Lesson 3

Unfortunately I have to attend a professional development meeting in Dundee this week and therefore cannot make class... but all is not lost! This week your task is to do the first part of outcome 1. Here is a recap of outcome 1:

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)

This week you are to choose two music producers and write 300 words (in electronic form) on each of them. You could provide:

• Some background about the producer. You may wish to include information such as what era they worked in, how they got started, what artists they have worked with and what records they produced.
• Why you decided to study them amongst all the producers out there.
• Some information on their style of production. For instance are they a hands-on producer? Do they get involved musically, or do they let the band come up with all the ideas? Do their records have a signature sound? Why would bands hire them?
• Some examples of their work. e.g. listen to Phil Spector's "wall of sound" at 0:45 in this record. This is where you should include web links and images.

It's up to you to choose two producers to study, but they should operate in different musical areas. Tip: If you don't have two producers in mind you could investigate who produced some of your favourite records.

I will check and give you feedback on this work next week during class. This will leave you to compare and contrast the work of these two producers in later weeks in order to finish outcome 1.

Please read this article on the 20 most influential rock producers to help you get started with this task.

You may also find this article about the making of Radiohead's OK computer interesting (the producer is Nigel Godrich).

Please email me (Colin.Dodds@perth.uhi.ac.uk) with your 600 words from this task before next weeks class.

See you all next week when I will examine the work you have produced and also listen to some of the matching tunes you picked out for this week.