WHY A PRODUCER IS STILL IMPORTANT AND WHY YOU NEED ONE
Reality: Much of recordings these days are done in home or project studios, and often in isolation or by exchanging files.
And because of that, more often than not, there isn’t going to be a designated producer on most of these projects, But despite that fact, I’m going to say that you in many ways still need one.
It might be you producing your own projects. It might be one band member. It might very well be the engineer hired to do the recording. But one way or another someone needs to be responsible for the big picture. Someone needs to be looking at how the individual choices are going to all fit together.
Here’s why:
The point of making recordings is to have an emotional impact on listeners. Does the song and the performance - the ‘record’ - make you cry or laugh or dance or think or remember?
That human connection is the whole point.
Think of the records you love and continually come back to. Think of the records (although they might call them ‘songs’) that your friends and family love. They don’t love them and want to hear them again and again, because they are free of mistakes or because of the sterling snare drum sound.
What the best record producers understand is that it is precisely that emotional connection that makes a record great; what it’s not is a lack of errors or flaws. One of the biggest mistakes I see, all too commonly, is the band coming into the control room to listen and immediately looking for things to ‘fix’.
Instead, before we get to that, is the record-making you tap your foot? Are you getting the message from the lyrics?
We should be listening for what’s good about this take before we start to look for what’s not.
Because if it isn’t already making you like it and pay attention, then ‘fixing’ elements in it is a waste of time.
And that is where having a single (preferably outside, if possible) ear deciding whether this performance is moving and effective or not is invaluable. Crucial.
Another area where an objective big picture view is helpful is in regards to what I like to call the “spotlight”: where you are focusing the listeners’ attention at any given moment in the record.
For example, in the verse, the spotlight should obviously be on the singer. That’s where you want to focus the mix so that the listener’s attention goes there.
But we can also think about where else to move that spotlight, or adjust the stage lighting.
In the chorus, should background vocals or other elements come in obviously, in an attention-grabbing way? Do you want the listener to notice that entrance? Or should it be a subtle change in the background lighting that doesn’t distract but that just keeps things from feeling monotonous?
Does something need to come in on the second verse to make it look different from the first? Or is the lyric and vocal performance so strong that it doesn’t need that development?
When it comes to a solo or re-intro, it should be clear that it’s the organ stepping out or a lead guitar needs to be there. Ideally, it should be a part that’s memorable in its own right unless it’s a soloist who can keep our attention with sheer musicality. Even better if it’s both!
These are the sorts of questions that bands often overlook, as they each are focused on their individual contributions rather than the big picture. And these questions need to be addressed both in the playing and arrangement as well as in the mix phase.
In their own way, engineers also often overlook this sort of big picture overview as they are focused on individual sounds.
The worst way to make these kinds of choices (as any professional mixer will tell you) is by committee. If you try to build the Rashomon Effect elephant based on only each person’s limited view of his part, without anyone seeing the whole animal, you will usually end up with a monster.
The preconception of many musicians who have never had the opportunity to work with a good producer is that it’s somehow a dictatorial or limiting experience. When, in truth, with the right person, it’s in many ways exactly the opposite.
What it should be is a liberating experience, knowing that a trusted compatriot has your back in realizing your shared artistic vision and is doing that job of steering the ship toward the ultimate goal leaving you free to do your job of playing and singing, or recording and mixing.
Rather than agonizing yourself as to whether that guitar performance or vocal take you just did could be better, or which take to use for that spot, it’s actually a relief to have someone not personally invested in the decision, but artistically trustworthy, make that choice.
That’s freeing, not constraining. And it allows you, the performer, to remain in that creative side of your brain, where you should be, instead of letting your internal editor intrude.
And getting beyond that ‘critic’ or ‘editor’ part of producing, there’s another important aspect that should not be overlooked, and it’s one that’s almost impossible to do for yourself. That is: as a cheerleader or coach.
A good producer encourages you when you need it, gives specific advice to improve aspects, suggests when perhaps you’d be better served to take a break rather than banging your head against the same wall, knows when to look for an entirely different approach to a problem spot, can see that maybe the reason you aren’t getting the guitar in time is that really there’s a problem with the drums that needs to be addressed, and so on.
When you are in performing mode or acting as the engineer, or both! These are the sorts of trees that are really difficult to separate from inside the forest.
Could The Beatles have made it big without George Martin?
Almost certainly. But he brought an enormous amount to what their records became and allowed them to push their creativity without limits while knowing someone was going to bring it all together and not let it go off the rails. And of course, they had the confidence in him to incorporate his ideas (such as his incredible string arrangements, half-speed piano solos, etc…) as well.
Being the producer of a record is an actual job and one that needs to be done. You may not find a ‘fifth Beatle’, but there is still something to be gained by the model.
Find the person in your midst who can be the producer and let it free you to be an artiste.