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| I copied this before this other board went down.
This is my friend Rich (who got me the Gioia remixes thank you)
The question is "How does a Record get made?"
Rich's answer:
I'm no expert but...
Great question. I'm soooo not the right person to answer this but I can definately take a stab at it.
I know it's a different process for everyone but some of the basics are usually the same.
Concept
Pre-Production
Production
Editing/Mixing
Mastering
Manufacturing
Distribution
Promotion
I'll try to explain what I know about each of these but there's definately no "rule" and it varies greatly.
Concept:
You have your basic concept: I'm going to record an album using material I've written...or I'm going to record an album of songs submitted by other writers or a combo of the two.
Pre-Production:
Finding the right talent to work on the album...producers, vocalists, musicians, engineers, studios, etc. And most important - someone to pay for it so I don't have to mortgage my home!
Production:
Gathering all of the various talents together in some kind of recording facility and capturing all ideas onto tape (analog or digital)
Editing/Mixing:
Gathering all of the finished recordings...taking the best of the best recordings...adding effects...placing everything where it will belong in the finished product...establishing the final resulting recordings
Mastering:
Transferring the final, finished, fully-edited, fully-polished tracks with the best audio quality possible in all of their glory onto the final digital media format in order to send them for duplication.
Manufacturing:
The process of combing all of the masters with art-work and liner notes in a factory for the manufacturing of the finished product (CDs, records, etc...)
Distribution: Getting the product from the manufacturing facilities to your DJs, radio stations, and record stores
Promotion: Attracting consumers to run out and spend their money on the product. Bad promotion: great album, no one's ever heard of it. Good promotion: bad album but everyone runs out to buy it even though they've never heard a song on it.
Naturally, there are lots of processes in between....lawyers making sure everyone gets their fair share...lawyers making sure the writers rights are protected...financers (in the form of a label or some other way of financing everything. Lawyers for the artist...lawyers for the label..lawyers for the writers...and guess who else...more lawyers!
There are lots of roles as well:
The Artist(s) - the art creator with a vision
Executive Producer - Typically the person raising the funding for the project
Producer - It's the producer's job to get that vision out of the artists head and onto tape.
Engineer - physically records everything.
Asstant Engineer - sets up studio and keeps tabs on everything
Next you have the labels...
Some think it's ideal to have a major label sign you. It is a very very very small percentage of recording artists that actually "make it" using the backing of a major label. Major Labels (Sony, Columbia, BMG, etc...) have the money to invest in huge production and promotion budgets. They pay for all recording costs, radio play (independent promotion), music videos, flashy posters in record stores, commercials, etc. Sounds great for the artist right? Not exactly, the artist is responsible for paying the large labels back via sales of the album. It's for this reason that someone like Toni Braxton (on her former label) needed to sell 5 million copies of an album to be considered successful or they're left in bankruptcy when the label "recoups" all of the expenses spent on production and promotion. So Norah Jones can sell 500,000 copies and be a huge success for her independent label while Britney must maintain sales at a minimum of 5 million copies to be considered successful for her label because they spent that much on promoting her and making her flawless
On the other hand, there is the Independent Label who often has the resources to put out an album for an artist on a smaller scale without the artist having to sell a zillion records just to break even. Major labels don't like gambling with true "art" and focus on what's going to sell more albums. Independent Labels are a little more flexible with allowing the artist to create their art because they're not under the pressure (or less pressure) to sell tons of albums.
I'm not sure what the statistics are, but when you look at the "stars who've made it" (Britney, Christina, JLo, etc....) those are only perhaps 5% of the total number of artists signed to labels. Another 95% for example never see the light of day. Those that make it are truly rare and lucky. Doesn't make the others bad in the least, it's really just a luck and politics game.
The music business is roughly 25% music and 75% business!
Again, this is just from the top of my head and no way reflects actual fact but is more from what I've learned over the years working with Gioia and when I was "in the business" briefly.
Hope that helps!
PS. Who the is this Rich guy? Sounds like a strapping young buck though!
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Newbie
Posts: 2
Location: Queens | very informative, I've been learning a lot about all of this in my Independent Record Production class at school and so far the most important thing I've learned is that being informed, with the right information can get you a longggggggggg freakin way. I hear a lot of people say "there's a million ways to get rich in this game and a million ways to get screwed" and it sounds pretty true to me. I used to think a musician wasn't truly "successful" unless they were signed by one of the major label's, thats about the LAST thing I believe in now....as was mentioned in that post..."recouping" can practically rape an artist, some of them barely ever see a dime unless they sell REALLY BIG. Not to mention the major label's could really give two sh*t's about the artist, hence why most contracts given by labels tend to cheapen the artist (and screw them royally ) and by not reading through the fine print you could find yourself basically digging your own grave. I'd rather create my own label or get signed to an indie any day of the week, you can have the fortune and the success without the "fame", seems to me it's better off that way. "Hit Men" by Frederick Dannen is an amazingly good book about the music business and the history of the big labels and their innerworkings, I'd suggest anyone read that it that even has the slightest interest in the business of music....very eye opening. That's my .02 on this one  | |
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Clubber
Posts: 12
| thank you very much .. great information | |
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Clubber
Posts: 22
| Hi , Yes I agree with you. Nice information that you have shared with us. It was really very helpful for me. Thanks..  ____________________________ | |
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Clubber
Posts: 49
| Okay, I was wondering if there was a way to get a record and have whatever songs you want on it? I want one where you can upload some music to a site and they put it on a record, like for a record player. If there is a such site can someone please tell me?
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stock music
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