Being a Producer

[Andrew.Glose]

Hi Janek,

First, I'd like to say that I greatly admire your musicianship, philosophy, and approach to being, not only an outstanding bassist, but above all, an outstanding musician. You've influenced me in more ways than you know, and I'd like to thank you.

I'm currently attending The Univ. of Southern Miss. as a Jazz Studies/Performance major (year and a half to go). Over Holiday break, I have realized that I need more than just being a bass player. I need another means of, not only creating music, but also making a living in music. I've arrived at the possiblity of switching my major to music production (as I don't know much about it), and simply continuing study as a bassist/musician. I'd like some insight into the production field, from your perspective, concerning what being a producer is all about, how to get started, etc. And also, if making the switch to a production major is a smart move, at this point, with a year and a half of college left. I've been told I have what it takes to make it as a player from many respectable sources, but regardless, I feel the want/need to branch out and create more opportunities for myself. Your help will be greatly appreciated. Looking forward to hearing your new music(!)

Andrew

[janekbass]

Andrew,

thanks for your very kind words.

Production:

switching your major won't make any difference whatsoever. You need to make the most of what facilities you have in your school in order to be technically savvy with all that it takes to be in the studio, and to be in control of a session when you show up to one as a producer.

The main resource you can have as a producer is to know everyone. The more cats you know, the more situations you're going to find yourself in. And also, the more people you can put an artist in touch with that they might not be able to themselves, the more hirable you're going to be.

First thing you have to do is move to a city that has a scene. NYC, Nashille, Los Angeles, London, Munich, Frankfurt, Berlin all spring to mind, and are all places I've worked as a producer in before.

You're going to need a home studio setup. I would recommend Pro Tools, Ableton Live, Logic Pro (whichever the latest version is). Get some reasonable mics for tracking vocals and various overdubs at your home. I would recommend an AKG 414 as an all round good mic for guitars, vocals, horns etc at home. It's a little bright for my taste, but could be a good starter mic. If your budget allows it get a couple of nice pre amps so you can have a choice of sounds when doing pre-production or overdub sessions.

Get your sequencing chops together in a big way. If you're going to do any kind of tv commercials or film scoring work, companies want to hear an almost perfect product just for the demo these days. It has to be as close as possible, and all on spec on your own time normally.

Take some film scoring classes if you can, get experience of playing on other people's film scoring sessions at school, and take notes on everything that happens in the studio whenever you're in there. No matter what the session is, you can always learn something. I have books of notes on that kind of stuff. I would always check out which mics were being used for which instrument, and which pre amps, compressors, trim, gain, effects etc....

It's a huge amount to learn, but as long as you're conscious of things that are happening around you in the studio then it won't take you long to pick it up.

The other, much more lucrative, side of production is songwriting. Not just being the cat who takes someone else's material and makes it sound good, but being the cat who actually writes part of that material. The quarterly royalty checks come rolling in for life if you are part of any kind of hit song.

Other than that, find people who interest you musically. Find someone you think has something, and try and work with them and enhance their music. Do a ton of work on spec in the beginning, and build up a portfolio of work that you can show someone when they ask you what you've worked on before.

Easy,

Janek

[Chad.mundt]

Yo, Drew. I agree. Very good post Janek. You should try to talk to Darko. His sound recording classes are phenomenal. I'm thing about taking Music Industry Seminar next semester (possible without signing up). Let's do it together, and learn about MIDI, etc. Plus, we've been writing. Let's write some more straight ahead stuff..

[Andrew.Glose]

Janek, your insight is well appreciated. Thank you.

Chad, we'll check out the Industry Seminar.

[Andrew.Glose]

Janek,

Which AKG 414 do you use? There are two, and I'm not sure what the huge difference is, but one's more expensive...