First, let’s take a look at the traditional role of the producer. First and foremost, the producer is the money man. He or she is familiar with music and recording and how to make an album. The producer helps the band to budget their money and time so that the project can be brought to completion. Producers also were generally hired by labels. Sending an unknown band into a studio to record is a large risk and they might not be prepared for the studio. Trying to rehearse or write parts in the studio is a waste of time and money. A good producer will prep the band long before that red light in the control room comes on. The producer is also tasked with making sure the band’s or artist’s final product is consistent with the label’s general style of music. Often, the producer will be involved in song choice as well as musical arrangement decisions and a strong background in music is a huge asset for a producer. He or she needs to be able to channel the artist’s creativity into a form that is commercially viable. This means that a producer must be able to speak the language of the musicians and then “translate” that to the engineer so the artistic vision can be captured on tape.
An engineer has a complementary but significantly different role. The engineer first off, knows how all the equipment operates. Signal routing in the console, in the tape machine, or in the computer must be second nature so when the artist or the producer has an idea, the engineer can facilitate that idea in a timely manner and that creative spark is not lost. This can also means that the engineer needs to maintain his or her studio well, or have a good knowledge of a sub-contracted studio. Mic placement is crucial in this chain. If the engineer doesn’t know how to choose the right mic for a particular application and then place it well, then the creative flow can be broken and the band’s or label’s investment begins to be wasted.
So now that we know what these roles traditionally entail, let’s take a look at what they traditionally do not entail. The producer is not supposed to also be a musician. When a musician is playing they should be very concerned with their own dynamics, articulation, intonation, and phrasing. This is a lot to think about even for the best musicians in the world and can be so distracting that the individual musician can lose sight of the final product. If the producer is playing, then who is listening to make sure each part is correct and in context in relation to the desired final outcome? You might say the engineer should be listening to that. Well, if that is the case, then who is listening for extraneous noises like pops, crackles, bumping the mic stand. Who is making sure the snare mic stays in the same spot? And who is remembering to hit save on the computer every 5 minutes. (Computers still love to crash at the worst moments!)
These days, these separate roles of artist, producer, and engineer are often combined. Sometimes one person does them all. But there is so much to listen to at every stage of the game that it is often overwhelming for one person to perform all three tasks. Usually, while the focus is applied to one are, the others suffer. You could play a great guitar part but not notice that your mics are out of phase. If someone else was paying attention to this then your tracks wouldn’t be ruined. In Hip Hop and modern R and B music, the producer is also expected to provide the beats. What the person is really doing in this instance is being a musician. After all, they are providing the music for the singer to sing over. In any style of music, you must ask yourself what you are missing by trying to perform all three functions. Wouldn’t your final product come out a lot more professional if you had musicians, a producer, and an engineer all doing their jobs without being distracted by other tasks?
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