What is Music Production? Guide to Becoming a Producer

What is Music Production? Guide to Becoming a Producer ? Music production is the soul of any lyrics, composition, and playback. Without it, no phase of the song can be created or mastered as a final product. There are people who get fascinated by the songs they listen to and decide to embark on the journey of being a musician or singer.

They praise the singer, composition, and lyrics of a song, but they forget the contribution of music production in making that songs live in your minds and lips. Music drives your experience to go intergalactic and sends you on sonic journeys by breaking the barriers of sound and time.

You need no one alongside you to enjoy a song, as it has the aura to keep you occupied all by yourself. So, how is a music producer contributing to adding charm to the music you listen to? Let’s find everything about a music production journey in this article! Following that, you will also take steps to pursue your career as a music producer.

What is Music Production? 

Music production is the technical process of creating, developing, and refining a recorded piece of music. Music cannot go into production or public presentation without the finalization of music producers.

Music production is not just about finalizing the recorded piece but it refers to the entire lifecycle of a song which includes song-writing, composition, recording, sound design, mixing, and mastering.

Music production demands the use of technology and digital tools. And these two aspects have made this profession and the job role highly accessible to youngsters and music aspirants.

Here are the six stages of complete music production:

• Songwriting- It is the idea of putting together a musical idea and portraying it on paper in the form of melodious words. The songs one writes should have rhythm and harmony. It is a complete brainstorming stage that is refined later in the process.
• Arranging- You might have heard a song with a good melody and beat that seems repetitive after a couple of minutes. It happens due to the wrong arrangement of a song. A proper arrangement of instruments to be played in each section is what makes a song interesting,
• Tracking- Tracking or the recording process intends to capture the actual performance of an arranged song. It is the process that commences with recording various instruments used for performing the song. When one track is set, the song is recorded specifically for it before moving ahead with the next track.
• Editing- Digital editing is the process that has made it easy for music producers to ensure great performance. It is not a process in coordination with the other stages mentioned above. Rather, it is a separate stage and should be considered accordingly for several reasons. Do not edit a song while you have just started to write or record a song. This step ensures that the song doesn’t lose its vibe and seems chopped with over-editing.
• Mixing- The song is ready, the parts are recorded, and now, all that’s important is the mixing of the song. The professional art of mixing is a very complex procedure, and people need to give it a lot of time to learn and practice. It is the process of combining the recorded instruments with the playback singing. This stage is important to maintain the balance between recorded instruments and playback singing.
• Mastering- The final stage is mastering which is separated by its importance. Most beginner producers also count it as the final stage of mixing. But in reality, both of these stages are different from one another. Mastering is the process where all songs are mixed to sound coherent and seem to be part of the same album.

Who is a Music Producer?

A music producer is a person who takes on the job of music production and assists artists throughout their song recording projects. The vision of a song artist is fulfilled by a music producer, but the sad part is that the creations of a producer cannot be seen.

He/she is the person who calls in meetings, attends calls, and gets the artists signed with some renowned music labels. Not just that, a producer also co-writes the songs and sorts problems between co-ordination of artists and co-artists.

Some of the key roles that a music producer plays include:

1. Scheduling and Budgeting of the Song- The music producer is responsible for arranging recording sessions with a specified budget. Later, they also bring in the artists to recording studios based upon the destined schedule. This is the first and most important reason for a music producer to get the job.Shaping of the Music– A music producer is responsible for shaping a song and making it ready for production. They look after the mixing and editing stages of adding a finalization frame to the readied song. The taste of the producer toward the music is what will finalize the song for release. 
2. Performance Supervising- The producer should have knowledge of how to get the best out of an artist and the supporting team. Music producers work with the assumption that if the song has moved them, it will surely move the listeners. They need to be confident enough to say that they like the song. Every approval is passed by the music producer. He/she assures if the guitar is played right, if every verse of the song is played right, and everything else that is involved in the process of creating music. 

These are the primary roles of a music producer, which is just a glimpse at what they do. There is a lot within these stages that the producers have to handle to produce memorable music that is not forgotten by the audience right after it is heard.

The producers do their job to make the listeners return to this song again and again. Without it, there is possibly no success certification for a song!

The Steps to Become a Music Producer

If you are an aspirant of music and want to become the best music producer of India. someday, then you need to make plans on how to start your journey while pursuing this as a career. All you need to do is follow certain steps, and you will be a bit closer to attaining proficiency in this profession.

What are the necessary steps for becoming a music producer:

Step 1: Get Familiar with all the Concepts of Music Production

The basics of music production have been highlighted above in this article for all the music producer aspirants to get their foundation strong. But even with this limited information, don’t limit yourself at all. Run your research, explore and study more about the concerned topics related to music production.

If you have made up your mind to be a music producer, then you are definitely ready to research and learn. Apart from the knowledge of music production, you should also know about the growth of the music industry, the scope of this field, and the career choices you could make.

To give you an insight for a head start, the global music industry has experienced an increase in revenue by 18.5% between the years 2020 and 2021. In the year 2020, the music industry earned revenue of $21.9 billion, whereas, in 2021, it earned $25.9 billion. Hence, the industry is profitable and is ready to welcome new producers for fruitful careers.

Step 2: Go for a Trial Run

If you want to know how to become a music producer in India, you must mandatorily like music. As a beginner, you must have experience working the Digital Audio Workstations (DAWs) or at least have expertise in playing any instrument.

It is important because only someone with average knowledge of music can train or practice to master it. Hence, this is what you will need in order to pursue your career as a music producer. Get some experience, it is important! If you already have it, then you can skip this step.

Download trial versions of some DAWs and explore their functionalities to refine and nourish music. You will find it a bit complex at first, but over time you will get used to its functions. You can check out online tutorial videos to get used to the kind of DAW you are using.

The purpose of this step is to observe the way you feel about music. Start with a normal beat and craft it out over your DAW. You should know if it interests you or not. Spend more and more time with the DAWs to benefit the most from your day.

Step 3: Set up a Small Home Studio

When you have already gained a bit of knowledge about working with DAWs, you can then work on setting up asmall home recording studio. You will need a small workspace, get some research and learn about how to set it up.

The equipment that you will need to start a home studio and produce music over it are:

1. High specification or performance computer, tablet, or laptop. The basic specifications include 8GB RAM, a Core i5 or higher processor, minimum of 250GB SSD.
2. Get a subscription to a Digital Audio Workstation (DAW). For instance, you can opt for Studio One, Pro Tools, or others. If these workstations have free versions, then make sure to use them before buying the subscription.
3. Buy some studio monitors and headphones. Some of the best studio monitor options for beginner producers include Presonus Eris, KRK Rokit, Adam Audio T Line, and others. Along with that, get professional headphones such as AKG K Series, Yamaha MT5, and Beyerdynamic 880 Pro.
4. A desk is important for you to set up the entire workspace over it.

Some of the other equipment that you might need in the long run for your home studio are an audio interface, MIDI keyboard, and microphones.

It is the list of some common and minimum items that you will need for setting up your small home studio. As you grow in the future and learn about the utilization of new equipment, you can add more of them to your home workspace.

When you have the setup ready, make sure you focus your energy and practice on learning without limitations.

Step 4: Learn the Process of Using an Audio Mixer

Apart from learning the process of using a DAW, it is important that you learn to use the audio mixer as well. In the career path of a music producer, an audio mixer remains the most common piece of technology. The music professionals also call it a soundboard, which is held responsible for controlling several audio channels.

You get the feasibility of altering the effects and volume of several sounds that are used for musical composition. At first, you might find it difficult to use the audio mixer and feel like rejecting the use of it. But, all you need to do is keep practicing, and you will eventually learn the right use.

Step 5: Get a Degree in Music 

Some aspiring music producers prefer to take a music-production-related certification or degree. It is essential for you to get hold of all the technicalities involved in the production process. Even though most of them are highlighted above, a paper degree will prove your eligibility for getting into bigger opportunities. Angel’s music academy ( a syndicate of Vedakara school of music) run ugc approved degree courses in Music Production

Step 6: Take an Internship

After taking up the course, make sure to find internships under reputed record companies. When you apply for an internship, make sure you research the record label and the type of music they work with. Take a note of some of their major artists and decide if you want to work with them or not.

When you have answered all of these questions for yourself, you will be able to write a good cover letter and be well prepared for the interview.

Parting Words

If you have all the skills needed to become a music producer, you can showcase your skills to get the fame until any top record label recognizes you. But if you want to go by the old road, then get a degree in music production and use it to send applications to preferred labels.

A degree with experience in the field has a weightage over fresher degrees. The fresher degree holders can start with an internship and gain experience in the field. In comparison, the experienced ones can directly apply for high-paying job opportunities.