable and experienced producer, or a hot new, up-and-coming producer that has “reel” evidence of developed skills to make a song sound finished. Or, at least find a producer who will sell you some beats, or license you some great instrumental music tracks to use for your demo or music project.

© 2007 – 2008 C. Cirocco Jones, Musicpowers.com - all rights reserved.