Is it possible not to laugh when someone says calls them self a "producer"?

[sjm]

For non musicians, the easiest answer is "I make music". They don't care about the nitty gritty details of what that involves.

In my mind, I am everything but the producer. And my producer is everyone but me. I like to bounce ideas off people - either random people on the internet, or people I trust (may also be on the internet) - and use them as my producer in the absence of a real one. I always thought the whole point of the producer was to give the "artist" direction, tame their excesses and make suggestions on how to proceed. You can't really do that yourself, lacking all objectivity.

Composer/musician/artist is surely much closer to what we do than "produser".

[whyterabbyt]

What you may be confusing is the media industry (which encompasses a lot more than music) with the music content creation industry.

No, Im not confusing things I wasnt taking about when I was talking about other things.

But seriously, I am very curious based on what are you basing your claims the music industry exists the way it did 20 years ago?

That wasnt what I said. You said that the 'old music industry' had collapsed, and I pointed out that the revenue of the companies which comprise the 'music industry' is actually rising, and that they're basically the same large companies as they always have been.

[whyterabbyt]

What has radio to do with any of this? Radio is and always was a separate and distinct entity from the practice of purchasing and collecting music by your favorite artists in the format of CD, LPs, tapes.

Surely the context of your mention of Youtube and Spotify should be obvious, given your own point.

[whyterabbyt]

Radio used to promote stuff by playing mostly singles. If you were lucky it was from bands/artists you liked and you went and bought the albums, etc because the radio wasn’t playing enough of what you wanted to hear.

You realise that there's a lot of people who didnt do that, because they just listened to what was on the radio. Which was the comparison to 'people dont buy stuff because they listen to it on Spotify'.

When downloading got popular you could get most of your favourite bands and artists entire back catalogues for the price of your internet connection. What radio stations were making your favourite bands and artists entire back catalogues available on demand for free ?
Why else do you think many of the people who previously listened to radio and bought stuff switched to downloading ?

You realise that this has actually stopped happening in favour of sanctioned streaming avenues, like Spotify, where there are revenue agreements in place with the 'old music industry' company the artist is connected to. Which is why the 'old music industry' didnt collapse as claimed. Spotify has become like radio was; an ostensibly free 'taster' mechanism which tied into the revenue stream. And music industry revenues are growing, something which is easily verifiable with a tiny amount of research. They're growing because of systems like Spotify, the exact opposite of what was claimed.

[vurt]

Yeah, I don't get it. That's how I describe myself. Rather than "multi-instrumentalist, singer and sound-engineer", it's easier to just say "producer".

I just say "I make music". It's a simple statement of fact that isn't really up for interpretation. If they ask what kind of music, I say "really loud music". If they ask what instrument I play, I say "laptop, mostly". If they persist after that I point over their shoulder and say "did you see that!?!" and run away as soon as they turn their head.

Actually, the conversation goes something like this; Someone hears that I'm a musician from somebody else (normally this conversation takes place with someone I don't know while i'm at work), they say "I hear you're a musician?", I say "Yes, that's correct". They say "What do you play?", I say "I'm mostly a singer, but I can play guitar, keys and drums." Then they say "Are you in band?", Then, I say "No, I'm more of a producer, I make records at home by myself, I have a small home studio"... but at that point you've lost them and they don't know what you're talking about... and that's why they're asking me, rather than me telling them. It's quite a niche subject, I'd talk about it with musicians, but I don' really like talking about it with non-musicians. And to my musician friends I don't need to describe myself as anything.

That scenario probably all sounds quite arrogant... but yeah, I've had that conversation pretty much word for word more times than I count. In the end it's just like "Trust me... you don't really want me to talk to you about this stuff... for you it'll be boring".

i ocassionally get "you're a musician arent you?"

errr yes...

"my friend is looking for someone to play at their wedding/christening..."


errr ok?

"they'll pay you."

i doubt that, listen...

"do you know anyone in a band?"

[vurt]

For non musicians, the easiest answer is "I make music". They don't care about the nitty gritty details of what that involves.

In my mind, I am everything but the producer. And my producer is everyone but me. I like to bounce ideas off people - either random people on the internet, or people I trust (may also be on the internet) - and use them as my producer in the absence of a real one. I always thought the whole point of the producer was to give the "artist" direction, tame their excesses and make suggestions on how to proceed. You can't really do that yourself, lacking all objectivity.

Composer/musician/artist is surely much closer to what we do than "produser".

tame their excesses?

f**king producers getting in the way that sounds like

[jancivil]

I always thought the whole point of the producer was to give the "artist" direction, tame their excesses and make suggestions on how to proceed. You can't really do that yourself, lacking all objectivity.

This is just a stop which works in your imagination, it's not a fact really at all.

[sjm]

This is just a stop which works in your imagination, it's not a fact really at all.

Que? Translation to English pls.

[djanthonyw]

I laugh when someone calls all plugin formats “VSTs”.

[vurt]

well, you should avoid going to see any live comedians.
could be fatal.

[ghettosynth]

[experimental.crow]

and remember !..
geritol , spelled backwards , is lotireg !..

[Hink]

and remember !..
geritol , spelled backwards , is lotireg !..

[experimental.crow]

and remember !..
geritol , spelled backwards , is lotireg !..

pfft ...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serutan

[schiing]

Heh, I like the "I make music" solution.

However, while I would never say "I am a producer," and most probably will suppress a laugh when other non-professional music makers do (I often do the same when people start ranting about their "art", incidentally):

I do make music. Then I make every single production, mixing and mastering decision before I (self)-publish my music to the internet. To me, that means that I actually do perform, produce, mix and master all of my music.

Am I a good producer / mixer / mastering engineer? Nah - although I'd like to think that I'm slowy getting better at it as the years go by!

But I don't think of "producer" as such an exclusive a term that some people seem to do - I accept Cheap Trick, Diana Ross or Jack Jones as album producers when the liner notes say that they were, even though I know they had absolutely no idea about the stuff that were second nature to Tommy LiPuma, Tom Werman or David Foster.