Even today, while I sip my morning coffee, I can’t help but reminisce that time in 2006 when I got introduced to the world of rock music. The first track (Saviour by Skillet, yes, that’s a band name) I downloaded was from mp3.com, and it took me 15 minutes to download a 3 MB file! Such were the days of dial-up connections. Jumping two years ahead, I was playing rhythm guitars for a Vedic Metal band, and we were performing original compositions at stages across the country. We were winning competitions and the judges who would praise us were legendary musicians of bands we grew up listening to. We were on cloud nine.
One day at a competition, right after our set, a judge came up to us and asked whether we could email him the tracks we had just played. We said we hadn’t recorded them yet. He immediately said, “Go get a producer and get it done; you’ve got a long way to go”.
What? A producer?
Back then, the word ‘producer’ had a single meaning for me – associated with the Indian film industry. It was someone who would invest money in producing a film and leave the rest to the director. When I eventually got to know that he meant ‘Music Producer’, I thought of the same – the money guy.
I was so wrong! And that’s when my quest started.
Here’s what you’ll get to know (in-depth) if you join my wee journey filled with a truckload of curiosity:
Table of Contents
Who is a Music Producer?
Today, after being in the industry for a significant amount of time, this is the shortest, most efficient definition I have for you:
A music producer is someone proficient in taking a song/tune from its raw form to a high-quality finished product that we get to listen to, on streaming platforms, clubs, television, radio etc.
Beaming back to the time when my curiosity was peaking, and questions kept pouring in…
What does a music producer do?
A music producer’s job can either be some or all of the following:
- Compose parts of a song with the primary musician.
- Compose the entire song if he is the musician himself.
- Music arrangement/Song structure.
- Record, mix and master the song.
It might look easy when you summarize it like that, but the entire journey is intricate and nuanced. With that being said, it’s the most enjoyable process you’ll ever come across if a career in music production excites you.
Along came the next question…
What is the structure of a song?
Arranging a song or defining its structure is the first and most important step in music production. As a music producer, you’ll be expected to have this skill. You ought to pay attention now.
I started digging and at the initial stage, all I could find was pieces of information that I couldn’t put together or came across terminologies that I only had a vague idea of. That was primarily because I never composed the songs in our band, I only played the parts composed by our lead singer and lead guitarist. So, terms like intro, verse, chorus, bridge, outro were all Greek to me.
I was fortunate enough to have a friend who had already made his mark in Bollywood by then. He was the one who sat me down and explained these terms to me:
1. Intro –
Like the beginning of a film, a song’s intro is supposed to capture the attention of the listener. It’s intentionally kept mellow yet captivating so that the listener becomes curious enough to know what’s going to come next.
2. Verse –
A Bollywood movie, unlike the ones in the west will always have two parts so that you can have salted popcorn in the first, only to realise that you should have gone for cheese which you eventually gobble up in the second part. Popcorn’s apart, you can consider the verse as the first part of your story, it’s where your story starts to develop. You can even call it the calm before the storm (the storm being the chorus). At times, the second verse is different, at times it’s the same. Cheese or salted, as per the composer’s preference.
3. Chorus –
The intro and verse have built up the tension, now is the time to release it and let the emotions flow. This is the peak where the title of the song might appear. At times, composers come up with this part first, commonly called as the hook. The hook, as the term suggests, is supposed to hook you! This part is meant to occupy a space in the listener’s head for a considerable amount of time (even after the song has ended).
4. Bridge –
Being a rock/metal musician, bridge for me would mostly mean a guitar solo but if we translate that in a music arrangement, it’s supposed to change the mood and the monotony of the chorus. More often than not, it would be a drastic change to bring the listener out of the dream you just planted in their head (inception FTW).
5. Outro –
This part signals the end of the song, the conclusion to your story. Song outros might be something similar to the intro, only to fade out slowly, saying goodbye one note at a time. That is the emotion an outro is supposed to convey.
The most common song structure would go like:
Intro – Verse 1 – Chorus – Verse 2 – Chorus – Bridge – Chorus – Outro
This is what my amazing bud explained to me, and I’ve been in his debt ever since. Cheese popcorn on me every time we go out for a movie!
Until this point, I had barely scratched the surface. Let’s assume we had the compositions ready, and the entire band sat together, refined the structure (me contributing more than I used to) and finalised the arrangement. We still had to record this in high quality, mix and master it; make it worthy enough to be emailed to the judge.
The quest continued…
What is Mixing and Mastering?
Almost all of us, including me back then thought that ‘recording a song’ was all there is to making a finished track. Write it on a CD and boom, you’re done. Un-boom, not done, you’re nowhere near!
There are three meticulous steps that lead to a finished track:
1. Recording –
This is the most commonly used term, often thought to be the sole bridge between a raw thought and the finished song that’s ready to be published. “Let’s get this recorded and put it on Spotify”, you must have said or heard. This is merely the beginning, probably the most crucial step. The basic audio gear used in this step are microphones, amplifiers, an audio interface, and a DAW (Digital Audio Workstation or a recording software), and the person who undertakes this task is known as the Recording engineer.
2. Mixing –
It is the art of balance and compromise. Try looking at it in the form of a food recipe. You buy butter, onions, cheese, oregano, salt, and pepper to make a yummy omelet which is like recording but when you cook it, you take adequate amounts of each ingredient, balance it meticulously and that’s only the first part of mixing – the balance. What about the compromise? In case of recording, you put in all your favourite guitar riffs, drumbeats, piano pieces, vocals, and their harmonies. To balance it properly you chuck out some elements or modify their tone; altering the basic structure you had in mind during recording – the compromise. Makes the omelet yummy that way, right?
3. Mastering –
Now that the omelet has been made, you need to garnish and serve it. Can’t mess it up now. But mastering requires another change in your outlook. You don’t look at it as individual tones or instruments now, you look at it as a song. In the mastering stage, you don’t balance individual levels of each element, you set the overall tonality and loudness. It’s more to do with physics than musicality. It’s also about translation – meaning that it sound should similar when played on a hi-fi system, car speakers, mobile phone speakers, earphones, and other mediums. And often, the final tone depends on the genre of your song. A rock song will sound way louder than a jazz song. The tone of a neo-soul song will be silky smooth on your ears, contrary to a dubstep song.
By the time we were about to finalize the arrangement of our first track, I was already 6 months into a course at a Sound Engineering College in Chennai. Now that I knew what the cost of recording a song in a studio in India is, I suggested that we go ahead with a home recording. Everything went perfectly well. I still remember a friend of mine who played that mastered track at a pub in Bangalore. He shared a video with us, and it sounded so good!
By now, I hope you must have got a lot of clarity as to who a music producer is, what their job entails and how detailed it is.
Now some of you might be wondering, why and when did I join a Sound Engineering College. Here’s the short version of this story – I dropped out of college where I was studying Electronics & Telecommunication and went to Chennai to pursue a dream, the dream of becoming a sound engineer/music producer.
But I made a terrible mistake. I did not conduct a reality check. I was dumb enough to ignore it.
In hindsight, I know I should have asked myself these questions –
1. Will I be able to make a career in music production in India? 2. Are there enough Music Producer jobs in India?
I should have found answers to practical questions like –
3. What might be a music producer’s salary in India? 4. If not a regular job, will I be able to make a living as a Freelance Music Producer?
Well I didn’t, but you should. Fret not, I’m here to answer them for you.
What is the salary of a music producer in India?
I’ll be covering the audio engineering part here, not the composition and arrangement bit because that’s another skill set and it is often handled by a music director/composer and not the music producer.
There are two ways to earn money as an audio engineer in India:
1. Apply for a job at a Radio Station or a Broadcast Network:
Radio Station –
Chances are high that they will ask for a diploma/degree for such a job. You’ll be expected to have a basic knowledge of the gear and software used for audio production, you must also know how to create jingles/short ads and record voiceovers. Don’t worry too much because they will make sure you are trained, and your starting salary can be anywhere between Rs. 15,000 to 25,000.
Broadcast Network (Television) –
It’s like the Radio Station job but they will prefer Film School graduates here as the knowledge of Video or Cinema becomes mandatory. You’ll be expected to carry the knowledge of handling audio in software such as Final Cut Pro, or Adobe Audition if their video projects are handled in Adobe Premiere Pro and Adobe After Effects. Your starting salary will lie in the same range i.e., Rs. 15,000 to 25,000.
2. Work as a freelance audio engineer:
If you choose to be a freelancer without a formal degree/diploma, make sure you build your portfolio beforehand. Trust me, if your skillset speaks volumes, your degree is not going to matter in this industry. It’s a plus but isn’t mandatory on the freelance side. It’s a struggle in the beginning but once you make your mark, the earning potential is huge, way more than a salaried employee.
You can work as a recording engineer…
at the studio of a record label where you might be employed as a salaried individual or you can do the same job as a freelancer. A recording engineer can work on a task basis or hourly basis. As a beginner, you’ll be able to make anywhere between Rs. 500 – 1,000 an hour and in general a session runs for 3 hours assuming that everything is in place before that.
Next option is to work as a mixing engineer…
If you’ve already got some recording experience, stepping up as a mix engineer becomes a wee bit easier for you. You can easily demand Rs. 10,000 per track as a beginner and it can go way up till Rs. 2,00,000 per track if you end up being a mixing artist. Yes, it’s different than a mixing engineer.
Next comes the mastering engineer…
A mastering engineer is mostly a highly experienced individual in the industry. You can earn anywhere between Rs. 5,000 – 20,000 per track as a beginner and it can go up to Rs. 70,000 – 80,000 per album as you keep growing. Some engineers might charge extravagant amounts such Rs. 70,000 per track but that is a rare occurrence.
Music Production Courses in India
Back in 2011, moving to Chennai for a year to pursue an Audio Engineering course was easier as compared to the 2021 Covid era. These days almost everyone is trying to find a job or a course that keeps them close to their families and fortunately for the ones looking to make a career in music production, there’s great news!
If you have a laptop/desktop, a good internet connection and a decent pair of headphones, you can easily learn music production at home.
There are tons of online courses, both paid and free. The choice here is yours, whether you choose to opt for scattered or structured knowledge. My suggestion would be to start with YouTube as it’s still the biggest platform for free education.
Here’s a list of some channels that you can check out if you’d like to learn music production in English:
If you’re comfortable with Hindi voiceovers, you could check out these channels:
Get a hang of some concepts, try putting them together, experiment, and judge if it’s taking too much time or working well for you. In case it’s taking too long, opt for a paid course which provides structured knowledge. You will be spending money in the short run but end up saving a lot of time. And the chances of making big money, in the long run, will be significantly high.
Here is a list of YouTube channels/Institutes that offer paid Music Production courses you can explore (these are all from India):
- We are Sushi Music
- Dev Next Level
- Mix with Vasudev
- Lost Stories Academy
- Global Music Institute (GMI)
- Swarnbhoomi Academy of Music (SAM)
- I Love Music Academy (ILM)
- Beat Factory
- KM College of Music and Technology
- Film and Television Institute of India (FTII)
Conclusion
- Music Production isn’t as intimidating as it seems. Expand your horizon and don’t listen to just one genre of music, don’t restrict yourself to music in one language. Listen to everything.
- Ear training is the most important skill to develop in this business. Listen to everything intently, be it music or any sound in your vicinity, sounds of nature or traffic, don’t miss out on anything. It’ll make you a better audio engineer.
- Ear fatigue is one of the biggest causes that leads to bad mixes. Don’t make that mistake, rest your ears and to have that liberty, develop a workflow that speeds up the process. Make sure you dedicate time to learn easier and faster methods to achieve the same result.
- Finally, choose Cheese Popcorn over Salted and I might end up mixing and mastering a track of yours for free!
Also, check out my post on What is Audio Compression – Know right to Mix Right!