Role of a Producer
A record/music producer is someone who has an overall role in the creation of a track, album or project, whether its with a band, rapper or other form of musician or artist. A record producers many roles include picking the right instruments, finding session musicians and singers, coaching the artist and musicians in the studio, arrangement of the tracks and track list, and an overall management of the recording and mixing process. These responsibilities require the producer to have the skills to mixing, master, have good ear for the right frequencies, know about composition and music theory, and have a general understanding of music in all forms.(1, 2)
During the process of the creation of a hip hop album, the producer has a huge amount of responsibility. Often people get confused with the role of the producer, as most people believe that the producer makes the album, creates and records all the tracks and records the rapper or artist. This is only partly true in most cases. The producer will do both these jobs but not solely on his own, usually bringing in 1 or 2 'beat-makers' who are responsible for the creation of music and recording the rapper. The producer will also bring in mix & master engineers if he feels it is necessary or he may do it himself. The point being is that the producer doesn't work on the entire project alone, he'll bring in the artists he deems will have value to the project. Take a look at someone like DJ Khaled, who consistently releases hit songs, but uses three main 'beat-makers' to help him with almost every song: Lee on the Beats, Ben Billions and the Nasty Beatmakers.(3, 4)
Releasing an album as a producer is a lot more difficult than releasing it with a huge artist name attached to it. With a primary artist on the album, usually their following will be the main bulk of listens and album purchases, because of the primary artists fan base. A lot of producers won't have the mass following like a rapper or a singer has. In the present, producers use the internet and platforms like Soundcloud to release their beats and gain attention, and even use one of the many beat market services that are on the internet. The benefits of creating an instrumental album is that the producers skills and talent is put in the spotlight, and allows the producer to show other artists and musicians of what he/she is capable of, and give them the opportunity to work professionally as a producer, especially if they're like me looking to get into the hip hop side of the music industry.(5)
Example Producer: 'J Dilla'
One example of a successful record producer is 'J Dilla'. James 'Jay' DeWitt Yancey first started his career as part of a rap collective know as 'Slum Village' with his friends, and rappers, R.L. Altman (T3) and Titus Glover (Baatin), as a way to stop Baatin selling drugs, and has relentlessly produced and created hip hop hits for the likes of Janet Jackson, Busta Rhymes, De La Soul, The Pharcyde and A Tribe Called Quest. Many people praised Jay for his creative input on tracks, always staying ahead of the curve and never reusing sounds he had already mastered, using warm drum samples and inventive melodies. I think what made Jay so successful was his ability to be creative and innovative when it came to sampling drum and instrument loops.(6, 7, 8)
My Role
My role in the project is to compose and mix each track, including picking the drum samples, synths and audio samples for tracks, and arrangement of each track and the playlist as a whole. I will also be responsible for contacting other artists I may possibly collaborate with, especially the graphic designer for the album cover and promotional poster and other artists such as rappers and, in the event of needing a session musician, backing singer or any other artist during the creation process, I will also be responsible for arranging studio time to record.