Saturday, June 19

The difference between a PRODUCER & BEAT-MAKER


People have often gotten producers and beat-makers mixed up in the hip-hop industry. There are a couple types of producers but at the end of the day they all have something in common. Beat-makers are just beat-makers and don’t necessarily produce. I will be talking about the difference between the two and what they exactly do.



PRODUCER:

A producer does not just make beats, a producer makes records. The producer is responsible for taking a song in its most basic form and turning it into a finished record. Sometimes the producer will wear two hats. First, they are the creative force behind the project. Second, they have to control the business side of things. Being able to master both jobs at once is a great skill to carry, but the most important part is to be good with people. Some artists are sensitive and out of their minds that you need to have their egos catered to. A producer really needs to be able to deal with different attitudes and different people.



BEAT-MAKER:

Beat-makers don’t necessarily produce a record. Their job is to make a beat from scratch or sample material into their beat than sell/lease the material off to an artist and leave at that. Some beat-makers end up becoming producers because they might already have a set-hook or melody in their head. There are way more beat-makers in this world than award winning record producers. Just because you make beats on fruity loops does NOT consider you a record producer. If that was the case every beat-maker that existed would be a so called a, “producer”. Beat-makers spend most of their time working on their production and craft. Most beat-makers don't want to be involved in the recording process and rather let the producers handle that. But if you are someone who makes a beat, records the artist, and does all the duties of a music producer than you would be qualified as one. I’ve listed some of the roles the music producer plays in the studio.


Producer’s Role/Job Checklist
There are 3 essential phases of the recording process.


Pre-Production:

- Songwriting

- Song selection

- Hiring of musicians/talents

- Key/tempo selection

- Demo recording

- Rehearsals

- Tape transfers

- Sample clearance


Production:

- Tracking of music

- Vocal tracking

- Overdubs

- Background vocal tracking

- Rough mixing


Post-Production:

- Editing

- Remixing

- Final mix

- Mastering (Get your final mix mastered from a professional)


So after understanding what a producer and beat-maker does, do you have what it takes to be a record producer? Simple, do you want to get paid or just pay the cost? Producer or beat-maker: which one truly fits you?



What's your take... leave your comments below.

6 comments:

  1. cool that you took time to post this.
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  2. niceness.thx 4 posting this.
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  3. Hey thanks for taking the time to read upon this great information. Stay tuned for other articles on the idomusic page. I'm glad that you took in the information and knowledge about producers and beatmakers. Its very important to know the difference between the two since people often get producers mixed up.

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  4. i believe something is missing from the post. there are numerous opinions about a beatmaker vs producer...they both get paid if they are good.

    thanks for posting

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  5. Seems like you have animosity towards beat-makers. Being a "PRODUCER", I understand that most producers are part engineers and songwriters. I believe that someone is still titled as a producer and not just a beat-maker, if he leaves the engineer to do his own job. During the days of "MOTOWN" a lot of producers didn't even make the music, they left that part up to the "MUSICIANS". Great music is great music,no matter the style of choice.

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