The Art of Music Production

Richard James Burgess is Director of Marketing and Sales for Smithsonian Folkways Recordings and Smithsonian Global Sound and Director of Resource Development for the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage. He also runs his own artist management company, Burgess Worldco. Prior to coming to Smithsonian Folkways, Burgess managed major label artists with top ten chart hits and international touring schedules, including Spandau Ballet, King, Colonel Abrams, Five Star, Living In A Box, Shriekback, and New Edition.

CONTENTS ; SECTION ONE: THE THEORY ; CHAPTER ONE ; Types of Music Producers ; Functional Typologies ; Artist ; Auteur ; Facilitative ; Collaborative: ; Enablative ; Consultative ; In Summation ; Subset Typologies ; Analogous Structures ; Leadership Styles ; SECTION TWO: THE PRACTICE ; CHAPTER TWO ; Becoming a Music Producer ; How Do You Become a Music Producer? ; The Musician or Artist ; The Audio Engineer ; The Songwriter ; The DJ ; DIY ; Discoverer ; Entrepreneur ; Multipath ; Examples of producers from these backgrounds: ; Examples: musician ; Examples: engineer ; Examples: Songwriters ; Example: DJ ; Example: DIY ; Examples: Discoverer ; Examples: Entrepreneur ; Examples: Multipath ; Qualifications and Training ; Are Qualifications Necessary? ; What Is Helpful? ; How Much Technical Knowledge Do You Need? ; How Much Musical Knowledge Do You Need? ; What If You Have Neither Musical Nor Technical Skills? ; Making the Transition to Music Producer: ; The Door Is Open, Your Foot Is In, Now What? ; CHAPTER THREE ; Being a Music Producer ; The Day-to-Day Responsibilities and Process: ; The First Meeting: ; Administration ; Preproduction ; The Production Phase ; The Mix ; Other Perspectives ; Some Session Specifics: ; Recording Musicians Live In The Studio ; Recording an Orchestra or Big Band ; Overdubbing Live Musicians ; The Programmed Session ; Vocal Sessions ; Which Method Makes a Better Record-Live, Overdubbed or Computer? ; What Are 'They' Going To Expect Of You? ; The Artist? ; The Record Company? ; The Artist's Manager? ; CHAPTER FOUR ; What Are the Timeless Ingredients in a Hit? ; The Song (or Material) ; The Vocal ; The Arrangement ; The Performance ; The Engineering ; How Important Is The Mix Really? ; Timeliness ; The Heart ; Are These Rules To Which There Are Exceptions? ; CHAPTER FIVE ; What Can You Expect From a Career As A Producer? ; How Is Your Health? ; Why Do A&R People Hire You? ; If You're Hot? ; If You're Not Quite There Yet? ; If You Were Recently Hot? ; When The Night's Closing In? ; What Prevents Them From Coming Back To You? ; What Is The Best Way To Get Work? ; Branding, Marketing and Sales? ; Branding ; Marketing ; Sales ; The Practicalities of Branding, Marketing and Sales ; CHAPTER SIX ; Managers ; What is the Definition of the Term "Manager"? ; What Does A Producer Manager Do? ; What Does A Manager Cost ; Do They Earn Their Percentage? ; How Do You Avoid Getting Ripped Off By Your Manager? ; Could You Lose Work To Other Producers On The Manager's Roster? ; How Do You Define 'Best Manager' For You? ; How Can You Find Such A Person? ; How Do You Persuade Them To Take You On? ; Business Managers ; CHAPTER SEVEN ; The Producer's Relationships ; With the artist? ; Best Friends? ; Able To Fit In? ; Hang After Hours? ; Professional or Aloof? ; How Do You Tell Them Something Is Not Working? ; Where Does Your Responsibility Lie? ; To The Artist ; To The Record Company ; To Yourself ; To The Project ; What About Drugs and Alcohol? ; In the Studio? ; Outside of Working Hours? ; What if the Artist Does and You Do Not? ; What Do You Do When The Artist Becomes Difficult? ; What Do You Do When The Record Company is Unhappy? ; What Do You Do When The Artist's Manager Is Difficult ; CHAPTER EIGHT ; Lawyers ; What Changed to Make Hiring Attorney Less Viable For Producers ; How Much Will They Cost You? ; How Much Do You Really Need Them? ; How Much Should You Depend On Them? ; What Happens When They Get It Wrong? ; What Other Kinds of Things Can Go Wrong? ; What is a Typical Legal Process Leading Up to the Production? ; What Can Be Done To Protect Producers? ; CHAPTER NINE ; Challenges and Controversies ; Differences of Opinion ; The Endless Album ; Lack of Vision ; Micro-Vision ; The Singer Is Not Performing Well ; The Musicians Are Not Performing Well ; One of the Musicians Is Messing Up Every Take ; What Is Demo-itis or Rough Mix-itis? ; Near the End of the Album, Suddenly the Artist is Having Doubts ; The A&R Person Does Not Like the Record ; What Makes It Seem Like Hard Work? ; How Much Loyalty Can You Expect Within The Business? ; From The Artist ; First Girlfriend Syndrome ; From The A&R Person ; Final Word on Loyalty ; CHAPTER TEN ; Success And Money ; How Are Producers Paid? ; How Much Can a Producer Make? ; How Are Producer Royalties Calculated? ; Recoupment ; Payment From Record One ; Where does the money come from? ; Digital Download Royalties ; Sound Recording Performance Royalties ; Producers Who Also Write the Songs ; Summation ; How Many Producers Make Millions? ; The Terms ; Do Producers Earn Their Percentage? ; Major versus Independent Labels ; How will producers make money in the future? ; Can You Increase Your Chances Of Success? ; Credits ; Executive Producer ; Album Producer ; Producer ; Co-producer ; Associate Producer ; Additional Production By ; Multiple Producer Credits ; Vocal Production or Vocals Produced By ; Compilation Soundtrack Album Producer ; Strings (or any other instrument) Produced By ; What Is The Secret To Longevity? ; Add entrepreneur to your portfolio ; CHAPTER ELEVEN ; Why Are There So Few Women Producers? ; What we know ; Women Producers Today ; Some Women Producers in History ; Inconclusive Conclusion ; CHAPTER TWELVE ; Frequently Asked Questions ; How Much Is Learned; How Much Is Natural Ability? ; How Do You Pick The Right Project? ; Should You Share in Song Writing Royalties? ; New Versus Established Artists? ; What Is Involved In Being An Independent Or Freelance Producer? ; What About Being a Staff Producer? ; What Are The Best Moments? ; Can You Successfully Genre Hop? ; Advantages And Disadvantages ; Who Has Done It? ; How Stable is a Producer's Career? ; How does a production career end? ; Making Plans And When? ; What Do Producers Do When Work Starts to Slow Down? ; Why Do People Want To Produce Records? ; Why Do People Want To Make Records At All? ; Do You Know When You Have Produced A Hit? ; How Do Producers Feel About Remixers? ; What's The Remixer's Point Of View? ; How do A&R People View Remixes? ; What Is The 'Sophomore Slump'? ; Digital versus Analog ; CHAPTER THIRTEEN ; Working Outside The Mainstream? ; Classical ; Jazz ; Country ; Traditional, Folk, Roots And World Music ; Children's Music ; Regional Producers ; CHAPTER FOURTEEN ; Where Are We? How Did We Get Here? Where Are We Going? ; Will Mobile Modify the Internet That Crippled Cable But Vivified Video Which Killed the Radio Star? ; How Did We Get Here? ; The Revolution Continues ; What Does This Mean To The Professional Music Producer? ; Where Are We Going? ; Revenue Streams Are Multiplying ; Will We Even Need Labels In The Future? ; Charts ; Marketing ; Will Music Producers Survive The Revolution? ; CHAPTER FIFTEEN ; Conclusion ; What If ; The Final Cut ; Glossary ; Index ; About the Author ; Notes ; Bibliography