Calling All Producers: What Would Your Ideal “Production Assistant” Look Like?

[santonioechols]

Hey everyone,

I’m a producer myself, and I’ve been talking to a lot of fellow musicians about the challenges of finishing tracks, getting objective feedback, and improving mixes without spending hours tweaking.

I’m working on a tool designed to assist musicians in their creative process—not replace them, not auto-generate music, but actually help with things like:
- Understanding what’s off in a mix (e.g., “your bass is masking your kick”)
- Offering structured feedback when you don’t have access to other producers
- Helping with workflow so you spend less time fighting the DAW and more time making music

I’d love to interview a few producers to hear what features would actually be useful—and what you wouldn’t want in a tool like this. No agenda, just trying to make something that works the way musicians actually work.

If this sounds interesting lets chat! I’d love to hear your perspective.

[Benedict]

Kylie Minogue

Oh your Q is a bit different:
You can't have any kind of non-sentient thing make decisions about what is happenin' vs a Trailer Swift song (ducks).

Just on your masking example; that is not a given, often one part deliberately masks another. That is why Mixing is not a technical task - note those who say this do shite mixes, LOUD maybe but shite all the same. Mixing is an Artform, as is Composing. That is the essence of Human.

What you need here is not a bot assistant but either a composing partner OR a Record Producer. Listen to good people like Andrew Scheps and Rick Rubin talk and note how they are nothing like the silly 10 Tipz n Trix fools on YooBoob (who are commonly parroted elsewhere and again never do good/any real work).

So my answer to the Q as posed is now: Alan Parsons. You need a wise, experienced person. And to not be so afraid that you are snookering yourself (and likely therefore not listening to wisdom from people like Mr Parsons when it arrives because Tipz n Trix seem easier than courage).

[Winstontaneous]

So my answer to the Q as posed is now: Alan Parsons. You need a wise, experienced person. And to not be so afraid that you are snookering yourself (and likely therefore not listening to wisdom from people like Mr Parsons when it arrives because Tipz n Trix seem easier than courage).

Well, Alan Parsons needs...Noah Bruskin.

To the OP, I wish you luck in your venture, but in my perusal of interviews with any world-class mixer, literally all of them got to be world-class mixers by spending hours, days, weeks, months tweaking until they developed their ears to the point of hearing what does/doesn't work. Dave Pensado in particular is very candid about sucking hard for a long time, and practicing his craft mercilessly was what helped him get to where he is today.

I can see the value in something like a program that points out frequencies being masked as training wheels. If you're talking about a tool (likely AI) that will compel people to make better music, I think having it do things like "send my nude selfies to Aunt Gertie if I don't commit to a song structure by 10:17AM tomorrow" or "erase my entire computer disk if I don't learn to hear kick/bass frequency masking before March" would accomplish much the same result, and probably make for much more interesting tracks.

[crimsonwarlock]

If you're talking about a tool (likely AI) that will compel people to make better music, I think having it do things like "send my nude selfies to Aunt Gertie if I don't commit to a song structure by 10:17AM tomorrow" or "erase my entire computer disk if I don't learn to hear kick/bass frequency masking before March" would accomplish much the same result, and probably make for much more interesting tracks.

You don't need AI for that, a few lines of bash-scripting will do

[Benedict]

So my answer to the Q as posed is now: Alan Parsons. You need a wise, experienced person. And to not be so afraid that you are snookering yourself (and likely therefore not listening to wisdom from people like Mr Parsons when it arrives because Tipz n Trix seem easier than courage).

Well, Alan Parsons needs...Noah Bruskin.

My point exactly. Good people work with good people. Sting can play everything on a record but he surrounds himself with great players for a very good reason. Lindsay Buckingham (a total musical freak) does best when working with others. He has tons of hits (and amazing tracks with his name on them in Fleetwood alone) compared to the virtual silence of his solo career (one hit I think "Trouble").

People are the solution. Cutting people out is the problem.

[Benedict]

So my answer to the Q as posed is now: Alan Parsons. You need a wise, experienced person. And to not be so afraid that you are snookering yourself (and likely therefore not listening to wisdom from people like Mr Parsons when it arrives because Tipz n Trix seem easier than courage).

Well, Alan Parsons needs...Noah Bruskin.

My point exactly. Good people work with good people. Sting can play everything on a record but he surrounds himself with great players for a very good reason. Lindsay Buckingham (a total musical freak) does best when working with others. He has tons of hits (and amazing tracks with his name on them in Fleetwood alone) compared to the virtual silence of his solo career (one hit I think "Trouble").

People are the solution. Cutting people out is the problem.

[harryupbabble]

well, jimmy page produced all the led zeppelin albums

if i can afford it my production assistant will be a robot with ai built in
it would have a wig and look just like that lady in wagtunes`s videos
i would instruct it to make my song`s sounds be just like the songs in led zeppelin`s first album

also, when and if i get alzheimer`s, i wouldn`t mind using robots and ai and bionics to get me to the toilet and stuff
i don`t want people that i personally know taking care of me, wiping my bunghole..etc
nope, i don`t want humans doing that for and to me

[funky lime]

Yeah i just need someone to manage my time for me because i'm shit at it. I don't need someone to tell me what's off in a mix or critique my songs (both are very subjective; as Benedict suggests, mixing is a creative task, with one of the only "objective" metrics being loudness measurements), or to help me make peace with my DAW or whatever. I need someone to light my fuse and point me at a target, and to make sure I stay aimed at it until it is destroyed. So I guess a bit along the lines of what Winstontaneous suggested, basically someone to hold me accountable for my laziness and attention defecit. So like, a handler or a manager—a "tool" in the metaphorical sense, not a piece of software.

If it's music for a paid gig or whatever, i feel like the only subjective feedback that really matters is that from the client/director.