Is it easier for the ‘average Joe’ to become a music producer these days?

Source

The economic principle I’m exploring is “Institutions are the ‘rules of the game’ that influence choices.”

My research question to help me study the economic principle is “How have new incentives such as technology and business models influence music production over the past decades?”

The article published in EDMProd titled “Becoming a Music Producer – What You Need to Know” demonstrates this economic principle by showing how new incentives in the music producing scene have made it easier for the average person to start producing music.

First, the article discussed about the topic of “bedroom producing”. What defines a music producer is someone who oversees and guides the process of producing and recording a song. However, over the past few decades music production has become more accessible. High quality can music can be made on a laptop with little software. A bedroom producer is someone who produces music not using any sort of extensive software. I can classify myself as a bedroom producer. When recording and producing a song for an artist of high calibre you’ll have several people working on the record. One person may be working with the artist and training them, another may be looking for ideas, and another may focus on the sonic quality of the track, mixing it down and getting it sounding right. The bedroom producer typically does all of this. They come up with musical ideas, arrange those ideas, and finalize them.

Second, the article discussed the possible career paths involving producing and how becoming a producer doesn’t confine you to just making music for artists. There are several other professions where the similar skills are necessary to work. One can become an audio engineer who mixes and masters sound at live events; a commercial producer who produces sounds for music, advertisements, games and film; a teacher who can teach others how to make music; as well as a sound designer who designs sounds for games and film.

Finally, the article I researched discussed about the process of learning and gathering the resources to become a music producer. Essentially, all you need to become a producer is a DAW (digital audio workspace) and a decent pair of headphones. Many of my favorite producers started producing with no previous musical experience. I had some from playing the guitar but after playing with the music software for weeks I was able to arrange melodies and actually start to make a beat. Fancy equipment like MIDI keyboards, software plugins, or audio interfaces will not make you a better producer, however they help you advance your sound and enhance creativity in your work.