How do you start producing (for people)?

gnr2206

Hello,

Im a guitarist and keyboardist and have been playing since i was 12 (now 18)

I was wondering how do you go about producing for artist if you dont have that music experience?

Ive been making beats etc for the last two years, focusing on hip hop esque dancey music as im sick of playing guitar-y music tbh!

link here: http://soundcloud.com/afd-productions

help apprieciated

thanks!

DamagedTrax

gnr2206 wrote: »

I was wondering how do you go about producing for artist if you dont have that music experience?

i would say most of us that produce do have music experience. i'd be hard pressed to produce a band if i couldnt talk to them in musical terms.

i know a couple of engineers who have no musical background but they dont take production jobs for that very reason.

gnr2206

DamagedTrax wrote: »

i would say most of us that produce do have music experience. i'd be hard pressed to produce a band if i couldnt talk to them in musical terms.

i know a couple of engineers who have no musical background but they dont take production jobs for that very reason.

when i say music experience i mean producing in the studio

i mean you have to start somewhere??

DamagedTrax

ah. you start out making tea, then you get to assist and start picking up smaller clients of your own. you bring work to the studio you work for and eventually you get asked to work a session.

or you go freelance and find your own clients.

gnr2206

how willing are these studios to fire "tea-boys" so to speak?

thank you for replying also

DamagedTrax

gnr2206 wrote: »

how willing are these studios to fire "tea-boys" so to speak?

thank you for replying also

is that a typo? i presume you meant "hire"?

it doesnt happen often to be honest. may 2/3 jobs a year come up max. and thats a good year. taking into consideration that we have 300+ audio students graduating each year its not a career that will jump in your lap.

Bluebirdstudios

Hi,
Here's some tips that may help you get started in producing
- Learn as much music theory as possible , Some musicians won't work with producers if that can't read or write even a basic level will suffice in helpling to talk the "language".

- listen to classic/great recordings and try and identify components of the song like- music expression, chord voices, tempo, performance emotions, song lenght, song/music genres, chord progressions, Major/minor key modes, frequency windows, sound palettes etc....

-A simple idea would be to take a song write down on a piece of paper what you hear - the more you can take apart a song the more you'll be able to construct a song successfully.

-Ask a band who have a song recorded for the audio files and see what you can do with the song - rearrange it, give yourself a task of changing genres see can you change form a pop to rock etc learn what's involved. It's just an exercise. Is just distorting the guitar parts enough ? All these things will help to get that instinct right.
I think producing is about developing an instinct , just knowing what's right for a song.

-Learn about the producers role, go on youtube plenty of documentry's on classic albums and the producers relationship and influence on the band.
Also listen to some famous demos and how they finished up ex. Strawberry fields -the beatles/george martin,Once in a lifetime-Talking heads/Brian Eno etc.that will give you some idea of what good production can do.
-Dec

dfer

Bluebirdstudios wrote: »

Hi,
Here's some tips that may help you get started in producing
- Learn as much music theory as possible , Some musicians won't work with producers if that can't read or write even a basic level will suffice in helpling to talk the "language".

- listen to classic/great recordings and try and identify components of the song like- music expression, chord voices, tempo, performance emotions, song lenght, song/music genres, chord progressions, Major/minor key modes, frequency windows, sound palettes etc....

-A simple idea would be to take a song write down on a piece of paper what you hear - the more you can take apart a song the more you'll be able to construct a song successfully.

-Ask a band who have a song recorded for the audio files and see what you can do with the song - rearrange it, give yourself a task of changing genres see can you change form a pop to rock etc learn what's involved. It's just an exercise. Is just distorting the guitar parts enough ? All these things will help to get that instinct right.
I think producing is about developing an instinct , just knowing what's right for a song.

-Learn about the producers role, go on youtube plenty of documentry's on classic albums and the producers relationship and influence on the band.
Also listen to some famous demos and how they finished up ex. Strawberry fields -the beatles/george martin,Once in a lifetime-Talking heads/Brian Eno etc.that will give you some idea of what good production can do.
-Dec

Quality Post man!

I think my biggest obstacle to overcome would be the overuse of the same repetitive song structures (of course with slight variation...etc)
Gotta work on that Fo Sho!

But I'm thinking in my head that yes of course "to me" the song structures are the usual same old same old but too the general listener... I'm not so sure.

Am I slating the average listener's perception of music composition/intelligence.....hmmmmm.....pondering in process.......tobacco pipe at the ready

studiorat

Depends on what you mean by producing. 'way I see it there's two types of producer. Ignoring for a second the guy on his own who produces the "phat beatz".

There's the "hands on" guy who is usually an engineer who has worked their way up to being asked to put in their musical input into projects. And there's the musician/producer who doesn't normally worry about the technical side of things. Simplified it's engineer first, musician second or else musician first engineer second. There are of course the exceptions but in general I reckon you could divide them up that way.

The question then is where are your strengths and where should you be putting in the most effort.