lo@harvard.UUCP (Bert S.F. Lo) (02/07/86)
What does the person who produces a record do ?
What does the person who directs a record do ?
What does the person who arranges a song do ?
How does each interact with the musicians ?
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::: :::::: :::kirsch@sjuvax.UUCP (02/10/86)
In article <689@harvard.UUCP> lo@harvard.UUCP writes: >What does the person who produces a record do ? >What does the person who directs a record do ? >What does the person who arranges a song do ? >How does each interact with the musicians ? A record producer is usually involved (from my own experiences ) mostly in the mixing of the record -i.e. deciding at what level instruments/vocals should be in the mix, possible helping to decide on the tone of the instruments and possibly deciding what effects (echo etc.) should be used in the mix. I don't know what a "director" does--if you mean engineer, the engineer is the man sitting at the mixing console who makes sure the recording levels are proper for all of the instrument/vocal inputs. Usually the engineer is the man who controls the board--usually no one else does. The song arranger would be the person who decides in what order the parts of the song go in--eg. where to put verses, choruses and guitar solos. Sometimes the producer could help with this. I hope this answered your questions. -- "You'll be the first to go you'll be the first to go you'll be the first to go UNLESS YOU THINK!" -Nazi Punks... by the Dead Kennedy's Paul Kirsch St. Joseph's University Philadelphia, Pa { astrovax | allegra | bpa | burdvax } !sjuvax!kirsch
page@ulowell.UUCP (Bob Page) (02/11/86)
In article <689@harvard.UUCP> lo@harvard.UUCP (Bert S.F. Lo) writes: >What does the person who produces a record do ? The producer is the ringleader during a recording session. It is his/her job to make sure the equipment is set up, union people are hired to do the engineering, etc. S/he manages all the other players in the scheme: call the Manager to get the band in at 2PM, book the studio time, sign out whatever special equipment is necessary. But that is just the start. Once assembled, the Producer works with the band to 'shape' the sound. Gets the band's opinions, uses his/her keen sense of music to 'direct' the sound from the raw playing to the polished piece. Lives with the Engineer in the control booth, saying "more snap on that floor tom, bring up the sax a bit" and other things. After the session, the producer works to splice everything together into a finished song, sometimes remixing things in the process. More times than I could tell you, artists hear their records on the radio and say "but that's not what we recorded!" Many artists are now doing their own producing. It's a headache, but ultimately the producer controls the final sound, so many undertake the task. One of the biggest reasons for the artists not to do their own production is that artists listen to each instrument individually and the way that each one interacts with each other one, but don't often listen to the overall sound, which is what the average listener listens to. An average producer shoots for the great overall sound, a good producer will clean the individual instruments and then work them in to develop the overall sound. Much harder. >What does the person who directs a record do ? Usually the gofer stuff that the producer doesn't do, like setting up, getting equipment, making wakeup calls, etc. Also called an Asst Producer and a bunch of other things. >What does the person who arranges a song do ? Tells the producer 'I want the harp to come in here, full and rich, with the string section solidly supporing it' and other such directions about what instruments will produce the desired *feel* that the artist wants. Usually the artist is the arranger, as you would expect, but this is not always the case. >How does each interact with the musicians ? Along with the engineer and all the assistants ("you forgot to plug the frigging mic in!"), the producer and *his/her* assistants, the artist and associated groupies, etc, they basically piss and moan at each other until the *recording* is done. The final mixdown is calmer, with just the engineer and producer (and usually the artist) present, tweaking the fine points of things that most listeners won't ever notice anyway. Anybody executive (Executive Producer) means they weren't even around and could care less about the artist, but somebody convinced them that they should spend some of their money on this project. That's blatently stereotypical, of course, and there are exceptions now and then. Anybody want to add more? ..Bob -- UUCP: wanginst!ulowell!page Bob Page ARPA: page@ulowell.CSNET University of Lowell BIX: page Computer Science Dept VOX: +1 617 452 5000 x2233 Lowell MA 01854 USA