noobie questions about music production/business

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wavygrvy

New member
im a noobie in the process of becoming a music a producer and i have a couple questions i hope you can answer about music production in general. Once my catalog of instrumentals is big enough/industry quality, i plan to produce for hip hop artists, and also in the future, pop artists.

ok so from my understanding, if you have a home studio you can record the song/vocals and mix it then send it for mastering, who pays for the track to go get mastered, the producer or artist? in my case, I cant record vocals at home i can only do beats/instrumentals, so will i, the producer, have to rent studio time? or does the artist split with me to go in the studio and record vocals over the beat/song? or does the label they are with with cover that? how does the producer get paid in this case? can someone break down how a producer gets paid for the track he/she made, like the bmi/ascap situation, what paperwork do i do? how do royalties work? what if you are the producer and song writer dont you get paid more?


my next question is about working with artists overseas/different cities, how does that work?
 
studio time is expensive.

Most people are at home producers I think.

You can make beats at home using things such as a DAW, Audio interface, VSTs, effects, and mastering equipment or VSTS.

You can send in your work to be mastered but from what I hear its expensive and they don't spend much time on it.
 
from my understanding:

Producer's duty: Make the beat -> have the beat mixed/mastered -> sell to the rapper

Rapper's duty: Buy the beat -> Rap on it (home studio or actual recording studio -> Have the final product mixed/mastered

I also know that alot of producers now are learning sound engineering and how to mix/master their own beat so they eliminate the step of having it mixed/mastered by an exterior source.
I'm not 100% sure if this is the process though but maybe someone else can give you a better answer.
 
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Yeh its the Producers job to mix and master the beat so its ready to sell to the customer (rapper). Thats all u need to worry about

Then when someone raps over it, its their duty to get the beat mastered with their lyrics.
 
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Well, in my opinion, you guys are stating what a BEAT MAKER does. A producer (historically - even in Hip Hop) produces the whole record. That's not to say that there aren't engineers for mixing and mastering though.

For instance, DJ Premier brings the emcee to his studio. Sits down, puts the beat together. Calls the emcee in to see if they like it. They site down and write. They record. They leave and wait in the lobby while Premier does his magic (usually scratches the hook at this stage, from what I understand), then he calls them back in later hear the finished product.

As a beat maker, which is what everyone seems to discuss above, it's very much a "I'll give you the beat, you do the rest" relationship.

To conclude: It all depends on how involved you want to be and you take it from there.
 
Yeh thats true. And DJ Premier is a very good example. He wil take a project from start to finish, with his MCs.
 
wavygrvy said:
Can anyone answer the business side to my question?
Click to expand...

What are the questions you want answered? I can bet the answers are already on the web if you just Google them! ASCAP and BMI questions will definitely be found with a search engine.

Most of the answers rely on the personal agreements you have and make. Like I said, it's up to you how you do your business. Whether you want to be a beat maker or a producer.

Same applies to how you want to get paid, who pays for the studio time, etc etc.

There are no set rules per se.
 
Ex 1: guy wants beat, i make one mix and master it, its done, what do i do before i sell it? as in should i copyright my song(s), what else?

Ex 2: lets say the guy is going to use it for a mixtape, do i have to register with bmi or ascap for something miniscule like that? what if the artist is serious and eventually gets popular? how do i get paid for that song? dont i get royalties for the instrumental?





you might think those are 'what-ifs' questions but just please answer if you know
 
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1) you would not master the track as it does not yet have the vocals on it. You do register the music 100% as your work with your PRO (BMI/ASCAP/SECAM/etc) and with the appropriate filings for recognition of copyright in your country of normal residence

2) you would do as you do for 1; the prospective income is not the the issue with this but the the fact that you are asserting your moral right to be recognised as the creator/author/composer of the specific work used

in any case you are a beat-maker or composer at best, never a producer - if your wee a producer you would also be involved in tracking the vocals and finalising the artistic vision for the track as a complete package
 
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