The Producer

The word Producer comes from latin roots. The first part, PROD, means to gently push in a particular direction. The second part, UCER, is a shortened form of the word "ulcer" which means...um...well, let me start over.

Every project has a producer. They provide an essential objective ear. This one person is always the advocate for the song. Because the act of listening and the act of performing are not the same, someone must be trusted to give an objective view on how well the music is coming across. A producer is well-prepared with an endless set of possible directions that a song can take. As the song progresses, things may change; new possibilities arise, elements that need enhancing require attention. When the artist is stuck for good ideas (which happens a lot) the producer provides just enough spin on the ball to get things moving again.

But this requires a real trust on the part of the artist. I mean, this producer guy could really mess you up! Just imagine, you put your song in the hands of someone that could comprimise your entire idea! On the other hand they could be just what you need. Beatles/George Martin (he never produced much music before them), Nirvana/Butch Vig, Michael Jackson/Quincy Jones. The one person missing from that equation is the engineer. So now that there is a third person in this, how do they fit in?

Well, the engineer is a sort of musical Tetris player. The sounds drop in and the engineer has to make them fit in before the song gets filled up. You are given water and dirt and told not to make mud. Probably everyone who reads these articles wants to be an artist/producer. Not too many people set out to be an engineer. After all, who wants to set up microphones and troubleshoot cables? Well, engineers have a pretty cool job when there is a producer around. The engineer can set up sounds without interference, dial up new effects, not have to justify directions to the artist, and generally make the sonic quality jump. It's a wonderful chance for a good engineer to show his stuff and learn from the project. And it's an opportunity to create a result that is probably closer to what you hear on high-end projects.

This was true of the Disastronauts sessions at Surreal with Richard Nurre producing. Jeanene Walker had a good producer for her project in Stu Schulman. Having a producer is a sign of artistic strength, not weakness. The engineer can really make the sonics come together while the producer deals with the artist. So in the end all three people sign the music, but the song remains the artist's expression.

KURT RIEMANN is the owner of Surreal Studios. He thinks recording studios should sell music stores, because music stores sell recording studios .