| Probably the biggest "trick" that a music producer needs to learn, is to be objective about evaluating the potential of a music production. Its not easy. Human nature goes against you every time. We are equipped with a set of ears that are much more than mere microphones - they are directed by our brains and by our emotions. The kind of things that get in the way of our better judgment include the mental and emotional commands of: 1) If Joe likes it, I like it, 2) If I did it, I love it, ;3) If Joe did it, I like it, and 4) If everyone likes it, I should too.
A producer needs to know what is good and what is bad, what is done and what remains to be worked on, and these "fixed opinions" get in the way of that. |
| Professional producers combat these natural tendencies by breaking down the song and the production into its elements, evaluating each aspect separately and then summing the quality of the elements to create an overall quality rating. |
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The Production Elements |
| When you first try to break down a production into its elements you could mistakenly say something like, "That's a poor song because the vocal is constantly flat." You need to get used to looking at the vocal performance separately from the "song." The "song" consists solely of lyrics and music. You also need to develop an ability to "hear through" poor performance and possibly rate the song as "good" when the vocal performance is less than good. It takes knowing the different elements and practice. The reward is you develop professional judgment - something very necessary to success. The different elements of a production could be broken down into nine areas: |
| The Song Melody |
| The song is the lyrics and melody only. Usually the melody is performed by the lead singer, and by a lead instrument in the instrumental break. How well the tune is sung has nothing to do with it. What the drums are doing has nothing to do with it. |
| The Song Lyrics |
| The lyrics are the other half of the song - also performed by the lead singer. |
| The Recording Quality |
| The recording quality has to do with how the instruments sound, and the presence or lack of such things as distortion and noise. It can also have to do with poor "room sound" that was captured with the instrument sound by the microphone. It does not have anything to do with what the musicians are playing. |
| Mix Quality
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| Mixing is the blend of instruments and voices. Things like how the individual tone of the instruments work with the other instruments is part of the mixing quality aspect of a production. Another part of it is the relative loudness between instruments and not having one thing drowned out by another. Finally, mixing quality will include the overall frequency balance of the product (treble vs bass vs midrange). |
| Lead Vocal Performance |
| The lead vocal is the one that sings the words and melody of the tune. Things like how clear the lyrics are, the tone quality of the vocal, and the expression of emotion/feeling enters into the evaluation of this production aspect. The singer being on or off-key is also a part of it, along with the timing of the words relative to the music. |
| Background Vocal Performance |
| The background vocals are the ones that usually sing along with the lead vocal during all or parts of the chorus or sing a counter or answer type of melody against the lead vocal part. |
| Rhythm Instrument Performance / Lead Instrument Performance |
| The drums and bass are pretty much always the rhythm instruments along with at least one other instrument such as a guitar. If an instrument is helping play or enhance the beat. it is a rhythm instrument. Lead instruments are those that play or enhance the melody or create counter-melody to the main melody. Often the second guitar will be a lead guitar that plays a melody line during the instrumental break of the tune, the intro or the tail-end musical finish of the song. The lead instrument can, however, be just about any instrument. |
| Different Musical Styles |
| Different styles of music may not have all of these "standard" elements. The jazz production may not have a lead vocal but have several lead and solo instruments. Hip Hop and Rap tunes may not have a lot of melody for the lead vocal which still performs lyrics. |
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The Rating System |
| Once you have broken down the production into the elements, you need to rate each element as separately as you can. We suggest using a five-point scale: |
| The person giving feedback rates each area of the song, production and marketing plan according to the following five-point scale. |
| 1 Point (Needs Serious Review) means that the evaluator feels that the quality of this point is so weak that the producer should consider dropping plans for this song or performance before including it in the final product or release. |
| 2 Points (Needs Improvement) means that the evaluator feels that the part, performance or production is going in the right direction but needs to be done more precisely or carefully. |
| 3 Points (Almost There)means that it is rated generally good but there are minor points that should be corrected. |
| 4 Points (Good Quality) means that that the evaluator feels that good quality has been achieved in this area. |
| 5 points (Excellent Quality) means that evaluator rates the element excellent. |
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