What is a music producer?
The role of a music producer has evolved a lot over the past few decades, so it’s a fair question: what does a music producer actually do?
At its core, a music producer helps you build a song. That’s the simplest way to put it.
This could mean making a beat and sending it to an artist to write and sing over, or taking a rough vocal idea and building drums, bass, and guitars around it. The producer helps bridge the gap between an idea and a fully fleshed-out instrumental.
The role can also go further—often including recording vocals with the artist. Whether that leans more into engineering or still falls under the producer umbrella is up for debate.
How does a music producer work?
I can only speak from my own experience here, so take this with a grain of salt.
Usually, I’ll be sent a demo that has basic chords (guitar or piano) with vocals—or sometimes just an acapella vocal. Other times, it’s simply a reference track and a concept.
From there, I start building a song around that initial idea. That might mean coming up with interesting, vibey chords, layering in some drums (electronic or acoustic), adding a bass line, and sprinkling in a bit of ambience to give it life.
If I’m working in person with the artist, we’ll keep building together—checking in often to make sure the vibe is right—until we’ve got a solid skeleton of the song. From there, we’ll usually record a demo vocal, then take a break: they’ll practice, I’ll finish the production, and then we’ll meet up again to record final vocals.
If we’re working remotely, I’ll create a demo production idea, send it over, get feedback, and continue iterating. It’s a bit more back-and-forth when it’s done online, unless it’s via Zoom/Google Meet.
In either case, the goal is always to stay in touch with the artist and make sure I’m creating something they actually love. When we’re not working in real time, the process tends to take a bit longer—and that’s totally fine.
What’s next?
Once the production is approved, it’s either time to record vocals (with me, on their own, or at another studio), and then either I’ll mix it or they’ll send it to someone else to mix. After that mastering, and then it’s time to release the song!
A good music producer will listen to the artist they’re working with to create something that artist wants. They’ll be a vessel for the singer to channel what they want but cannot do themselves. A bad music producer will do whatever they want without caring for the artist’s opinion.
If you’d like to hire a music producer you can learn more about me, some work I’ve done and my services here.
Nic