If you’ve ever looked behind the scenes at a radio station, theater, or recording studio, you’ve seen the machines that music producers use. And if you’ve ever wondered what those rows of buttons, toggles, sliders, and switches do, you might be interested in the world of music production and in attaining a music production degree.
Music production offers a world of opportunities for people who combine a passion for music with a knack for technical detail. Music producers and engineers learn to distinguish the fine points of recorded music; they are connoisseurs of feedback and reverb, delay and tremolo. Many can tell where in a room a musician is standing by the way their instrument reverberates through the room. Musicians play a song, composers write that song, but the producer is responsible for how it sounds for the home consumer.
History of Music Production
The process of music production dates back to the earliest days of recorded music. Early producers didn’t have mixing boards and digital visualization tools at their disposal; their best techniques involved getting singers and instrumentalists to stand closer to the recording device. The production techniques learned by these early producers, however primitive, remain the foundation for a lot of what we know about studio recording today.
Through the early 20th Century, recording studios became more and more professional as the recording industry grew in size and profitability. A network of session musicians, popular singers, composers, songwriters, arrangers, audio engineers, and producers, centered in New York, formed the original nexus of the music industry. The classic recordings of popular songs in this era were generated by this very closed, studio-based and label-based system.
At the dawn of the rock era, independent studios cropped up, helping to change the face of music production. No longer fettered by the limitations of the closed studio system, producers began to experiment with a broad range of different styles of pop song. Around this time, Phil Spector began to develop his now-famous “wall of sound” production technique, for instance. Now legendary labels developed outside New York, including Sun Records in Memphis, Motown in Detroit, and the host of country labels being born in Nashville. New styles of music emerged with new labels with new approaches to music production, leading to unique regional “sounds.” Ultimately, it has been decisions in music production that have given distinctive flavors to Atlanta hip-hop, Seattle grunge, Los Angeles G-funk, and London electro.
Modern technology has changed the way that music producers do their jobs. In the past, music producers worked with pieces of analog machinery that occupied whole walls. Modern, computerized technology has radically changed the process, with programs like Reason and Pro Tools doing a lot of the work that was once done with magnetic tape.
Accredited Music Production Programs
A wide range of music production schools offer degrees, ranging from post-high school certificate programs to bachelor’s degrees. We’ll explain a few of these. Keep in mind that music production techniques evolve with the technology, and continuing education programs are expected for all professionals in the field.
Short-Length Certificate Programs
Certificates are the most common way for music producers and engineers to receive their training. In the past, on-the-job training was the standard, but certificate programs have emerged to provide training in a school environment. These introduce the budding producer to equipment both digital and analog, and help students refine their sense of hearing to the degree necessary for a production career. These can be standalone accredited programs, or they can be housed within larger institutions; many of the top music schools in America have music production programs. Some producers choose to attain their music production degree online.
Associate’s Degrees and Bachelor’s Degrees
Some aspiring producers opt to take a full degree in music production. While fairly uncommon, their number is increasing. Most related bachelor’s degrees pertain to broadcast technology rather than to music production, but some specific music production schools are developing.
Employment Prospects for Music Producers
In 2008, 15,650 sound recording technicians were employed in the United States. While that may seem like a small population, keep in mind large numbers of people are employed in related fields like broadcast and other audio recording. These recording technicians are concentrated in states associated strongly with the entertainment media: New York, California, Tennessee, and Nevada. The New York and Los Angeles areas have far and away the most recording technicians.
Wages in this field are competitive. The median hourly wage for music producers in the U.S. is $22.63 per hour. 75% earn more than $15.29 per hour, while only 25% earn more than $31.53 per hour. Median annual wage is $47,080, with 75% earning more than $31,790 per year and 25% earning more than $65,590 per year.
The largest number of employees work in the field of movie and video production rather than music production. The same skills that music producers and audio engineers develop can easily be applied to the audio component of audiovisual media, and so the movie and video industry is a natural fit. A significant number also work in radio and other broadcast media, applying their skills to broadcast technology. Many work in the performing arts, translating their talents to the live recording of music and theater rather than studio recording. Still others work as independent producers, freelancing wherever their expertise is needed.