Where all the cats that take pride in they drumz at?

[LostProfit]

i take pride in beatmaking, i would never use someone else's premade rhythms or a break, or use the drumhits as they are... its too much fun in tweaking them..

im into dnb and experimental beats, and the beats are very important to me, i think im pretty good at programming my own breaks now.. but i can always learn more and get better... still pretty much new to processing the hits though..

you can check some of my beats, if you follow the link in my sig.. most are just ideas, there's a couple of almost finished tunes though..

oh! and i use an mpc

hmm....into amon tobin? cex?

Think I will check some of your music

hm..

 

[Cameron Thomas]

I use a little of my own tweaked drums as well as drums from people like elab, Zero-G, bangin' beats, etc.

One thing you need to understand is that sometimes other people can do a better job than you. I'm novice when it comes to sound design. I like tweaking my own drums and synth patches, etc. but sometimes I find kicks, snares, hats, etc. someone else has done that I like too. I'm not going to not use it just because I didn't design it.

Professional sound designers usually have more resources to shape sounds as well. Alot of them have analog processing that you just aren't going to find in your average home studio. I know elab has run alot of samples through the sp-1200 as well to give them that grit and punch. They usually tend to have nicer monitoring systems as well.

Too many people on this site think you need to create everthing from scratch, tweak everything as much as you can, don't loop, don't do this, blah blah blah. Just make some ****in' music. Enough with the rules. Like I said sometimes other people are better than yourself at certain things. You wouldn't start doing your own dental work at home would ya?

Another thing. Alot of cats like Dre and Timbo have sound designers. Don't think those drums you hear is from them sitting at home cutting up their own breaks and tweaking them in some wave editor. They have professionals who do that for them. The only difference between Dre's drums and a sample cd is that Dre's drums aren't available to anyone else.

 

[JuanJuanGiovann]

I feel what u saying

Sometimes drums are good just as is and can be used. But my thing is, don't call yourself a producer when all the drums in ya mpc are from banging beats or some royalty free loops website. At times if I feel like the kick is good as is, I'll mess with it and other times, I'll layer it with another kick. I'm not saying that every single drum in ya kit has to be yours but to me stuff like that seperates the real dudes who live and breath this from the dudes that are doing it cuz they saw a production video on youtube or cuz they think its the "it" thing to say u make beats.

 

[under_the_influence]

i just sample my drumbreaks straight into the asr and mess with them a bit to get them to sound right.....and thats it pain and simple.

 

[Cameron Thomas]

Sometimes drums are good just as is and can be used. But my thing is, don't call yourself a producer when all the drums in ya mpc are from banging beats or some royalty free loops website. At times if I feel like the kick is good as is, I'll mess with it and other times, I'll layer it with another kick. I'm not saying that every single drum in ya kit has to be yours but to me stuff like that seperates the real dudes who live and breath this from the dudes that are doing it cuz they saw a production video on youtube or cuz they think its the "it" thing to say u make beats.

So producers like Dre aren't real dudes because someone else designs his drums? lol. Come on. Don't be an elitest. The funny thing is that most of the people claiming you HAVE to create your own drums are the same dudes who sample vinyl. Nothing wrong with sampling vinyl but why do you do it? Could it be because the people who played those melodies or riffs are more talented musicians than yourself? Could it be that you like the sound that the engineers from the 70's provided?

I mean if you're going to be an elitest then you should really go out and at least purchase your own drum kit and sample your own drums. Lifting samples from vinyl does not make you anymore real than the dude who uses samples tweaked by a pro. Or you could get yourself a drum synth and synth all your own drums but you aren't gonna get that dirty grimmy sound that comes from breaks.

This is music an there aren't any rules. If I hear one shots I dig than I'm going to use them. If I want to create my own because I'm looking for a certain sound I'm going to do that. If I want to use a f*cking loop from a record because it sounds great in my track the way it is and doesn't need to be chopped I'm gonna do that. F*ck if I find a loop from a sample cd or even a download and it works with what I'm doing I'm gonna do that. If I like a synth preset why not use it? These rules are retarded. You wouldn't expect a guitar player to build his own guitar would you? Is he any less of a guitar player because he plays a PRS he picked up from G.C.

I dig custom sh*t and I'm all about DIY when I feel like I can do better than someone else has. I'm looking into building my own control surface so I can have functions that aren't already provided but I'm not gonna waste my time scrutinizing over everything I do. Rules hold back creativity period. Some of you dudes need to let go and focus more on the overall creativity of your tracks. If you sit and tweak drum sounds and synth patches all day you're a sound designer. Some of you are confusing these titles.

Producer
Sound Designer
Engineer

I do a little of all of them but.... I'll trust a profesional engineer over myself most of the time and in alot of cases I will trust a professional sound designer over my own sound design skills.

Do what you want to do but don't say that people are "less real" because they'd rather be making tracks than tweaking sounds. That's stupid.

 

[JuanJuanGiovann]

I wasn't talking about dre not being a real dude. In fact, if read a posts back, I was basically saying how great Dre's drums are. Second of all, chill da f*** out. Me personally, I don't sample so there u go talking out ya ass. What I was talking about in these posts is dudes whose whole arsenal of drums is from www.hiphopsamples.com or something of dat nature. When u download some drums, throw em in the daw, turn up the high end on the hats, throw some reverb on the snare, have fun with it. Come up with some sh** that can seperate u from the pack. Make em' all they can be. Ya whole tone is uncalled for so at this point u can suck a dick. You're an idiot and lets leave it that, okay prick. Everybody in this thread was discussing things respectfully until u popped up.

 

[Cameron Thomas]

I wasn't talking about dre not being a real dude. In fact, if read a posts back, I was basically saying how great Dre's drums are. Second of all, chill da f*** out. Me personally, I don't sample so there u go talking out ya ass. What I was talking about in these posts is dudes whose whole arsenal of drums is from www.hiphopsamples.com or something of dat nature. When u download some drums, throw em in the daw, turn up the high end on the hats, throw some reverb on the snare, have fun with it. Come up with some sh** that can seperate u from the pack. Make em' all they can be. Ya whole tone is uncalled for so at this point u can suck a dick. You're an idiot and lets leave it that, okay prick. Everybody in this thread was discussing things respectfully until u popped up.

hahaha ok now you've gone too far.

"But my thing is, don't call yourself a producer when all the drums in ya mpc are from banging beats or some royalty free loops website."

Remember that ****? Yeah homie. You're basically saying if you don't create your drums from scratch don't call yourself a producer....lol

That's when the disrespect started. Little f*ckin' elitest. I'm not even one of those cats who uses all royalty free drums but I know people who do and they are no less of a producer because of it.

Hmmmmmmm let's see. How about we do this. We listen to your tracks on your page and then we'll listen to mine. Now who's in more of a position to be saying what a producer is? I mean congratulations on tweaking your own drums that sound like complete ass.

Oh and while your at my page comparing my tracks to your own weak sh*t. Why don't you tell me which drums were tweaked from breaks, which are from sample cds and which are from the royalty free sites.

If you don't want to get chopped down don't come with your elitest attitude son.

 

[J Riddle]

WHOA!!!

This thread went to a whole new level from yesterday.

I tweak or layer my sounds just because I dont like using the same sound twice. I got so many discs full of sounds, some off the internet, some re-created, some sampled. If you think about it, thats what MAKES YOU AN EVEN BETTER PRODUCER. The idea of not limiting yourself to what sounds you use to create.

Now if you got somebody that creates music on nothing but hacked software, thats an example of someone that is not a real producer.

JuanJuanGiovann, I feel where you're coming from, but its really not that serious. By the way, I checked out the music on your my space page...

Just keep at it man. Thats all I'm a say. No hate intended.

 

[under_the_influence]

hahaha ok now you've gone too far.

"But my thing is, don't call yourself a producer when all the drums in ya mpc are from banging beats or some royalty free loops website."

Remember that ****? Yeah homie. You're basically saying if you don't create your drums from scratch don't call yourself a producer....lol

That's when the disrespect started. Little f*ckin' elitest. I'm not even one of those cats who uses all royalty free drums but I know people who do and they are no less of a producer because of it.

Hmmmmmmm let's see. How about we do this. We listen to your tracks on your page and then we'll listen to mine. Now who's in more of a position to be saying what a producer is? I mean congratulations on tweaking your own drums that sound like complete ass.

Oh and while your at my page comparing my tracks to your own weak sh*t. Why don't you tell me which drums were tweaked from breaks, which are from sample cds and which are from the royalty free sites.

If you don't want to get chopped down don't come with your elitest attitude son.

DAMN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THAT WAS SOME **** RIGHT THERE....

I THINK CAMERON HAS THE UPPER HAND IN PRODUCTION.....thats my vote.

 

[Bezo]

I hate sound design, but it's a necessary evil for me for a couple of reasons.

I'm from the day when using someone else's stuff was considered biting. But it's a new day, and some of the younger heads have a different set of morals & values. Like Jay-Z said, some respect the shooter, some respect the one that got shot.

Secondly, I build my drums around the sound of that particular tune. Some tunes require thick, effected drums, some require tighter, punchier drums, some require more/less bass in the kick, ect. I find that even when I try to use a kit I built previously, I have to tweak it.

Related to my first point, the traditional heads have to understand it's a different time. You have heads on Youtube bragging about how fast they can make a beat. If you're making beats in 5 minutes, you either don't count sound design and/or chopping time, or you're constantly recycling the same sounds. And how creative can you get in 5 minutes? The average tune is between 3-5 minutes. Think about that.

One thing you need to understand is that sometimes other people can do a better job than you. I'm novice when it comes to sound design. I like tweaking my own drums and synth patches, etc. but sometimes I find kicks, snares, hats, etc. someone else has done that I like too. I'm not going to not use it just because I didn't design it.

Sometimes? There's always someone that can do anything better. With this line of thinking, why play your own bass lines? Why find and chop your own samples? Why program? Why do anything? Just find the best elements already done and used them. Guaranteed fire.

Professional sound designers usually have more resources to shape sounds as well. Alot of them have analog processing that you just aren't going to find in your average home studio. I know elab has run alot of samples through the sp-1200 as well to give them that grit and punch. They usually tend to have nicer monitoring systems as well.

Again, there's always a better set up out there. What's sweet is being creative with what you have.

Too many people on this site think you need to create everthing from scratch, tweak everything as much as you can, don't loop, don't do this, blah blah blah. Just make some ****in' music.

How much of the music are you making though?

Enough with the rules.

There's only one rule. Don't bite.

Like I said sometimes other people are better than yourself at certain things. You wouldn't start doing your own dental work at home would ya?

Not on myself, but if I called myself a dentist, I'd do dental work.

Another thing. Alot of cats like Dre and Timbo have sound designers. Don't think those drums you hear is from them sitting at home cutting up their own breaks and tweaking them in some wave editor. They have professionals who do that for them. The only difference between Dre's drums and a sample cd is that Dre's drums aren't available to anyone else.

I don't care who does it, as long as it's someone and not some cookie cutter sh#t. If Dre or Timbo have the funds to pay someone to do some work, great. When they start using these online kits as is, that's when I'll lose respect.

I have no problem with people colaborating to get the best product. I have a problem with the cookie cutter mentality in today's hip hop. It's not about who does what. It's about being creative and original.

The funny thing is that most of the people claiming you HAVE to create your own drums are the same dudes who sample vinyl. Nothing wrong with sampling vinyl but why do you do it? Could it be because the people who played those melodies or riffs are more talented musicians than yourself? Could it be that you like the sound that the engineers from the 70's provided?

I alos have a lack of respect for those that sample and do nothing creative with their samples. Chop it, rearrange it, filter it... something.

I don't sample, but I appreciate the art form when someone gets creative with it.

I mean if you're going to be an elitest then you should really go out and at least purchase your own drum kit and sample your own drums. Lifting samples from vinyl does not make you anymore real than the dude who uses samples tweaked by a pro. Or you could get yourself a drum synth and synth all your own drums but you aren't gonna get that dirty grimmy sound that comes from breaks.

Except that a hip hop elitist doesn't have a problem with sampling. The genre was built on it.

This is music an there aren't any rules.

Some of us have just one rule, sometimes phrased differently. Don't bite, be creative, ect.

If I hear one shots I dig than I'm going to use them. If I want to create my own because I'm looking for a certain sound I'm going to do that. If I want to use a f*cking loop from a record because it sounds great in my track the way it is and doesn't need to be chopped I'm gonna do that. F*ck if I find a loop from a sample cd or even a download and it works with what I'm doing I'm gonna do that. If I like a synth preset why not use it? These rules are retarded. You wouldn't expect a guitar player to build his own guitar would you? Is he any less of a guitar player because he plays a PRS he picked up from G.C.

A guitar player is playing the notes himself. Even when someone does a cover, they enhance the melody, change the prasing, use a different rhythm, ect.

To borrow from your analogy, imagine a guitar player always using someone else's licks, with the same amp/cab/mic set up, with the same model guitar, ect. To me, that would be the equivelent of using someone else's sounds in hip hop.

I dig custom sh*t and I'm all about DIY when I feel like I can do better than someone else has.

Why are folks talking in terms of better? It's about being creative and original. Like I said above, there's always someone that can do every aspect of your beat better than you. How far do you take this theory? Are you jacking bass lines & melodies too that you feel are better than what you can do? At what point are you "settling" for what you can do?

Rules hold back creativity period.

That's funny. To me, it looks like the absence of the most basic rule is holding back creativity. Better yet, let me put this in question form.

Some of you dudes need to let go and focus more on the overall creativity of your tracks.

It's hip hop. The drum/percussion sounds are a big part of the the genre. Some think you shouldn't skip this aspect when being creative.

If you sit and tweak drum sounds and synth patches all day you're a sound designer. Some of you are confusing these titles

Producer
Sound Designer
Engineer.

You're being extreme. It doesn't take all day to design sounds.

I think you and others are confusing the terms. A producer is the person responsible for the sound of a tune. If you're not directing the aural outcome of these aspects, you're not producing these aspects. Simply programming the drums is performance/programming, no different than what a drummer in a band would get credit for. But the drummer is not the producer.

The producer is a sound designer. The producer is selecting mics, amps, preamps, maybe even suggesting certain instruments. He's basically in charge of shaping the sound. In hip hop this translates into sound design. You're obviously not selecting mics for the drums, or working on mic placement, but you're layering & filtering/EQing samples to get a particular sound.

Take a look at some credits when you get a chance. Take note of the tunes where the producer is NOT credited with the bass playing, keyboard playing ect. You'll see things like additional keys by...

Also take note of that producer's name in the writing credits. That's done because those things are separate. Not only is that producer responsible for the sound of the track, but he also composed it. 2 separate things.

...and in alot of cases I will trust a professional sound designer over my own sound design skills.

Nothing wrong with that, but where do your production skills come in? What are you doing to shape the sound of the track?

Do what you want to do but don't say that people are "less real" because they'd rather be making tracks than tweaking sounds. That's stupid.

I'd never question someone's realness, whatever that has to do with making music. But I will question someone's contributions to a tune. If you're only programming drums, than I'll respect you for that. If you're playing keyboards, bass, ect. I'll respect you for that. But if you're not shaping the sound of a track, I can't respect you as a producer, except on the aspects that you actually produced.

 

[Cameron Thomas]

^^^^

Ok let me reprhase it.

If you are a heart surgeon you aren't going to perform a nose job on yourself are ya?

This is getting taken too far. I make music. I use what I want to use when I want to use it.

Listen to my tracks. If you hear biting feel free to call me out on it.

 

[Xabiton]

Sometimes drums are good just as is and can be used. But my thing is, don't call yourself a producer when all the drums in ya mpc are from banging beats or some royalty free loops website. At times if I feel like the kick is good as is, I'll mess with it and other times, I'll layer it with another kick. I'm not saying that every single drum in ya kit has to be yours but to me stuff like that seperates the real dudes who live and breath this from the dudes that are doing it cuz they saw a production video on youtube or cuz they think its the "it" thing to say u make beats.

u make it sound like it takes a ton of effort to sample your own drums create kits and play with a few parameters. I prefer to sample my drums but don't act like your high and mighty kuz everyone else prefers to buy theirs lol. I personally find it to be a waste of money to buy them and I don't care for many of the kits.

 

[Cameron Thomas]

u make it sound like it takes a ton of effort to sample your own drums create kits and play with a few parameters. I prefer to sample my drums but don't act like your high and mighty kuz everyone else prefers to buy theirs lol. I personally find it to be a waste of money to buy them and I don't care for many of the kits.

Exactly. Do what you feel. Alot of the kits are garbage but I've found some real nice drum elements from sample cds and commercial kits that I mix and match. I don't really ever use a kit someone put together. I don't really use kits period. The drums I choose are different on each track I do. Some were cut from breaks, layered with machine samples, tweaked, some from sample cds, commercial kits, etc.

All I was saying is don't look down on someone if they use drum kits if the music they are making is creative and quality. That's just being too much of an elitest.

 

[Xabiton]

So producers like Dre aren't real dudes because someone else designs his drums? lol. Come on. Don't be an elitest. The funny thing is that most of the people claiming you HAVE to create your own drums are the same dudes who sample vinyl. Nothing wrong with sampling vinyl but why do you do it? Could it be because the people who played those melodies or riffs are more talented musicians than yourself? Could it be that you like the sound that the engineers from the 70's provided?

I mean if you're going to be an elitest then you should really go out and at least purchase your own drum kit and sample your own drums. Lifting samples from vinyl does not make you anymore real than the dude who uses samples tweaked by a pro. Or you could get yourself a drum synth and synth all your own drums but you aren't gonna get that dirty grimmy sound that comes from breaks.

This is music an there aren't any rules. If I hear one shots I dig than I'm going to use them. If I want to create my own because I'm looking for a certain sound I'm going to do that. If I want to use a f*cking loop from a record because it sounds great in my track the way it is and doesn't need to be chopped I'm gonna do that. F*ck if I find a loop from a sample cd or even a download and it works with what I'm doing I'm gonna do that. If I like a synth preset why not use it? These rules are retarded. You wouldn't expect a guitar player to build his own guitar would you? Is he any less of a guitar player because he plays a PRS he picked up from G.C.

I dig custom sh*t and I'm all about DIY when I feel like I can do better than someone else has. I'm looking into building my own control surface so I can have functions that aren't already provided but I'm not gonna waste my time scrutinizing over everything I do. Rules hold back creativity period. Some of you dudes need to let go and focus more on the overall creativity of your tracks. If you sit and tweak drum sounds and synth patches all day you're a sound designer. Some of you are confusing these titles.

Producer
Sound Designer
Engineer

I do a little of all of them but.... I'll trust a profesional engineer over myself most of the time and in alot of cases I will trust a professional sound designer over my own sound design skills.

Do what you want to do but don't say that people are "less real" because they'd rather be making tracks than tweaking sounds. That's stupid.

well put. people are dumb nowadays. they feel that u have to do all of this ish to be good. i program sounds because I cant find many presets I really like. i think more people should learn to program synths instead of buying a million of them to be cost effective but it dont make u any worse of a producer for using a bunch of presets if u really arent good at it

^^^^

Ok let me reprhase it.

If you are a heart surgeon you aren't going to perform a nose job on yourself are ya?

This is getting taken too far. I make music. I use what I want to use when I want to use it.

Listen to my tracks. If you hear biting feel free to call me out on it.

YOU BITER! COLD WAS MY BEAT AND U STOLE IT! I F*CKING HATE U, YOUR CAT AND YOUR MOM! lol not really have fun and make music people.

 

[Bezo]

If you are a heart surgeon you aren't going to perform a nose job on yourself are ya?

I don't get this one. Heart surgeons and plastic surgeons are not related in the same way. Heart surgeons and plastic surgoens work independently of one another. Sound designers take care of producer's functions. A producer is the person that shapes the sound of the tune. A sound designer does the same. If you're not doing the sound designing, only the arranging/programming/performance, then you're not producing. You're arranging/programming/performing.

Listen to my tracks. If you hear biting feel free to call me out on it.

It's not about what I can tell from listening to your tracks. It's about knowing what you do and respecting your contributions. The songs can be the best I've heard. If you tell me you played/programmed the parts, but didn't build the drum kit, design the bass, design the keys, ect. I wouldn't say you were a good producer. I'd say you were a good programmer, keyboard player, writer, ect. Nothing wrong with that IMO.

And let me clarify. I could care less how anyone makes their music. When it comes down to it, if it's hot, it's hot. I'm talking about what I would give someone respect/credit for. Like your analogy above, a heart surgeon wouldn't call himself a plastic surgeon. But people are claiming the producer title when they are not controling the sound of the tunes.

 

[Cameron Thomas]

I don't get this one. Heart surgeons and plastic surgeons are not related in the same way. Heart surgeons and plastic surgoens work independently of one another. Sound designers take care of producer's functions. A producer is the person that shapes the sound of the tune. A sound designer does the same. If you're not doing the sound designing, only the arranging/programming/performance, then you're not producing. You're arranging/programming/performing.

It's not about what I can tell from listening to your tracks. It's about knowing what you do and respecting your contributions. The songs can be the best I've heard. If you tell me you played/programmed the parts, but didn't build the drum kit, design the bass, design the keys, ect. I wouldn't say you were a good producer. I'd say you were a good programmer, keyboard player, writer, ect. Nothing wrong with that IMO.

And let me clarify. I could care less how anyone makes their music. When it comes down to it, if it's hot, it's hot. I'm talking about what I would give someone respect/credit for. Like your analogy above, a heart surgeon wouldn't call himself a plastic surgeon. But people are claiming the producer title when they are not controling the sound of the tunes.

Man you are digging way too far into this....lol

 

[Xabiton]

I don't get this one. Heart surgeons and plastic surgeons are not related in the same way. Heart surgeons and plastic surgoens work independently of one another. Sound designers take care of producer's functions. A producer is the person that shapes the sound of the tune. A sound designer does the same. If you're not doing the sound designing, only the arranging/programming/performance, then you're not producing. You're arranging/programming/performing.

It's not about what I can tell from listening to your tracks. It's about knowing what you do and respecting your contributions. The songs can be the best I've heard. If you tell me you played/programmed the parts, but didn't build the drum kit, design the bass, design the keys, ect. I wouldn't say you were a good producer. I'd say you were a good programmer, keyboard player, writer, ect. Nothing wrong with that IMO.

damn you must think there are a lot of wack people in this world as far as production goes. Especially because its only in electronic music (Hip Hop, R&B, Trance, House, Techno, ect) that the producers really play the music at all. To be quite honest I think most producers do not deal with sound design. If its hot its hot a great producer knows how to produce a great song.

 

[JuanJuanGiovann]

Sum of u have the wrong idea about this thread

It wasn't to say I'm better than you because I like to tweak my drums. It was basically relating to general idea that in hip hop, "the drums must knock". Ask any major producer and they'll tell u the drums gotta be right. Thats just hip hop, whether u get them offline and use em as is or throw em in ya daw and add a personal touch to them, or sample a breakbeat. Drums are a major part of hip hop production. J Dilla has his drums, Dre has his drums, Kanye has his drums, I have my drums, u have ya drums. Its all in the name of having fun with the music. I'm sure everybody has a kick that took them a while to give it such knock, or a crazy percussion sound that u got from throwing a hi filter on ya snare or a clap that we always use or gravitate towards. I'm not saying im spending 1 hour a night tweaking kicks and snares, Its just that personally, I enjoy doing that. I think at one point or another, evryone would enjoy that.

 

[Kossae]

Damn, some of you all seriously put a little too much thought into this. I have sounds collected from years and years. Some "my own" and most from kits. The way juan is talking about "sound designing" is throwing it into your sequencer, and adding effects. That's only enhancing the sound, not designing it. It's still not your sound just because you made it hit louder, or threw some crazy phaser effect or something on it. Effects are non-destructive, they only enhance, not change the waveform itself. So really, you don't even have your own sounds. Not that many "producers" period use their own sounds made from tweaking the waveform. As a matter of fact, you can listen to a lot of commercial beats and find generally some of the same sounds in each. That's not the producer/beat makers job. It's their job to take the sounds and make fire. It would be a huge waste of time if you were making a beat, had a nice creative flow going, and you realize wait... i have to throw this in the wave editor and spend hours tweaking it so I can throw it back into this beat. By that time, you're not going to even want to make the beat anymore. It's so much better to have sounds readily available to you, then use things such as layering and effects to make it sound different from the rest.

 

[Bezo]

damn you must think there are a lot of wack people in this world as far as production goes. Especially because its only in electronic music (Hip Hop, R&B, Trance, House, Techno, ect) that the producers really play the music at all. To be quite honest I think most producers do not deal with sound design. If its hot its hot a great producer knows how to produce a great song.

I do think there is a lot of bad music being made, but that opinion has nothing to do with this topic.

My point is that producers in the genres you mention play many roles. They produce by designing sounds and directing the overall sound of the song... layering drums, creating bass, keyboard, synth patches, ect... give the tune a cinematic sound, a live small club sound, ect. They write/compose... create melodies, harmonies. They program/perform... actually play pads/keyboards, triggering sounds/samples they created. Some even mix. But it's the sound designing and creating the overall sound of the tune that gives them the title PRODUCER. The other things they/we do are not part of producing. It's writing/composing, performing, arranging, programming, mixing, ect.

So, if you have someone esle doing sound design for you, and you're using those sounds as is, you are outsourcing at least some of the producing to that person.

And again, I don't think there's anything wrong with outsourcing anything. It usually makes for better music. Unless someone is extremely talented, I'm against one person trying to do everything. There aren't many musicians like Prince who can do everything from writing to performing to producing. All I'm saying is if you're a writer & performer, don't call yourself a producer... unless, of course, you're also producing.