What is the role of the producer in reggae?
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John Ellison
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What is the role of the producer in reggae?
Everyone gives me a different answer but never a clear answer. In rap, the producer does beats & shit. But in reggae, what is the role of the producer? Also, what is the producer's role in rock as well. Anyone have an answer?
What is the role of the producer in reggae?
Producer is a person who Produces the PRODUCT, in our case a record (single track, album, compilation, music video etc.). The Producer conducts(directs) or actually personally performs various stages in the production process such as (performance, recording/filming, editing, mixing, post-production editing/arranging, mastering). On the side of the project (production of the product) there also maybe scene/stage concept writing, costume design, choreography, art/cover design/photography and even text editing. Then there's is monufacturing and distribution. The person who organizes and directs all these 'components' (puts it all together and signs pay-checks is a Director - <IMG SRC="http://www.interruptor.ch/cgi-bin/discu ... nounce.gif"> or <IMG SRC="http://www.interruptor.ch/cgi-bin/discu ... ntract.gif">. <BR>Now, as you can see all this can be done by a one single person, or the whole project can involve hundreds of people ;-) <BR>Well, the genre of the production has nothing to do with role of the producer, however in various genres(ot type of projects) there maybe more or less 'traditional' situation (or producer's involment/activity). So in rap the producer traditionally more involved in beats production (another words rap-producer often being seen as a beat-maker, but on the other hand rap-producer may be seen as a guy who picks a rapper <IMG SRC="http://www.interruptor.ch/cgi-bin/discu ... rt/mic.gif"> and makes him 'famous' <IMG SRC="http://www.interruptor.ch/cgi-bin/discu ... ejoice.gif">, so he is Da Man-he is Da God - <IMG SRC="http://www.interruptor.ch/cgi-bin/discu ... .gif">), in rock/reggae (or any other band-performing genre) the producer mostly involved in studio/or stage recording of the band, in dub the producer is almost 100% being associated with the person behind mixing desk <IMG SRC="http://www.interruptor.ch/cgi-bin/discu ... t/beer.gif">... etc etc... <BR> <BR>/respects, <BR>Mike Zee aka Dr. Zee <BR><A HREF="http://www.mzentertainment.com/zdl.html" TARGET="_blank">zee dub lab</A>
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What is the role of the producer in reggae?
Often in earlier reggae, and maybe even today, too, the reggae "producer" was a bit of everything: talent scout, hustler, auditioner, sometimes composer/arranger, session manager, etc., and were often involved, sometimes even physically, in the production of the vinyl itself. I think the way it worked is that a singer would audition for someone like Jack Ruby (and I'm just pulling his name out of the air; I don't know if he worked exactly this way), and if he liked his sound, Ruby would arrange a recording session, possibly at his own studio or the studio of another party. He would select the session musicians and pay them. If the singer had original material, Ruby might record that, or he might use one of his own rhythms to develop a new song suitable to this particular singer. Another possibility is that Ruby might use an already-recorded rhythm with bass, drums, guitar, keyboards, etc., then take those tapes to a studio, with the singer, for what was often called a "voicing", where the singer's voice would be added to the already existing tracks. This product was then usually hustled immediately over to a pressing shop so the tracks could be transferred to vinyl and the records stamped out -- all to get the product on the street as quickly as possible. Sometimes these tracks would be taken to a studio like Tubby's to be remixed for a dub version. On a lot of Blood and Fire re-issues, because they have good liner notes, you will note that tracks may have been originally recorded, say, at Randy's, but then voiced and dubbed at Tubby's, or any number of variations on this. <BR> <BR>A rock producer, at least at major studio level, is typically a person hired by the label (or the band, I guess, if they have that kind of clout) to produce the album, which is a relationship a little more like being a paid musical consultant. Often producers do not actually do the engineering/mixing, but instead oversee it (although this is not always the case). They often have a lot of input on arrangements, the overall "sound" a group is trying to achieve, and choice of what material makes it to final product or which doesn't. Please bear in mind, too, that this is all very generalized. There are probably a million different variations. Peace. Dan
What is the role of the producer in reggae?
I should add to the above that a reggae producer putting together a session would have often hired an engineer to do the recording in addition to hiring session musicians. Certain studios had particular engineers, who were often producers in their own right, with whom they were closely associated. Like Erroll Thompson at Randy's (or at least I think it was Randy's, I always get the studio's confused). Also, certain producers came to be associated with certain groups of studio musicians. Like Bunny Lee with the Aggrovators or Junjo Lawes with the Roots Radics. Sorry to go on so long! Dan