Editing Record producer

{{Short description|Individual supervising a musical project}}
{{redirect|Musical production|musical production in the sense of a live performance involving music and choreography|Musical theatre}}
{{use dmy dates |date=July 2022}}
{{infobox occupation
| name= Record producer
| official_names= Music producer, record producer
<!-- ----------Details----------------- -->
| type= [[Profession]]
| activity_sector= [[Music industry]]
| competencies= [[Musical instrument|Instrumental skills]], [[Keyboard instrument|keyboard knowledge]], [[arranging]], [[vocal coach]]ing
| formation=
| employment_field= [[Recording studio]]s
| related_occupation= [[Music executive]], [[audio engineering|recording engineer]], [[executive producer]], [[film producer]], [[Artists and repertoire|A&R]]
}}
A '''record producer''' or '''music producer''' is a music creating project's overall supervisor whose responsibilities can involve a range of creative and technical leadership roles. Typically the job involves hands-on oversight of recording sessions; ensuring artists deliver acceptable and quality performances, supervising the technical engineering of the recording, and coordinating the production team and process. The producer's involvement in a musical project can vary in depth and scope. Sometimes in popular genres the producer may create the recording's entire sound and structure.<ref name="Moorefield-2010">{{cite book | last=Moorefield | first=V. |authorlink=Virgil Moorefield |chapter=Introduction | title=The Producer as Composer: Shaping the Sounds of Popular Music | publisher=MIT Press  | year=2010 | isbn=978-0-262-26101-2 | chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=L3dpT-V6m4kC&pg=PR13 | page=13}}</ref>{{sfn|Burgess | 2014 | page=13}}<ref name="Watson-2014">{{cite book | last=Watson | first=A. | title=Cultural Production in and Beyond the Recording Studio | publisher=Taylor & Francis | series=Routledge Studies in Human Geography | year=2014 | isbn=978-1-135-00631-0 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=snqQBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA25  | page=25}}</ref> However, in classical music recording, for example, the producer serves as more of a liaison between the conductor and the engineering team. The role is often likened to that of a [[film director]] though there are important differences.<ref name="Moorefield-2010" /><ref name="Watson-2014" /> It is distinct from the role of an [[executive producer]], who is mostly involved in the recording project on an administrative level, and from the [[audio engineer]] who operates the recording technology.

Varying by project, the producer may or may not choose all of the artists.<ref>{{cite web | title=Music Production: What Does a Music Producer Do? | website=Recording Connection | date=2022-06-23 | url=https://recordingconnection.com/reference-library/what-does-a-music-producer-do/}}</ref><ref name="Watson-2014" /> If employing only [[Synthesizer|synthesized]] or [[Sampling (music)|sampled]] instrumentation, the producer may be the sole artist.<ref name="Watson-2014" /> Conversely, some artists do their own production.<ref name="Watson-2014" /> Some producers are their own engineers,<ref>{{cite web | title=What does a music producer do, anyway ? | website=Production Advice | date=2009-02-26 | url=https://productionadvice.co.uk/what-is-a-producer/ }}</ref> operating the technology across the project: preproduction, recording, [[Audio mixing (recorded music)|mixing]], and [[Audio mastering|mastering]]. Record producers' precursors were "A&R men", who likewise could blend entrepreneurial, creative, and technical roles,{{sfn|Burgess | 2014 | page=13}} but often exercised scant creative influence,{{sfn | Ward | Huber | 2018 | p=300}} as record production still focused, into the 1950s, on simply improving the record's sonic match to the artists' own live performance.<ref name="Watson-2014" />

Advances in recording technology, especially the 1940s advent of [[tape recording]]—which [[Les Paul]] promptly innovated further to develop [[multitrack recording]]<ref name="Hurtig" />—and the 1950s rise of electronic instruments, turned record production into a specialty.<ref name="Watson-2014" /> In popular music, then, producers like [[George Martin]], [[Phil Spector]] and [[Brian Eno]] led its evolution into its present use of elaborate techniques and unrealistic sounds, creating songs impossible to originate live.<ref name="Moorefield-2010" /><ref name="Kot-2016">{{cite web | last=Kot | first=Greg |authorlink=Greg Kot | title=What does a record producer do? | website=BBC Home | date=2016-03-10 | url=https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20160310-what-does-a-record-producer-do }}</ref> After the 1980s, production's move from analog to digital further expanded possibilities.<ref name="Watson-2014" /> By now, DAWs, or [[digital audio workstation]]s, like [[Logic Pro]],  [[Pro Tools]] and [[Studio One (software)|Studio One]], turn an ordinary computer into a production console,<ref name="Kadis-2013">{{cite web |first=Jay |last=Kadis |url=https://ccrma.stanford.edu/courses/192b/ProTools-Logic%20Lec.pdf |title=Digital audio workstations |website= [[Center for computer research in music and acoustics|Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics]], [[Stanford University]] |year=2006–2013 |accessdate=11 Sep 2020}}</ref><ref name="Joseph-2016" /> whereby a solitary novice can become a skilled producer in a thrifty home studio.{{sfn|Burgess | 2013 | page=199}}<ref name="Newman-2018">{{cite magazine | last=Newman | first=Melinda | title=Where Are All the Female Music Producers? | magazine=Billboard | date=2018-01-19 | url=https://www.billboard.com/pro/female-music-producers-industry-grammy-awards/ }}</ref> In the 2010s, efforts began to increase the prevalence of producers and engineers who are women, heavily outnumbered by men and prominently accoladed only in classical music.{{sfn|Burgess | 2013 | page=199}}<ref name="Hertweck-2019">{{cite web |first=Nate |last=Hertweck |url=https://www.grammy.com/news/recording-academy-task-force-diversity-and-inclusion-announces-initiative-expand |title=Recording Academy Task Force On Diversity and Inclusion announces initiative to expand opportunities for female producers and engineers |website=Grammy.com|date=1 Feb 2019}}</ref>
[[File:Beatles and George Martin in studio 1966.JPG|thumb|right|Music producer [[Sir George Martin]], best known for his work with [[the Beatles]], pictured with members [[George Harrison]], [[Paul McCartney]] and [[John Lennon]] at a recording session at [[Abbey Road Studios|Abbey Road]] in 1966]]

== Production overview ==

As a broad project, the creation of a popular music recording may be split across three specialists: the [[music executive|executive producer]], who oversees business partnerships and financing; the vocal producer or vocal arranger, who aids vocal performance via expert critique and coaching of vocal technique, and the record producer or music producer, who, often called simply the producer, directs the overall creative process of recording the song in its final mix.

The producer's roles can include gathering ideas, composing music, choosing [[session musician]]s, proposing changes to song arrangements, coaching the performers, controlling sessions, supervising the [[audio mixing (recorded music)|audio mixing]], and, in some cases, supervising the [[audio mastering]]. A producer may give creative control to the artists themselves, taking a supervisory or advisory role instead. As to qualifying for a [[Grammy]] nomination, the [[The Recording Academy|Recording Academy]] defines a producer:{{sfn|Burgess | 2014 | page=13}}

The person who has overall creative and technical control of the entire recording project, and the individual recording sessions that are part of that project. He or she is present in the recording studio or at the location recording and works directly with the artist and engineer. The producer makes creative and aesthetic decisions that realize both the artist's and label's goals in the creation of musical content. Other duties include, but are not limited to: keeping budgets and schedules; adhering to deadlines; hiring musicians, singers, studios, and engineers; overseeing other staffing needs; and editing (Classical projects).

The producer often selects and collaborates with a mixing engineer, who focuses on the especially technological aspects of the recording process, namely, operating the electronic equipment and blending the raw, recorded tracks of the chosen performances, whether vocal or instrumental, into a ''mix'', either stereo or surround sound. Then a mastering engineer further adjusts this recording for distribution on the chosen media. A producer may work on only one or two songs or on an artist's entire album, helping develop the album's overall vision. The record producers may also take on the role of executive producer, managing the budget, schedules, contracts, and negotiations.

== Historical developments ==

=== A&R team ===

'''(Artists and Repertoires)'''

In the 1880s, the record industry began by simply having the artist perform at a [[phonograph]].<ref name="Thompson-2016">{{cite web | last=Thompson | first=Clive |authorlink=Clive Thompson (journalist) | title=How the Phonograph Changed Music Forever | website=Smithsonian Magazine | date=2016-01-06 | url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/phonograph-changed-music-forever-180957677/ }}</ref> In 1924, the trade journal ''[[Talking Machine World]]'', covering the phonography and record industry, reported that Eddie King, [[Victor Records]]' manager of the "New York [[Artists and repertoire|artist and repertoire]] department", had planned a set of recordings in Los Angeles.{{sfn | Ward | Huber | 2018 | p=41}} Later, folklorist [[Archie Green]] called this perhaps the earliest printed use of ''A&R man''.{{sfn | Ward | Huber | 2018 | p=41}} Actually, it says neither "A&R man" nor even "A&R", an initialism perhaps coined by ''[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]'' magazine in 1946, and entering wide use in the late 1940s.{{sfn | Ward | Huber | 2018 | p=41}}

In the 1920s and 1930s, A&R executives, like [[Ben Selvin]] at [[Columbia Records]], [[Nathaniel Shilkret]] at Victor Records, and Bob Haring at [[Brunswick Records]] became the precursors of record producers, supervising recording and often leading session orchestras.{{sfn | Ward | Huber | 2018 | p=300}} During the 1940s, [[major record label]]s increasingly opened official A&R departments, whose roles included supervision of recording.{{sfn | Ward | Huber | 2018 | p=41}} Meanwhile, independent recording studios opened, helping originate ''record producer'' as a specialty.{{Citation needed|date=July 2020}} But despite a tradition of some A&R men writing music, ''record production'' still referred to just the manufacturing of record discs.{{sfn | Ward | Huber | 2018 | p=300}}

=== Record producers ===

After [[World War II]], pioneering A&R managers who transitioned influentially to record production as now understood, while sometimes owning independent labels, include [[J. Mayo Williams]] and [[John Hammond (record producer)|John Hammond]].{{sfn | Ward | Huber | 2018 | p=300}} Upon moving from Columbia Records to [[Mercury Records]], Hammond appointed [[Mitch Miller]] to lead Mercury's popular recordings in New York.{{sfn | Ward | Huber | 2018 | p=300}} Miller then produced country-pop crossover hits by [[Patti Page]] and by [[Frankie Laine]], moved from Mercury to Columbia, and became a leading A&R man of the 1950s.{{sfn | Ward | Huber | 2018 | p=300}}

During the decade, A&R executives increasingly directed songs' sonic signatures, although many still simply teamed singers with musicians, while yet others exercised virtually no creative influence.{{sfn | Ward | Huber | 2018 | p=300}} The term ''record producer'' in its current meaning—the creative director of song production—appearing in a 1953 issue of ''[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]'' magazine, became widespread in the 1960s.{{sfn | Ward | Huber | 2018 | p=300}} Still, a formal distinction was elusive for some time more.{{sfn | Ward | Huber | 2018 | p=300}} A&R managers might still be creative directors, like [[William "Mickey" Stevenson]], hired by [[Berry Gordy]], at the [[Motown]] record label.{{sfn | Ward | Huber | 2018 | p=283}}

=== Tape recording ===

In 1947, the American market gained audio recording onto magnetic tape.<ref>{{cite book |first=Jim |last=Curtis |title=Rock Eras: Interpretation of Music & Society, 1954–1984 |location=Bowling Green, OH |publisher=[[Bowling Green State University]] Popular Press |year=1987 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=F0xAUXaBYqoC&dq=world&pg=PA43 |page= 43|isbn=978-0-87972-369-9 }}</ref> At the record industry's 1880s dawn, rather, recording was done by [[phonograph]], etching the sonic waveform vertically ''into'' a cylinder.{{sfn|Burgess | 2014 | page=50}} By the 1930s, a gramophone etched it laterally ''across'' a disc.<ref name="Philip-1998">{{cite book |first=Robert |last=Philip |chapter=Pianists on record in the early twentieth century | editor-last=Rowland | editor-first=D. | title=The Cambridge Companion to the Piano | publisher=Cambridge University Press | series=Cambridge Companions to Music | year=1998 | isbn=978-0-521-47986-8 | chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kEy1MRsnVHIC&pg=PA75 | page=75}}</ref> Constrained in tonal range, whether bass or treble, and in [[dynamic range]], records made a grand, concert piano sound like a small, upright piano, and maximal duration was four and a half minutes.<ref name="Thompson-2016" /><ref name="Philip-1998" /> Selections and performance were often altered accordingly, and playing this disc—the wax master—destroyed it.<ref name="Philip-1998" /> The finality often caused anxiety that restrained performance to prevent error.<ref name="Philip-1998" /> In the 1940s, during World War II, the Germans refined audio recording onto magnetic tape—uncapping recording duration and allowing immediate playback, rerecording, and editing—a technology that premised emergence of record producers in their current roles.<ref name="Philip-1998" />

=== Multitrack recording ===

Early in the recording industry, a record was attained by simply having all of the artists perform together live in one take.{{sfn|Burgess | 2014 | page=50}} In 1945,<ref name="Hurtig">{{cite book | last=Hurtig | first=B. | title=Multi-Track Recording for Musicians | publisher=Alfred Music Publishing | isbn=978-1-4574-2484-7 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ByJG1iwUHBAC&pg=PA8 | page=8}}</ref> by recording a musical element while playing a previously recorded record, [[Les Paul]] developed a recording technique called "sound on sound".{{sfn|Burgess | 2014 | page=50}} By this, the final recording could be built piece by piece and tailored, effecting an editing process.{{sfn|Burgess | 2014 | page=50}} In one case, Paul produced a song via 500 recorded discs.{{sfn|Burgess | 2014 | page=50}} But, besides the tedium of this process, it serially degraded the sound quality of previously recorded elements, rerecorded as ambient sound.{{sfn|Burgess | 2014 | page=50}} Yet in 1948, Paul adopted tape recording, enabling true multitrack recording by a new technique, "[[overdubbing]]".{{sfn|Burgess | 2014 | page=50}}

To enable overdubbing, Paul revised the tape recorder itself by adding a second playback head, and terming it the ''preview head''.<ref name="Hurtig" /> Joining the preexisting recording head, erase head, and playback head, the preview head allows the artist to hear the extant recording over headphones playing it in synchrony, "in sync", with the present performance being recorded alone on an isolated track.<ref name="Hurtig" /> This isolation of multiple tracks enables countless mixing possibilities. Producers began recording initially only the "bed tracks"—the [[rhythm section]], including the [[bassline]], drums, and rhythm guitar—whereas vocals and instrument solos could be added later. A [[horn section]], for example, could record a week later, and a [[string section]] another week later. A singer could perform her own backup vocals, or a guitarist could play 15 layers.

=== Electronic instruments ===

[[File:Phil Spector with MFQ 1965.png|thumb|right|[[Phil Spector]] producing [[Modern Folk Quartet]], 1966]]Across the 1960s, popular music increasingly switched from acoustic instruments, like [[piano]], [[upright bass]], [[acoustic guitar]], and [[brass instrument]]s, to electronic instruments, like [[electric guitar]]s, [[Keyboard (musical instrument)|keyboards]], and [[synthesizer]]s, employing [[instrument amplifier]]s and speakers. These could mimic acoustic instruments or create utterly new sounds. Soon, by combining the capabilities of tape, [[multitrack recording]], and electronic instruments, producers like [[Phil Spector]], [[George Martin]], and [[Joe Meek]] rendered sounds unattainable live.<ref name="Kot-2016" /> Similarly, in [[jazz fusion]], [[Teo Macero]], producing [[Miles Davis]]'s 1970 album ''[[Bitches Brew]]'', spliced sections of extensive improvisation sessions.

=== Performer-producer ===
{{Unreferenced section |date=July 2020}}
[[File:Brian Wilson Pet Sounds 3.jpg|left|thumb|[[Brian Wilson]] during a recording session, 1966]]
In the 1960s, rock acts like [[the Beatles]], [[the Rolling Stones]], and [[the Kinks]] produced some of their own songs,<ref>{{Cite web |title=John Lennon & Paul McCartney Interview: The Tonight Show, May 14th 1968 - Beatles Interviews Database |url=http://www.beatlesinterviews.org/db1968.05ts.beatles.html |access-date=2025-04-15 |website=www.beatlesinterviews.org}}</ref> although many such songs are officially credited to specialist producers. Yet especially influential was [[the Beach Boys]], whose band leader [[Brian Wilson]] took over from his father [[Murry Wilson|Murry]] within a couple of years after the band's commercial breakthrough. By 1964, Wilson had taken Spector's techniques to unseen sophistication. Wilson alone produced all Beach Boys recordings between 1963 and 1967. Using multiple studios and multiple attempts of instrumental and vocal tracks, Wilson selected the best combinations of performance and audio quality, and used tape editing to assemble a composite performance.

=== Digital production ===
The 1980s advent of digital processes and formats rapidly replaced analog processes and formats, namely, tape and [[Phonograph record|vinyl]]. Although recording onto quality tape, at least half an inch wide and traveling 15 inches per second, had limited "tape hiss" to silent sections, digital's higher [[signal-to-noise ratio]], SNR, abolished it.<ref name="Simmons-2006" /> Digital also imparted to the music a perceived "pristine" sound quality, if also a loss of analog recordings' perceived "warm" quality and better-rounded bass.<ref name="Simmons-2006">{{cite book |first=David |last=Simmons |title=Analog Recording: Using Analog Gear in Today's Home Studio |location=San Francisco |publisher=[[Backbeat Books]] |year=2006 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gYuMOUYwgvIC&dq=tape+digital+analog&pg=PA26 |pages=26–27 | isbn=978-0-87930-864-3}}</ref> Yet whereas editing tape media requires physically locating the target audio on the ribbon, cutting there, and splicing pieces, editing digital media offers inarguable advantages in ease, efficiency, and possibilities.

In the 1990s, digital production reached affordable home computers via production software. By now, recording and mixing are often centralized in DAWs, [[digital audio workstation]]s—for example, [[Pro Tools]], [[Logic Pro]], [[Ableton Live|Ableton]], [[Steinberg Cubase|Cubase]], [[Reason (software)|Reason]], and [[FL Studio]]—for which [[plug-in (computing)|plugins]], by third parties, effect [[Virtual Studio Technology|virtual studio technology]].<ref name="Kadis-2013" /> DAWs fairly standard in the industry are Logic Pro and Pro Tools.<ref name="Joseph-2016">{{cite web |first=Kiesha |last=Joseph |url=http://blog.first.edu/audio-recording-software-avid-pro-tools-vs-apple-logic-pro-x |title=Audio recording software: Avid Pro Tools vs. Apple Log Pro X |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180811031857/http://blog.first.edu/audio-recording-software-avid-pro-tools-vs-apple-logic-pro-x/ |archive-date=11 August 2018 |website= F.I.R.S.T. Institute |date=11 Feb 2016}}</ref> Physical devices involved include the main mixer, [[MIDI]] controllers to communicate among equipment, the recording device itself, and perhaps effects gear that is outboard. Yet literal recording is sometimes still analog, onto tape, whereupon the raw recording is [[Analog-to-digital converter|converted to a digital signal]] for processing and editing, as some producers still find audio advantages to recording onto tape.<ref name="Simmons-2006" />

Conventionally, tape is more forgiving of [[overmodulation]], whereby dynamic peaks exceed the maximal recordable signal level: tape's limitation, a physical property, is magnetic capacity, which tapers off, smoothing the overmodulated waveform even at a signal nearly 15 decibels too "hot", whereas a digital recording is ruined by harsh distortion of "[[Clipping (audio)|clipping]]" at any overshoot.<ref name="Simmons-2006" /> In digital recording, however, a recent advancement, [[32-bit floating point|32-bit float]], enables DAWs to undo clipping.<ref>{{cite web | first=Matthew | last=Allard | title=Sound Devices MixPre V6.00 adds 32-bit float USB audio streaming | website=Newsshooter | date=2020-01-15 | url=https://www.newsshooter.com/2020/01/15/sound-devices-mixpre-v6-00-adds-32-bit-float-usb-audio-streaming/ |quote= "With 32-bit float, you no longer need to worry about clipping during your best vocal takes or instrument solos. Any recorded moments exceeding 0 [[dBFS]] can be reduced to an acceptable level, after recording, in your DAW"}}</ref> Still, some criticize digital instruments and workflows for excess automation, allegedly impairing creative or sonic control.<ref>{{cite journal | last=Zak | first=Albin J. | title=Review of Timothy D. Taylor. 2001. Strange Sounds: Music, Technology, and Culture. New York: Routledge | journal=Current Musicology | date=2002-09-29 | issue=74 | doi=10.7916/CM.V0I74.4910}}</ref> In any case, as production technology has drastically changed, so have the knowledge demands,<ref>{{cite journal | last1=Pras | first1=Amandine | last2=Cance | first2=Caroline | last3=Guastavino | first3=Catherine | title=Record Producers' Best Practices For Artistic Direction—From Light Coaching To Deeper Collaboration With Musicians | journal=Journal of New Music Research | volume=42 | issue=4 | date=2013 | issn=0929-8215 | doi=10.1080/09298215.2013.848903 | pages=381–395}}</ref> although DAWs enables novices, even teenagers at home, to learn production independently.{{sfn|Burgess | 2013 | page=199}} Some have attained professional competence before ever working with an artist.<ref name="Newman-2018" />

== Women in producing ==

[[File:Audio mixer faders.jpg|thumb|upright|Mixing console]]Among female record producers, [[Sylvia Moy]] was the first at [[Motown]], [[Gail Davies]] the first on Nashville's [[Music Row]], and [[Ethel Gabriel]], with [[RCA Records|RCA]], the first at a [[major record label]]. [[Lillian McMurry]], owning [[Trumpet Records]], produced influential [[blues]] records. Meanwhile, [[Wilma Cozart Fine]] produced hundreds of records for [[Mercury Records]]' classical division. For classical production, three women have won Grammy awards, and [[Judith Sherman]]'s 2015 win was her fifth.<ref name="Newman-2018" /> Yet in nonclassical, no woman has won [[Grammy Award for Producer of the Year, Non-Classical|Producer of the Year]], awarded since 1975 and only one even nominated for a record not her own, Linda Perry.<ref name="Leight-2018" /> After [[Lauren Christy]]'s 2004 nomination, [[Linda Perry]]'s 2019 nomination was the next for a woman.<ref name="Leight-2018">{{cite magazine | last=Leight | first=Elias | title=Linda Perry's Grammy Nomination 'Is a Win for all Women Producers and Engineers' | magazine=Rolling Stone | date=2018-12-07 | url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/linda-perry-grammy-nomination-producer-year-766036/ }}</ref> On why no woman had ever won it, Perry commented, "I just don't think there are that many women interested."<ref name="Newman-2018" /> In the U.K., [[Lynsey de Paul]] was an early female record producer, having produced both of her Ivor Novello award-winning songs.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.famousfix.com/list/british-women-record-producers|title=List of British women record producers - FamousFix List|website=FamousFix.com}}</ref>

Across the decades, many female artists have produced their own music. For instance, artists [[Kate Bush]], [[Madonna]], [[Mariah Carey]], [[Shakira]], [[Janet Jackson]], [[Beyoncé]] (even that of [[Destiny's Child]] and [[the Carters]]), [[Lana Del Rey]], [[Taylor Swift]], and [[Lorde]] have produced or coproduced{{sfn|Burgess | 2013 | page=199}}<ref>{{cite web |first=Chris |last=Casetti |url=http://www.vh1.com/news/306607/triple-threats-13-female-singers-who-write-and-produce-their-own-work |title=Triple threats: 13 female singers who write and produce their own work |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180920122513/http://www.vh1.com/news/306607/triple-threats-13-female-singers-who-write-and-produce-their-own-work/ |archive-date=20 September 2018 |website=[[Vh1.com|VH1.com]] |date=21 Mar 2017}}</ref> and [[Ariana Grande]] who produces and arranges her vocals as well as being an audio engineer.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Ariana Grande Reveals Complex Vocal Arrangements That Went Into Recording 'Positions'|url=https://variety.com/2021/music/news/ariana-grande-vocals-positions-recording-video-1234945167/|publisher=Variety|access-date=April 6, 2021}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Ariana Grande Breaks Down How She Made Her "Stuck With U" Vocals|date=15 May 2020 |url=https://www.nylon.com/entertainment/ariana-grande-vocal-lesson|publisher=Nylon|access-date=May 15, 2020}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Q&A: Ariana Grande on 'Yours Truly' and Judging Miley Cyrus|date=11 September 2013|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/qa-ariana-grande-on-yours-truly-and-judging-miley-cyrus-190517/|publisher=Rolling Stone| access-date=September 11, 2013}}</ref> Still among specialists, despite some prominent women, including [[Missy Elliott]] in hip hop and [[Sylvia Massy]] in rock, the vast majority have been men.{{sfn|Burgess | 2013 | page=199}} Early in the 2010s, asked for insights that she herself had gleaned as a woman who has specialized successfully in the industry, Wendy Page remarked, "The difficulties are usually very short-lived. Once people realize that you can do your job, sexism tends to lower its ugly head."{{sfn|Burgess | 2013 | page=199}} Still, when tasked to explain her profession's sex disparity, Page partly reasoned that record labels, dominated by men, have been, she said, "mistrustful of giving a woman the reins of an immense, creative project like making a record."{{sfn|Burgess | 2013 | page=199}} Ultimately, the reasons are multiple and not fully clear, although prominently proposed factors include types of sexism and scarcity of female role models in the profession.<ref name="Newman-2018" />

Women producers known for producing records not their own include Sonia Pottinger, Sylvia Robinson and Carla Olson.

In January 2018, a research team led by Stacy L. Smith, founder and director of the [[Annenberg Foundation|Annenberg]] Inclusion Initiative,<ref>{{cite web | title=Stacy L. Smith | website=USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism | date=2020-09-10 | url=https://annenberg.usc.edu/faculty/stacy-l-smith }}</ref> based in the [[USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism]],<ref name="Stereotyped">{{cite web | title=Stereotyped, sexualized and shut out: The plight of women in music | website=USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism | date=2019-02-05 | url=https://annenberg.usc.edu/news/research-and-impact/stereotyped-sexualized-and-shut-out-plight-women-music }}</ref> issued a report,<ref>{{cite report |first1=Stacy L. |last1=Smith |first2=Marc |last2=Choueiti |first3=Katherine |last3=Pieper |first4=Ariana |last4=Case |first5=Sylvia |last5=Villanueva |first6=Ozodi |last6=Onyeabor |first7=Dorga |last7=Kim |url=http://assets.uscannenberg.org/docs/inclusion-in-the-recording-studio.pdf |title=Inclusion in the recording studio? Gender and race/ethnicity of artists, songwriters & producers across 600 popular songs from 2012–2017 |series=Annenberg Inclusion Initiative |publisher=University of Southern California |date=25 Jan 2018}}</ref> estimating that in the prior several years, about 2% of popular songs' producers were female.<ref name="Hertweck-2019" /> Also that month, ''[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]'' magazine queried, "Where are all the female music producers?"<ref name="Newman-2018" /> Upon the Annenberg Inclusion Initiative's second annual report, released in February 2019,<ref>{{cite report |first1=Stacy L. |last1=Smith |first2=Marc |last2=Choueiti |first3=Katherine |last3=Pieper |first4=Hannah |last4=Clark |first5=Ariana |last5=Case |first6=Sylvia |last6=Villanueva |url=http://assets.uscannenberg.org/docs/aii-inclusion-recording-studio-2019.pdf |title=Inclusion in the recording studio? Gender and race/ethnicity of artists, songwriters & producers across 700 popular songs from 2012–2018 |series=Annenberg Inclusion Initiative |publisher=University of Southern California |date=Feb 2019}}</ref> its department at USC reported, "2018 saw an outcry from artists, executives and other music industry professionals over the lack of women in music" and "the plight of women in music", where women were allegedly being "stereotyped, sexualized, and shut out".<ref name="Stereotyped" /> Also in February 2019, the [[The Recording Academy|Recording Academy]]'s Task Force on Diversity and Inclusion announced an initiative whereby over 200 artists and producers—ranging from [[Cardi B]] and [[Taylor Swift]] to [[Maroon 5]] and [[Quincy Jones]]—agreed to consider at least two women for each producer or engineer position.<ref name="Hertweck-2019" /> The academy's website, ''Grammy.com'', announced, "This initiative is the first step in a broader effort to improve those numbers and increase diversity and inclusion for all in the music industry."<ref name="Hertweck-2019" />

== See also ==
{{portal|Record production|Business and economics|Music}}
* [[Audio engineering]]
* [[Electronic music]]
* [[Hip hop production]]
* [[Music executive]]
* [[Musician]]

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== Further reading ==
* {{cite book | last=Burgess | first=R.J. |authorlink=Richard James Burgess | title=The Art of Music Production: The Theory and Practice | publisher=Oxford University Press | year=2013 | isbn=978-0-19-935932-5 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lWEUAAAAQBAJ}}
* {{cite book | last=Burgess | first=R.J. | title=The History of Music Production | publisher=Oxford University Press | year=2014 | isbn=978-0-19-935716-1 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZeISDAAAQBAJ}}
* {{cite book|editor-last=Edmondson|editor-first=Jacqueline|title=Music in American Life: An Encyclopedia of the Songs, Styles, Stars, and Stories that Shaped our Culture|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TQPXAQAAQBAJ|year=2013|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-0-313-39348-8}}
* {{cite book | last1=Gibson | first1=David | last2=Curtis | first2=Maestro |authorlink2=Maestro Curtis| title=The Art of Producing | publisher=Alfred Music | date=2005 | isbn=1-931140-44-8 }}
* {{cite book | last1=Gronow | first1=P. | last2=Saunio | first2=I. | last3=Moseley | first3=C. | title=An International History of the Recording Industry | publisher=Cassell | year=1998 | isbn=978-0-304-70173-5 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ko9vQgAACAAJ }}
* {{cite book | last=Hewitt | first=Michael | title=Music Theory for Computer Musicians | publisher=Course Technology Ptr | date=2008 | isbn=978-1-59863-503-4}}
* {{cite book | last=Moorefield | first=V. | title=The Producer as Composer: Shaping the Sounds of Popular Music | publisher=MIT Press | year=2005 | isbn=978-0-262-33519-5 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=I8hlAQAACAAJ }}
* {{cite book | last1=Olsen | first1=Eric | last2=Verna | first2=Paul | last3=Wolff | first3=Carlo | title=The Encyclopedia of Record Producers | publisher=Billboard Books | publication-place=New York | date=1999 | isbn=978-0-8230-7607-9}}
* {{cite book | last1=Ward | first1=B. | last2=Huber | first2=P. | title=A&R Pioneers: Architects of American Roots Music on Record | publisher=Vanderbilt University Press | year=2018 | isbn=978-0-8265-2177-4 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xVVgDwAAQBAJ}}
* Massey, Howard (2000). [[iarchive:behindglasstopre00mass|Behind the glass]]. Backbeat books, San Francisco. 
* Massey, Howard (2009). [[iarchive:behindglasstopre00mass|Behind the glass]], Volume II. Backbeat books, San Francisco.
* Lanois, Daniel (2010). [https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9644136-soul-mining Soul mining: a musical life]. Faber and Faber, Inc. {{ISBN|978-0-86547-984-5}} 
* Emerick, Geoff and Massey, Howard (2006). [https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/294781/here-there-and-everywhere-by-geoff-emerick/ Here, there and Everywhere: My Life Recording the Music of THE BEATLES]. Penguin Group, Inc. ISBN 978-1-592-40269-4. 
* {{cite book | last=Zak | first=A.J. | title=The Poetics of Rock: Cutting Tracks, Making Records | publisher=University of California Press | year=2001 | isbn=978-0-520-92815-2 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DJM6FgvlWw0C }}

{{Music industry}}
{{Music production}}
{{Music topics}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Record Producer}}
[[Category:Record producers| ]]
[[Category:Music production]]
[[Category:Occupations in music]]