It could be said every producer is a beat maker, but not every beat maker is a producer. While this is statement is true, it is not fully true. A record producer or music producer oversees and manages the sound recording and production of a band or performer’s music, which may range from recording one song to recording an entire album. A producer has many, varying roles during the recording process. They may gather musical ideas for the project, collaborate with the artists to select cover tunes or original songs by the artist/group, work with artists and help them to improve their songs, lyrics or arrangements. A producer may also: select session musicians to play rhythm section accompaniment parts or solos, co-write, propose changes to the song arrangements, and/or coach the singers and musicians in the studio. The producer typically supervises the entire process from preproduction, through to the sound recording and mixing stages, and, in some cases, all the way to the audio mastering stage. The producer may perform these roles themselves, or help select the engineer, and provide suggestions to the engineer. The producer may also pay session musicians and engineers and ensure that the entire project is completed within the record label’s budget. Whereas a beat-maker is, a music producer responsible for constructing a beat and melody (often composed of samples).
If you ask a majority of, “Producers,” today (especially in the Hip-Hop genre) they will without a doubt tell you they are music producers. However, this simply isn’t true (not just strictly based on definition, but by action as well). If you sit in your room (or even the studio if you have or have access to one) use a computer software (or possibly midi instruments) to create a four to eight bar loop (or even the entire beat with musical changes) and send it off (or post it online) for an artist to record to, and you do not help and/or assist in the recording process, you are a beat-maker, not a producer. As someone who works with both types of music makers (and even wears the hat of each sometimes as well) when you are working with these different types of individuals in the studio, you can see a clear distinctive difference.
When working with a true music or record producer, this person is taking creative control of the creation of the record. They are giving artistic direction to the artist, helping them with singing the correct notes, singing with the correct tone, how to sing certain words, holding out or cutting short certain notes, which harmonies to use and where, which backgrounds to use and where, and where to sit in the pocket of the instrumental. They are assisting the engineer (if they themselves are not engineering the session) with which takes to use, what efx to use, and where to place certain takes. If the beat-maker is in the room, the producer may have them (or another musician) add sounds or instruments to the track, or take elements away. Finally, the producer will assist in the mixing process, in regard to sitting in the room (or in some cases directly working with the engineer) and help with how certain sounds should sound, how to structure the song, which final takes to use from the singer, what efx to use on each vocal and instrument, and how the entirety of the final song mix should sound. The producer has their hand in and plays a major role in the entire song creation process.
The onerous lies on the engineer and artist, when working with a beat-maker. The beat-maker is generally in the session while the artist is choosing from their beat folder. Once the beat or beats have been picked, the beat-maker either leaves, or sits back and lets the artist work. The artist patrols themselves in regard to the notes, tone, harmonies and background. However, in some cases if the engineer has the musical ability to assist in this aspect they do. The engineer focuses on the overall sound of the vocals and track. However, in some instances, the artist provides their input on how their vocals and track should sound. Usually, the artist has a specific way they like and want their vocals to sound, but don’t always do this with the track and/or instruments. Once the vocals are recorded the beat-maker (at least in most cases) is no longer involved in any further creation of the track and song. Once the song goes into the post production (mixing and mastering) process the engineer either works alone, with a team of their assistants, or in some cases with the artist.
In terms of music creation and the people behind its creation, there are different levels to being a producer, and in those levels, there are different titles. A producer, record producer and executive producer can be the same person but all have different distinctions in how they contribute to the record. Excluding the beat-maker for the moment, in this case, the producer is the one responsible for producing the music (playing the instruments, structuring the song, adding sounds, and assisting with recording and producing the vocals). The record producer (where they can have some of the same responsibilities as the producer, for this is example they will be different people that assist in different aspects of the creation process) would be responsible for the overall production of the record. This means they would assist in the post production process (mixing and mastering) as well as the original construction of the sound of the song during the recording process. If this song is part of or leading up to a full project release, the record producer will ensure this song falls in line with the rest of the project in regard to sound, structure, vocals, instruments, tone, lyrics and topic. The executive producer (for this example) is responsible for the overall aspect of the song and/or project. They take the role of the business side in regard to budget, setting up sessions, keeping and/or receiving the session files, creating and inputting the credits, split sheets, percentages and lyric sheets, and finally the release process of the song and/or project. While in most cases, the executive producer does more and is further involved in the creation process as a whole, for the hypothetical above, the business would be a majority of their role.
These terms have been thrown around (especially in Hip-Hop) in regard to different people, and the general public may or may not truly understand why each person holds their title or distinction, and thus have a skewed perception of what each is. Rick Rubin and Dr.Dre are the epitome of record producers. At the start of each of their careers they were not only creating the instrumentals for the artists to record on, but are assisting the artist in the recording process, engineering the recording sessions and mixing the records themselves. Being the creative forces behind “The Beastie Boys,” and “N.W.A.” respectively (understanding that Ice Cube was writing a majority of the lyrics for all members of N.W.A) Rick Rubin and Dr.Dre are the full embodiments of what a record producer is (these two would be considered the producer, or beat-maker, the record producer and the executive producer, which is why both are regarded as two of the best and most iconic people in Hip-Hop). Quincy Jones is widely considered (by me as well) as one of the best if not the best music producer of all time. Starting as a session player for Elvis Presley, becoming musical director for Dizzy Gillespie, working as an arranger for Billy Eckstine, Ella Fitzgerald, Shirley Horn, Peggy Lee, Nana Mouskouri, Frank Sinatra, Sarah Vaughan and Dinah Washington, producing the soundtrack to, “The Wiz,” and producing Michael Jackson’s, “Off the Wall,” “Thriller,” and “Bad,” it is easy to see why he is considered in this light. Quincy Jones would play the instruments (or conduct and arrange the instrument players) assist in the recording process helping the artists with the correct notes, tone and way to sing the song (even though we all know the greatness of Michael Jackson and Frank Sinatra) and would assist in the mixing process as well. In the recent documentary of Quincy Jones, a story was told of a time when Michael Jackson suggested that Quincy take out a signature horn line in the song “Don’t Stop ‘Till You Get Enough.” Quincy responded simply by saying, “No, I am not taking that out.” That sound is now an iconic part of an iconic song. His creative prowess, his musical ability, and his understanding of and foresight for the records and artists he was working with is why Quincy Jones is considered the best music producer of all time. As it pertains to an executive producer, the two most know that come to mind would be Clive Davis and Diddy (DJ Khaled would fall into this category now, in the latter stages of his career). Where Clive Davis is credited with finding and being responsible for some of the greatest artists of all time (Whitney Houston to name one, watch the recent Netflix documentary to see all the rest and hear his incredible story). However, it is known that he never played one note on any of the records he produced. He oversaw every aspect of every record, from where the session was, who was working in the session, who mixed the song, how the final song sounded and the release of each song, but never was credited with any musicianship on the records. In the case of Diddy and Khaled, the situations are a little different. We all know Diddy as an artist (how much of those songs he wrote is another conversation) and the greatness of Khaled as a DJ and producer. Diddy was most responsible for choosing the samples to be used by his production team in creating tracks, the samples and songs his artists would record too, how the songs were structured, how the songs sounded, and had a hand in the final mix of each song. Khaled began as a DJ and later began creating the tracks for artists and helping in the creative process of recording. It can be argued that Khaled was (because they both do similar things and play similar roles now) more of a producer than Diddy, but only to the point he was actually creating the tracks being used. Both of them are credited with having some of the best ears in the music industry, because of their ability to pick the tracks they use, select the tracks for each artists, and to choose which artist would sound the best on each track. While Diddy and Khaled are undoubtably some of the best creators in music, they, along with Clive Davis, would be considered more executive producers (at least at this point in their careers) then music producers.
Speaking on beat-makers becomes a bit tricky due to the fact some, “Producers,” will take offense to being called a beat-maker, but also because some of the people I can associate that title with, I have never worked with or been in a session with, so it would be unfair to label them as such if in fact they are more than that. So with that in mind, I won’t name any names and will speak vaguely on the topic of the title of beat-maker. This label can be used in the Hip-Hop, R&B and Pop genres more than the other genres. This is party because, when it comes to country and rock, the tracks are being played by the band members actually playing the instruments you hear. In regard to Hip-Hop, R&B and Pop this is not always the case. Where it can be argued that R&B (and some times Pop) use more live instruments than Hip-Hop a lot of the songs we hear on the radio and on the charts are produced by beat-makers and not producers. Think in terms of this, in the last few years, we have seen a lot of top songs be taken down or garnished of their royalties because the producers are using samples to create a short loop that is repeated for two and a half to three minutes for the artist to rap over (excluding Pharrell and ‘Blurred Lines’ and also excluding the producers that are using samples, paying the artists they are taking the samples from, adding their musicality to the sample, and then being apart of the recoding and mixing process). Beat-Makers now are creating 50 loops a day, adding a few efx, a few drops and maybe some sonic changes, then sending a folder of those beats to artist in hopes they like one enough to use on their next project. These beat-makers are not consulted in any part of the creation process past what they created in their bedroom on a laptop. Music today has been regarded as all sounding the same, and regressing from previous generations. This is due in part to the advancement in technology resulting to the rise of beat-makers and the demise of the true music producer. With beat-makers and artists alike chasing a hit, chasing a single, following sonic trends and riding popular trends (we can thank the music business and major labels partly for this) individuality in music has become a lost art. We are slowly beginning to see musicality come back, with the rise of acts like Bruno Mars, Lady Gaga, John Legend, Alicia Keys and more artists who are playing instruments on their albums, along with artists like Kendrick Lamar (and most of TDE) Eminem, and Royce da 5’9 (along with Joe Budden when he was rapping, there are other artists that I am not mentioning here as well) using real instruments and/or instrumentalists on their records. Producers are becoming part of the artists teams again, locking in with an artist to create full projects, creating beats and being in the studio for the recording and mixing, thus making better sounding and more cohesive songs and full projects. This is something that is needed and has been missing in music in recent years. Just like the Hip-Hop community (by this I mean the ones intwined in the culture and not just rap as a genre, especially because rap and Hip-Hop are two different things, as they are two different genres of music, and as Hip-Hop is a culture and lifestyle, while rap is just music) is beginning to say that, “Real rap is back. Lyrics and slower rap is coming back,” real music is making a come back as well. If we continue to see the trend of more true music producers emerge, I think it’s only a matter of time before we start to see the second golden age of music, and first of our generation (not including the early 2000s as most people my age, 26, absolutely love that era of music, but because the 1990s are regarded as the golden age of Hip-Hop, and the 1980s and 1990s can be regarded as the same for R&B).
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