This lesson will cover what you are going to be learning in these classes:
- We’ll look at the SQA unit specification’s for the Music Production unit
- I’ll relay what you will produce at the end of these classes as well how and when you will be assessed
- We’ll have a brief look at what a music producer is
- We’ll listen to an interview with John Leckie discussing the making of The Stone Roses debut album to give us an idea of what the role can entail.
- Finally we’ll listen to some music and consider differing production styles.
- Analyse production styles
- Apply production techniques to a piece of music
The unit is made up of two outcomes. Outcome 1 is a research project where you will compare and contrast the styles and techniques of two different music producers operating in two different musical areas. You will produce a multimedia report by week 7. The report should be 750 words long and should be emailed to me (Colin.Dodds@perth.uhi.ac.uk) - I’ll have an exact hand-in date for you by next week. Your report should include links to examples of the producers work (on youtube, spotify, we7 etc) and where necessary the time in the song where the feature you are discussing occurs should be noted (e.g. listen to the "wall of sound" at 0:30 mins).
We will focus on this outcome during the first six weeks in room 511.
Outcome 2 is practical work where you will apply production techniques to a piece of music. You must produce music that is appropriate within a given musical and stylistic context. You must also take charge of a recording session by arrange musicians and resources. You must also communicate with and direct the musicians to achieve an appropriate piece of music.
So by the end of these classes you will have produced a report discussing the styles of two music producers, and you will have yourself produced a piece of music following a recording session involving several musicians and an engineer.
What is a music producer?
Take a minute to think about what a music producer is and what they do.
This term has changed a lot over the last 60 years or so and many different definitions exist. My own definition is that it’s someone who delivers recorded music into the public domain.
That's a very basic definition. We can shed a little more light on the subject by investigating their motivations. I would argue that people produce music for three reasons:
- To return a profit for their employer (usually the record company)
- To create art (which may be culturally significant)
- For self expression
Many music producers are motivated by all of these factors to a greater or lesser extent, but in the old days the balance leaned towards returning a profit... It’s worth considering how this role has changed over the years.
- Pre-1950’s. Within a record company there was a well established chain of the people involved in making a record.
- A&R managers found the acts
- The songs were created by professional songwriters.
- Publishing agents sold these songs to the A&R people
- Recordings were made in studios owned by the record company which were operated by staff engineers.
- Record producers also worked as staff for the record companies and oversaw the recordings. They would pay the musicians, arrangers and staff and may have choose the artists songs.
- Post-1950’s saw the emergance of independent record producers - so called as they weren’t tied to one record company. These producers took more control of the recording sessions, sometimes writing the songs, sometimes engineering the sessions, and sometimes working on the songs arrangement.
- The classic example of this type of producer is George Martin (famous for producing the Beatles). He worked for a record company as a staff producer before going solo. Much of the Beatles sound can be attributed to his influence.
- Modern day music producers may produce records for bands and artists or they may be the artists themselves (e.g. Moby who produced Sigur Rós albums and also produced his own work).
- With the lower cost and complexity of music making equipment more and more of the music we listen to is, at least in part, produced in a home environment. This is very common in the electronic and lo-fi music genres.
Here’s a video of producer John Leckie talking about the making of the Stone Roses debut album. It should hopefully give you some insight into the role of a music producer. The start also makes for a great story in it’s own right. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jp_0b7a8CUY
Professional music producers have a responsibility to deliver records that return a profit for the record company that employed them. Whilst they need to be able to get the best out of the artists they must also ensure that the record they create will be well received by the target demographic. One way of doing this is to ensure that the instrumentation and style of the record are appropriate. To give you some idea of the scope of this task lets listen to some versions of Light My Fire (The Doors, UB40, Jose Feliciano, Stevie Wonder and Will Young).
- Consider which versions you like and don’t like and why.
- Would you buy any of these.
- Would you put them on your mp3 player?
- If you were tasked with making a contemporary version of this song what instrumentation would you like to use?
That's it for this week. Next week we'll start thinking about how to analyse production styles. We'll also hear the first five members of the class each playing two versions of a song and explaining what they like and dislike about these productions.
