In general, production is the process of taking the artist's dream of a recording and making it into a reality. But many people have questions about production that a one-sentence definition just won't answer. So here's a nuts-and-bolts, real-world overview of production and what all it can entail.
Production involves as many activities as it takes to go from the raw material to the finished product. This is important to understand, because the raw material - and therefore what tasks are done by the artist and what tasks are done by the producer - can vary considerably. For example, some people come to me with fairly rough song demos, involving lyrics with a melody, maybe over a simple guitar or keyboard accompaniment. Sometimes all I get is the lyrics and melody, in which case I need to provide the chord structure.
Let's illustrate using a single song as an example: The first step will be to listen to the demo and become intimately familiar with the song, perhaps writing out a chord chart or lead sheet in the process. At this stage, I will usually start to "hear" things, that is, get ideas about how it could sound. This could involve the general rhythmic feel of the song, instrumentation, style, perhaps some chord substitutions, vocal harmonies, and so on. Sometimes, I may have thoughts about the actual song structure, for example, the need for a Bridge section. At this point, we are already starting to cross over into the "arranging" aspect. I may even rough out a new demo at this stage.
Fairly soon, I will arrange a meeting to run my ideas by the artist and get his/her/their ideas. It is important that musical choices reflect the artist's personal style, so the recorded songs have credibility. Also, I don't want to proceed too far without making sure I'm at least going where the artist wants to go. For example, I started to take a song into a Shania Twain "Still The One" mode when what the artist was looking for was something with a lot more energy. A meeting early in the process helped steer me in the right direction. On the other hand, one thing a producer offers is a set of objective ears, and I may hear a song going in a direction contrary to the artist's vision, and my choice might actually be better. So, obviously, these are issues we want to work out early in the process, before any serious studio time is invested.
As the process evolves, we started to get a handle on the sound we want the song to have, and begin making specific decisions about how we will execute the recording. Will we focus on MIDI sequencing or place more emphasis on live musicians? If you're going for a modern R&B/hip hop sound, sequencing is a done deal. If you're doing a rock tune, you almost HAVE to use live musicians. Budget issues are going to come up here; my production fee includes any instrumentation I provide; if I hire outside musicians, there will be additional costs. This is probably the most involved stage of the process, since it is at this point that we make specific decisions about the direction the music will take.
Moving on, we start actually recording. The artist will want to be present and/or involved at any recording sessions, from tracking through overdubs. At each stage, the client's approval is needed before we proceed. At this stage, we are trying to achieve the "sound" we have "heard" in the previous stages. However, it is important to be open to new possibilities.
And finally, the mixed and mastered recording is reviewed by the artist before we go into the duplication stage.
Here are a few examples of songs I arranged and produced. Clearly, the songwriter's demos give no indication of the artistic directions the recordings ultimately took; this was the result of consultations with and feedback from the client.
production overview
