Who is a producer? And who is a beat maker?

I'm just wondering this because from all the stuff I'm seeing in here, I see a lot of BEAT MAKERS, rather than PRODUCERS. Not saying you're an undergraduate or anything, but some of you should know the difference so you don't fuck yourself when standing in front of somebody who can make or break your potential career. A producer is not just the person who makes beats. A beat maker just makes beats. A producer may well make beats too, but they do some of everything. A producer is pretty much the manager of the creative work. A producer not only makes beats, and sometimes raps on tracks, they have a team of beatmakers under them, they have rappers that they're putting out, they got mix and mastering engineers, a sound development team, promoters, graphic designers, all that.

If that's what you want to do, then you need to start thinking about a whooooooole lot more than just making a beat. Sure we can't afford to pay all those people right now, but at least if you got in front of somebody and called yourself a producer, you could at least cover your ass by saying "I've been looking for a few cats for this and a few cats for that" so they see you at least know what your job is. If you don't want to worry about all that and have to stay on top of all those different people, and you just want to make tracks, then go in the direction of a beat maker, don't call yourself a producer. It's like a Fireman standing there in his suit calling himself a cop and really honestly thinking he is, lol.

Just thought I'd get that out in the air so people can get their career ideas in order.

True thats real talk.I consider myself both I dont think im better than anybody, I kno the beats on my soundclick are not mixed well at all, alot of people accept the beats poorly mixed but when im in the studio hardware I export all the tracks individualy from the beat get everything fine tuned and in the square thank god for presets lol.

tht's real talk..

hol up.. so u sayin sum -----s arent producers cuz they dont have,

Quote:

they have a team of beatmakers under them, they have rappers that they're putting out, they got mix and mastering engineers, a sound development team, promoters, graphic designers, all that.

I'm sure there are PRODUCERS out there tht dont have/can't afford all tht...

I know, but as I said further, if you were to say you were a producer but don't got any vocalists, beat makers, promoters, etc. It would still show that you are calling yourself the right thing. Rather than presenting yourself as a producer, and when they mention something about gathering artists, getting tracks, etc., and you reply by saying, "All that is too complicated, I figured the label would take care of that, I'm just a producer, I'll make the beats, but I don't write songs and all that." It makes you look bad, because that is what a producer does, while the beat maker just makes the beat. If you say beat maker, then that's all they'll expect of you. I'm just trying to help some cats see little discrepancies most people don't normally know.

So even if you don't have that whole camp of people under you, if you're calling yourself a producer, you should have some songs done weather they be lyrics, beats, or just overall formats. The producer gets the specifications of the product from the execs, and utilize their people to create those projects. All I'm saying is learn the difference and know how to show you know what you're doing. Something simple like that will make someone in the business look away from you. Not knowing what you really are and what to call yourself shows how little you know about the way things work, everything is so fast paced they don't have the time to sit down and tutor you on everything, you gotta be ready to jump in and make moves, you gotta be a business man, or woman about it. Something as simple as not knowing your own salutation will ruin your chances every time, and they won't even tell you that's why you're not what they're looking for at this time.

This is also why I posted the thread about using the EQUO and Fruity Delay Bank in FL Studio to do some minor mixing techniques to create a true 3D atmosphere with their sounds. You can hear the difference between a mixed with EQ and one that's not. For one, when no EQing is done, all that bandwidths together non stop is damaging to the human ear. If anyone has ever met someone from a record label who just scanned through your beats and only listened for like 3 seconds before going to the next one, this is why.

People get pissed thinking their being snobby and shit, but they can hear the frequencies aren't separated which turns them off before they get to hear how hot the track is. Sure they could come across one and love it, but from a business point of view, it might take a mix engineer 5 or 6 hours to re-create your beat in an organized manner in order to separate the frequencies properly. If they're getting paid $150 an hour, somtimes more if they're dealing with a large enough company, that's $720 already spent before the track can even start to be mixed, which might take a few more hours.

If you knew what you were doing and how to make things mix and master friendly, the engineer may only need to spend an hour and a half to two hours on that track which is $300. I know this all has nothing to do with the original topic, but just showing examples of how little stuff makes a big difference to a representative from one of these big labels.

^ooohhh... i hear wat u sayin..
I didn't think you'd reply with another essay tho... lol

sometimes after i mix it i save it n play it w/out all the eq'n n listen
to the differences..

optiq you got AIM?

I'm just a beat maker, but not for long.
Gonna start recordin fo' real this next week.
I'm doin shit pro.

im a beatmaker

no I got yahoo though

I write, rap,promote, record engineer, mix down, compose beat. I consider myself a producer even if i dont have a team that does it.

I consider myself to be a producer because I do more than make beats, its just that I'm too broke to do much. Or maybe I'm just a beatmaker with a few hobbies

real ish...I consider myself a producer...I wouldn't say that because I have a team that would make me a producer..i mean..i have a co-producer, guitarist/bassist, keyboardist, songwriter and an engineer..and workin on gettin a singer...but thats just in the beat-making process (excluding the songwriting and singer..well...not if we are puttin a hook in the beat ahead of time)....but if we put all the effort into making a track..but then my efforts stop there..that would defeat the purpose of being a producer

But even before I had a team of -----s..it used to just be me and I called myself a producer..I critiqued the songs the rappers and singers did to my beats before release..I worked hand in hand..even alotta times set the vibe and hook I wanted....

There would be a time where I'd refer to myself as a beat-maker....but that was when I was 14-15...haha

....its a very different ball game.

props for shedding light on the difference.

Im a producer, a broke one, but a producer no doubt. I make beats and i have a co-beatmaker, I have a graphix artist, I have 2 music groups with 7 rappers each, and i produce their whole albums. I have a MXL condensor mic, and midi keyboard and a pretty good cpu. I have also been working on my mixing and mastering. I am lookin into going into this in college. I am just 16 though.

nice post

personally i dont think you need a team 2 be a real producer.....im a solo producer/beat maker/artist

I Would COnsider myself More Of A BEat Maker Because Most of The Track Ive Sold I Never Had Any overview Of them Except For A Few Times For This One Artist. In the Studio We Would Build The Beat Up Around The Vocals, Drop Certain Sounds In And Out Making The Mixing And Sequence Much Better And Feeding Off Of Each Others opinion.