Is There A Difference In A Producer vs Beat Maker If So What's Your Take On It?

A beatmaker is somebody who virtually just makes the beat, hands it in and is done with his part of the song. Most of us on here would fit under this title.

A producer is someone who will make the beat, develop the concept of the song or album, put his hand in how the song sounds mixing/mastering wise, oversee extra instrumentation if need be, things like that. Kanye West is a producer. The Neptunes are producers. Dr. Dre is a producer.

Nothing wrong with being either one, but that's how I see it. There are a lot of beatmakers who've had billboard hits.
 
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Most logical explanation

Hip Hop Producer/Beatmaker

Hip hop production is the creation of hip hop music. Though the term encompasses all aspects of hip hop music, it's most commonly used to refer to the instrumental, non-lyrical aspects of hip hop. This means that hip hop producers are the instrumentalists involved in a work. Modern hip hop production uses samplers, sequencers, drum machines, synthesizers, turntables, and live instrumentation. A hip hop instrumental is casually referred to as a beat, and a hip hop producer is casually referred to as a beatmaker. However, in the studio, a hip hop producer also functions as a traditional record producer, being the person who is ultimately responsible for the final sound of a recording.

Record Producer

A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording (i.e. "production") of an artist's music. A producer has many roles that may include, but are not limited to, gathering ideas for the project, selecting songs and/or musicians, coaching the artist and musicians in the studio, controlling the recording sessions, and supervising the entire process through mixing and mastering. Producers also often take on a wider entrepreneurial role, with responsibility for the budget, schedules, and negotiations

In Hip Hop the words "beatmaker" and "producer" are the same thing. This means if you make beats all day and just send them out to artist you are never in the studio with you are a producer. However you may not be the actual "Record" producer

A Record Producer is responsible for making records. They have a vision and through whatever means (hiring musicians, hiring songwriters, having someone else make the beat, ect) they turn that vision into an actual record.
 
There's a difference between an entire Album's "Executive Producer" and an individual song's "Producer". Their jobs vary as well. There is definitively no such thing as a "beatmaker". Closest thing to it would be a Drummer or Drum/sampler programmer, or keyboardist and they are creditted accordingly.

This subject is old and played at this point. If you've done enough that the EXECUTIVE PRODUCER of a project who oversees everything feels you produced the record in question and gives you credit for doing so, you "produced" the record. Whether all you did was email a beat or if you sat thru the entire process. Even Timbo, Dre, Pharrell, Max martin, ect. have "produced" records from thousands of miles away.
 
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A beatmaker.....makes beats.

A producer......navigates the recording process.

As a beatmaker, one should aspire to become a full fledged producer.
 
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^^^So what if you're a grammy winning Producer/Engineer/Financial advisor/Promotor, but the artist you email a beat to passes on all your services because his boy does his mixes and he don't have the budget to fly you out? Do you instantly become a "beatmaker"?

If not, then what difference does it make that you Can do all that stuff and the next man can't if you both have the same contribution to a musical work?

Folk are pretty illogical while trying to convince themselves you're supposed to be doing more.

Again, FACT. Definitively there is no such job title as "beatmaker". It's not just hip hop. Max Martin can make a "beat" for Pink and she can record to it without ever being in the room with him, he will be recognized in the credits that an exec oversees and confirms as the PRODUCER. But maybe we all know more than that exec over at Sony?
 
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^^^So what if you're a grammy winning Producer/Engineer/Financial advisor/Promotor, but the artist you email a beat to passes on all your services because his boy does his mixes and he don't have the budget to fly you out? Do you instantly become a "beatmaker"?

No, you're the producer, who made the beat.

I was speaking in terms of beatmakers who just just make beats and don't really ever have a hand in the recording process.

Again, FACT. Definitively there is no such job title as "beatmaker".

Even tho technically there is no "Beatmaker" title Ive heard plenty of "industry cats" refer to the guy who made the beat as the beatmaker.

Folk are pretty illogical while trying to convince themselves you're supposed to be doing more.

Being "just" a beatmaker is fine in my book, if all you want to do is make beats. To me, a beatmaker is more of a composer, a music arranger.

he will be recognized in the credits that an exec oversees and confirms as the PRODUCER.

Thats fine, but a producer IMO (as I stated before) has more of a hand in the entire recording process.
 
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^^^Even when he offers his input and it's turned down? This is a real world everyday scenario for majority of the "producers" getting constant work. Do you think Just Blaze or even B.M. Cox has "control over the room" in a session with Puff Daddy?

Not arguing, sometimes it seem like I'm typing aggressively, just having general convo. :cheers:
 
^^^Even when he offers his input and it's turned down? This is a real world everyday scenario for majority of the "producers" getting constant work. Do you think Just Blaze or even B.M. Cox has "control over the room" in a session with Puff Daddy?

Not arguing, sometimes it seem like I'm typing aggressively, just having general convo. :cheers:

I can dig it. Never no hard feelings in my direction. Its only music.

Deranged,
What I'm getting at is:

Lets say you sent in a beat to an artist and they take it to the a studio, at that studio the in house producer assists the artist in the direction of the song and records the artists music over it, who in your opinion is the producer?

The guy who made the beat, or the person who assisted in the production of the final product?

(IMO this is where the difference lies...)
 
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Do the titles matter if you're not getting paid according to the title...


I just made a beat... (with Rhino2)




... more

 
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I can dig it. Never no hard feelings in my direction. Its only music.

Deranged,
What I'm getting at is:

Lets say you sent in a beat to an artist and they take it to the a studio, at that studio the in house producer assists the artist in the direction of the song and records the artists music over it, who in your opinion is the producer?

The guy who made the beat, or the person who assisted in the production of the final product?

(IMO this is where the difference lies...)

The guy who made the beat is the producer. The guy who assisted in the recording is the executive producer (maybe. He might not even get any credit).
 
Like it was mentioned before: At times there are just beatmakers- (guy comes in with his MP,ASR or is rented already- lays down the beat and goes home-he's done- "The Beat Maker"
Then there are those who just hired the guy to make a beat and/or other musicians for the track and puts it all together (recording and mixing and mastering)- "the Producer"
Some Producers can do all the music them selves,record,mix, and master-(meaning totally involved in the whole process)
Executive producer is the $$$$ guy, and deals with legal issues
 
The guy who made the beat is the producer. The guy who assisted in the recording is the executive producer (maybe. He might not even get any credit).



Obviously the beatmaker who made the beat is the producer of that beat (no argument there) but whether he is or is not the producer of the song is where the uncertainty lies. I guess this is where split sheets come into play...to avoid this confusion?
 
I can dig it. Never no hard feelings in my direction. Its only music.

Deranged,
What I'm getting at is:

Lets say you sent in a beat to an artist and they take it to the a studio, at that studio the in house producer assists the artist in the direction of the song and records the artists music over it, who in your opinion is the producer?

The guy who made the beat, or the person who assisted in the production of the final product?

(IMO this is where the difference lies...)

This is indeed where paperwork comes into play, depending on his cpntribution the "in studio" guy could be anything from a co-writer to co-producer to arranger/vocal coordinator, ect. But the "guy who made the beat" will definitely get production credit, even if it's shared with the second guy.

I wonder if songwriters overclassify themselves, can you imagine? "A songwriter writes the song to a beat he's gotten from a BEATMAKER, demo records it, goes to the studio, and coaches the person singing it to make sure every note is hit perfectly. If all you do is send off an accapella demo and have someone resing it over a track they chose without being in the room, you're just a DEMOMAKER", lol.
 
This conversations keeps coming up because it's the same idea behind DOING Something versus every stage before actually doing it. It's as simple as that.

AFTER you DO SOMETHING you get to keep the title.
If you've never PRODUCED in any sense, you can't call yourself a producer.

You are not a SONG WRITER, until you've written something that has become a song.
You write Poetry before you are a POET.

Many make beats before they take the leap of producing something.
Many will make beats AFTER they have produced something.

When you say you are a Producer, you have to be able to answer the question of who/what have you produced. You can't say you're an actor and have someone ask "What have you acted in?"
And you say "Nothing yet, but I go over my lines every day".

"Oh, you're a producer? What did you produce?
Well, I haven't yet, but I make beats every day and someone on a forum said it's the same thing. By the way, I'm also a composer and master-extra-special-specialist."

Since it's possible to make beat, get a placement and NOT be listed as that songs producer and you can make beats for years without Producing anything, I don't see why there's the resistance to the idea of the two being separate.

Can you produce a song without making the beat?
What does the credit that reads Produced by XYZ and Music by EFG mean?
Yes, there is a distinction between proper album credits and our general understanding of these terms. We are all here for the beat making aspects of this forum. 99% seems to be about beats and very little seems to be from or about the record making process.
 
I just keep it simple if you make/produce beats you are a producer/beatmaker. If you are producing actual songs/records then you are a "record" producer.

A record producer does not need to know how to make beats usually in hip hop they do but if they don't usually they are the owner of a label/company and have the resources to get producers/songwriters, engineers and artist to work for him.

Ex.
The record producer has an idea for lil wayne and can actually get the record to him. He doesn't know a thing about making beats but knows what the final record should sound like. He tells one of his producer's that makes beats his vision for the record. The concept for the record is lil wayne being a martian blasting off to outer space (pretend phone home didn't exist lol).

He says he wants the beat to have a sci fi/ outerspace feel but make it in a way where the drums knock and its hip hop. Also add space ship sfx's through out the beat and a rocket launch countdown leading into the hook.

So after the beat is made to the record producer's liking he then gets one of his song writers to come up with a hook for the track. After that he gets one of his aritst to do the hook since his voice is similar to wayne's.

He has the engineer mix down the vocals and says he will be back to listen to the final product. He listens to the record and likes it so he sends it off to wayne.

Wayne likes the record and records the song with the record producer present for the session. The record producer is telling wayne how to flow on the beat and what type of energy to use for the verses through out the recording of the song (unrealistic lol but yeah). After the session is over a complete song/record is made minus the final mixing and mastering for the record.

In this case the actual guy making the beat is nothing more than a hired musician really even though the made/produced the beat he is not the producer of the record. He may get anything from co producer/co writer to additional programming/music by credits depending on the situation.

You have to actually have to be in the studio with artist to start really learning how to producing records. It's a whole different skill set knowing how to get the best takes out of artist, how much energy the artist should put in the chorus, how the artist should flow over the track, ect then how to make a beat.
 
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