Producing vs beat making

kasami08

New member
I wanted to address the difference between Writing and Producing. You got Track Makers that just only make beats, and then you got Producer's that see through the whole production process. A Beat Maker is technically a Songwriter esp ones that program, write and compose the oringal music from scratch chords and melodies, no sampling, there forth you wrote half a song the (Music). That's why they get Songwriting/Publishing royalties. The definition of a Songwriter is a Composer that writes Music or Lyrics in a song structure such as Intro, Verse, PreChours, Hook, Bridge, Outro etc. The Lyricist is the co-writer that wrote the Lyrics (words). Some times the Lyricist is the same person that writes the vocal melody. Many times the Lyricist is called the Top-liner in the music industry that toplines the instrumental composition or beat.

Now you have two types of Record Producer's. You have Producer's and then you have Producer/Songwriter's. The only difference between the two is one is heavily involved in Co-Writing and Arrangment process of songs such as the (Music) or (Lyrics) while the other is just the Director that brings everything together that has nothing to do with making beats or Co-Writing songs.

Producer/Songwriter's are guys like Pharrell Williams, Scott Storch, Timbaland, Bryan-Michael Cox, Rodney Jerkins, Dr. Dre, J.R Rotem etc that are Traditional Record Producer's that Co-Writes the music. They are basically wearing two hats as a Producer and a Songwriter which is why they get Songwriting and Production credits for both roles. Bryan-Michael Cox always mentions that he's Songwriter/Producer as he reffers to beat making as writing and composing music or (writing songs).

When these guys are making beats they are wearing the Songwriters hat that Co-Write songs such as the Music(Beat) while the Artist or a team of Co-Writers will top-line the beat, the Lyrics(words/vocal melody). When they aren't making beats, they are wearing Producer's hat that acts as your tradtional Record Producer like your Quincy Jones that colaborates with the Artist and Engineer in the studio that directs and oversees the overal vision of the finished record all the way down to the mix stage that gives feedback or input during the production process. Many times they may hire session musicians and string conductors to layer and fill in the arrangement from time to time as Scott Storch and Timbaland hired Larry Gold and the Southwest Chamber Orchestra that provided the string arragment for Justin Timberlake Cry Me A River. That's why these guys are called Producers in the first place because they are real Producer's like Quincy Jones not track makers that only just make beats. I believe this is where the confusion came from because most people never seen a video of Rodney Jenkins or Pharrell Williams in the studio sitting behind the mixing board talking through a Talk back monitor calling the shots that oversees and takes control of recording sessions. Most people just only saw them make beats and automatically assume that's what a Producer does and started calling themselves Producer's when in reality these guys are in fact wearing two hats.

This quote is from Scott Storch. "In terms of working with the artist or vocalist, you know its important to come back and stay through with that, if you're going to call yourself a producer on a track. You know, you don't want to be just a track maker. To be a Producer, you wanna follow through and you know, push the artist and get the best record possible because its only going to help you. A Real Producer sees the whole thing through and has input through the whole vision of the finished record, from you know, what melody is going to be on top, you know you, at least collaborate with some body on that, have an input on that, you know, sit there behind the board, trying to get a good vocals out of somebody, you know, or at least monitor the situations." - Scott Storch

Source: New Interview With Scott Storch 2015 Beat Camp

PRODUCER=DIRECTOR (MASTER RECORDING)
SONGWRITER=BEAT MAKING/LYRICIST (COMPOSITION)

Hope this all makes sense to you. CHEERS!
 
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I always knew that producers differ from beat makers but didn't exactly know where they differed, this post helped break new ground! Thanks
 
It totally makes sense. Thank you for putting the information all together, it makes it much clearer for me now! :)
 
Thanks for the insight, great breakdown of what a real producer is. Me and my label will use this.
 
Makes sense and I appreciated the read. Kinda complicated as you went in depth, thank you.

Love the tip for producers to stick with the record until its completion.
 
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