The Music Production Puzzle

Musical Puzzles

The perspective of a music producer

Story by Tarushi Tripathi

Illuminated with flashing lights, cofortable chairs, and an endless amount of knobs, a recording studio is where many of the popular songs on the radio are created. Thanks to a music producer, this production is possible, as they administer every component of the tune — every lyric, every beat, every pitch, every instrument, and even monitoring everyone involved.

As they sit in a professional or home studio, a music producer oversees all critical components of the creation of a song or album. In other words, the music producer can be referred to as a director of a film, overseeing both minimal and maximal aspects of the production, each element being essential to deliver the listeners the best version of the project.

Justin Gammella has been working in the music production field for seven years as a vocal producer and songwriter. He has also been in many bands throughout his college years, including the Royal Tongues. He claims that networking is an essential way to accompany your success when you are a music producer. Gammella offers some advice from his personal experiences and perspective when it comes to maintaining relationships in the industry.

“If you view networking like [making friendships] and just meeting people, it makes it a lot easier especially when you’re working with people in a room and there are people I think who are incredible who I just creatively like but didn’t get along within a room and it wasn’t personal,” Gamella said.

“So, I think when you’re networking with creatives, no one wants to be given a card. I think given the less business, the better, just treat me like a friend and sneaking music eventually but people just want to work with people they want to hang out with, and that’s what you’re doing when you’re hanging out and messing around.”

Chris Bell preparing to begin producing. (Photo courtesy of Chris Bell)

Chris Bell has been professionally recording, mixing, and producing for artists in the recording studio for the last 29 years. From his personal experience, a recording academy of the Grammys has helped him build interpersonal relationships. “One of the main ways [to create networking] is the recording academy who does the Grammy Awards,” Bell said. “You meet new people that get on the board or you meet members of the recording academy because it’s all music-related. It could be entertainment attorneys, musicians, and recording engineers.” Bell mentions that he prefers both a professional recording studio and an at-home studio as they both have their strengths and weaknesses. “The way I work is I like the band to play all at the same time, together, as a unit. To be able to do that, it’s hard to do in a house and you would have to have a big space to do that,” Bell said.

“But I do like to be at my house to mix and finish the recording and overdubs because I can take my time and do it on my schedule. You’re not being pressured by the 100 dollars an hour to be in the studio.” However, Gammella does not prefer recording studios completely, and he feels as if he’s more productive when completing music productions at his home studio. “[Recording studios] are not very creative environments,” Gamella said. “Right now I have my home studio set up in my apartment which is very minimal, and I do a lot of my editing. I also have a much nicer home studio that I have to share with my production partner where I’ve done ninety-eight of my records out of. Home studios are the new norm, I think as long as you know what you’re doing and you have some kind of soundproofing or sound conditioning, you can do a lot. All of my favorite records are done in home studios now.” Bell, a native to Austin, Texas, does not believe the location of your studio will affect the recognition you receive as a music producer when you reach a certain level, but recommends starting in a major music hub, such as Los Angeles, California. “I think if you are in a major market, you will have a major opportunity,” Bell said. “But, I think when you get to a certain level, people come to work with you no matter where you’re at. However, I think if you’re starting out, you should be in one of those hubs, or spend a lot of time there.” Bell also claims that music production has become more widely accessible, which consists of both advantages and disadvantages. “Now, artists can upload their own music and distribute it, before you couldn’t do that, so you’d have to get signed to a record label, and the record label would get the song in a store, on the radio, but now you can make a song in your own bedroom,” Bell said, “there are good points and bad points to it because the good is that the artist has [opportunities] to [create music] and [listeners] get to hear more music, but the bad thing is we hear more bad music because there is no filter. Before, the record labels were the filter. Now, the hard part is and have to dig through all the bad [music] to find those good things.” According to Gamella, the music industry has declined in terms of money, as many producers are not making as much money as they used to, and many careers in the music

Justin Gammella recording cover song (Photo Courtesy of Justin Gamella)

industry such as artists have to work two jobs. He addresses that those who are working in the industry are aware of this matter and want these circumstances to shift.

“Now labels are making money hand over fist,” Gammella said, “they’re doing as well as they ever have where producers and songwriters are getting left with the mixers and engineers. Before, engineers and mixers would get points on the back end and be well taken care of, but now, it’s hard for them to get that nowadays. The labels have no interest in wanting to share the profits. Most songwriters that I know, they’ve probably written some of your favorite songs, they all have part-time jobs. Producers have it a little bit easier because we’re able to charge production fees so I’m lucky that I don’t have a part-time job, and I’m able to live off everything I do. But, it’s a big thing where everyone in the industry knows it needs to change.” Bell also agrees with the lack of money being made in the music industry. “The money dried up,” Bell said, “right now, I am working for a quarter of what I used to make for better work now. Also, since most people have Apple Music, Spotify, Title, or Amazon, you’re not going to buy music because you have 70 million [other] songs you are exposed to at all time, so you’re just renting it. The artist only gets one-thousandth of a cent for every time you play that song.” Regardless of the cut of money, Bell hopes to develop a more advanced setup at his home studio. “I’m installing 13 speakers in my house right now, along with starting to mix in Dolby Atmos. In the movie theater, movies are mixed in Dolby Atmos, where all the speakers surrounding you. Now, you can mix in Dolby Atmos, where you can put the singers behind you and then another singer in front of you, so it’s like you’re in the middle of the song. That’s my future set-up that I am going to be working in.” Gamella hopes to continue music producing in the future despite the decline of his income. He encourages eliminating money from the bigger picture and suggests pursuing what you enjoy rather than a career that you are not passionate about. “It’s really important to be self-aware in the music industry,” Gamella said, “if I am lucky enough to be able to make music and have it as my main source of income for the rest of my life, I’m stoked for that. Even now, I am lucky that I get to work with big artists and artists signed to labels. But, I think it’s important to not put yourself on a pedestal with stuff like [money] where at the end of the day, this is a business, money is money, I’d rather make money doing a song I don’t love that will produce out, than working in a coffee shop.” Currently, there is a student program that many aspiring music producers can join, known as GrammyU, and due to the Coronavirus, they have been hosting live Zoom sessions for students who seek a job occupation in the music industry. Many of these students hope to implant themselves into the bigger picture, where they will be fitting each piece of the music production puzzle together.