A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job it is to oversee and manage the recording (i.e. "production") of an artist's music. A producer has many roles that may include, but are not limited to, gathering ideas for the project, selecting songs and/or musicians, coaching the artist and musicians in the studio, controlling the recording sessions, and supervising the entire process through mixing and mastering. Producers also often take on a wider entrepreneurial role, with responsibility for the budget, schedules, and negotiations.

Today, the recording industry has two kinds of producers: executive producer and music producer; they have different roles. While an executive producer oversees a project's finances, a music producer oversees the creation of the music.

A music producer can, in some cases, be compared to a film director, with noted practitioner Phil Ek himself describing his role as "the person who creatively guides or directs the process of making a record, like a director would a movie. The engineer would be more the cameraman of the movie." The music producer's job is to create, shape, and mold a piece of music. The scope of responsibility may be one or two songs or an artist's entire album – in which case the producer will typically develop an overall vision for the album and how the various songs may interrelate.

In the UK, before the rise of the record producer, someone from A&R; would oversee the recording session(s), assuming responsibility for creative decisions relating to the recording.

History

Early record producers

However in the first part of the 20th century the record producer's role was similar to the role of a film producer in that the record producer organized and supervised recording sessions, paid technicians, musicians and arrangers, and sometimes chose material for the artist. 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.

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, Fine Recording in New York City, United Western Recorders, and Musart 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.

Evolution of the role of the producer

Freed from this traditional system by the advent of independent commercial studios, the new generation of entrepreneurial producers – many of whom were former record company employees themselves – 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. 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. A key example of this is of Phil Spector who defined the gap between Elvis and the Beatles (1958–1964) with such acts as the Ronettes, the Crystals, Darlene Love, the Righteous Brothers and the Paris Sisters. Spector's Wall of Sound production technique also persisted after that time with his select recordings of the Beatles, the Ramones, Leonard Cohen, George Harrison, Dion and Ike and Tina Turner.

Some producers also became de facto recording artists, often creating records themselves or 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. Similarly, Jeff Barry and Andy Kim recorded as the Archies. The same producer-as-artist phenomenon can be found with many modern-day pop-oriented street- and electronic-music artists.

Another change that occurred for the role of producers occurred progressively over the 50’s and 60’s. Popularization of new technology such as synthesizers, electric guitars, amplifiers, and better microphones led to a fundamental switch. The goal of recording no longer was simply accurately capturing and documenting live performance. Instead producers suddenly could manipulate sounds and create sound worlds. Producers became creative figures in the studio were no longer reserved to role of functional engineer. Examples of such engineers includes George Martin, Joe Meek, Phil Spector, and Brian Wilson. These producers became known as creative producers who turned the studio into a creative space.

Though the term encompasses all aspects of hip hop music, it's most commonly used to refer to the instrumental, non-lyrical aspects of hip hop. This means that hip hop producers are the instrumentalists involved in a work. Modern hip hop production uses samplers, sequencers, drum machines, synthesizers, and live instrumentation. A hip hop instrumental is casually referred to as a beat, and a hip hop producer is casually referred to as a beatmaker. However, in the studio, a hip hop producer also functions as a traditional record producer, being the person who is ultimately responsible for the final sound of a recording.

Equipment and technology

There are numerous different technologies utilized by the producer. In modern day recordings, recording and mixing tasks are centralized within computers. However, there is also the main mixer, outboard effects gear, and the recording device itself.

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Category:Music production

James "Jimmy" Iovine (born March 11, 1953) is an American music producer, entrepreneur and chairman of Interscope-Geffen-A&M;.

Biography

He is credited with having given Eminem's demo tape to Dr. Dre who signed him to his Aftermath label. In 2002, Iovine co-produced the hit Eminem movie, 8 Mile and in 2004, he and Paul Rosenberg signed a first-look feature deal with Paramount Pictures and MTV Films for their Interscope/Shady/Aftermath banner. Iovine co-produced the first film under the deal, Get Rich or Die Tryin', starring 50 Cent. In January 2008, Iovine, Dr. Dre and Monster Cable released "Beats by Dr. Dre" high-performance headphones. In 2003 he was co-executive producer of Enrique Iglesias's album Seven. Iovine is also an executive producer with LeBron James and Maverick Carter of the documentary More Than A Game which was released in the fall of 2009.

Work outside Interscope

External links

Category:1953 births Category:American music industry executives Category:American record producers Category:Living people Category:People from Brooklyn

Was was born in Detroit, Michigan. He graduated from Oak Park High School (Michigan) in the Detroit suburb of Oak Park, then attended the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor but dropped out after the first year. A journeyman musician, he grew up listening to the Detroit blues sound and the jazz music of John Coltrane and Miles Davis.

Using the stage name "Don Was", he formed the group Was (Not Was) with school friend David Weiss (David Was). The group found commercial success in the 1980s - releasing four albums and logging several hit records. A jazz/R&B; album of Hank Williams covers, "Forever's A Long, Long Time" was released in 1996, under the name Orquestra Was. In 2008, Was (Not Was) reunited for a highly acclaimed new album and tour.

Don Was has earned his greatest recognition as a highly successful record producer and has recorded with an eclectic array of gifted artists, ranging from The Rolling Stones, Bonnie Raitt, Bob Dylan, Ziggy Marley, Bob Seger, Al Green, Garth Brooks, Ringo Starr, Iggy Pop, Lyle Lovett, Kris Kristofferson, Joe Cocker, Hootie and The Blowfish, Amos Lee and Willie Nelson to Elton John, Stevie Nicks, George Clinton, Randy Newman, The Black Crowes, Carly Simon, Travis Tritt, Brian Wilson, Jackson Browne, The Barenaked Ladies, Old Crow Medicine Show, Roy Orbison, Waylon Jennings, Jessi Colter, Richie Sambora, The Presidents of the United States of America, B.B. King, Paul Westerberg, Poison, Cheb Khaled, The B-52’s, Zucchero, Todd Snider, Elizabeth Cook, Jill Sobule and Solomon Burke. He has received multiple Grammy Awards including Producer of the Year in 1995. He produced several albums for Bonnie Raitt including her Nick of Time album that won the 1990 Grammy Award for Album of the Year.

He served as music director and/or consultant for several motion pictures such as Thelma and Louise, The Rainmaker, Hope Floats, Phenomenon, Tin Cup, Honeymoon in Vegas, 8 Seconds, Switch, The Freshman, Days of Thunder, Michael, Prêt-à-Porter, Boys on the Side, Toy Story and The Paper.

In 1995, Don Was earned a Grammy Award for Producer of the Year. In 1997, he directed and produced a documentary, I Just Wasn't Made For These Times, about former-Beach Boy Brian Wilson. The film debuted at the Sundance Film Festival and won the San Francisco Film Festival's Golden Gate Award. He also received the British Academy Award (BAFTA) for Best Original Score in recognition of his compositions for the film Backbeat.

Was, who is a fan of the Rolling Stones and saw them in concert when he was age 12 in 1964, worked on the remastered Rolling Stones's album Exile on Main Street that was released in May 2010. Was scoured old master recordings of the album for lost gems, remixing some songs while adding entirely new lyrics and tracks on songs.

Since August, 2009, he has hosted a weekly radio show on Sirius XM satellite radio's Outlaw Country channel called "The Motor City Hayride".

Personal life

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Category:1952 births Category:American male singers Category:American record producers Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Living people Category:Musicians from Michigan

Life and career

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