Recording Industry Producer

Recording industry producers organise all aspects of a recording session. Their duties may include:

• selecting songs and contacting songwriters
• looking out for a song with 'hit' potential
• calculating the budget and recording schedule
• negotiating and signing contracts with performers and with the artists and repertoire (A&R) departments of music publishers or record companies
• engineering the recording.

Producers work long, irregular hours, often including evenings and weekends. Some recording studios are spacious and airy but many are claustrophobic with no natural daylight. Some performances are recorded in venues such as concert halls.

Salaries vary enormously and can range from about £13,000 a year for a producer starting out with a record label or music production company to £130,000 or more for the most successful producers.

A recording industry producer needs:

• an excellent ear for music
• an awareness of current trends in music
• to be able to recognise a hit
• technical knowledge of recording equipment
• to have an interest in the contemporary music scene or, alternatively, the classical music scene.

Around 125,000 people work in the UK music industry, many, but not all, in London. Approximately one thousand of these are record producers. Employers include record companies (or labels) and music production companies. Competition is severe.

Most producers work their way up from other posts within the industry. Some experienced sound engineers become recording industry producers. This route is becoming increasingly common as producers need to know about the engineering side of music production. Musicians and disc jockeys may also move into producing.

There are no specific educational requirements for recording industry producers, although qualifications in music and/or sound engineering can be helpful. Regardless of qualifications, most people enter music production at the bottom. Voluntary work with studios and record companies is a common way of gaining experience and making contacts within the industry. Training is mainly on the job.

In a major record company it is possible to move from assistant producer to producer, production co-ordinator and production manager. Many producers become self-employed and set up their own recording studios.

Information from Connexions Jobs4U Career Database http://www.connexions-direct.com

More Information:

Association of Professional Recording Services (APRS)

www.aprs.co.uk

JAMES (Joint Audio Media Education Services)

www.jamesonline.org.uk

Production Services Association (PSA)

www.psa.org.uk

 
Musicians Union

www.musiciansunion.org.uk