A record producer or music producer oversees and manages the recording and production of a band or performer's music. A producer's roles may include gathering ideas for the project, selecting songs or session musicians, proposing changes to the song arrangements, coaching the artist and musicians in the studio, controlling the recording sessions, and supervising the entire process through audio mixing (recorded music) and, in some cases, to the audio mastering stage.
A record producer or music producer has a very broad role in overseeing and managing the recording and production of a band or performer's music. A producer has many roles that may include, but are not limited to, gathering ideas for the project, selecting songs or session musicians, proposing changes to the song arrangements, coaching the artist and musicians in the studio, controlling the recording sessions, and supervising the entire process through audio mixing (recorded music) and, in some cases, to the audio mastering stage. Producers also often take on a wider entrepreneurial role, with responsibility for the budget, schedules, contracts, and negotiations. In the 2010s, the recording industry has two kinds of producers with different roles: executive producer and music producer. Executive producers oversee project finances while music producers oversee the creation of music.
A music producer can, in some cases, be compared to a film director, with noted practitioner Phil Ek describing his role as "the person who creatively guides or directs the process of making a record", like a director would a movie. The audio engineering [person] would be more the cameraman of the movie." Indeed, in Bollywood music, the designation actually is music director. The music producer's job is to create, shape, and mold a piece of music. The scope of responsibility may be one or two songs or an artist's entire album – in which case the producer will typically develop an overall vision for the album and how the various songs may interrelate.
In the US, before the rise of the record producer, someone from A&R would oversee the recording sessions, assuming responsibility for creative decisions relating to the recording. With the relatively easy access to technology in the 2010s, an alternative to the record producer just mentioned, is the so-called 'bedroom producer'. With 2010-era technological advances, it is possible to achieve a professional quality production without a multimillion-dollar studio, using a laptop and a good-quality microphone. In most cases the music producer is also a competent arranger, composer, musician or songwriter who can bring fresh ideas to a project.
As well as making any songwriting and arrangement adjustments, the producer often selects or gives suggestions to the mixing engineer, who takes the raw recorded tracks and edits and modifies them with hardware and software tools and creates a stereo or surround sound "mix" of all the individual voices sounds and instruments, which is in turn given further adjustment by a mastering engineer. The producer will also liaise with the recording engineer who concentrates on the technical aspects of recording, whereas the executive producer keeps an eye on the overall project's marketability.
