A record producer or music producer is a music creating project's overall supervisor whose responsibilities can involve a range of creative and technical leadership roles. Typically the job involves hands-on oversight of recording sessions; ensuring artists deliver acceptable and quality performances, supervising the technical engineering of the recording, and coordinating the production team and process. The producer's involvement in a musical project can vary in depth and scope. Sometimes in popular genres the producer may create the recording's entire sound and structure. However, in classical music recording, for example, the producer serves as more of a liaison between the conductor and the engineering team. The role is often likened to that of a film director though there are important differences. It is distinct from the role of an executive producer, who is mostly involved in the recording project on an administrative level, and from the audio engineer who operates the recording technology.
A recording studio is a specialized facility for recording and mixing of instrumental or vocal musical performances, spoken words, and other sounds. They range in size from a small in-home project studio large enough to record a single singer-guitarist, to a large building with space for a full orchestra of 100 or more musicians. Ideally, both the recording and monitoring spaces are specially designed by an acoustician or audio engineer to achieve optimum acoustic properties.
The Wall of Sound is a music production formula developed by American record producer Phil Spector at Gold Star Studios, in the 1960s, with assistance from engineer Larry Levine and the conglomerate of session musicians later known as "the Wrecking Crew". The intention was to exploit the possibilities of studio recording to create an unusually dense orchestral aesthetic that came across well through radios and jukeboxes of the era. Spector explained in 1964: "I was looking for a sound, a sound so strong that if the material was not the greatest, the sound would carry the record. It was a case of augmenting, augmenting. It all fit together like a jigsaw."
Konrad "Conny" Plank was a German record producer and musician. He is known for his innovative work as a sound engineer and producer in Germany's krautrock and kosmische music scene in the 1970s. Plank was involved in releases by Neu!, Kraftwerk, Cluster, Harmonia, Ash Ra Tempel, Guru Guru, Kraan, and other German groups of the era. He later produced for new wave acts such as D.A.F., Eurythmics and Ultravox. As a billed performer, Plank also formed the group Moebius & Plank, releasing 5 albums between 1979 and 1986.
James K. A. Guthrie is an English recording engineer and record producer best known for his work with the progressive rock band Pink Floyd serving as a producer and engineer for the band since 1978. He is the owner and operator of das boot recording in Lake Tahoe, California. Married to Melissa Kathryn (Braun) Guthrie and parent of two cats, Bert & Jack. Original music and scoring.
Gareth Jones is an English music producer and engineer notable for working with Depeche Mode, Einstürzende Neubauten, Wire and Erasure.
Hip hop production is the creation of hip hop music in a recording studio. While the term encompasses all aspects of hip hop music creation, including recording the rapping of an MC, a turntablist or DJ providing a beat, playing samples and "scratching" using record players and the creation of a rhythmic backing track, using a drum machine or sequencer, it is most commonly used to refer to recording the instrumental, non-lyrical and non-vocal aspects of hip hop.
Money, Power & Respect is the debut album by hip hop group The Lox. It was released on January 13, 1998, through Bad Boy Records and Arista Records. The album featured production from the Hitmen, Dame Grease and Swizz Beatz. The album found huge success, peaking at number three on the US Billboard 200 and number one on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums, and spawned two charting singles, "Money, Power & Respect" and "If You Think I'm Jiggy". In 2008, the title track was ranked number 53 on Vh1's 100 Greatest Songs of Hip Hop.
Bruce Swedien was an American recording engineer, mixing engineer and record producer. He was widely known for his work with Michael Jackson, Quincy Jones, Paul McCartney and Barbra Streisand.
Roy Harter is a New York Emmy award-winning, composer, sound designer and audio mixer, best known for his work in television and film. He is also a multi-instrumentalist for various performing and recording artists. Harter was the founder and owner of the post-production facility SkinnyMan, located in Times Square, New York.
The Boatlift is the third studio album by Cuban-American rapper Pitbull. It was released on November 27, 2007 through TVT and Poe Boy. The album features production by Lil Jon, Mr. Collipark, Nitti, Diaz Brothers and Sean "P. Diddy" Combs who served as executive producer with Pitbull. It also features guest appearances by Trick Daddy, Lil Jon, Twista, Jim Jones, Jason Derulo and Don Omar among others.
A re-recording mixer in North America, also known as a dubbing mixer in Europe, is a post-production audio engineer who mixes recorded dialogue, sound effects and music to create the final version of a soundtrack for a feature film, television program, or television advertisement. The final mix must achieve a desired sonic balance between its various elements, and must match the director's or sound designer's original vision for the project. For material intended for broadcast, the final mix must also comply with all applicable laws governing sound mixing.
An audio engineer helps to produce a recording or a live performance, balancing and adjusting sound sources using equalization, dynamics processing and audio effects, mixing, reproduction, and reinforcement of sound. Audio engineers work on the "technical aspect of recording—the placing of microphones, pre-amp knobs, the setting of levels. The physical recording of any project is done by an engineer…"
In sound recording and reproduction, audio mixing is the process of optimizing and combining multitrack recordings into a final mono, stereo or surround sound product. In the process of combining the separate tracks, their relative levels are adjusted and balanced and various processes such as equalization and compression are commonly applied to individual tracks, groups of tracks, and the overall mix. In stereo and surround sound mixing, the placement of the tracks within the stereo field are adjusted and balanced. Audio mixing techniques and approaches vary widely and have a significant influence on the final product.
Daniel James Grech-Marguerat, is an English-Maltese recording engineer, record producer and mixer.
Darian Cowgill, is an American audio engineer, mix engineer, mastering engineer, record producer, College Professor, and Commercial Voice Over Artist.
Siegfried Meier is a German-born Canadian record producer and recording, mixing and mastering engineer. He is known for his work in the genres of rock, metal, pop, and punk, producing and engineering for groups such as Face to Face, Kittie, Sectorseven, and Baptized in Blood. In 2013, Meier won a Juno award for Metal/Hard Music Album of the Year producing and engineering Woods 5: Grey Skies & Electric Light by Woods of Ypres. Meier is the owner of Ontario-based recording studio, Beach Road Studios.
Damien Quintard is a French record producer, composer, engineer and entrepreneur known for his work with artists Brian Eno, Parcels, Gaspard Augé (Justice), Teodor Currentzis, Arca, L’Impératrice, Dimitris Papaioannou, and Bertrand Chamayou.
Joel Thomas Wanasek is an American record producer and owner of JTW Recording in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Wanasek started recording in 2002, initially as a self-taught producer, but by January 2006, he was able to quit his job and professionally dedicate to his recording business.
A reverb effect, or reverb, is an audio effect applied to a sound signal to simulate reverberation. It may be created through physical means, such as echo chambers, or electronically through audio signal processing. The American producer Bill Putnam is credited for the first artistic use of artificial reverb in music, on the 1947 song "Peg o' My Heart" by the Harmonicats.
