Producers are like the chief executive officers of recording studios because they supervise everything during the record-making process. There are many music producer jobs that must be taken care of on every recording. From working with musicians to fixing compositions to actual recording and acquiring other personnel, this job demands a person who is able to juggle many responsibilities at once.
Being a composer is one of the most important music producer jobs because it ensures that the end product will meet high standards. Many musicians have musical talent but are weaker at crafting the type of song needed for release. This music producer job requires a sense of melody and song structure in order to change a key, work on lyrics and music notes or to completely rearrange a piece of music. Often, the producer does these tasks to better suit the musician or group's strengths.
Another of the most important music producer jobs is being musically strong. This pairs nicely with composition skills, because producers must coach singers and musicians on their playing in order to get a high quality performance. Knowing musical notes, knowing the various instruments and how these all play together with the composition itself is essential. Before taking music producing jobs, many study music in school and are musicians themselves.
As a companion to the musical performance aspect of music producer jobs, he or she also must be talented in the studio. Producers frequently will have a recording engineer to work the sound board during recordings, but it often is a producer's insight that captures a particular sound. Knowing what microphone to use, adjusting sound board levels and mixing the final tracks together are all essential to getting the performance recorded. Many producers work as a recording engineer before taking on the role of producer in order to establish a mastery of the technical aspects of recording.
Working in a studio means juggling several music producer jobs at once, and nowhere is this more prevalent than the project management duties that come along with recording and songwriting. The producer frequently is a buffer between record companies and the artists and must communicate effectively with both. The producer also is responsible for booking studio time, making sure that all of the equipment in top shape and acquiring other instruments if necessary. The producer also must hire, advise and pay session musicians for certain portions of the recording.