I am a producer that never touches keys or instruments and my music is incredible. I program my notes and keys in the piano roll and someone told me I'm not a real producer is that true?

 

You maybe are not performing musician, academic either, but you are essentially your own producer, while being your own songwriter, composer, arranger, sound designer, mixing and mastering engineer and etc. You are an artist, your art requires all those task's, you maybe aren't the best in all those things, can't wear any of those titles on their own, but essentially you are doing all of them to come up with end result. You aren't Rick Rubin, but in your own situation, you are doing that with your own music.

So call yourself whatever you want, personally I can't call myself a musician or engineer or anything, because I'm neither of those, I'm hobby music production enthusiast that doesn't have much integrity to be called an artist, you pick your own thing and have a blast.

Cheers

 

Last edited: Feb 2, 2024

Producer is more like the brain, a person in charge with shaping the whole song/track vision, appearance, overall sound and vibe, everything that make half a song to.. a listenable song. How you get there is not really that important IMO. Big producers these days don't really touch a thing that has to do with making music, having their hand in the pants just telling what they wants from an army of assistants that get it done for them. These days, people outsource stuff A LOT. At least here there's a specialist for vocals editing, drum editing and such, the producer just outsource the stuff to them knowing they can do it better, paid in cash no credits (name on the song) whatsover. When you think about it, the song will then be sent to mixing and mastering after. So wtf that his team (most big producer doesnt work alone) done but everyone wants him to work on their songs. Does that make him less of a producer ? all the record label would disagree because the records he's involved, sells. Nobody cant beat the guy while everyone knows he works like that. He's old too that typing a simple email would take an hour. Let's not even talk about awards he collected for the past 30 years. People are paying for his idea and skills whatever that is and it has nothing to do with either he plays or not play the real instruments.

It's different with modern interpretation of producer these days, take every genre has different approach of music making. How they are doing their thing is unique to one another. How involves, micro-controlling the song development isn't necessarily the same for everyone in every genre. Some music need 1 from start to finish, some just needed 12 to reach its maximum potential. Each song has different needs and the role of producers differs from one song to another. Each and every single one of that is important, collectively they shaped the whole overall end result. That's what producers do. Saying Vocal producer that's a specialist in getting world class vocal performance and recording irrelevant just because he cant play instrument is just weird.

It's the idea that is important, the end result is what matters the most, how the "producer" get there isn't much.

 

id worry less about what people think; its something youll never control

 

Producing=making a product
if you can make a song, it doesn't matter with what(a mouse or keyboard or an instrument),you are a producer.
originality is important not tools or ways of doing things.
Others use expensive equipment and do it as a team. If you can do on your own, then you are talented.

 

It really depends on how you define "producer"...

 

Bizarrap = 684 million visits on youtube (on his most popular video) He is defined as a music producer. I doubt he uses anything else than his mouse.
You can share your work, so we can listen the "incredible" part

 

Bizarrap - why do I click on these kinda things. I should have known better. :-((((

I second the definition: a producer is a person who produces things. Amongst that things can be music. Period. Has nothing to do with the tools someone uses. If that someone uses bricks to produce a house - that's OK. The same goes for someone who produces with whatever tools waves in the air within the frequency range of 20Hz - 20kHz. (What is called music.)

Back to Bizarrap: Sure you can call some of the air-moving thing "total and utter BS". That has nothing to do with Bizarrap being a producer. Those who produce BS are also producers. By definition.

 

Yes you are and don't let anyone tell you otherwise. A sculptor can use clay, stone, metal or sand to sculpt, but is not a sculptor when he does 3D sculpting on a computer? I think not. He's still a sculptor, no matter what medium he uses to bring his ideas to the masses. Music is no different.

 

There are at least three definitions for "Producer."

For instance, I'm a record producer. I produce records. I write, or co-write, I arrange, or co-arrange, fix lyrics if need be (and they often need be), and most importantly, I lead the recording session - meaning I pick and book the studio, hire the musicians (and tracking and mixing engineer/s if the studio doesn't have one suitable and available), give them direction (or not), and I am responsible, to the label, whose money is paying for all these studio and musical resources, for the final product. Sometimes I'll play keys on my productions, sometimes not. I'm the producer.

Before my time, a producer was much less hands on, more like an A&R /executive producer. There used to be a whole layer of people (see Rick Beato's recent video interview with Tim Pierce about the loss of the Music Industry Middle Class), who'd book the studio (if the label didn't have their own, e.g., A&M, Atlantic Records, Capitol, Columbia, EMI, Warner, etc.), and call/hire musicians: a Contractor. But also: an arranger, a conductor (if the arranger wasn't up to it), copyists, cartage, etc. Lots of people worked and lived off the record business - fed their families, sent their kids to college, etc. Those days are gone, and so are mine, more or less - depends on the genre of music, and budget.

The advent of computers, samplers and drum machines, first, and later, cheap audio interfaces and mics (and basically everything in the music making chain except for the tour bus, hotel rooms and private jet) has "democratized" music making, so that there really is little to no more "recording" going on, just "inputting," (original vocals, a la Billie Eilish, excepted).

All of the above said, the question remains: can you deliver a finished record? Are you able to be locked into a recording studio, by your lone self (maybe an assistant engineer if the equipment is foreign to you), and "produce" a record? With or without musicians or acoustic instruments is not the question. With or without a mouse either.

Can you produce a finished record - ready to air or stream on the major platforms - on your own? If you can, and have, and do, then the answer is YES: you ARE a producer (even if you only produce your own music, and click on mouses to input in piano roll).

And, if your "music is incredible," as you say, let's hear it! I'm in serious need of listening to incredible music - it's been a while since I've heard incredible music. Let's hear it.

 

No, you're an unreal producer, wake up you're in the matrix.

 

Put your little pinky out and declare that you have no interest in "producing" and you grew out of it a while back, now focusing on Pure Composition and insist everyone refer to your tracks not as "tracks" but as "pieces".

 

Last edited: Feb 2, 2024

I'm always baffled when old accounts such as yours post these quasi-trolling stuff lol.

You've been on this forum for over 10 years -so even if you joined when you were 12, you'd be 23 by now, and if you did NOTHING but read posts here you'd know enough about production.

You say you make incredible music. I mean.. OK, if you say so. It could totally be true -in which case, you DO know about production.

You hang out (irl or online) with people who obviously don't know crap if they sprout extremely idiotic nonsense like this.

And you take their word for it?

I'm gonna go with drunk shitposting lol.

 

Waiting for you to post it...

 

It's less clear cut in the world of music creation since DAWS how things are really called, since the old words are still used like producer, which used to mean a completely different thing then than now , as somene else above pointed out. Whereas every popsong with the same generic chords and melody officially have a composer, when peope outside of music think of a composer they think about a mozart.

If you say you play guitar, people naturally understand that you either be new to it or you could be really good. Just saying you like to play the guitar,does not instantly give the impression that you are either a pro or not a pro. If you say you're a guitarist it already gives the impression you might be better at it. With words like 'producer' or especially 'composer'it much more gives some impression of skill you must have. So a way to avoid this is rather than saying you're a 'composer' or 'producer' is to say you "like to compose music" or you're "into music production" as it somewhat avoids that name that gives some impression.
However, it would be much better if there was a better word to describe the activity that gives people the right impression, without some skill level involved. However, especially because the meaning has changed and with the advancement of audio equipment (like computer, daw) it has just become a bit of mess.

 

Then again you could be Prince

 

@Rainy Keys,
As @Grape Ape . If you care too much about what others say its not good for your self-confidence.

On the other hand. Ludwig van Beethoven was totally deaf at the end of his life. From his 30th year on he stuggled with tinnitus and emerging deafness. But he composed great works even after he wasn't able to hear them himself.
Did anybody say he wasn't a composer (anymore)?

OK, you're not Beethoven but...

In the end, it only matters what is the outcome, not how you did it.

 

Last edited: Feb 2, 2024

Anybody can hang a shingle on a post winker and describe themselves in any way they please..."Dentist" "Lawyer" "Doctor"...except that in reality you actually can't if you are not qualified to do so and would be arrested if someone complained for any reason whatsoever.

So, what are the qualities that you profess to possess in regard to calling yourself a "Producer"? I myself would not, could not dub myself "Artist" until others saw or heard my work and and used that idea to describe me as such. Let the community decide, not so much if people actually like what you do, for that doesn't mean a hill of beans (not everyone likes Frank Zappa, Francis Bacon, John Cage or Jean-Michel Basquiat but they all qualify as artists nonetheless), but rather if you get at least a minimal stamp of approval as the moniker you so wish to don.

Step up and be judged by The Producer Police! If you fail you will not be arrested but perhaps we will whip you with soggy spaghetti. Come if you dare, you scoundrel. Please bring on the incredible!

 

Last edited: Feb 2, 2024

You didn't know the staff do these things for clicks?
Yesterday someone said "yes, you are a producer - close thread" it was wiped away...

 

imo you can't call yourself a real producer unless you grew the trees from which you carved your own instruments.